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How is Pitt defensive coordinator Josh Conklin approaching the task of replacing starters and suspended players? He talked about that on Wednesday.
HOW ARE YOU HANDLING QUINTIN AND JORDAN, KNOWING YOU WON’T HAVE THEM FOR THE FIRST THREE WEEKS BUT THEY’RE AMONG THE MOST PRODUCTIVE PLAYERS WHEN THEY COME BACK?
CONKLIN: I think the challenge for the defense is just that it’s the next-guy-up mentality. There’s no excuses about it. You’ve got to - I told them today and yesterday, I said, ‘Hey, it’s an opportunity for these next guys.’ I’d be a little more concerned if we didn’t have a guy like Saleem Brightwell at the Mike linebacker position. We have a guy in Jay Stocker who took quality reps at the end of the year last year.
They’ve got to take that mentality, they’ve got to embrace that mentality and we’ve got to step it up as coaches, too, and coach them hard and get them learning and make sure they capitalize on that opportunity.
WOULD SALEEM COMPETED FOR THE NUMBER-ONE JOB IN ANY CASE THIS SUMMER?
CONKLIN: He sure would have. And to be honest with you, we all sit here and grant Jordan a pass that he’s going to be an automatic starter, and we’ve had some guys that have had a really good summer; he would have had a competition as well. Now, I know he’s taken a lot of reps and he’s been very productive and he’s got all the media accolades, but we feel like some guys have closed the distance. They closed the distance this spring and closed the distance this fall camp, these first two days, so we’ll get them ready.
WHO ARE THOSE GUYS?
CONKLIN: Right now at the field safety, we’ve got Bricen Garner and we’ve got Jay Stocker. At the other safety, we’ve got Dennis Briggs and Phil Campbell. We’re also working Henry Miller there a little bit.
To be honest with you, it’s going to come down to your best 11, you know, your best two back there, and we’ll see wherever those guys fit. But I like what Jay and Bricen’s shown in two days, if you can tell anything in two days.
HOW MUCH DOES JORDAN MISSING PRACTICE REPS HURT HIM?
CONKLIN: We’ve got to monitor him. We’ve got to make sure that we do a good job of getting him in there enough that he can stay in tune. But again, and I don’t want to belabor the point, but if a guy comes in and we have Oklahoma State here and we go to Penn State and that guy’s playing really well, when Jordan comes back, it’s not just going to be handed to him. You know? He made some choices, we live with those choices; you feel bad as a coach, like you would as a parent because you want to change behavior. You feel bad, you know? You want him to move on from it.
But to answer the question, we have guys that have to get ready. We have to go win football games with the guys that are on the field. So that job won’t just be handed back to him when he gets back. We’ll monitor those reps during fall camp and make sure he has a chance to win that job back, obviously.
IS HE STILL WORKING WITH YOU GUYS IN FILM?
CONKLIN: Oh yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
WAS HE AT PRACTICE AT ALL TODAY?
PITT SPORTS INFORMATION DIRECTOR E.J. BORGHETTI: I think we’ve belabored the point.
COACH SAID THAT DAMAR HAS BEEN GOING TO SAFETY MEETINGS BUT HE COULD PLAY SOME OF BOTH. ARE YOU TRYING TO DEVELOP SOME POSITIONAL VERSATILITY OR ARE YOU MOVING HIM TO THE SAFETY POSITION?
CONKLIN: We’re trying to develop some versatility. When we brought him in, we knew he could play corner and we knew he could play safety, so we’re trying to develop that versatility as we move forward. And he’s a smart kid, too; he hasn’t had a chance to take a lot of reps but he’s a smart kid and he picks it up fast. It’s good for him to learn both of them as he’s been kind of dealing with that little injury of his. We just want to have as many guys who can do multiple things as possible.
BETWEEN ZEISE AND SALEEM, IT SEEMS LIKE YOU’LL BE A LITTLE MORE ATHLETIC, IF NOT MORE EXPERIENCED AT LINEBACKER?
CONKLIN: We should. We should. Now, again, Zeise started off the season and got injured; he’s got a lot to prove. He hasn’t really done anything yet. Saleem played some reps and definitely has some experience. We think both of those guys will do a fine job.
I would agree with that: what we may lose in a little bit of knowledge and experience with Galambos and Caprara, we may make up for it in some athleticism. It’s a little bit of a give-and-take.
CONSIDERING HOW PRODUCTIVE HE WAS THE LAST COUPLE YEARS, HOW MUCH OF A CHALLENGE IS TO TRY TO REPLACE ELJUAN PRICE?
