On Tuesday the Pitt secondary took a hit as Aundre Wright was helped off the field with a leg injury. We were all hoping this wasn't going to be too severe, but thankfully the full extent of the injury hasn't been released yet. I can confirm that right now Aundre is on crutches but is able to move around. It doesn't appear from the eye that it is too severe of an injury, but you can never tell with these things. We saw the same thing with Shane Murray as day to day ended up being a season ending injury. Hopefully Wannstedt has some news for us as the secondary is in desperate need of depth. Just in case you were wondering how bad it is right now (the sky isn't falling we just have some minor injuries) here is the safety breakdown from Tuesdays practice.
FS - Jarred Holley, Marco Pecora
SS - Todd Gilchrist, Pat Costello, Kolby Gray
I know the staff is talking about having Todd Thomas at wide receiver when he enrolls at Pitt in May, but safety is where he should be. We have plenty of depth and talent at wide receiver to hold us over for quite some time. The secondary is a different story though with Tags coming back from injury, Dom missing some time, and a lack of overall concern about recruiting the position. The best thing for this unit is time as they will be able to get more guys reps in practice while allowing Dom, Aundre Wright, Tags, and Jason Hendricks to recover from the injury bug.
The other news is that while having a productive day on Tuesday, Greg Cross looks to be favoring his left ankle a bit. He does have a special boot that he has been wearing. Again this is just a minor issue, but no official word from Pitt on his status.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
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2 comments:
I think the staff's reasoning with Thomas is two fold:
First, he's such a dynamic playmaker that he needs to get on the field as early and often as possible. WR offers him that opportunity as while he may not be in the starting rotation in front of Baldwin and Shanahan, Cignetti can devise play packages for him and we can go to 3 or 4 WR sets. We will never rotate defenders in and out of the game at the Safety position - either Thomas makes the starting lineup over DeCicco & Holley or he sits on the bench. Our starting LBs are set also.
Secondly, how long Thomas stays eligible has to be in the back of the staff's mind with this young man. I don't mean that in an insulting way, but given the troubles he had getting academically qualified there is a sense of reality attached to just how well his college academic career might go. He did a great job working through tough circumstances in Prep school to get here though and should be congratulated.
I have gotten some off-line emails from guys whose opinions I trust regarding Thomas playing either offense or defense - these are guys who watched him play regularly in HS and both stated unquestionably that Thomas is far better suited as a WR and will be very productive there.
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