Yes, it is the first preview of the season, so obviously we are going to pass notes on the Pitt Panthers themselves! It is the season preview of Pitt. I do have some news to pass along on myself first before getting to the team and it will affect the blog a good amount this fall. I am getting married and my fiancee and I will be getting hitched on Friday, October 12th of this year....or as you know it, the day before the Louisville game. I am already looking at all of my twitter followers to keep me posted as I feel like the day after will be VERY hard to follow the game on TV (by the way, you can follow me on twitter @BrunoPittsburgh). All that being said, I will still do my previews, updates, and recaps, BUT, they will probably be much shorter and brief this season. It is just a sacrifice I have to make for one year. So, all ten of you will have to have some patience.
Now, let's get on with the preview of the team for 2012.
Now that "those we do not speak of" are gone to burn in desert, we have Paul Chryst "our savior". As mentioned on this blog, I do understand the fan base wants to put on their Nike sneakers and drink some kool-aid and end it already, but I do like this staff overall. I would LOVE to see a better recruiting process, but I am hoping this will come with the staff's "comfortable" approach to recruiting. Landing a couple of BIG guns out there would absolutely do wonders (I'm looking at you DJ and Foster). Make no mistake though, Pitt hired this coaching staff more for their coaching ability than recruiting. We will see a return the pro-style offense and the defense will move to a 4-3 style.
Let's start with the offense! We are all hearing a few things that go along with Chryst's version of the pro-style offense. He does love to run, BUT one thing that is being talked about is that this staff (unlike those we do not speak of) will cater to the talents of the players in the system, rather than trying to just jam in the system all at once. Just trying to jam people into a situation is like The Real World or whatever piece of garbage show E! is putting on this week...it's fun to watch, but it always ends badly (side note...I haven't paid attention to The Real World in a LONG time, but The Soup does a great job of keeping me up to date). Wisconsin's offenses averaged a shit load of points, so it is not a boring, low scoring offense by any means. It will NOT be a throwback to the Wanny era, so please hold yourself back from talking about how boring this will be. I'm going to list the positions and just give a few thoughts on each and away we go:
QBs - Tino is your starter, despite a late camp push by true freshman Chad Voytik. Now, the big question is, if something were to happen with Tino (injury or struggles or mop up time) will the staff turn to Voytik or Trey Anderson? With what has transpired in camp, I say they turn to Voytik. My feeling is that Tino will be better with the move to pro-style, BUT, I would not expect a all-conference for him. He'll still hold the ball too long and make a bad pass or read once or twice per game, but I feel like people will be more pleased than pissed (oh hell, what am I talking about, this is the Pitt fan base and if Tino finished in the Heisman voting this year, they would still find something wrong).
RBs - This is where Chryst excels with his offenses and Pitt has some good ball carriers. They will ease Ray Graham back into the lineup and he will be spelled (more so in the first month of the season) by Isaac Bennett, Rushell Shell, and Malcolm Crocket. Now, everyone wants to see Shell and you will, but they will most likely ease him into the lineup as well. There is not much to hate about this position. I am excited for Shell, like everyone else is, BUT, if Ray Graham comes back healthy, this group will give Pitt fans hope in every game.
WRs - The starters will be Devin Street and Mike Shanahan. Cam Saddler will come in for 3 WR sets and after him they will use a combination of Ronald Jones, Josh Brinson, Brendan Felder, and even true freshman Chris Wuester is pushing for time. This is a deep position for Pitt and one that will do well in the better suited pro-style offense. If one of the top 2 players go down, there is a pretty steep drop off between the top 3 receivers and the next group right now.
TE - There will be a lot of use in this offense for tight ends and the ones getting the bulk of the playing time are Hubie Graham, Drew Carswell, and true freshman JP Holtz. I like this group a lot, BUT, they are very thin. No injuries can happen here. Two injuries would be devestating.
