University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt Concludes First Week of Football Training Camp
8/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 14, 2006
Dave Wannstedt
Training
August 14, 2006
On having T.J. Porter and McKenzie Mathews back at practice:
They were great to have. In fact, they both made some plays today. It was encouraging. Like anything, I realize that things like that happen. They happen every year. It happened in the NFL. You just do the best you can, and there's always that fine line where you want to make sure you keep as many players as you can, but you sure as heck can't compromise anything from a team standpoint. And this has nothing to do with football. These are just personal things with young kids. That's all part of it.
T.J. had a nice play today for a touchdown. Mack had a couple nice rushes. How much they would contribute, it's early yet. Right now we're just trying to get everybody as much work as we can.
On whether the freshmen's early arrival can have an adverse effect:
I don't know. I think that everybody feels some things differently. I can tell you this. All of our freshmen did outstanding. They all took two classes this summer. We averaged a 3.25 (GPA). We had [four] kids that had perfect 4.0s. . .they were all doing a good job.
On the communication between the upperclassmen and the freshmen:
Our guys are good. There's personal things and there's football things. There's a difference. That's in high school. That's in college. That's in the pros. If somebody does something that has an impact on us losing a football game, that's one thing. But when you've got 18-year-old kids here and they're freshmen and they're trying to figure out where the South Side is, you have to try to work them through it. Our upperclassmen know that. I talked to H.B. [Blades] and Tyler [Palko] about it today, just thinking back to when we were all freshmen in college.
On H.B. Blades' progress in camp:
I talked to the team the other night about I've always believed whether you were a senior All-American candidate like he is or a freshman coming in, at some point during training camp, you have to re-group yourself and you have to get yourself playing at the highest level you're capable of - not to prove it to the coach or to your teammates, but from a self-confidence standpoint. And H.B. is doing that. He's out here working as hard as anyone. He did some things today that kind of reassured me that he's back in rare form. He's getting there and taking nothing for granted would be the way to put it.
On John Malecki and Aaron Berry:
I think they've been consistent with their effort, consistent with their mental approach to the game, and consistent with their attitude - all those things. The talent shows up. All of these guys have got talent. I think the thing that separates them really is how well they can handle it. In fact, I talked to the young kids and I said I don't know what it is but go talk to C.J. Davis, go talk to LaRod Stephens[-Howling}, go talk to [Darrelle] Revis, some of these kids that played as freshmen. And everybody matures a little bit differently. It depends on the program they come from. I don't think there's any one thing that you can say, "We recruited this kid, and he'll definitely come in here and play early." I mean, he might be the most talented player in the world and come from a program where they never ran wind sprints. You don't know what's going to throw a kid off.
