Two games, over 300 rushing yards. Even with a 1-AA team in that mix, that’s a nice start to a college career. It gets some attention. Yet despite this start, he hasn’t gotten Big East Player of the Week honors yet. Only “Honor Roll” for the first two weeks.
Last week Pat Forde at ESPN.com took note.
Pittsburgh running back Dion Lewis (27). The diminutive (5-foot-8) heir apparent to LeSean McCoy scored three touchdowns before halftime, two rushing and one receiving, and finished with 129 rushing yards in the Panthers’ walloping of Youngstown State.
Echoed this week by Stewart Mandel at SI.com.
Pittsburgh wasted little time finding its next great running back now that LeSean McCoy‘s in the NFL. True freshman Dion Lewis carried 24 times for 190 yards and two TDs and caught six passes for 72 yards in a 54-27 win over Buffalo. That’s following his 129-yard debut against Youngstown State.
And getting a little Q&A time from Sporting News.
On succeeding LeSean McCoy: I don’t really think about it. We’ve talked a little bit, and he told me to just work hard and trust the coaches. But I only care about the guys who are here now. It’s not time to think about who used to be here.
Biggest on-field adjustment to college: Learning about defenses. It’s a little bit more complicated in college because the coaches are so good. I got here in January, so it’s made things easier. I’m still working at the mental part of the game.
Biggest off-field adjustment to college: You have a lot more freedom. There’s nobody telling you what to do. You’ve got to make good decisions about your time and try to be everywhere you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there.
The thing about Lewis is he has been such a revelation, despite seeming like an initial afterthought. He got to campus early and was the surprise in spring practice, managing to outwork and outplay Chris Burns who seemed the clear choice to at least start the year as the #1 back.
Even then, there was a belief that Burns got a wake-up call and would reassert himself in the training camp. In the alternative, Lewis would be passed by the more highly-starred/heralded Ray Graham once training camp got underway. Instead, Lewis stayed ahead of Burns and made fewer mistakes than Graham.
He earned the coaches trust and has simply been outstanding as the starter. Lewis will still have doubts until he faces some better defenses and can show that he can take a full season of pounding as the featured back despite his size.
Bostick?
He looks bigger, stronger and better, but his mechanics are still not there.
Sunseri?
Strong arm, accurate and a competitor, knock on him is his height, but hey remember Doug Flutie or how about Michigans QB.
Gray?
An unkown commodity at this point.
Gonzalez?
Hell the kid is still in high school
Looks like next year is shaping up to have all of us blogging and bitching.
Reed, we need you to weigh in on this buddy, haven’t heard from you in awhile!
Secondly, yes, I am selfish. Given the number of years I’ve had season tickets and the thousands of dollars I’ve donated to the athletic department, I don’t like being slighted in effort to attract casual fans by gimmicks and giveaways. It’s going to be a gorgeous day on Saturday, and my pre-game tailgate is out the window because of both the wretched Pirates and the athletic department’s decision to kickoff at 6PM. Seeing Pitt only has seven home games a year, that irritates the heck out of me.
As to Pryor – I’ve believed the kid was over hyped all along and that WPA fans went overboard on him. His hype was, IMO, a product of what the college football writers had just seen with Vince Young at Texas – but Pryor has about 50% of his skills. I’m not surprised at all with his lack of either production or actual success as a QB at this level – truth be told I’d take Morelli over him any day. Pryor should be in a position where he doesn’t have to make decisions on the field and gets the ball in space. As much as the fans derided the rumor that PITT wanted him at WR/TE – that’s exactly where I think this kid would shine.
For PITT QB’ing in the future I do think Bostick has become a much better QB than he was, but I find it hard to believe that Sunseri won’t be the starting QB next season. It’s a gut feeling and I may be wrong, but Sunseri does throw a beautiful pass and just needs some seasoning and experience to succeed at this level.
I don’t think we’ll see transfers in the ranks, perhaps a position switch but it is not unusual for other teams to have four QBs on the roster.
P-G is reporting that Pitt got their 1st BB verbal for the 2011 – Guard John Johnson from Philly … here is his Rivals page:
link to rivals.yahoo.com
Sorry off on a tangent, but rumor in Cleveland is that they are looking to get a 1st/2nd round NCAA tourney game. Could be a nice, close location for our team in 2011/2012.
the ESPN evaluation never ever mentioned that A. Gonzalez is anywhere near the size or strength of Tebow.
It said, ““This kid is a beast of an athlete and a terrific overall football player. Gonzalez is part Tim Tebow, part Tyrod Taylor. Now, before anybody claims we are saying he is the next Tim Tebow, let’s be clear– his methods, competitiveness, throwing mechanics and athleticism are reminiscent of Tebow, nobody knows yet whether he possesses the intangibles that sets Tebow apart.”
