It’s time to act like a middle school kid in love and pass
some notes on our own Pitt Panthers with the season upon us. Pitt has been in
camp for a couple of weeks now and the starting lineup is starting to take
shape. Some questions have been answered
and other issues still leave me feeling queasy like when you first ask out a
girl growing up (and in my case the stomach punch that would usually follow her
response of, “no”). Let’s dive right
into things and start with what figures to be the strength of this team and
that is the defense.
DEFENSE
The defense returns several starters and on top of that a
few that gained valuable experience last season. The defensive line brings back all-everything
defensive tackle and team leader, Aaron Donald.
The senior’s motor is expected to be running at all times this season
and he figures to have a great year. He
is one player I am not worried about with the move to the faster and stronger
ACC conference. He will get his and then some.
Unfortunately, despite Donald’s status on the team and in the
conference, I do believe the defensive line will be the weakest part of this
unit.
With the suspension of KK Mosley-Smith, the front four lost
a valuable person and besides Donald, the starters appear to be Bryan Murphy
and David Durham at ends and finally Tyrone Ezell at nose tackle. Ezell has been a player that appears to have
the tools, but really needs to step up in order to free up Donald to make
plays. He must play better than he has
in the past couple of years. He is the
key to how the defensive line will handle the step up in competition. Also mixing in, figure to Shakir Soto (a true
freshman), Devin Cook, LaQuentin Smith, Jack Lippert and finally Ejuan Price on
the ends. Price is making a move at camp
to possibly start and will see a ton of playing time rotating into games. His
pass rushing is not in question, but he is a little undersized. Helping out Donald and Ezell should be Darryl
Render and Tyrique Jarrett. Keep an eye
on this unit, as we’ll find out real soon against Florida State if they can come
up big or be the weak link.
The linebackers are an interesting unit and have a ton of
(excuse the terrible NBA draft language here) upside. The coaches have said
they are looking for the top 6 best and mix and match. I think they found seven, but the top six
seem to be Shane Gordon inside backed up by Mike Caprara and on the outside
will be a combination of Todd Thomas, Bam Bradley, Anthony Gonzalez, and
Nicholas Grigsby. Gordon is the only one that has absolutely locked up a
starting spot and while Gonzalez should start at one outside linebacker spot,
Bradley is trying to hold off the recently reinstated Thomas. I expect Thomas to eventually take over the
spot, but all six are going to play.
Also pushing his way onto the field appears to be true freshman, Matt
Galambos. He will play special teams and
probably see a few snaps here with the defense.
As good as the linebackers should be this season, the
defensive backs have only gotten deeper with the freshmen from Clairton
stepping up big to combine with the returning secondary to make up a talented
and well-stocked defensive backfield.
The starters will be Jason Hendricks and Ray Vinopal at safety and
K’Wuan Williams and Lafayette Pitts at the corners. Beyond that, the back-up
corners are a developing story. Last
year’s impressive freshman (and still a freshman thanks to a medical redshirt),
Jahmahl Pardner is still recovering from a knee injury, but is creeping closer
to 100%, while the Clairton Bears’ alum Titus Howard is also making waves. Trenton
Coles is also competing for time with Howard to really make Clairton fans puff
out their chests. It doesn’t stop there,
as Terrish Webb is also pressing for time at safety along with Cullen
Christian. It all combines for a very
talented secondary that I believe will be the backbone of the Panthers’
defense.
Overall, the new defensive coordinator, Matt House (last
year’s defensive backs coach), will run a base 4-3 unit, but I think you are
going to see a ton of mixing and matching.
There has been a lot of talk about being aggressive and with a good
amount of blitzing mixed in during games.
We shall see, as talk is one thing and actually seeing it on the field
is another. As mentioned, this unit has
the potential to be very good, but they need the defensive line to be strong as
a whole and not allow double teams of Donald in order to be a force.
OFFENSE
Let’s turn our attention to the other side of the ball and
look at head coach Paul Chryst’s speciality…the offense. We’ll begin at the top where senior Tom
Savage was recently named the starting quarterback. As mentioned on this blog previously, while
some “experts” feel Pitt losing a 3 year starter at this position is a
negative, I just feel like Savage will bring improved play to the
position. He brings a huge frame, rocket
arm, and dare I say it…an actual deep ball to the offense. The real question will be his decision making
and the ability to NOT take back breaking sacks. Can he do that? We can only wait and see and he’ll get a
chance right off the bat with the Seminoles’ fast defense on Labor Day. Backing
up Savage will be Chad Voytik, who fans are itching to see. I think Voytik will get some playing time,
but the unit is Savage’s to command.
Now we move onto the position that has some excited, some
scared and some looking as curious as a kid trying to get a peek into the adult
bookstore growing up…running back. With
the soap opera that was the Rushel Shell situation that lead to his departure,
Pitt finds itself in flux at this spot.
Isaac Bennett is hurt right now.
