No one’s said much about the defense because, well, the defense did fine. It also helped that they were playing a team with very little to offer in terms of offense. And, quite frankly, last year the defense did fine in the first half of the season against offensively inept or inferior teams (Virginia, Cinci, Citadel, Toledo, ‘Cuse, UCF — 55 points), but as the season progressed or against a team that understood the concept of the forward pass or had a running game (MSU, Rutgers, USF, UConn, WVU, L-Ville — 219 points). So, I’m not going to be reading too much into the performance.
Just a thought, I realize the release of Pitt’s basketball schedule was something dictated by the Big East, but couldn’t Pitt have had a waiver to delay for a few days. Think about this extra promotional incentive. Attend the Grambling game and be the first to get the Pitt basketball schedule. It couldn’t have hurt. Couple that with Wanny not revealing who will be the starting QB until Smith or Bostick runs out with the offense on the first series and it would be some great reasons to go to the game.
Mike McGlynn is eager to get back to playing.
McGlynn did his best to show Pitt coaches what they were missing in his cameo last Saturday. He replaced sophomore Jason Pinkston for one play at right tackle, and promptly unleashed his frustrations on an unsuspecting Eastern Michigan defender by driving him backwards 15 yards.
“I was excited and I took it out,” McGlynn said. “I definitely left it all out there on that play, that’s for sure.”
McGlynn is expected to replace Joe Thomas on the line who gets a bit of a defense from Zeise’s Q&A.
Q: Joe Thomas seems to be everyone’s whipping boy for the OL troubles, but why does C.J. Davis get a free pass? He hasn’t exactly dominated the competition these past two years, and versus Eastern Michigan he was whiffing on blocks and late on his assignments. Maybe Bokor should get some reps versus Grambling.
Zeise: I disagree about Joe Thomas taking more criticism than the other guys on the line. Are you going to tell me he has taken more flack than Chris Vangas? And Thomas was not singled out at all last year because people understood he was a true freshman. But I think one thing you need to remember is Thomas has had a number of nagging injuries that have slowed his progress this training camp. He hasn’t been healthy yet and coaches understand that, they aren’t down on him, they aren’t giving up on him, but at the same time, this coaching staff understands it has to win games now (like I said in my opening). He’s got a lot of talent and will still have a great career, but even he’ll tell you he’s struggled a little this year so far. C.J didn’t light it up either, but he’s been a consistent performer for two years so he gets a little slack. And if he has a couple more games like that, you might see Bokor, or even a guy like John Fieger, getting a few more reps at that spot. Believe me, this won’t be the only lineup change this year — the hook will be quicker for everyone because Dave Wannstedt is going to put the 22 guys out there who he thinks give him the best chance to win.
Thomas is catching more flak this year for two reasons: 1) his potential is greater than most of the other players on Pitt’s O-line, so more is expected; and 2) he hasn’t shown it — whether because of injuries or not — which means no progress from last year.
Kevin Gorman posts that he thinks it should (will) be Kevan Smith starting if for no other reason, that the players on the team seem more behind Smith at the moment.
Can’t get much from listening to the radio–esp. if you’re working from a desktop pc. So I have little to offer by way of explanation. I do, however, share your thoughts/ concerns for Dickerson’s placement at LB. I think he’s misplaced-managed and—when considering his ability to catch and carry the ball—poorly positioned to reach his potential as a Panther.
I can’t assess the situation from where I’m standing, though. But we should all get a look at him when we square off against MSU and I think Paul Zeise (PG) is very interested in the story and will continue to update on his progress there.
Pitt football chat with Paul Zeise 09/06/07
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
GLOCKGLOCK: Has Dickerson moved ahead of Gunn at LB or will the position still be handled like it was last week?
Paul Zeise: No, in fact Gunn has seemingly tightened his grip on the starting job though the two will still split time. Gunn was listed as the starter on the two-deep this week as opposed to the co-starter.
Wanny promised him a shot at playing time and he came through with his promise – I guess Dickerson couldn’t make the most of the opportunity at that time.
I don’t know, did he? Until it’s a fact it’s otherwise conjecture. And I’m not thinking I have the time or desire to research the kid’s HS career.
If, in fact, he did contribute to his HS defense (compiling play-time at LB), one is nevertheless led to believe that his impact was far greater on the otherside of the ball (offense).
The Louisville philosophy for playing pass defense tonight seems to be: run to a spot on the field, wait for the wide open receiver you didn’t even try to cover to catch the ball, then try and tackle him. Ugly. If they keep that up, all you’re going to need is a quarterback with one arm and a receiver with two.
He missed almost all of camp last year because he injured himself in the Big 33 game (or practices for it) and then the injury didn’t heal properly when he got to camp (I think it was his ankle). I remember Gorman or Zeise explaining that because of this, he had a hard time picking up the playbook at receiver. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand the plays. He just wasn’t healthy enough to get on the field to practice the plays against live action to get the timing of the routes down, getting the timing with the QBs.
It all combined to set him behind the rest of the receivers on the depth chart. On top of that, Kinder, Turner and Pestano all managed to prove themselves to be fairly capable receivers. He spent the first half of last season catching up to everyone else and the second half of the season trying to earn playing time.
The rumors going around last year were that when Dickerson finally was practicing as close to 100% as possible at receiver, he wasn’t exactly setting the world on fire during practices. And let’s face it…with this team desperate to win anything down the stretch last year, the coaches sure as hell wouldn’t have kept him bottled up if he was looking like the second coming of Fitz or something at practice.
