And only a week of spring practice left.
I’ve followed along. I’ve read Kevin Gorman’s blog along Cat Basket for almost daily sources. I’ve read the articles in the papers. At the same time, I can’t say I’ve put much thought into spring practices.
Here are what seem to be the some of the main things right now.
Running Back: Dion Lewis, a freshman early enrollee, has apparently been the best RB in the spring. Either Chris Burns was simply passed, or he hasn’t shown the same fire from last summer’s practices. The battle is not settled, but it is not as expected to be Burns and Shariff Harris battling to see who starts and who spells.
Quarterback: Bill Stull will still be the starter at QB, but he is not going to make it easy on himself. No one is or should be shocked that Coach Wannstedt declared that the job was Stull’s to lose. The disappointing thing is that he has not shown much beyond being a senior this coming season and having the backing of the head coach. That’s not to say that Tino Sunseri and Pat Bostick are getting the shaft. It’s simply that the QB position will continue to be a major source of angst for Pitt fans. Interesting observation from an outsider on Sunseri:
Sunseri is the best athlete, but he’s smaller in person than I expected. He’s listed at 6-foot-2 but looks a good couple of inches shorter than Stull and Bostick, who are each listed at 6-3.
I had to go back and check Pitt’s media guide, but yeah, they do list Sunseri at 6-2. All reports I could remember when he was a senior in HS was that he was barely 6-0. In college, you can argue that is not a big deal. Plenty of players thrive despite being 6-0 or under. I would be more concerned if this was still Matt Cavanaugh’s offense. I have some concerns since Pitt does run a pro-set and therefore may not give a shorter QB the lanes to pass with the lines — instead counting on the QB to throw over the lines.
New OC Frank Cignetti is trying not to declare a starter — despite what his boss is saying — so that is still something to keep an eye on.
One interesting development with regards to Pat Bostick is this:
Bostick has looked more and more comfortable this spring, and completed 9 of 17 passes for 72 yards with a touchdown and an interception in the scrimmage.
Where Bostick has shown the most improvement is in the velocity on his passes, a credit to Cignetti. Bostick isn’t showing signs of the windup or hitch in his delivery, and threw some nice deep balls in his first series. The Panthers ran a flea-flicker to Oderick Turner that was broken up by DeCicco and then a deep sideline route that Dorin Dickerson dropped. Bostick also went deep to Jonathan Baldwin, who let the pass slip through his hands, and showed some savvy by flicking a shovel pass to Lewis to avoid a sack when Caragein was draped on his back that gained a first down.
If this is true and consistent, well, then it is a significant change in the course of Pat Bostick’s possibilities. He’s still slow afoot, but if he is able to pass effectively and with force without the hitch and wind-up it is great news.
And yes, if this is Cignetti’s work, then it is a significant indictment on former OC Matt Cavanaugh’s ability to develop, work with, and teach college QBs. Something that was obvious and a significant issue for two years with a young QB is disappearing in spring practices under a new OC that has been here barely six weeks.
Center: I admit to being a bit puzzled by this one. Robb Houser was brought in last year from the JUCO ranks and immediately became the starting center. By all appearances, he seemed to be doing a well-enough job. Definitely better than the previous year’s efforts at the position. Then he suffers a broken ankle and was lost for the second half of the season. C.J. Davis slid over and did a great job filling in.
Now, it seems Houser can’t beat walk-on Alex Karabin. Is this a lingering effect from the injury — out of shape, not all the way healthy, no effort? No clear answer. What is obvious is that Pitt is still scrambling to find someone else who can take the reigns. That may mean moving John Malecki to center.
The extent of John Malecki’s experience playing center was hiking six snaps in the first practice for the Big 33 Football Classic in July 2006. It was enough to convince coaches he was a guard.
Malecki will be a senior. This smacks of desperation. It’s also a big problem stemming from Pitt’s failure to recruit an actual center, and failing to develop one from the offensive linemen recruited. I don’t find this to be second-guessing Pitt’s recruiting priorities. There have been plenty of questions about Pitt not recruiting an actual center.
Nothing was recruited on the Center spot once more this past year. It has been a point — to blind arrogance — that the o-linemen Pitt recruits can be moved wherever on the line. It’s a great concept, but it hasn’t held at the center spot. Last year worked out with C.J. Davis, but that was the exception. John Bachman, Greg Gaskins, and other efforts to actually move to the spot have all failed.
Sorry. Maybe I’m being a bit hard on this one. It might all work itself out, but Center has been a problem for all but one year so far under Wannstedt. At some point, you have to make an effort to actually recruit a real center.
