Salem on the tight ends

Pitt’s tight ends need more production this season, and Tim Salem is in charge of leading them. Here’s what Salem had to say recently about the tight ends, the offense and more.

The word is that your tight ends are going to see more catches this year?
Salem: Well, we’re catching a lot of balls in practice; is that a good indication?

Is it more of an emphasis this year than it was last year at this time?
Salem: There’s no question that you’d say, under Coach Whipple’s offense, as an eligible receiver, you better get ready because that ball could come to you at any time. Where the matchups or coverage or the quarterback sees the best advantage to the play, the ball’s coming to that person. So the tight ends have caught more passes in spring practice like, really, all positions have caught more. Not that the run game’s been de-emphasized, but we’re just catching a lot of passes.

Do you think the guys in your group got discouraged at all, playing that spot and not really getting the looks and the targets?
Salem: You could say that if you just look at the numbers. ‘Here’s the stats.’ You look at the numbers and figures and why would it not be discouraged? I think the one thing that was really nice about the room a year ago was, it wasn’t like they complained. It was, ‘Hey, I’m a team player.’ The team was on a quest to do something that was unique and special and they stayed focused that way. Now, you’d like to - every room wants to score 20 touchdowns, every team wants to make sure you’re scoring a hundred points, but it doesn’t always work like that and when you’re winning and winning some of the right games, then it’s a fun season.

You’ve worked with a lot of different offensive coordinators; what have you noticed about Coach Whipple so far this spring that makes him stand out?
Salem: I’ve been very blessed and fortunate in my 35 years of coaching to be around a lot of quality people and good coaches. Coach Whip’ has a knack. He’s a quarterback guy. He’s got a fluid personality. In his brain, he wants to coach and have fun, which rubs off on the players; they want to do the same. It makes coming to work even much more energized.

Did you know him or had you crossed paths with him?
Salem: Very little. He went to high school in Arizona; so did I. So there’s a lot of people that he knows and I know, so there’s obviously some quick, casual talk here and there. But my crossings in the coaching world were very small - recruiting, but not a great deal.

How has Will Gragg been progressing this spring?
Salem: He’s caught a lot of balls. I think, very much like Scott Orndoff did a couple years ago, going into your senior year that, you know, blocking is a part of football. If you want to improve your chances of going forward, you’ve got to obviously put your face in and block people. He’s given great intent to that this spring. I think Coach Andrews and the weight room have done that kid a lot of good because he’s gotten a lot stronger, just since January, and he’ll have obviously the rest of spring and summer to continue to get stronger. Strength’s important at this level of football.

Do you think he was too one-dimensional in his focus last year?
Salem: No, because obviously we’re still trying to preach blocking because that is part of the play. When you’re a tight end, you’re an extension of the offensive line. I just think that was, not new to him, but it’s new to him. Now it’s, you know, get your hands in there, get your nose dirty, get your face bloodied up and let’s go have some fun.

As he develops that, do you feel like there’s a lot of potential for what he can do in the passing game?
Salem: In the passing game, yes. He’s showing that because he’s catching balls out here in practice and getting down the field. He’s had - we’ve gone through how many springs and I want to say he’s had…one drop. Good. You’ve got one drop. That’s one too many, but at least if the ball’s in the air, he’s snatching it. If it’s thrown to him, it’s being his caught.

This is his last year, so it’s now-or-never for him. Has he been challenged with you bringing in a grad transfer in Nakia?
Salem: I’ll tell you something. When Nakia came on his official visit, he spent a fair amount of time with Will and there was a pretty good initial bond because I think both of those guys are quality people and they know that, when you play this game, it’s a lot more fun when you’re winning. We all have aspirations and goals individually, but there is an ultimate factor with the team and I think both of those guys are team players. So that’s the focus.

What do you think you guys will get out of Nakia? What did you see from him that made you want to bring him in?
Salem: It’s one more player from a depth standpoint. You’re always liking to have five tight ends on a team. You can’t have 85 offensive linemen and one tight end, so the balance has got to work out for us. Nakia has played Big Ten football. He’s competed in games. He’s played the Michigan’s, the Ohio State’s, the Penn State’s, so he knows what it’s like to play at that level. And he’s going to graduate and we’ll see over the summer.

Who named you Timmy Turbo?
Salem: That’s a good question. It was Dave Andrews who named me that…I guess because I go 25 hours a day, eight days a week.