OL - I'll make this one simple. BEFORE left tackle, Juantez Hollins was suspended for the year, I kept saying to myself....they might be serviceable, BUT, they cannot afford any injuries or suspensions....BOOM....Hollins is gone for the year. I still think they will be serviceable. They will be better in the running game than passing. They WILL struggle with pass protection and with Tino at the helm, there could be some long games. I like the inside with Chris Jacobson, Ryan Turnley, and Ryan Schlieper. The tackles will be good in the running schemes, but will struggle with pass protection. I like Cory King and Matt Rotheram, but they are VERY inexperienced. After that...when the first tackle (Adam Bisnowaty) and guard (Gabe Roberts) are true freshmen and are the first two off the bench.....UGH! Let's all stop for a moment and PRAY for a healthy year out of the offensive line. A few injuries and this could get really ugly. Not because I don't think Roberts and Bisnowaty can't do the job, but they are true freshmen and that is scary for such a physical position.
Let's move on to the other side of the ball. The 4-3 will also NOT be like the Wanny era. They will bring much more pressure on the line of scrimmage and leave the corners on an island a good amount, so the secondary will be important. Let's take a look at that side of the ball.
DE - I was initially worried about this group, but after hearing reports in camp, I think they will be VERY solid. Your starters will be TJ Clemmings and Jack Lippert (who was a nice surprise in camp) and the backups will be Brian Murphy, Shayne Hale, and Devin Cook.
NG - Besides saftey this position probably has the least amount of drop off between the starter and back up. Tyrone Ezell will start and will be backed up by Khaynin Mosley-Smith. They can also slide Ezell over to DE and start Mosley-Smith if there are some injuries on the outside.
DT - The big man will handle this position and will not come off the field very much as Aaron Donald returns to wreck the opposition's backfield. He will be backed up by true freshman Darryl Render, which could turn into a problem if something were to happen to Donald.
WLB - The weak side linebacker position seems be Nicholas Grigsby's to lose, BUT he is trying to hold off Manny Williams.
MLB - The man in the middle will be Shane Gordon and the back ups will be Joe Trebitz and team favorite Dan Mason.
SLB - The strong side will be Todd Thomas' job once he is healthy, but right now Eric Williams is in his place while he heals and Emmanuel Rackard will back him up it seems.
LBs as a whole - This is an athletic group that lacks experience, but will be helped by a good defensive line that will eat up a lot of blocking. I think they can be good, but they are a question mark. Also...freshmen Bam Bradley (who Pitt fans are going to love) and DeSean Rippy are also pushing for playing time. They do need Thomas back sooner rather than later.
CBs - This was a strength and now has a little question mark with the transfer of Lloyd Carrington and an injury to K'Waun Williams. They are still a good group, but they were VERY strong before a couple of days ago. The starters will be Williams and Lafayette Pitts (when Williams is healthy and he should be soon). The backups will be Cullen Christian AND two true freshmen in Jahmal Pardner and Ryan Lewis.
Safties - OK - this group is plain out nasty and are the deepest group on the team. We are monitoring an injury to starter Jarred Holley, who, when healthy should be a starter. That being said, Andrew Taglianetti, Jason Hendricks, and Ray Vinopal will ALL play and play a lot. Anthony Gonzalez is also pushing for time here, but with those four, it will be tough to crack the lineup.
The kicking game is in good hands with Kevin Harper (at kicker) and Matt Yoklic (punter). Harper did struggle last year, but his leg is strong and he has been better in camp this year.
I have no delusions of this team. It is a new system and even with what I believe will be a better transition to this system (since half the team was recruited to play in this system anyways - unlike last year), and the schedule is not a murder's row. I would say the best this team could do is 9-3 and that is catching some breaks and REALLY staying healthy. It also could go so very wrong and despite a lot of good players and playing in a weak conference (FOR ONE MORE YEAR), the Panthers could finish with a 5-7 record. I don't think either happens. I am saying 7-5 and a minor bowl, BUT, I am very excited for the future as Paul Chryst seems to be the anti-those we do not speak of.
ENJOY THE YEAR!
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