The comparison to Tebow had to do with athleticism and competitiveness. Is this kid as athletic as Tebow…based on the film yes. Is he as competitive I don’t know but its certainly promising to here him compared in that way to the ultimate competitor in the game right now. Is he as big or strong…no, not close…and nobody is comparing him in that sense. So I’m excited by that comparison and think there is nothing wrong with it. Nobody is saying he is the next Tebow, in fact they clearly stated they weren’t saying that. As fans we can get excited about getting a great player, who has certain qualities compared to a great player right now. The point is nobody said he is Tebow, nobody said he is big and strong like him, they just said he is athletic and competitive like him.
Also, any QB that wants to go to the NFL no matter what there skill set (prostyle, athletic, etc.) is smart to go to a pro-style offense like Pitt. Yes, maybe an athletic QB could lead a spread team better in college, put up gaudy numbers, and win lots of games, but its career suicide. The NFL just doesn’t want these kids so it shouldn’t be a surprise that Pitt could attract a QB with a lot of talent even if he’s well suited for a spread game.
The following year, Tebow was named Heisman winner despite leading UF to just a 9 and 4 record, including a home loss to Auburn, just a week after Auburn was beaten at home by USF (how could that be, USF is in the BE??) That year WVU finished in Top 10 and whooped 4th ranked Oklahoma in Fiesta Bowl .. but of course, Pat White was not in the Heisman watch .. he plays for WVU (remember OU’s White beating out Fitz!!!)
Also note that White was 4 and 0 as a starter in bowl games in cluidng 2 BCS wins as a big underdog — something that Tebow will never match.
Ontario, you are right — Tebow is an absolute bull, which is why many pro scouts are projecting him as a TE, and he is a great leader no doubt ….. but nobody is as good as what the media is making Tebow out to be.
See — I can dole out the Gonzalez kool-aid every bit as good as the national media does for Tebow
Yes, people have the right to boo but it would be my wish that we see would hear a minimum of boos, whether it be intended toward our QB or our opponent. Hopefully, our offense will provide little reason to boo, and as far as the opponent …. I’ll leave that up to each individual.
Seriously, whether we like it or not, barring injury Stull is the QB this year, and at this point, we should all be hoping that he continues to improve a little each week, and the coaches gain a bit more confidence in him each week.
but i will support him if he is our starting qb.
OK, they’re both competitive. That’s great.
And the spread offense being career suicide…….tell that to Pat White or Tate Forcier or Vince Young or Colt McCoy. Doesn’t seem to be career suicide in their minds. The fact is, the NFL has largely foregone the running game again in favor of spread offenses. 3rd down and 2 is a passing down in that league and they spread it out all the time.
However, my big issue is the incredible amount of hype that Tebow has received since the day he committed to UF.
link to community.post-gazette.com
but I also think that Pryor’s in the wrong system and will never be much of a conventional QB.
Damn it, Chas. Next time, please plan your life around my free time.
In the meantime, I’ve watched this video a solid 3,432,986 times today:
I was at the game so I never got to see some of these runs develop. What a great back. Almost makes me want to get his Eagles jersey.
anybody got some good larry videos ?
But seriously, I thought the o-line had its best game of the year last year against WVU. You may remember that on a late drive where they kept handing the ball to Shady and they killed a lot of the clock. Also, same thing right before half, they ran the ball right down WVU throats before Cav made the fateful decision to throw a fade into the endzone — one of the worst calls ever because WVU hadn’t shown anything close into stopping our running attack.
Damnit Chas, we know Dion Lewis is having an impact!!! We wanna hear about Navy, and Gonzalez, and that guard from Philly!!
Quit your job and get a divorce if you have to!!!
Meanwhile, here is a nice article on ESPN BE blog on Hyno
link to espn.go.com
Yeah, I remember the fade to end the half…. almost as bad the fade call in OT against Navy. Shady had 165 yards and 3 TDs, but hey, let’s put the game in the hands of a true freshman QB making his 2nd start!
Anyone want to set up one of those liveblog/chat type things for the game tomorrow? They made one for the NBA draft, but I don’t think there’s been one for the first two football games.
