Sights and Sounds From Pitt Practice Oct. 2

PITTSBURGH — Pitt returned to the practice field on Tuesday as the Panthers prepare to host Syracuse for homecoming weekend this Saturday.

Pitt broke out their retro gold helmets to go along with the retro theme of the weekend, which will also see the men’s and women’s soccer team and volleyball team wear throwback duds. 

Here’s some shots of the Panthers looking good in royal blue and athletic gold.

MACK IN ACTION?

Pitt wide receiver Taysir Mack, who appeared to suffer an ankle injury in Saturday’s 45-14 loss to UCF, was at practice on Tuesday morning, but was not a full participant during the portion of the team’s practice window that was open to the media. Narduzzi said on Monday that Mack was “fine.”

In his place, Dontavius Butler-Jenkins and Maurice Ffrench appeared to shouldering the load with the first group in practice, though they were part of the usual heavy rotation.

Here’s some drills the wide receivers were doing on Tuesday. First is just some standard route sets with the quarterbacks.

Next, here’s the receivers, along with the backs and tight ends, working on making catches in traffic and securing the football.

Next, wide receivers coach Richard Sherman took his charges, a long with scout team defensive backs Erick Hallett, Judson Tallandier, Kollin Smith and Colin Jonov, to work on high-pointing the ball. Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi had singled that out on Monday as an area that needed work, and the Panthers did just that.

That drill seemed pretty photogenic, so I stuck around and took some shots.

NICKEL, CHANGE?

Nickel corner Jason Pinnock got high praise from Narduzzi for his play in that role against UCF, but it was fellow sophomore Damarri Mathis that was practicing in that spot on Tuesday. True freshman Marquis Williams backed up Pinnock against the Knights, but he’s already played two of his four games he played before using a season of eligibility. It looks like Pitt is, at the very least, trying to work out another option. Therran Coleman, who has played nickel in the past, was playing field safety on Tuesday.

SCOUTING THE QBs

Freshman quarterback Nick Patti was removed from the depth chart this week, but he’s still working with the first group of quarterbacks in practice and it appears that he’ll be simulating Eric Dungey of Syracuse on the scout team this week.