This morning Pitt will embark on a new era of Pitt football as Chryst finally takes the helm of Panthers football.
The biggest challenge will be reinstalling the Pro Set Offense and 4-3 Defense from the Spread and 3-4 that Coach Todd Graham ran last year. A good thing is most of the current upperclassman played under Coach Wannstedt's Pro Set and 4-3 Defensive schemes. Another benefit is that this will help out Tino Suneri and Mark Myers who are obviously Pro Set QB's.
Here is the expected format of the next
15 days per Paul Zeise of the PG via Chryst:
Quote:Chryst said the first five days of spring practice will be about fundamentals and introducing the system; the second five will be about the players getting comfortable playing with less emphasis on the installation of new stuff.
The final five days will be used to work on the areas that need to improve, making personnel adjustments and getting ready for the spring game.
I personally think that the second set of 5 practices will be the most important and the most telling. We'll learn how quickly this edition of the Panthers learn Chryst's scheme's and how they handle the adversity of even more change.
Defensively moving from the 3-4 to the 4-3 will be a challenge because of the lack of depth and experience on the Defensive Line. I'd expect to see Shane Shane Hale, Aaron Donald, Khaynin Mosley-Smith, TJ Clemmons and Tyrone Ezell to man the front line from day 1. Unsure if that's going to be the opening day Defensive Line either. Another name to look out for is Justin Hargrove.
With Todd Thomas out due to an injury, the Line Backers this spring will more than likely be Ejuan Price, Carl Fleming, LaQuenton Smith, and Adam Lazenga.
Cant say much about the Defensive Backs other than Brandon Ifill moving to Wide Receiver. Expect some youth at the Corners with Lloyd Carrington and K'won Williams. At Safety we'll see Andrew Taglianetti and Jared Holley. I'm unsure what the Depth chart behind Carrington, Williams, Tags, and Holley looks like.
The QB Position is deep in numbers but not in experience and talent at this point. It features Tino Sunseri as the returning starter with Mark Myers, Anthony Gonzalez, and EJ Banks backing him up and highly touted Chad Voytik coming in this fall. I can't wait to see what Coach Bollinger does w/ this set of QB's!
Running Backs will be interesting with Ray Graham out this spring. Look for Issac Bennett, Malcolm Crockett, and Corey Davis to have a big time role with Chryst installing this offense.
Boy oh boy WR is deep with Devin Street, Mike Shanahan, Cam Saddler, Drew Carswell, and Brandon Ifill joining the group. And I didn't even mention names like Darius Patton and Kevin Weatherspoon. Unfortunately a few names are going to get lost in the shuffle here.
I'm totally unsure about Fullback and the Offensive Line so I'd rather not touch on it. It's going to be interesting to see how the Depth Chart develops on the front line.
What I am sure is that Coach's Chryst, OC Rudolph, and DC Huxtable are going to put together the best starting lineup possible.
Joey Niklas
Edit... I see a lot of lurkers... feel free to register and comment...
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A New Era: My spring preview
