PITTSBURGH — Pitt football continues to build relationships heading into the third week of practice here at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on the Southside.
Quarterbacks in redshirt senior Phil Jurkovec and redshirt sophomores Christian Veilleux and Nate Yarnell worked with the wide receivers throughout practice in a variety of drills. Wearing the white jersey following the scrimmage over the weekend, indicating the offense lost for the first time this summer, the two position groups are likely working on whatever went wrong.
All three quarterbacks look confident and ready to lead the team if needed. The four first-year wide receivers in Israel Polk, Lamar Seymore, Kenny Johnson and Zion Fowler-El continue to display their athleticism and talent throughout the summer and did so again at practice on Tuesday.
The wide receivers also worked with ball handing and ball security drills. Potentially, some fumbles or poor ball security after the catch occurred, which explained the vigorous work the wideouts underwent. Still, this is a normal drill that the offensive players all go through and have done so throughout the preseason.
The punt team also went to work at practice with special teams coordinator Andre Powell watching closely and instructing as he went along. There is still a punter battle between redshirt junior Cam Guess, Elon transfer in junior Jeff Yurk and redshirt sophomore Caleb Junko. Junko is the likely winner of the battle prior to the first game against Wofford on Saturday, Sept. 2, but there is always a case for the other two.
The defensive backs, along with safeties coach Cory Sanders, practiced their pass coverage. This included jumping up into the air to catch lob passes from Sanders and improving their break up ability when a receiver catches the ball.
It will be interesting to see how the defensive backs improve over these next two weeks prior to the Wofford game. There’s a great chance to see players like first-year Cruce Brookins, junior Phillp “P.J.” O’Brien Jr., redshirt sophomore Javon McIntyre star this season and lead Pitt to great success.
