Pitt Panther Prowl

PITT FOOTBALL: SPRING SCRIMMAGE #2

 Two-thirds of the way through Spring Camp and its time to panic! The defense is kicking the crap out of the offense on a regular basis! OK, I’m overstating this - however the defense really is manhandling the O line, but it isn’t time to panic just yet (prayer, however never hurts). 

On Saturday the Panthers held their second scrimmage of the spring.  Because we are still fielding a makeshift offensive line due to some principals not practicing with any physical contact, the line is getting beaten, soundly and particularly around the ends and it shows that we have work to do in this area.  John Malecki seems to have segued into the first team right guard spot well, his name isn’t being mentioned in the reports much, and since we are hearing only bad news out of camp about the line, that’s positive in itself.  The same can be said for Robb Houser at center. He’s been showing consistency and improving each day so he’s in the process of locking that spot up early, which makes sense as he was recruited specifically to do just that.

To recap where we stand on the O line after two scrimmages: we have a kid new to our offense in Malecki at right guard, a brand new Panther, Houser at Center and a redshirt freshman, Jordan Gibbs, rotating in at right tackle. On the flip side, and on a more constructive note in a sense, both C. J. Davis, left guard and Jason Pinkston, left tackle, haven’t even played a single snap this spring. That is the line’s whole left side and two returning players who were starting last season folks, a big cog of the wheel for us to be missing.

As scary as that sounds, and I’ll admit it does sound a bit disheartening, I prefer to think of how well they will do once the line is healthy and settled and we start watching the starters play together for a few weeks. I’ve a good feeling that these guys will rise to the challenge and do well. In any case we will have to wait until summer camp to see any concrete indications of what we’ll be able to field in our games. My hope at this point is that this makeshift line can keep Stull and McCoy alive until then.

Billy Stull started again as first string QB this scrimmage, as he has been doing in each practice since camp started. His opening series was rough. He was sacked twice by our defensive ends and then had a pass intercepted.  However, he finished with a decent statistical showing and continued to solidify the starter’s position during the opening game…for now.  Stull’s play has not been eye opening, or even surprising to anyone. He is just going out there and doing what has to be done. He has been making correct decisions with the ball in his hand, stepping up into the pocket when necessary and throwing accurately. His playing is under control, and has been able to get the ball off in a completed pass (11 for 14 for 98 yards Saturday) even with the strong defensive pressure due to our porous offensive line. 

Our offensive theory this season will be the same one we held going into 2007. The QB is to be one-eleventh of the offense and will be asked to just execute the game plan, not to win games on the strength of his play alone. In other words our QB will be expected to not lose the games based on his decisions and actions. If Stull continues this level of play it’s a cinch that he’ll be the starter in our first game.

There was nothing significant out of the other three QB’s play except for  perhaps Greg Cross’ passing. It is beginning to look like it does not suck as bad as we all thought. Maybe… Perhaps… Hopefully… We’ll know more at a later date, but the bottom line is he completed more passes, and better passes, yesterday then he has since camp opened. It all adds to what will be expected of him come game time - to go in and show the ability to change up the offense enough to put the defense back on its heel even if only for a series or two. For that to be effective he has to present at least a threat of passing success. So any little improvement in his passing game is cause for joy at this point.

Defensively, Coach Bennett threw a new wrinkle into the scrimmage by going to a 3-4-4 set, where we kept one interior defensive lineman in, complemented him with two defensive ends and added an extra linebacker to go with our normal three LBs and four DBs.  Tristan Roberts (rsFR) was his choice as the additional LB.  I do wonder why Roberts, specifically, was picked.  All camp we’ve been hearing about how well Greg Williams has played and then the first kid to move up to the addition first string position was someone else.  It’s no big deal, and I’m sure it’s not indicative of anything but using the spring camp as a time to try out new stuff. This new set makes for some interesting possibilities as we are very strong at DE with Fulmer, Romeus and Sheard rotating there - Romeus and Fulmer are proven commodities and Sheard has impressed during camp.  Of course any change doesn’t always sit well with fans and a good question that has been raised on the message boards is why, if our front four D lineman are as good as we think, would we take one off the field? It’s a valid question and a point worth watching at the Spring Game next week; at the very least to see if this might be something we actually incorporate into our defensive game plan.