Tate Forcier? Give me a break, the kid has played in two career games and won one against a highly overrated team. How can we say that he is going to have a career in football? Vince Young isn’t exactly the glaring beacon of success in the NFL, and he is lucky that he still has a career. The guy is not an NFL QB. Is Colt McCoy in the NFL starting and making a career out of football? Not right now no. Pat White is there, but he’s running a wild-type package and I highly doubt will ever be a starting NFL quarterback. The fact of the matter is, and the point of the statement was, that guys that run the spread type offenses where they are running the read play and using there legs more than their brains and arms, are not what the NFL is looking for in a quarterback. Not one single example you gave refuted that. Spread QB’s are never drafted high and rarely make it in the league and there is a reason for that. The NFL wants guys from pro-type systems who have experience making reads in their type of offense. I agreed in my post that these kids might be huge successes in college, rack up huge numbers, and lots of victories. However, the point was that they are not NFL ready and as a result are not wanted. That is why if you have any aspirations of making it to the next level as a QB and having a successful NFL career it is a major major negative to run a spread offense. If you have enough talent go play in a pro-style system and learn how to run one. You may not put up the gaudy stats of a spread QB, but you sure as heck will be drafted before one.
Says here Pitt 35 – Navy 10.
John Matarazzo, a sophomore quarterback at New Castle, completed 15 of 20 passes for 368 yards in a 35-16 victory against Indiana. Matarazzo’s effort was 11 yards short of a school record, set last year by Mike Bongivengo.
Mattarazzo is the son of former New Castle player John Mattarazzo, who played at Pitt in the early 1980s.
Another New Castle sophomore, Darrian Rice, caught four passes for 126 yards.
…………………..
A good friend of mine who is a New Castle graduate and was at the game said that Matarazzo is 6’3 and appears to have a pretty strong arm. One caveat, however, is that Kansas head coach, Mark Mangino, is an NC grad and a good friend of NC coach Bongivengo.
Also, I may really be jumping the gun … I really have no idea if he will be considered as a good propsect.
Has anyone noticed that Mark May is really getting Holtz to lose it on ESPN?
Lou is going nuts and losing it!
LOL!!!!
I’m hoping this does not turn into a cluster F, because we deserve a great night game atmosphere at home. It seemed like last year I was slipping into the Red Lot about 20 minutes before kickoff. Dragging my fiance out of bed early on Saturday morning to drive 2 hours for a game is tough…leaving in the middle of the day is a much easier sell!
Hait to Pitt!
3-0
Game close at half.
Pitt pulss away in the third.
Defense steps up and stops the triple option.
Stull does not self-destruct.
Off to Raleigh.
It’s pretty funny watching them try to sell Toledo against Ohio State. They’re worse than they were for Buffalo against Pitt last week.
I do kmow that he was very effective last year with limited playing time, and glad that we have an OC that will utilize his talents
I’ve always maintained that Dickerson would’ve been our tailback – probably splitting carries with LSH – in 2007 and 2008 if not for McCoy committing to Pitt. In 2007, Shady’s arrival into the program vastly altered that RB depth chart. At the same time, we had very limited depth at the LB position.
When Dickerson was at West Allegheny, he primarily played a rover position on defense, similar to what Urlacher did when he was at New Mexico. Depending on the defense, Dickerson would line up just about everywhere but defensive tackle.
With the LB position lacking such depth heading into 2007, he was one of the most logical players on that roster to approach about a position transfer to linebacker. I don’t really fault the program for the way they handled him, outside of Cavanaugh’s failure to involve him as much as he could’ve in the offense last year.
I’m glad it’s finally working out for him because the kid has certainly paid his dues with the program.
If we played sc, we would lose 70-0.
Antiquated thinking — the way college football is played these days doesn’t let these kids base their matriculation plans on what they think the NFL wants. Sure, there’s a small percentage of 6’5″ guys with rocket arms (Flacco comes to mind), who are just looking for a place to audition and they know the scouts will find them, even at Delaware (or Miami of Ohio).
But that’s just a tiny percentage of prospects. The huge majority of prospects don’t have those obvious physical advantages, and they’re just looking for great programs with winning traditions and pretty girls.
College football is a pretty wide-open game these days. Texas Tech (and a ton of other schools) are whipping it around every play with accurate non-NFL-prospect QBs and even more other schools are using dual-threat QBs to run and pass to win games.
Considering there don’t seem to be too many old-time NFL offenses left in college, I’m kind of doubting that’s the big influencer it once was. Jeez, with that reasoning you’d expect Pitt would be drowning in strapping NFL prospect signal-callers. If only……….
You may remember that Walt back in 01 unsuccessfuly implemented a spread in the 1st half of the year with the QB primarily as a passer … although Thurman did score the first-ever TD at Heinz on a 90 yd naked bootleg. After a 1-5 start, Walt went back to the pro set, and Pitt won its last 6 games including beating Va Tech 38-3 and NC State and Phillips Rivers in the bowl game, 34-19.
I don’t think Cignetti will operate primarily from a spread with either Gray or Gonzalez, but bet he will use it a heck of a lot more than we we are seeing now. (note that Cal, where Cig just left as OC) stilloperates from a pro set)
