The usual jawing back-and-forth after plays was coupled with the familiar cracks of man going against man as Kedon Slovis and Nick Patti called and ran plays on a warm and inviting Wednesday morning on the Beano Cook Fields on the South Side.
Pat Narduzzi has his Pitt team ready to embrace the hard knocks, with pads going on players' shoulders and contact drills beginning as early as 9:30 a.m. on Day 2 of fall camp.
"We've been in shorts the last two days, and we'll get some spider pads on their shoulders and there'll be some contact out there this morning," Narduzzi said before practice. "Hopefully there's no fights early. ... Had some good practices so far, and our guys have been engaged."
There were no fights, but there was some smack-talk from the defense after a broken up pass play in the session available to media members.
"That's going to happen," Narduzzi said of the potential for small skirmishes. "You see it happening all over the NFL, and it's going to happen here. I've told those guys we want to keep it under control. ... We want to teach them the tempo today, which is the tempo. We're staying off the ground, and that's what we do to start off."
The team's confidence is sky high after an ACC championship, and competition in advance of the Sept. 1 kickoff against West Virginia is already heightened with the addition of pads to practice.
"It was a little rusty going in, but that's to be expected," defensive lineman Devin Danielson said. "We haven't hit in a while, but it was pretty juiced up today during practice. In the trenches we're still hitting, it's just not tackle football. For D-linemen, it's pretty much full pads."
The team is fully healthy, and there's no reason to try to risk injury or anything in the slightest. Temperatures reached the low-80s by 10 a.m. Wednesday, and the rest of the week forecasts for highs in the 80s. The next practice session is on Friday, after an off day on Thursday. Narduzzi mentioned the team had two scheduled water breaks on Wednesday, and that nobody has been in the trainer's tent for dehydration or cramping.
From this point, intensity within camp should continue to ramp up, as is the norm.
While Pitt's starting quarterback situation is being figured out, Narduzzi revealed another battle taking place on the offense. Seniors Blake Zubovic and Jake Kradel are currently in a battle for the right guard position.
"You can consider both of them 'kind-of starters,' but we'll find out who that guy is," Narduzzi said.
The offensive line room is lined with seniors -- seven, to be precise -- but Narduzzi said on the first day of practice on Monday that some starters weren't set in stone.
That still includes the quarterbacks.
"They're both tremendous players," center Owen Drexel said of Slovis and Patti. "Very talented no matter who it is, but I totally trust in both of them."
Narduzzi talked about the depth of the offensive line, and how multiple players along with the returning senior starters from last year are competing for jobs.
"Matt Goncalves has done an outstanding job," he said. "We consider him 'like a starter' right now. Branson Taylor has done an outstanding job. He just keeps getting better. Ryan Baer has been super. ... Terrence Moore's done a nice job. He's behind Owen right now, but a guy that you go, 'Wow, that guy can help us out a bunch.' Didn't play in the spring game, so you guys didn't see him then."
Veteran leadership lurks throughout the locker room, including within the running backs room. The Panthers have tremendous depth at the position, and there's a wild-card addition with Notre Dame transfer C'Bo Flemister.
Flemister averaged 4.4 yards per carry and scored 10 touchdowns in 25 career games with the Fighting Irish. He has already impressed Narduzzi, who brought up that Flemister had to finish up at Notre Dame over the summer and graduate before he could begin working with the Panthers.
"He didn't have a whole lot of preseason training and conditioning, so we're just getting him into the playbook, so it's going to be a little slower that way," Narduzzi said. "There's no way you can expect some guy to come in and figure it out immediately. He'll be a work in progress mentally, but physically he's got the tools to go in there."
The Panthers are expected to run the ball more, which could mean opportunities aplenty for Flemister to work alongside Israel Abanikanda and Co.
"He's really mature, and I like how he's handled himself early in the first few days," Narduzzi continued about Flemister. "He's not panicked, he's just worried about the playbook. He's smooth, and I really like where he's at right now."
