9/10/2018 football Edit

The latest two-deep: WR changes and more

Chris Peak • Panther-lair

Publisher

MORE HEADLINES - 10 thoughts on the loss, the mistakes, the penalties and moving forward | PODCAST: Turning the page on Penn State | Under the Lights: How did Pitt's recruits perform over the weekend? | Slideshow: Photos from the game | Narduzzi on mistakes and more in the loss to PSU | Postgame video: Narduzzi's press conference | Pitt gets blown out | Five big plays from Pitt's loss | PODCAST: The dive home after Penn State

Pitt released its latest two-deep on Monday, and here's a look at what stood out.

Offensively, there were changes at three positions that were most notable. At quarterback, redshirt junior Jeff George Jr., who transferred from Michigan just before the season started, is listed as an "OR" reserve with freshman Nick Patti at the third spot on the depth chart behind Kenny Pickett and Ricky Town.

George Jr. left Illinois in the offseason and went to Michigan as a graduate transfer, but he left Ann Arbor late in training camp and transferred to Pitt. There was some question about whether he would have the typical grad transfer immediate eligibility since he was technically coming to Pitt from Michigan rather than Illinois, but his appearance on the depth chart seems to indicate that he can play this season.

There were bigger shakeups at receiver, where the coaches made changes to reflect what was on the field in Saturday night's loss to Penn State. Last Monday, the two-deep listed the three starting receivers as Rafael Araujo-Lopes, Dontavius Butler-Jenkins and Taysir Mack; against Penn State, Mack and Shocky Jacques-Louis were the starters and those two plus Araujo-Lopes played the bulk of the snaps and the numbers weren't really all that close.

This week, Araujo-Lopes, Jacques-Louis and Mack are the listed starters.

The third position that was changed was running back. After going with "Darrin Hall OR Qadree Ollison" on the first two depth charts of the season, the coaches installed Ollison as the No. 1 after he ran for 119 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries against Penn State; that was his first 100-yard rushing performance since Nov. 2015.

Offense two-deep

Pos	Player	Player	Player	Player
QB	Kenny Pickett	Ricky Town	Nick Patti OR	Jeff George Jr.
RB	Qadree Ollison	Darrin Hall	AJ Davis
FB	George Aston	Jim Medure
TE	Tyler Sear	Will Gragg	Grant Carrigan
WR	Shocky Jacques-Louis	Dontavius Butler-Jenkins	Aaron Mathews
WR	Rafael Araujo-Lopes	Maurice Ffrench	Darian Street
WR	Taysir Mack	Tre Tipton	Michael Smith
LT	Stefano Millin	Carson Van Lynn
LG	Connor Dintino	Brandon Ford
C	Jimmy Morrissey	Owen Drexel
RG	Mike Herndon	Bryce Hargrove
RT	Alex Bookser	Gabe Houy	Jerry Drake

Defense two-deep

Position	Player	Player	Player
DE	Dewayne Hendrix	Patrick Jones	Deslin Alexandre
DT	Shane Roy	Rashad Wheeler
DT	Keyshon Camp OR	Amir Watts	Jaylen Twyman
DE	Rashad Weaver	James Folston
Money LB	Elijah Zeise OR	Saleem Brightwell
Middle LB	Quintin Wirginis	Chase Pine	Elias Reynolds
Star LB	Oluwaseun Idowu	Anthony McKee	Cam Bright
CB	Phillipie Motley	Jason Pinnock	Marquis Williams
CB	Dane Jackson	Damarri Mathis	Paris Ford
FS	Damar Hamlin	Jazzee Stocker	Bricen Garner
SS	Dennis Briggs	Phil Campbell

There were a few subtle changes on defense. Starting up front, the coaches removed Chase Pine as a reserve defensive end; he had been listed there and as a backup middle linebacker, but he only played linebacker in the first two games of the season.

Patrick Jones replaced Pine as Dewayne Hendrix's top backup, which reflects what has happened in the games this season.

In the secondary, Dane Jackson and Phillipie Motley are listed as the top starters; last week, they were "OR" starters at one of the cornerback positions. Jason Pinnock and Damarri Mathis are their backups on this week's depth chart, while redshirt freshman Paris Ford and true freshman Marquis Williams, who did not play against Penn State, were listed on the third team.