I’m not saying high glossy covers and lots of photos are bad. I’m just suggesting that it can be a bit of a warning as to the overall content. Okay, done with the commentary as to the overall product offering.
Lindy’s is one of the earliest publications to come out, and produces its team previews by hiring local beat writers. Paul Zeise of the Post-Gazette provides the Pitt write-up — presumably a freelance gig. I don’t think this is a bad thing. They actually know the team, its strengths and weaknesses and might be more accurate with information. On the other hand, there’s little value in reading a summary of stuff you’ve already read from him before.
One of the things Lindy’s has in this year’s preview is an “All-American Team for the Past 25 Years” (p. 11). They place one first-teamer and a second-teamer from Pitt. Offensive lineman, Jimbo Covert (1982) on the 1st team and WR Larry Fitzgerald on the 2nd team. As previously noted, Lindy’s has a couple Pitt players on its All-American Squad for 2006. Darrelle Revis, 1st Team DB and H.B. Blades, 2nd Team LB (p. 33).
Lindy’s does the individual position ranking and so you see them placing Tyler Palko as the 15th best QB (p. 34); Darrelle Revis is the 2nd best DB in the country (p. 42); Adam Graessle is considered the 9th best Punter (p. 44); and H.B. Blades is listed as the 2nd best LB in the country (p. 41).
Each of the lists is accompanied by a profile article on one player. The Linebacker list has a story on Blades (written by Zeise). As you would expect, there’s a bit of talk regarding his bloodlines. Lindy’s also partners with NFLDraftScout.com for some content to list the top draftable players. They list Blades at #17 (p. 61). Right now, the site lists Blades as the best ILB for the 2007 draft.
They also provide their opinion on leading candidates for the various CFB awards. They put Revis at #9 on the list for the Bronko Nagurski award (p. 62).
Lindy’s does a “complete” ranking from 1-119, and places Pitt at #51 and 4th best in the Big East (p. 26). On the Big East preview pages (pp. 148-9), the predicted finish is WVU, L’ville, Rut, Pitt, USF, UConn, Cinci and ‘Cuse. Blades is picked as the BE Pre-Season Defensive Player of the Year.
On the All-Big East squad, Revis and Blades are 1st team defense. John Simonitis and Mike McGlynn (OLs) make the 2nd team offense. Adam Graessle is 2nd team Punter. Showing the need for a fact checker or something, Tez Morris is also included on the second team. He, um, graduated. Here’s a hint. The Pitt roster page, isn’t updated until sometime in July. Add a year.
As for the Pitt preview page (p. 153), well as I said it’s Zeise, so you should have something of an idea. He sees the team as going anywhere from 5-7 to 7-5 and he focuses on the line play. He thinks the offensive line should be better but the defensive line is the big problem.