The coaching staff is saying he will be fine, but I’m reminded of an
injury like Lucas Nix, where it just seemed linger with the staff continuously
saying, “he’s coming along and we’ll see where he is tomorrow.” They could
really use Bennett, but until then it looks like true freshmen James Conner and
Rachid Ibrahim could form a thunder and lightning combo with Malcolm Crockett
mixing in where possible. No matter what
happens with Bennett, Conner will give Pitt a big and bruising back option. He wasn’t highly recruited, but Conner is impressing
in camp. The Panthers won’t use a
fullback all that much, but when they do, true freshman Jaymar Parrish will
pave the path for the most part it appears. Needless to say, this is an area of
concern when you counting that heavily on true freshmen.
We’ll go from one position that is unsettled to one that
became clear early in camp and has really held steady. Wide receiver could be something really great
for Pitt. We all know about senior Devin
Street, who has been impressing with his leadership and on-field work since the
season ended in Birmingham last year.
The player starting along side Street will be yet another Clairton Bear
who looks to be as good as advertised…TYLER BOYD! Boyd came to Pitt as one of the prizes of
last year’s recruiting class and he has not disappointed. Backing up those two will be Kevin
Weatherspoon (oh hey look…another Clairton Bear) and Chris Wuestner. Boyd’s
performance will be key to freeing up Street this season.
I mentioned in the running backs section that Pitt will play
a lot without a fullback and that is because they will use a hybrid of tight
end and H-back. Pitt is not deep here,
but man is the talent level very high. Three players will split this spot and
there will be a lot of times when two of them will be on the field at the same
time. JP Holtz comes of a nice freshman
campaign and he’ll be joined by transfer and matchup nightmare Manasseh Garner
(get used to that name). Finally, the
position will be rounded out by man-child true freshman, Scott Orndoff. The tight ends/H-back could be very good for
the Panthers and create all kinds of problems for linebackers and safeties that
are either too small or too slow for these three.
When Paul Chryst came aboard, he made no secret about
building the offensive line back up to glory.
If you read this blog, you know that I was very excited about this. That being said, it is still a work in
progress. I think there is no doubt that
they will be much deeper and talented than in years past, they do have a lot to
improve on and it starts at the anchor at left tackle. That spot will be manned by the talented Adam
Bisnowaty. Biz is good, but he is only a
red-shirt freshman. The other tackle is a little bit of a surprise where the
physically gifted TJ Clemmings has held off super-freshman Dorian Johnson for
the right tackle spot. The first tackle off the bench could very well be
Juantez Hollins, who is back from suspension.
If they can do that, red-shirting Johnson is a possibility and would be
very helpful. The guards will be a big strength for this unit with last year’s
TACKLES manning the positions. Matt
Rotheram and Cory King move from outside to the interior and in case you don’t
watch football…that’s a good thing. Backing them up will be Ryan Schielper, who
also has had his share of starts while at Pitt. Unfortunately, the center
position is still an ongoing battle between underdog Artie Rowell and Gabe
Roberts. Rowell is giving Roberts
everything he can handle and a starter probably will be named in the next few days. Rowell is more consistent, but Roberts is
physically imposing, which the coaching staff likes.
SPECIAL
TEAMS
Since we are have looked at the offense and defense, I guess
there is nothing else, so onto the season!
Oh wait, that’s right, there is that little special teams thing
lurking. Kevin Harper will no longer
drive Pitt fans nuts as he has moved on and despite already having a couple of
walk-ons, true freshman Chris Blewitt apparently has held the job since he
stepped on the field. According to
practice reports, Blewitt has not missed often and his leg strength is NOT something
that is being questioned. Returning to
punt will be senior Matt Yoklik. True
freshman Ryan Winslow seems to have some talent, but Yoklik should hang onto
the job throughout the season. As far as
kick returners go, the Panthers will not be lacking with talent and
excitement. Most are looking forward to
watching Boyd handle some of those duties, but a starting receiver does need a
break here and there, so Pitt will have an opportunity to showcase others.
OVERALL
OUTLOOK
So there you have it. If you read the whole thing, you can see that
my main concerns are the offensive and defensive line. My fear is that Pitt fans will see what
happens against Florida State and head to the nearest bridge, which Pittsburgh
has many. I hope they do not do
that. I’m not really interested in
whether they pull the upset or bolt onto the national scene with a stunner on
Labor Day. I am more interested to see
Pitt show they can play on that level and then improve throughout the year. They are young in a lot of areas, but this
will take a little time this year. Make
no mistake, the ACC is a different kind of speed that Pitt will not be used to
this year. The schedule is much harder
than past years and that will affect them.
If you are hoping for 10-2 or 11-1, check your ego at the door. If you think they will be 2-10 or 3-9, you
probably also think the Pirates will collapse and fail to make it to .500 still
this season. I think it is somewhere in the middle. I could see some bad breaks and a 5-7 season
and I could see them catching a few breaks, improving and finishing 7-5 and a
bowl game. I’ll stay in the middle and
say 6-6 with a bowl game. If you are upset with 6-6 with THIS schedule and THIS
youth…you need to take a step back and REALLY think about Pitt’s schedule and
how it compares to a Big East schedule.
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