Fifth Avenue Forum

Hopefully a two sport athlete.

Melquise Stovall, WR transfer from Hawaii. Played two years at Cal, a JUCO year, two years at Hawaii and now getting one last shot at Pitt. Tipton's grandkids will have some company at games

Melquise Stovall, WR transfer from Hawaii. Played two years at Cal, a JUCO year, two years at Hawaii and now getting one last shot at Pitt. Tipton's grandkids will have some company at games

About as soon as Marrion was hired by Pitt, Stovall transferring here started generating some buzz among the Lair and the Pitt Twitters. I've never really seen him play but there are some inevitable comparisons to DJ Turner with him, so if he turns out to be that good, bonus.

Capel finally got a commitment.



Also, midway through Spring practice...

Linebackers

Right now, there’s little to separate Davis, Chase Pine, Cam Bright and Phil Campbell. SirVocea Dennis, who got after it with 14.5 tackles for loss last fall, is out this spring after undergoing postseason surgery for an undisclosed injury.

Davis, a redshirt junior, earned the first-team middle linebacker job out of training camp and started Pitt’s first two games of 2020 only to later suffer a season-ending injury. Pine, who’s now played in 45 games, took over. And on the outside, Bright and Campbell formed a fine partnership, combining for 15.5 tackles for loss.

The key to all this, though, is where Dennis slots in. He’s too talented to keep off the field, and Narduzzi said he’s capable of playing either outside spot or even in the middle. That means waiting for a firm answer until Dennis returns for August training camp.

But with quality players at their disposal — even Central Catholic standout and Penn State transfer John Petrishen has had “a heck of a spring” — Narduzzi and new linebackers coach Ryan Manalac find themselves in an advantageous position.

Any LB assessment that pretends Chase Pine doesn't suck is a shitty assessment.

Offensive tackle

Owen Drexel is poised to be Jimmy Morrissey’s successor at center. Jake Kradel and Maryland transfer Marcus Minor seem settled (for now at least) at right and left guard, respectively. But what about left and right tackle?

“We’ve got a battle going on right now,” Narduzzi said.

Three players — redshirt seniors Carter Warren and Gabe Houy and redshirt sophomore Matt Goncalves — are vying for two spots. This was expected even before spring camp. But if one is standing out, Narduzzi isn’t tipping his hand, saying, “I’m happy with all three of those guys.”

Goncalves looked good in his three starts while the other two have looked underwhelming at best. If Goncalves doesn't have a starting spot out of spring then there should be riots.

Defensive line

Weaver and Jones combined for 27.5 TFLs and 16.5 sacks last season, 24.8% and 35.9% of Pitt’s team totals, respectively. And to fill their shoes, Pitt will look to Deslin Alexandre, John Morgan and Habakkuk Baldonado.

Alexandre is considered a lock to start. The redshirt senior started all 13 games in 2019 with Weaver recovering from a torn ACL. He also got the nod against Austin Peay and Georgia Tech last year, games Weaver didn’t play in. In his 15 career starts, Alexandre has totaled 41 tackles, 12.5 TFLs and 6.5 sacks.

Morgan and Baldonado will battle for the other opening, with underclassmen Dayon Hayes and Nahki Johnson fighting for reserve time. Morgan, after logging four sacks last year, should have the upper hand on Baldonado, who was limited to four games last year due to injury.

The defensive tackle situation is a little cloudier.

Keyshon Camp is talented when healthy, Devin Danielson started seven games last year, and Tyler Bentley started three times in 2020. But when asked about the battle at defensive tackle, Narduzzi mentioned only two names: redshirt sophomore Calijah Kancey and redshirt junior David Green.

Green, a Central Catholic grad, started five times last year. Kancey, meanwhile, was a freshman All-American after recording seven TFLs and starting the last four games.

Why does Narduzzi insist on doing weird **** with his interior DL? Danielson and Kancey are the best talents on the interior and were the most productive of the four last season. Just **** play them you dipshit.

Safety

There’s less ambiguity at safety despite the losses of Hamlin and Ford.

Redshirt sophomore Brandon Hill is expected to start at strong safety after doing so against Florida State and Georgia Tech in the wake of Ford’s decision to opt out midseason. And Erick Hallett should be the guy opposite him at free safety.

Hallett is out this spring due to injury, which gives Judson Tallandier, Kentucky transfer MJ Devonshire and early enrollee P.J. O’Brien the opportunity to make an impression on the staff. But Narduzzi is confident in what Hallett — a redshirt junior with four pass breakups and two interceptions last year — brings to the secondary.

Gross.

Backup quarterback

You all know the contenders. Joey Yellen and Davis Beville ought to be considered the front-runners, while Nick Patti is still competing, as is early enrollee Nate Yarnell.

But Narduzzi doesn’t think any of them are ready to cement their spot as Pitt’s No. 2, calling Pickett’s return “a blessing in disguise” for the other quarterbacks.

“We didn’t have spring ball last year to develop those younger guys. That’s why this spring is so important. Every position is important. But at that quarterback position, they just didn’t have time,” Narduzzi said. “We would really be under the gun right now if Kenny wasn’t back, trying to get one of these guys to step up.”

That’s not a ringing endorsement by any means. But it’s an understandable stance.

Super gross.

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/Pit ... 2104070084

The hoops recruit seems like a decent get. Hopefully he does not transfer within the first 45 games of his career

The hoops recruit seems like a decent get. Hopefully he does not transfer within the first 45 games of his career

Supposedly that 5 star center Reid is a Pitt lean, but LSU is coming in. Which means he'll get paid some big bucks and we'll be the bridesmaid again.

H2P

They kicked ass during the game.

Good get

Pitt super panthers baseball won their first ever series against da u. Going for the sweep tomorrow

Eat sht A-Rod

Football team had another scrimmage this weekend at Heinz Field (cue attendance jokes).

Some thoughts, going off of nothing other than the photos and the handful of minute-long highlight clips they've posted from this and other spring practice practice days...

1. Abanikanda and John Morgan are winning the "looks the part" award for spring camp. Abanikanda definitely looks stronger and broke off what looked like about a 30-40 yard TD run yesterday, outrunning Brandon HIll and Damarii Mathis. It goes without saying that they really need to get consistent production from this position and I'm hoping the stronger performances they put together in the latter quarter or third of the games last year means good things for this year. One of the earlier practice clips also showed Daniel Carter scoring on a goal-line carry. One can hope.

2. Krull looks healthy and had a nice catch over AJ Woods for a TD in the clip from yesterday. Taking this with a large grain of salt because he looked great in practices last year, looked like mud in brief game action and promptly got hurt, so we'll see. Slightly encouraging, if he can stay healthy.

3. Again, I realize I'm only getting very limited clips of entire practice sessions, but Buddy Mack always seems to be around the play or the ball in some of these pictures and clips that feature turnovers forced by the defense. It looks like he got a pick off a deflection yesterday.

I had about those same three exact thoughts as I saw the clips from yesterday. Cautiously optimistic on the run game.

Also:

Taking this with a large grain of salt

How large of a grain? Planet sized?

Let the offseason hype begin

Let the offseason hype begin

I'm tempted to drop 500$ on two season tickets ....almost did it today. Almost.

DO IT

DO IT

THIS! YOU ARE THE PANTHERS!!!!!!

I got my club seats again.

I'll be in 511

I’ll be there and I’ll be complaining

I’ll be there and I’ll be complaining

We all will Kenny. And we'll all have our heart broken after another 6 or 7 win season.

blasphemy. this is the year