University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Training Camp Transcript: Day 6
8/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 12, 2010
Training Camp Insider | Pitt Football Strength and Conditioning Feature
PITTSBURGH -
Opening Statement:
"We had two very good, solid practices for our first double session in full pads today. We had some live work in both practices. I thought the effort was good, we got a lot of reps in. We got a little bit better today. As far as some guys making plays - we had the competition at the end, and Devin Street went up and made a big play for the offense. You like to see guys like that, which nobody's talking about, to start to make a move. That's encouraging."
On Greg Romeus being absent from practice:
"He was out a little bit this morning. It's muscle spasms. I'm hoping that he'll be out here soon. He'll be fine; it's just a matter of making sure that he's 100 percent before we get him going. He didn't re-aggravate it, we're just trying to get it right. I'm not worried about him. He'll be back in enough time. He came out today with full intentions, and he went through some individual work this morning. He's fine, we'll just take it a day at a time."
On Shayne Hale:
"He twisted his ankle yesterday, and we just kept him for rehab today."
On Saturday's scrimmage:
"On Saturday we're going to have some officials here, so we'll tighten up a little bit that way. We had some officials out here today because we need to start getting the guys thinking about seeing them around, and being conscious of doing things the right way. We'll keep it pretty basic Saturday. We haven't really sat down and talked about how many reps each guy will get. Everybody will scrimmage, and everybody will get some time. It will be the first time that we kind of stand back and let them play a little bit."
On securing positions on the offensive line:
"I'm not really sure. I would anticipate it probably taking two scrimmages before we start zeroing in on the offensive linemen. I think that I can honestly say that Chris Jacobson is the left guard, so we have three of the five spots to think about. We have the competition going at center now, and that's going to take a little time to sort out."
On the depth and versatility of the team:
"Again, you always try to get the five best. Then the next goal is `who's the eighth best, who's the seventh best?' Somebody who can play a couple of spots, that's what we're looking for. We have guys that can come in there and fill in the spots. Jack Lippert could, and Brandon Sacco might. Sacco is having a good camp. Cory King is making progress, he's getting better. I presume it's just going to take a little while to figure it out.
On the redshirt freshmen:
"It's a good group. At receiver you have Ed Tinker and Devin Street. With those two guys, I would expect both of them to play some. Brock DeCicco is in there right now competing with Mike Cruz and Andrew Devlin. If you look at Justin Virbitsky, you have some competition there as well. Then there are also a couple of those offensive linemen that we talked about. Tyrone Ezell is a redshirt freshman, and the third defensive tackle spot is still open. He's doing a nice job.
"I think a guy that made a position change and is making plays every day and who had a good spring is Nate Nix. That's a guy that came in here as a linebacker, probably not quite speed-wise where the other guys are at and so he makes a commitment to special teams. He was our special teams player voted by the team two years in a row. We asked him to go to defensive end because it might be a better opportunity for him. He puts about 15 to 20 pounds on him, lines up in the spring, makes plays and is out here now. With Romeus out a little bit and Hale out, Nate's in there with the first group making plays - that's a neat success story. He's six hours away from graduating, so he'll graduate in December. That's a good story."
On Ray Graham:
"Ray Graham and Dion Lewis, they're both ready to go. I can tell that Ray has gained about 15 pounds in good weight, strength, and I can tell that. Last year he would make a guy miss, and then the guy would grab him with an arm and hold him. Now he'd break an arm tackle."
