(04-15-2012 12:15 PM)ej6687 Wrote: I stayed for most of it. I think we are going to see the 2010 version of the Wisconsin offense, where they almost had 3 guys rush fro 1000 yards. We all know what we should get from Graham and we have Shell coming in, but Issac Bennett will get his share of carries also. He was really good yesterday.
They are also going to run a lot because they don't have much at the QB position. Tino is Tino. He'll be decent to good with the short passing routes, but anything over 20 yards is going to be an adventure. He overthrew a wide open Carswell twice on the opening drive. Both were flashbacks from last year. Meyers throws a deep ball as good as anyone, but he's got a long throwing motion and he doesn't have much accuracy under 20 yards. I thought Cam Saddler looked like the guy we were expecting to see a few years ago. If they can get him the ball in space, he can really do something with it.
Defense was missing a good number of starters, so it was tough to evaluate them as a whole. They did give up a bunch of yards on the ground. Aaron Donald is going to be a stud. Was in the backfield all day. Shane Hale and Devin Cook seemed to have solid games at DE. I think Shane Gordon will end up at starter at MLB over Mason, with Thomas and Price on the outside.
I'll add to this since I was there as well. Don't disagree with the jest of the comments.
QB's: I'd rate them Tino #1, Trey Anderson #2, and Myers #3. That's a relative rating as of now. It's pretty clear that the first two have game experience and that Myers is incredibly green. His problem is that he only has one year of H.S. I was actually impressed with Anderson's command of the new offense. He honestly may be the best football player of the three, with the psychological make up to play the position, but his problem is he's barely 5'10". Myers throws a pretty deep ball but his other, less exciting QB fundamentals, clearly trail the other two. Someone in this thread mentioned KS and this feels like a similar situation.
It's also important to point out to those not in attendance that Tino faced the 1's and Myers/ Anderson faced the 2's almost exclusively. It's easy to throw over a walk on CB playing for the 2's for a couple of big plays.
All of the QB's looked much better coached and prepared which bodes well. Should be interesting to see them in August. I think they got a pretty good foundation given 15 practices in a new system. It speaks to how bad Dodge/ Norvell were last year and the fan base gave those two a total pass.
They aren't going to ask a lot of the QB. Given how off base most Pitt fans usually are, and wrong, I expect the play to be better than the current hysteria would suggest. If Tino should somehow be as bad as last year, they'll be prepared to bench him right away for someone they are getting ready. The coaching here will be night and day from a year ago.
I was there with a former Academy QB and he didn't quite get the bizarre attitudes of Pitt fans over this position. I laughed. Enough for a topic that is way over done.
OL: I was impressed with this group given what was done to them last season. They look better without Juantez Hollins who was benched for some internal infraction. Gotta pretty good push against our D line (more on them later) for most of the practice. Again, you can see they are better coached after only 15 sessions. I think Lumpy, Turnley, and Rotherman will be the leaders. Hope they can stay healthy. The summer months will be critical since this unit will lead the offense. Pass protection problems still exist.
RB: Bennett is very solid and I thought EJ Banks looked good. Corey Davis goes down too easy. Graham and Shell should make this fun come August.
WR/ TE: Some numbers there which is good. Should have options to move the sticks which happens to be our current #1 QB's area of relative competency. Carswell's an athlete but runs poor routes. Just not a very good football player yet but maybe they can coach him up. TE Graham should be a star in this offense. They don't really have anyone that gets vertical. Steady eddy group overall. Shanny could have rebirth in this system. Last year's system was not a good match.
Those are thoughts on the offense. I'll do the defense later. I think they made the right progress to prepare for August. Coaches are very coy about the depth chart including QB which is good even though one can follow what they are really thinking by who playing and when.
