PITTSBURGH — Pitt donned the spider pads for Friday’s practice at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, and it’s likely in preparation for the first scrimmage of the spring this weekend.
The Panthers moved indoors, and as a very large number of recruits were in town to check out the facilities and meet the coaching staff, it was a little crowded inside. And it wasn’t just recruits watching either — guys like Shayne Simon, C’Bo Flemister and A.J. Woods were in attendance, and Jashear Whittington and Ty Yuhas watched practice together.
A busy day on the South Side, and it will be another busy day Saturday.
So, what was going on Friday? Punt coverage. Haven’t seen much actual punting this spring, and Caleb Junko is still the top punter on the roster. He looks fine in practice, but obviously, it was a very different situation in-game last season. Special teams coordinator Jacob Bronowski has expressed confidence in Junko, so we’ll see how it goes.
Kenny Johnson, Che Nwabuko, Zion Fowler-El (who made a very impressive leaping, one-handed catch later in drills) and Devin Whitlock were back returning kicks.
It will be interesting to see who takes over for M.J. Devonshire as the full-time punt returner. I don’t know if you want a starting wideout to do so, and Nwabuko has largely been a returner in his brief Pitt career, so I’d guess Nwabuko is the odds-on favorite at this point.
I watched the running backs for a while, too. There was an emphasis on catching the ball Friday, running a gauntlet of quick-fire throws (not unlike how the NFL Combine operates) and the punishment for drops was push-ups and sit-ups. I thought Derrick Davis Jr. looked smooth as a pass catcher. There were more than a handful of drops, as is the case with such volume, but I think I only saw him drop one.
Davis looks good this spring. He’s big and strong but also the fastest guy in the room. However, Juelz Goff may be coming for him.
The wide receivers remain an interesting unit, too. Kenny Johnson, DaeDae Reynolds and Kenny Johnson are the starting trio, and based on three-receiver sets Friday, it was Poppi Williams, Izzy Polk and Zion Fowler-El and then Lamar Seymore, Censere Lee and Peter Vardzel. It’s just practice, but those units look about right. With the speed of the new up-tempo offense, there’s going to be a lot of rotation.
Randy Bates talked about how the emphasis for the Pitt defense this spring is on finishing — takeaways, tackles, all of it. And the rotational drills Friday morning certainly did that. Catching balls, recovering balls across the turf, jumping on balls.
The “splash” plays were lacking last season, but there is enough talent on the defensive side of the football to get back to racking up fumble recoveries, tackles for loss, sacks and interceptions.