Jonathan Baldwin: He looks dominant.
More Later.
Another last thought – Because of Blairs improvement Sam Young got lost in the glory. Watching both players in my opinion Young is a much more dangerous and quality player than Tyler
“Overrated
Anyhow, is the spring game going to be on NFL Network again this year? I was hoping that would be a yearly thing.
No doubt all those Big East coaches pulled the wool over Jamie’s eyes by praising Levance. They even voted him 3rd team all-conference so that Jamie would get complacent. Sam Young really did get lost in the glory, what with being an All-American and getting praised every time the team was on national TV.
In a classic bait and switch, I will now praise drw’s ability to write a coherent argument so that he will fall into the trap of posting more often. Well done, Sir!
Finally, I also agree that Sam is a more dangerous player than “Tyler” assuming that “Tyler” refers to Tyler Smith, Tyler Palko, Tyler Durden, Steven Tyler, President John Tyler, and economist Tyler Cowen.
Though, he has a long way to go to supplant Tyler Kennedy…KENNEDY!
I never got the sense that Wannstedt was declaring that Bill Stull was absolutely the starter for the opening game when he was saying those things. I thought he meant the Stull was more like QB1 at that point and would go into Spring practice getting the 1st team reps right off the bat – which happened.
Anyway, what matters is if the HC has truly vested his new OC with the authority to make his own decisions or not. I’m starting to believe that he just may have… maybe, we’ll see. If so then I think there’s a real possibility we’ll see a change at that position if Pat Bostick keeps playing the way he has been. And why not, I’ll remind the fans that when Bostick was the starting QB – with those poor results – he was only 18 years old for the whole 2007 season. I forgot that, and that’s rather eyeopening to think about. He is older now and has worked to change his physical attributes over the last two years, and that’s starting to show. I wish him luck as I don’t want to have a QB by default in there this season.
What would crack me up is if there really was an open competition and Cignetti himself thought Bill Stull would be the guy to best give PITT the chance to win football games. Wow – the PITT fans would NEVER believe that in a million years.
It’s going to be an interesting Summer Camp for sure. We have at least two very highly thought of recruits coming in who play positions of need – Graham at RB and Mason at MLB. Although what a pleasant surprise Lewis has been at RB so far. Not only fast and shifty, but has been running with some real power (and why not at 5’8″?? and 190 pounds), in his photos you can see he has a huge lower body – and DW has been talking him up a storm. We’ll see if that holds through the next four months – and as there is no returning starter at that position we could just possibly have a newcomer to the roster take the job.
I’m not too concerned about Houser or the OL at all at this point. IMO the real concern isn’t Houser’s play but whether he can come back fully from his injury to regain his 2008 form, which was good. If anything I’m glad to see both Nix and Jacobson getting their first team reps in. We could have a real strong unit there, and I trust Wise to pull it together. I though our new OL coach did an excellent job last season. If so, that would go a long way in easing our questions at QB and RB.
I’m more concerned about WR at this point. Baldwin will make some plays, but I don’t think he’ll be our “money” receiver yet – you know, the one we can count on to execute well every play and be the go-to guy for first downs. I’m not sure any WR has shown that yet. Porter will be a loss, albeit one that IMO has to happen. we have talent at the wR position, and I’m looking forward to watching Shanahan play this season – and think we’ll see DD split out more often than we have before. Mike Cruz is opening eyes and could be our second TE when needed (I think, don’t know how his blocking is yet).
So – even though this is Spring ball and half our starters aren’t either going full speed or even practicing with contact, I’m getting optimistic things may be better than we were left with after the disappointing bowl loss. Defensively we may be top notch, and that would ease some growing pains we are bound to experience on offense.
I enjoyed meeting you at the UConn game. You are a true gentleman. And you have not aged an iota since your playing days even though you say your legs are gone.
I wish you much success in the future.
Also agree that Sam Young got lost in the media explosion around Blair, which is unfortunate, because he was really special.
I know I’d still much rather see Tino back there than Stull or Bostick……
“Pitt sophomore DeJuan Blair will have an interesting decision to make. He was co-Big East player of the year and created a lot of buzz this season. But there are reservations about him playing too low below the rim by NBA personnel. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he heeded the advice and returned to Pitt.”
Source: link to tinyurl.com
Love to see him back, but that reason makes zero sense.
Hate to say it, but you go while the buzz is there. Next year, with no PG and no Young, figures to be challenging and there won’t be half as much “buzz” around the program.
I’d love to see him back, but at this point, I would be pleasantly surprised.
