Inside Camp: Freshmen adjust to the life of college football

Throughout August, new head coach Paul Chryst and the Pitt football players spent each day…

Quarterback Chad Voytik (16) was one of several freshmen who had to adjust to the difficult lifestyle of college football athletes.

Luv Purohit, Assistant Visual Editor

Throughout August, new head coach Paul Chryst and the Pitt football players spent each day at their facility on the South Side, partaking in a grueling training camp to prepare for the upcoming 2012 campaign. The Pitt News is proud to present the final installment of a three-part series titled “Inside Camp” to give you a close-up of what life at training camp was like for the 2012 Panthers. Part one is available here, and you can read part two here.

PART THREE: LOW MEN ON THE TOTEM POLE

As long as senior kicker Kevin Harper can help it, being the butt of jokes will remain a training camp rite of passage for freshmen on the Pitt football team.

“It’s all good. We all got it when we were freshmen, and I’m sure they’ll do it when they’re upperclassmen,” Harper said. “It’s just good bonding time.”

As if going from high school athletics to Division I college football wasn’t difficult enough, the new players on Pitt’s football team were often subjected to playful ridicule at the hands of their more-experienced teammates during training camp — a two-week-long ordeal in early August that consisted of at least one three-hour practice every day.

One freshman who experienced the good-natured ribbing from his new teammates firsthand was defensive back Jahmahl Pardner. A somewhat surprising breakout performer throughout training camp, the Rochester, N.Y., native didn’t play quite well enough to avoid a common practice on teams in all sports at all levels.

“I got a really bad nickname already,” said Pardner, who may vie for playing time in the secondary as a true freshman. “They call me ‘Roach.’ That’s my nickname, and they tell me it’s because I look like the roach from “Men in Black” — that’s the joke.”

But Pardner knew his teammates were just being goofy and took the joking in stride, even the unfortunate alias that sophomore linebacker Todd Thomas bestowed upon him.

“I don’t enjoy the name at all, but I can’t really do anything about it,” Pardner said. “I have to shake it with my play. I can’t really say anything, I just have to take it, and hopefully if I keep working hard and get on the field, I’ll be in a position to say, ‘Hey, I’m making plays now, you can’t call me Roach anymore. My name’s Jahmahl.’”

The dreadlock-sporting Pardner knew the leap from high school football to the college level would be taxing, with the daily grind of training camp representing the first obstacle in the challenging transition.

“When I got here, it kind of hit me, and the first couple days I was a little overwhelmed, and I wasn’t playing as well as I could,” the soft-spoken Pardner said. “Then one day, I just sat down and told myself I worked hard to get here, and just because it’s tough right now, I can’t let that overwhelm me. I just have to fight through it.”

Sophomore running back Isaac Bennett can remember what it was like when he made the jump from high school to collegiate athletics a year ago and could undoubtedly empathize with his freshman teammate.

“It just seems like yesterday we were moving in,” Bennett said. “I see the freshmen unpacking, and they’ve got the carts and everything. I think last year I didn’t even get to unpack until the second week.”

Though the constant pressure to perform at training camp was still an ongoing battle for Pardner, he kept in close contact with his family, calling his parents each day when he had some precious free time.

Pardner also said his roommate and fellow underclassman Devon Porchia, a linebacker who was in a similar situation, could relate to what it’s like trying to fight for any playing time that might be available.

“That’s why he’s one of my better friends,” Pardner said, “because we’re in the same position, and he can just tell me, like, ‘Remember what you’ve worked for and why you’re here.’”

Spending nights together during camp in their room in Sutherland Hall, Pardner and Porchia liked to watch an occasional episode of the comedic cartoon “Family Guy” before bed or, if it was on, “The Shawshank Redemption” — one of Pardner’s favorite movies.

And when the weekend came during camp, it not only offered the players a bit of a break with just an intra-squad scrimmage on Saturdays and one practice on Sundays, but also a chance to eat something other than cafeteria food. In Pardner’s case, that usually meant a trip to Oakland restaurant Joe Mama’s for pasta or another one of his favorite Italian dishes.

Soon enough, Porchia, Pardner and the other freshmen will be seniors enduring the final training camp of their college careers, like Harper and wide receiver Cam Saddler just did.

“My life was consumed by football these two weeks, but it’s fun. I feel like that’s the reason for the camp,” Saddler said. “You get to block everything out, and it’s just football.”

Just football, as in no gallivanting around Oakland and enjoying the nightlife on the weekends for him and his of-age teammates?

“Man, that would be nice,” the senior receiver said. “But, no, we don’t have the time, and even when you do have the time, you just want to lay in bed because you’re worn out from all the practicing.

“It’s like a 16-hour work day. You go to sleep, you wake up and you do it all over again,” he said.