Friday notes: 'Best CB in the game,' scrimmage hype and more

Who does M.J. Devonshire think is the best corner in the game? And what does Pat Narduzzi want to see In Saturday's scrimmage? Here are notes on all of that and more.

'The best corner in the game'
By the reps and the production, A.J. Woods was Pitt’s third cornerback in 2022 behind Marquis Williams and M.J. Devonshire.

But according to Devonshire, Woods is No. 1. At least, that’s how he introduced his senior teammate before Woods spoke to the media after Friday’s practice. And Woods didn’t disagree.

“Yeah, I am the best corner in the game,” Woods said.

Does that mean he’s better than Devonshire?

“We’re 1A and 1B,” Woods said, after a brief hesitation.

Debating the best corner can be saved for another day, but Woods thinks there’s no debate about the strength of Pitt’s defensive backfield, and he’s not just talking about this season. He means the lineage of corners and safeties who have come from the Panthers in the last decade.

“Yeah, I think we’ve kind of been in that back end background, but every year we get one or two guys who are going to the NFL,” Woods said. “This is definitely one of those programs that is becoming a DBU.”

Woods’ strengths
On a personal front, Woods said he thinks his biggest attributes are “my attention to detail, my speed, my physicality and my footwork.”

Woods’ speed has never been in question, since he was a track star in high school. And footwork can be a learned skill. But physicality has to develop, and Woods said that he has made some physical changes since he arrived at Pitt in the recruiting class of 2019.

“When I first came in, I was like 170. I’m like 192 now. So I put on a good amount of weight, muscle to be able to take on that physicality of the game. But the strength staff helped me get even faster.”

Saturday’s scrimmage
Pitt will hold its first scrimmage of spring camp at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday, and Pat Narduzzi is looking forward to a few things.

Staying healthy is always the first priority, especially in spring camp. And the physicality is an important part, too, after Narduzzi estimated that the coaches have put the players though “one hour” of live full-contact drills in the first six practices of spring.

But overall, Narduzzi wants something very simple out of tomorrow’s scrimmage.

“I want to see our guys play,” he said. “Coaches on the sideline, let them go and just find out who the players are in that stadium. I want to see the offense move the ball, although I want to see the defense stop them. It’s one of those. I want to see our deep shots that we missed a year ago, I’d like to see us connect on a few of those. We’ve done that in the first six practices, so it’d be good at Acrisure to see it line up that way.”

Existing relationships
Redshirt sophomore safety Javon McIntyre met the media Friday for the first time since the Sun Bowl, when he had one of Pitt’s four interceptions to help beat UCLA. That pick in El Paso was his second career interception and his second in as many games, having recorded his first career interception in the regular-season finale at Miami.

Now he’s entering the season as the penciled-in starter at boundary safety, the spot he played in the Miami and UCLA games. That will help fill the hole left by Brandon Hill, but the Panthers will need someone to line up next to McIntyre at field safety, where Erick Hallett was the starter last season.

Florida transfer Donovan McMillon figures to be in the mix at safety, but he’s primarily working at the boundary spot with McIntyre. Instead, junior P.J. O’Brien is the top candidate to replace Hallett on the field side, and while both McIntyre and O’Brien have a lot of growth to make, they’re starting with a strong relationship, which is key for communication at the two safety spots.

“P.J., that’s like my right hand, so we talk a lot of times,” McIntyre said. “We always talk about that. Even when Brandon and E-Hall were here, we still talked about future plans, like, ‘It’s us, we just have to do our little stuff.’ So we’ve been talking like that for two years, honestly.

“I trust P.J. 100% on the field. All the time.”

Excited to hit
Boundary safety is a particularly physical position in a defensive scheme full of physical positions. For his part, McIntyre embraces that element of the position - and he’s looking forward to Saturday’s scrimmage for the opportunity to make some contact.

“That’s my favorite day: live,” he said. “I don’t like shells, I don’t like spiders. I like live. I like football. So I can’t wait until tomorrow.”