University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt Readies for Full Contact Drills on Saturday
8/11/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 11, 2006
Dave Wannstedt
Training
August 11, 2006
On canceling the Saturday morning practice:
There has been a schedule change for tomorrow. I'm obviously very pleased with how much work we got done with our football team these last couple days. Tomorrow we're going to come out in the morning and do a walk through, some weight room work, then get the team together and practice in the afternoon. There are several reasons for this. The first one being we're getting a little bit low in numbers. Nothing major but we have a half a dozen guys that are banged up and for us to come out and be productive, it's important that we have enough depth to be able to do that.
On the importance of contact drills in building a depth chart:
There are guys that look great in just shorts, there are guys that look great in shoulder pads and shorts, and then there are guys that show up when they really have to block and tackle. That will start tomorrow for the first day. We'll probably give it a couple days. I'd expect to have some form of a limited scrimmage on Sunday. Probably after Sunday we'll start stacking the depth chart.
On the day's standouts:
T.J. (Porter) and Nate Byham both showed up big time in the afternoon. In the morning session, Marcel Pestano had a nice day; he made a bunch of plays, as did Darrelle Revis. It was good to see. We always talk about young kids and everyone likes to talk about new exciting guys, but it was good to see that Darrelle Revis had a very good morning this morning.
On the development of Jason Pinkston and John Malecki:
They both have a lot to learn and they're both working extremely hard. Again, everything is based off of production in my mind and you don't get a sack for being close to the quarterback. You've got to be able to get him on the ground and that's what we'll start figuring out tomorrow (when full contact starts).
On the new receivers stepping up once in full pads:
We're going to need one or two of these guys (to step up). Someone who really deserves to be mentioned is Cedric McGee. He is the hardest working receiver that we have out here and one of the toughest guys. He's not flashy. He doesn't have all the fancy moves but we worked him this morning and he did some good things. We will be okay if we can get one or two of these young guys to contribute. (Joe) DelSardo is having a good camp, (Derek) Kinder is having a good camp, we know what they can do. From there it's really freshmen or redshirt freshmen. That's about where we're at. It's a shame that Dorin (Dickerson) has a twisted ankle right now and Aaron Smith banged up his shoulder yesterday, so both of those guys are restricted a little bit. So it's really that old expression - those that stay will play. That's kind of how T.J. Porter is. He's out there every day, so those that stay will play and those who can stay healthy (will play).
On the defensive line coaches:
Charlie's (Partridge) first responsibility is (as) our special teams coordinator, so he's spending a ton of time. He's running special teams practices; he's in there getting special teams work and then working with the defensive line. Greg (Gattuso) has zeroed in with that position. I think splitting the positions up a little bit makes it impossible for one guy to do both. It just so happens to work out that we do have a bunch of kids, so there are plenty of guys to coach.
On the level of excitement for practicing in full pads:
I'm definitely looking forward to it and I hope the players are. We'll find out tomorrow. I think it will be interesting tomorrow, because what will happen tomorrow is there will be guys that make plays with the ball in their hand. I saw Nate Nix today twice he pulled off (short of contact). We would like to assume that that would be a big hit once we get the pads on. I anticipate it. There will be some guys that all of a sudden that jump to the front of the class when it's live.