They also tried working him at tailback but had he stayed there, how in the hell were they going to get him carries this year with McCoy in the fold along with LSH and Collier?
Dickerson played a rover position at West Allegheny…it was reminiscent of the same position Brian Urlacher played when he was in college. At times he lined up in the defensive backfield. At times he lined up as a LB. Hell, they even got him in a three-point stance a few times, from what I’ve heard. He wasn’t an outstanding defensive player, but he was good. He was so athletic they had to keep him out there because he was always around the ball.
Let’s give the kid a little bit of time to learn the position before burying the decision to move him. Like I said, something tells me they felt comfortable enough with what they had coming back at WR and RB, and they’d seen enough of him to know that they needed to get him on the field but it wasn’t going to happen for him at either of those two positions. The kid’s a fantastic athlete and a solid, instinctive football player. Give him some time.
Now if you’re talking about regular bars and clubs…well, good luck.
Middle Tennessee St. hanging 42 on Louisville and making things a lot more interesting than they should’ve been,…
or Cincy absolutely destroying Oregon State 34-3. I know Oregon State isn’t exactly the class of the Pac-10 this year, but Cincy sure as hell wasn’t considered the class of the Big East either. The Bearcats could conceivably be 5-0 headed into their Oct. 6 game at Rutgers. Cincy’s next three opponents are Miami(OH), Marshall and San Diego State.
And, faced with the choice of riding the bench or getting playing time as a LB, DD decided to go where the coaches wanted him (which is exactly what every player is supposed to do – regardless of how many ‘stars’ they had in HS).
He seems to have mentally and emotionally embraced the move – and he’s played ONE game, so the jury should be not be out on his success at that position.
But, the bottom line is – where do you see him playing on offense? At the RB position, replacing Shady or a 900 yard rusher in LSH? Or at WR where he already failed to make an impact?
I keep telling them that the surprise team is going to be Cincinatti.
Dickerson initially came to camp as a wideout last year. Just after the first camp scrimmage, they moved him to running back…
Interesting now to re-read that. For all the crying about how Pitt allegedly wasted him as a wideout, it seems to be that they always saw him as a RB first and that he was primarily moved to WR because the position was considered a great unknown heading into last year’s camp (“but the emergence of several underclassment made Dickerson’s move to tailback possible”). He actually lasted only a matter of a week or two at wideout before being moved to running back.
Zeise also addressed Dickerson’s move to linebacker in this Q&A, saying it would’ve been difficult for him to get on the field at both RB and WR…
I’m not sure why this still continues to be an issue.
First, this team is very deep at receiver when you factor in Turner and Pestano (proven “veterans”) and guys like Porter, McGee, Maurice Williams and Aundre Wright working their way up. You also have to factor in Byham and Strong at the TE position. If Pitt was in position to move an incredibly talented player away from any position at all, they could afford to lose a potential wideout.
It made absolutely no sense to keep Dickerson at RB…not with McCoy now in the picture and LSH having proven for two years that he’s capable of generating some offense. If you’ve got 30 carries to divide up between three backs, you’re either not getting the ball to McCoy enough, or you’re not getting the ball to Dickerson enough.
I don’t know…maybe the memories of Clint Session and Brian Bennett being turned into pylons against the likes of WVU are still too fresh in my mind and it’s clouding my perception. But the subsequent moves of guys like Shane Murray (an incredibly fundamentally-sound tackler) and Dickerson (a physically gifted athlete and smart football player with defensive experience in that rover position) seem to tell me they had a design in mind here. They had a gaping need not just for linebackers coming into this year, but a need for ATHLETIC linebackers.
The move to me made too much sense, and it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest to see Dickerson develop into a Brian Urlacher-type, or even a Sean Taylor-at-Miami-type during his Panthers career. In the end, I don’t think Pitt will be sorry that the asked Dickerson to make this move.
Also, I won’t – and wasn’t – bashing a player at this level, but if Dickerson is all that he is hyped to be, why hasn’t he secured a spot on a weak football team. Let’s be honest. We’re not *that* talented at receiver or linebacker.
Could he become a great player? Sure he could. But we were told he was a great player coming in. He’s not Kinder, an under-the-radar talent that worked himself into an All-Big East performer.
It’s still early, but all accounts have the starting SAM LB job slipping from his grasp at the moment. BTW – the guy playing ahead of him (Gunn) is only a junior, so if all things stay the same, Dickerson could be a senior before he sees substantial playing time.
There are plenty of underclassmen contributing across the country. Why are our supposedly top-25 recruiting classes failing to make an immediate impact – particularly in light of the supposed dearth of talent that Wannstedt inherited?
You need look no further than Morgantown to see White and Slaton dominating games as underclassmen. Surely we could get one of our young stars on the field. No?
Maybe McCoy, Williams or Bostick will be the answer. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Do you feel that you will learn enough from this article to help you out with the subject matter at hand?…
I’m interested to see how his situation pans out. I’m sure other top-flight recruits are as well. The staff hasn’t impressed me with their handling of Dickerson. It’s almost as if they’re more worried about their future than they are his.
They didn’t red shirt him last season yet used him sparingly. This year they’ve moved him to linebacker and it doesn’t look like he’s playing much (admittedly, it is early). Doesn’t seem to jive. Maybe I’ve been misinformed about his talent level. Thoughts/explanations?