University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Meet the Press: Dave Wannstedt Talks Training Camp Developments
8/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 17, 2006
Dave Wannstedt
Training
August 17, 2006
On depth chart movement:
Tommie Campbell moved up. He's had a real good camp and he finished up the spring strong once we moved him to linebacker and so we moved him up to work with the first group today. We alternated (John) Malecki in there some, we alternated Rashaad Duncan in there some, we alternated Jeff Otah in there some. (Craig) Bokor, he's going to be a heck of an offensive linemen for us down the road. He's really made some progress.
On the linebackers:
Right now we've got three linebackers. (Tommie)
We're trying to figure out who the fourth and fifth linebacker is at this point.
We have two more scrimmages, one this weekend and one next week and that will help in our evaluation process but it's going good.
On the progress of the kickers:
We have two field goal kickers, (Dan) Hutchins and Lucas Stone. Both those kids have been kicking well. One kick was a 47-yarder. I don't know what the other one was. I was real pleased the way our kicking game has been progressing. With Adam (Graessle) punting the ball, he's had a great camp and the field goal kickers are pretty consistent, so that's all good.
On the possibility of using Adam Graessle as a field goal kicker:
Sure, we would use him if he's the best guy, which right now I don't know.
On moving Dorin Dickerson to tailback:
Yes, Dorin's working at tailback. Now, keep in mind, he got hurt before we even put the pads on, the guy hasn't been tackled yet. He was either going to be a receiver that we put in the backfield some, or a running back that we threw the ball to some. Right now with our running back situation, it looks like that would be his quickest opportunity. He was a running back in high school, so we know what he'll say to that. We were going to move him to receiver, and do I think he can still be a heck of a receiver? Yeah. He might be down the road. Right now we're trying to get that going as fast as we can. He still hasn't practiced. He's out here going through individuals. So he could be playing quarterback and it wouldn't make any difference at this point because he's not in there working yet.
On when Dorin Dickerson is expected to play:
I hope he can go more tomorrow and then scrimmage on Saturday. That's the goal.
On the status of Brandon Mason:
He's at home with his parents. He's trying to work through some personal problems. When I get more information I'll pass it on.
We have had a few (players dealing with personal issues), but it's all part of the process. I think some of the freshmen situations are different from upperclassmen. Most upperclassmen, if they leave, it's because they feel they're not going to have an opportunity to play. With the freshmen, it's they're homesick, or the girlfriend, or their high school buddies, you know, it's a whole different set of environments.
