Pitt Football

Sights and Sounds from Pitt Practice Nov. 20

Published

5 years ago

November 20, 2018

PITTSBURGH — Injuries are an unfortunate, but undeniable fact of football.

Almost every player has been hurt at some point in their career, and this season, Pitt has been healthy more often than not.

The team’s collective health took a hit on Tuesday, as head coach Pat Narduzzi announced that starting center Jimmy Morrissey will miss the rest of the 2018 season with an ankle injury.

At practice, there was little noticeable change to the Panthers. Redshirt senior Connor Dintino slid over to center, the position he was recruited to play at Pitt, from left guard. Redshirt sophomore Bryce Hargrove, who has been Pitt’s sixth offensive lineman most of the year, stepped in at left guard, and everything moved right along.

As the backup center, Dintino always takes a good number of snaps each practice. He’ll have to get used to getting the ball off cleanly in live reps over the next few days. But if things go as well for the Panthers on Saturday as they did on Tuesday, it could be a smooth transition.

Here’s Dintino leading the new-look Pitt offensive line at practice:

GETTING OFF THE BLOCKS

One of the ways that the Wake Forest offense tried to attack Pitt’s defense was by stacking receivers to the field. The alignment makes it tough for Pitt’s star outside linebacker and field safety to help the field corner with extra responsibilities.

With the other two playing off the ball, it also leaves the corner vulnerable to getting ridden out with a block on a bubble screen. That’s what the Panthers were practicing on Tuesday, with cornerbacks coach Archie Collins emphasizing being aggressive in engaging the block and moving the receiver to the corner’s hip.