Pitt Eager to Go Live in First Scrimmage
PITTSBURGH -- Javon McIntyre has been itching for this. He doesn't like playing football halfway, so these early spring practices with the Pitt Panthers have been difficult for a player like him that relishes running up from his safety position to fill gaps and stop the run.
“That’s my favorite day, when we go live. I don’t like shells, I like live. I like football," McIntyre said about laying off his Pitt teammates. “Sometimes, I have to pull off on inside run, even in [pass skeleton], I want to hit. They throw to the middle of the field, I have to pull off.”
McIntyre will get his chance to hit for the first time since late December this weekend when the Panthers engage in their first scrimmage of the spring at Acrisure Stadium. Head coach Pat Narduzzi has seen his kids itching to put pads on pads during each of the team's seven practices this month. After a couple of weeks of holding back, he's eager to see how the group responds to live action.
“The first thing is to come out of it healthy but I want to see our guys play," Narduzzi said. "Coaches on the sideline just let them go and find out who the players are in that environment."
While there won't be fans in the stands or all the other bells and whistles that come with a home game at Acrisure Stadium but it will be the closest thing Pitt can get to a game environment before the season opener against Wofford in September. This is an important event for Narduzzi in the coaching staff, which is still trying to figure out how all new pieces fit into this puzzle.
There are three new scholarship quarterbacks to evaluate, a starting linebacker spot to fill, a safety rotation to organize and four unclaimed spots along the offensive line. There's a lot to keep track of but, with the talk of spring camp being the steps forward the offense has taken in year two of offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti's leadership, Narduzzi will be paying close attention to how many splash plays the offense can create.
"I want to see our deep shots that we missed a year ago, I’d like to see us hit on some of those," Narduzzi said. "We’ve done that in the first six practices so it’d be nice to see it line up that way at Acrisure.”
Practice is controlled but a scrimmage, even the intrasquad ones Pitt will hold this weekend, is like playing with live ammo. A strong performance in this event is the first step to earning playing time in the fall.
McIntyre is one of those green players looking to prove that a strong end to his 2022 season didn't give way to complacency as starting spots open up with him as one of the leading candidates to fill them. He's not only eager to hit and show off some physical skills, but demonstrate that his improved mental skills learned through the offseason and fine-tuned through these first two weeks of spring ball can be put to use when the bullets are flying.
“For me," McIntyre said. "It’s mostly about doing things right, taking everything I’ve learned from the first six practices and putting it all to a game-like mentality.”
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