Ontario: We’re going to have to agree to disagree. Harangody was a mid-first round pick last year. Blair the same this year. That’s several million in guaranteed money. Staying may have pushed Harangody toward the second round, where $0 is guaranteed. Same with Blair. You can ALWAYS go back and get your education. In fact, I believe that most universities allow scholarship athletes to come back and finish their degrees at no charge. Even if they don’t, a few million from the draft would be enough to cover Blair or Harangody’s educations. The linchpin here is that staying longer hurts your stock in terms of potential. That’s why I say he should go. Guaranteed millions, and the best possible chance of being a pro player? (Reasoning there is two-fold: 1) they’re paying you the money, so they’re going to keep you on the team if you’re decent through at least the first year of the rookie contract; 2) working with NBA coaches, players, trainers, et cetera is BY FAR the most important thing in a player’s development from college to the pros.)
As for Baldwin it needs to be remembered that he is still learning to play receiver. While he has natural athletic abilities, Jonathan is a work in progress in the areas of running routes, understanding plays/schemes and various other intricacies of playing the position.
No way Sunseri starts this year. That leaves the lesser of two “evils” between Stull/Bostick. I say death to Sauron (Stull) and life to Boromir (Bostick). Stull’s play is just freakin evil in my mind’s eye. I don’t see him being any better this year than last. In fact if there is open competition I see him folding just like he does with any sense of pressure. On the other side, I have more faith of Bostick being resurrected. He is a hard worker who was dealt a bad hand when he came to Pitt. He had to start as a true freshman with a horrible line. I believe with FC’s tutelage he will blossom into a capable QB.
Blair’s not going to be a Hall of Fame player. He’s looking to go make a living. And he is ready to do that. If he stays, he exposes weaknesses. If he goes, he learns the jumper from NBA instructors while making good money. He will go around 20th in the draft. That means he goes to a playoff-type team that doesn’t need him to do more than come out for 10 minutes a night in his rookie year. That’s a GREAT situation for him.
I don’t think he’s going to develop a face up game. He’s just hasn’t shown that potential.
By the way, Barkley had a nice perimeter game. He took way too many threes and shot a low percentage from out there, but he drove past folks all the time from the wing (and played WAY above the rim while in Philly) and didn’t rely exclusively on posting up until later in his career.
I would have been so happy to love Fields, but Top 5 point guards don’t have field goal shooting percentages under 40 and barely clear 70% on free throws. He had a nice career.
5 better PGs — Lawson, Lucas, Collins, Mendes-Valdez, Teague, Rice,…….it’s kind easy to name them. Those were just off the top of my head. I wouldn’t even have to use Curry or Evans, who aren’t really PGs. Another kid who was clearly better, but got injured early, was Chris Warren at Ole Miss. It’s just that kids like him and Mendes-Valdez don’t get any publicity.
Lucas was the best player on the floor against UConn, mostly by making the other players on his team better. Moving the ball around, getting it to the right guys at the right time and also playing good defense. It wasn’t scoring (though it helps), it was all around PG play that helped MSU win.
Don’t get fooled into the media hype on the A/T stat. It’s just another exampe of analysts looking for an easily quantifiable way to rank players. Half of what a PG does ISN’T quantifiable. Do we subtract assists from Fields every time he ignored Blair wide open in the post? No, we don’t, but it would be a more meaningful stat if we did.
You’re absolutely right that some of the guys I mentioned have the talent to play SG or PG………but the fact is, they played PG for their teams this year and did it more successfully than Fields did. Yes, some of these players have more scoring ability than Fields………more power to them. They’re still PGs. Was KJ not a great PG in the NBA because he also scored 25 a game? Don’t think so.
One of the reasons Knight was so good was because of his defense. He handled it, distributed it, scored occasionally (mostly because he was cat-quick) and played really tough D.
So most of these others are more versatile than Fields? OK, agree. Now let’s get back to why they were also better PGs.
Put Fields on an average team without a couple NBA players on it and take him out of the Big East and you wouldn’t even know his name. He did like to take big shots, which was admirable, but not an important enough reason to up his rating, considering that Pitt didn’t play many close games this year where being clutch even mattered. There weren’t that many opportunites to be “clutch” this year because Pitt’s margin of victory was generally wide, again because of the two future NBAers.
There are a lot of great PGs across the country and the media pays no attention to them because they don’t play in the Big East. Some of their teams don’t win 30 games, but they’re still great players and most of them could have taken Pitt to greater heights.
By the way, I left Collison out of the list. He’s also better. And better at scoring, too.
