I think the attention Jonathan Baldwin has gotten along with Dorin DIckerson playing at tight end has led to something of a fascination in the media with Pitt’s receiving corps. For an offense that at best will have a slight tilt to the running game as far as play-calling, the WRs and TEs seem to be getting a lot of pixels.
[Wide Receivers Coach Bryan] Bossard isn’t worried yet because there are still three weeks before the season and he believes Kinder and Porter will be healthy by then. And he also has some talented freshmen — Aundre Wright and Jonathan Baldwin in particular — who are making a strong case for playing time as they take advantage of their increased reps.
“I feel very good with the older four guys,” Bossard said. “They’ve been in battles and played in games. Right now I am trying to get Derek back into it, he is getting smoother and we’re just trying to be smart with him. But beyond that — Aundre has stepped his game up. He’s playing faster now and he’s been impressive. And Jonathan Baldwin is a talent. He is big, fast and strong, he’s got great upside, but he has a lot to learn and that’s my job, to teach him.”
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With those two in the group and a healthy Porter and Kinder, the Panthers would have a six-man rotation with a good mix of speed (Wright), physical toughness (Kinder, McGee), size (Baldwin, Turner) and athleticism.
Plus the tight ends are looking for the ball.
“Dorin is becoming a good blocker,” Angelichio said. “He’s in there, battling. He can definitely do it. He works as hard as anybody.”
Angelichio said the Panthers probably won’t run a lot of two-tight ends sets this season – there are too many other talented skill players in the offense.
But the group gives quarterback Bill Stull a reliable target over the middle. Last season, Pitt tight ends combined to catch 49 passes for 584 yards and four touchdowns.
“I think we are going to be a major role in this offense,” Byham said. “We are having the tight ends do a lot of things. A lot of moving around. They are really putting us into the offense. We’re really getting some love this year.”
And Byham got a little love this week in a Pitt press puffing release.
BTW, too bad for Saddler, he was THE key guy this year and probably the most important “get” of Wanstache’s tenure. If not for Saddler, the rest of the great class proabably would not be here.
Interesting point about Saddler being Wannstedt’s most important “get” of his tenure. On it’s face, I’d say that honor would belong to McCoy, but each was instrumental for very different reasons.
For as dominant as McCoy was last year, people forget that he was a bit of an enigma when he committed to Pitt. He was coming off the decommit from Miami after they pulled their offer in lieu of his injury. There were a lot of questions about his health and his character.
(Tangent: Looking back on it now, how ridiculous were some of the things we heard about what a pain in the ass this kid was supposed to be? McCoy, to me, has seemed to be an absolute model teammate as well as a tremendous spokesman for the program. Leads me to wonder if some of these character questions were started by the father of some kid who was behind McCoy on the depth chart at Bishop McDevitt way back when.)
I think we expected McCoy to be good, but he was every bit as good as he was supposed to be when he was the top RB recruit in the country and headed to Miami.
Saddler was a lesser-known talent than McCoy, so on it’s face, his commitment wasn’t have the immediate on-field impact even if he hadn’t gotten hurt. But his commitment coming in lieu of the WVU game probably also helped land Hale and a few other guys, and that kind of impact will be felt down the road.
I’d give McCoy the edge because his impact was more direct; he put Pitt back on the map and made them relevant again. But I’m not sure Pitt ends up with the class it did this past February without getting Saddler.
Looks like Cam Saddler is out for the year with a torn ACL.