Pitt: Physical play is fast becoming Panthers' identity
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Wannstedt asked to describe Panthers' 2010 training camp -- "Physical."
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The "16-power" is Pitt's bread-and-butter running play. On many Saturdays, the Panthers will run it until the other team cries "uncle."
As Dave Wannstedt explains it, the 16-power isn't just the Panthers' favorite play -- it is their identity.
And that's why, at a time when many college coaches are limiting the amount of live work and hitting at training camp, Wannstedt put the Panthers through a physical one.
In his eyes, there is just no substitute for physical practices, particularly when you want to play a physical brand of football.
So as camp broke Sunday, Wannstedt was asked to describe the Panthers' 2010 training camp. He smiled and said, "Physical."
"I think that every coach likes to stand there and say this is the most physical camp we had, but I don't know," Wannstedt said. "I just know the faster that you get and the stronger that you get, practices become more physical and I thought we banged it around pretty good.
• First game of 2010 season: No. 15 Pitt vs. Utah.
• When: 8:30 p.m. Sept. 2.
• Where: Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City, Utah.
• TV: VS.
"I thought we had enough live scrimmage work that I've seen [the top players] do what they need to do. I think the majority of our older players who we are counting on have performed at a high level."
The Panthers did a lot of hitting in this camp and had a lot of full speed, full contact periods, especially late in camp, which is a departure from what they have done in the past.
Wannstedt said there is a risk to having such physical practices but that doesn't outweigh the reward: The Panthers have developed into a tough football team that will again try to win games by attrition and out-toughing teams in the fourth quarter.
"I think if you walked in there right now and asked our kids to call a play, to a man it would be 16-power," Wannstedt said. "That for us is a way of life. You live with things and you die with things, but if you have confidence in them and do them well enough that kids believe in it [you keep doing it].
"The bottom line is there is no easy, finesse way to run 16-power. It is a combination of players mentality we want to have here at Pitt plus the kinds of plays that we run. There aren't many teams who use a fullback like we do, and all of that adds up to having physical practices."
First Published August 23, 2010 12:00 am
