AROUND THE PANTHERS
With its scrimmage later in the afternoon, Pitt held a light shoulder-pads only practice on Wednesday morning. Greg Romeus sat out, missing his 12th practice in the past 14 workouts, including his second in a row. Ray Graham (knee) also didn’t participate.
*** Jack Lippert worked with the first team offensive line for the third day in a row. One day after taking some snaps at right guard, Lippert was back at left guard – the same spot he manned on Monday – as Chris Jacobson took a breather. His frequent work at guard – remember, he’s still the second-team center – tells us two things. One, senior walk-on Alex Karabin will be the team’s starting center for the opener at Utah, and two, Lippert will get some snaps at one of the two guard positions this year. It will be interesting to see his role in today’s scrimmage.
*** The coaches got a little bit of a scare when All-America flanker Jon Baldwin hit the ground hard while making an out-of-bounds catch in the corner of the end zone during red zone drills. The junior lay on the ground for a couple of minutes while trainers looked at his left wrist/arm. Baldwin got up and returned to the first-team offense on the next set of drills.
*** Freshman wide receiver Todd Thomas had the nicest catch of the practice, adjusting to an underthrown ball by Pat Bostick near the pylon on red-zone drills and catching a touchdown in front of K’Waun Williams.
*** He hasn’t gotten a lot of notice this training camp, but starting split end Mike Shanahan has quietly put together a productive camp. He make a handful of nice catches during Wednesday’s morning drill.
*** Tino Sunseri looked sharp during 11-on-11 red zone drills, threading two defenders on a 20-yard touchdown pass to Shanahan, and connecting with Baldwin for another score.
Here is an updated depth chart based on recent practices
Offense
QB – Tino Sunseri, Pat Bostick, Anthony Gonzalez, Mark Myers
RB – Dion Lewis, Jason Douglas, Chris Burns
FB – Henry Hynoski, Chris Mike
WR – Jon Baldwin, Mike Shanahan, Cam Saddler, Devin Street, Greg Cross, Ed Tinker, Todd Thomas, Drew Carswell, Kevin Weatherspoon, Salath Williams
TE – Mike Cruz, Brock DeCicco, Justin Virbitsky, Dan Schneider
LT – Jason Pinkston, Jordan Gibbs, Keith Coleman
LG – Chris Jacobson, Juantez Hollins, Shane Johnson
C – Alex Karabin, Jack Lippert, Brandon Sacco
RG – Greg Gaskins, Ryan Turnley, Ryan Schlieper
RT – Lucas Nix, Cory King, Matt Rotheram
Defense
DE – Jabaal Sheard, Nate Nix, T.J. Clemmings
NT – Myles Caragein, Tyrone Ezell, Ty Tkach, Khaynin Mosley-Smith
DT – Chas Alecxih, Aaron Donald
DE – Brandon Lindsey, Shayne Hale, Justin Hargrove
SLB – Max Gruder, Kevin Adams, Manny Williams
MLB – Dan Mason, Shane Gordon, Joe Trebitz
WLB – Tristan Roberts, Greg Williams, Carl Fleming
CB – Ricky Gary, K’Waun Williams, Saheed Imoru
FS – Jarred Holley, Jason Hendricks
SS – Dom DeCicco, Kolby Gray
CB – Antwuan Reed, Buddy Jackson, Brandon Ifill