CONKLIN: He was a highly productive kid. And I think you guys know this as well: ‘Juan would do as many things good as he did wrong as well. He was a very instinctive guy. He played well within the system but he took a lot of chances as well. I think we have some good solid guys that will provide that. I think Dewayne Hendrix is a guy that can maybe fit into that mold. I think he can develop. I think guys like Patrick Jones and Rashad Weaver can step up and take that position as well.
I like our young guys. They’re really into it. Charlie Partridge has been a great addition. And so we’re moving, we’re moving those guys.
WITH A YOUNGER TEAM, DO YOU HAVE TO PUSH A LITTLE HARDER AS A COACH?
CONKLIN: Yeah, you do. I think we have to push harder. I think we do have a culture established. But I think we’ve evaluated - coaches have evaluated themselves, we’ve evaluated the team and we’re just trying to figure out a way to continue to get better all the time. The urgency is the big deal. Take a guy like Jason Pinnock or Damarri Mathis at corner; getting those guys to play at the speed they have to play at, snap in and snap out, is a big, big deal. So that’s where a little bit more of the urgency and aggressiveness can potentially come from as a coach.
ALONG THE LINES OF THE YOUTH WE’VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT, YOU LOST A LOT OF EXPERIENCE, BUT THE FLIP SIDE IS THAT NOW YOU’LL HAVE MORE OF THE KIDS THAT YOU GUYS RECRUITED. IS THERE A BALANCE BETWEEN BEING APPREHENSIVE BECAUSE THEY HAVEN’T PLAYED AS MUCH AND BEING EXCITED BECAUSE YOU’RE FINALLY GOING TO GET TO USE THEM?
CONKLIN: I think that’s exactly the point. I know when we met with them, we said that exact thing: we are younger, we feel like we have good quality talent, it’s just how fast can we get those guys developed. That’s the two-way street of coach and player taking advantage of all the meetings and obviously out here on the practice field as well.
HOW BIG OF AN ASSSET IS AVONTE AS A GUY WHO IS BACK?
CONKLIN: Huge. I think Avonte has earned the respect that he gets from the coaches, earned the respect that he gets from the players, and I’m excited for him to come out and really have a good year. And you can feel him, just as far as emotional leader, has a good understanding and knowledge of defense and that’s exciting for him.
WHAT ABOUT OPPOSITE AVONTE?
CONKLIN: You know, Motley had a really good year - summer. He really developed well. He’s playing with a lot more confidence and I’m excited to - again, he’s going to be a solid guy, he’s taken some reps as well. Both of those guys can legitimately run. I think Avonte and P.M. - we call him ‘P.M.’ - I think both of those guys run really well. So that’s good to see. We’re developing a third guy right now. That position is still up in the air, in terms of who’s going to start with Dane Jackson. We’ve got the two young guys, we’ve got a guy like Malik Henderson. It’s still wide open.
YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT THE YOUNG TALENT; WHERE ARE WATTS AND CAMP - DO YOU SEE A BIG DIFFERENCE COMPARED TO WHERE THEY WERE LAST YEAR?
CONKLIN: There is a big difference. Yeah. They’ve matured; that’s just part of the growth process when you get to college. They’ve matured a lot. And they’ve really taken to the coaching in the room. They’ve grown up in terms of just understanding a little bit more big-picture what they’ve got to get accomplished.
Yeah, they understand it. They have a long way to go. They are not a proven commodity by any means; they have a ton of talent - don’t take that away from them - but to line up and play in the ACC, snap in and snap out, you know, they have a long way to go here in the next few days.
YOU’VE GOT MIKE CAPRARA OUT HERE HELPING OUT; HOW NICE IS THAT TO HAVE ONE OF THE VETERANS FROM LAST YEAR BACK, EVEN IF HE CAN’T TAKE ANY SNAPS FOR YOU?
CONKLIN: It’s great. He does a great job. He was a strong emotional leader for us last year and you kind of see and feel the same thing from him out here.
IF PARIS FORD IS ABLE TO GET HERE FOR CAMP, DOES MISSING THIS OR HOWEVER MUCH HE’S GOING TO MISS - HOW FAR BEHIND DOES THAT PUT HIM?
CONKLIN: It puts him behind. It puts him behind, for sure. And we’ll have to get him caught up as fast as we can. When he was coming in, you know, the thought process still stays the same: we’re going to try to get him involved in some ‘Delta,’ third-down stuff, early and see how he develops there. But yeah, it puts him behind and he’ll have to catch up in a hurry.
