Still backed up, and everytime I think I’m going to get caught-up, I get bogged down with other things.
The loyalty of the tailbacks seems to be a theme. Ray Graham has been noted for his loyalty despite a 4-star, sought after RB stuck behind Dion Lewis. Well, behind Graham is Jason Douglas. Another part of the 2009 recruiting class. The redshirt freshman has been just as loyal.
“I knew coming back this year that I was up against Ray and Dion and those two are great backs, the two best running backs I have ever seen,” Douglas said. “But if you are a competitor, you still have to come out and compete for your spot every day. And now I got an opportunity, I just need to go out there and make the most of it. I just want to make some plays, help Pitt win football games.
“You never know when your opportunity is going to come so you have to stick with it.”
AP wire article starring Tino Sunseri. Think the theme might be inexperience?
The No. 15 Panthers begin one of the nation’s toughest nonconference schedules Thursday at Utah, in a stadium where the home team hasn’t lost in three years. They’ll go there with a quarterback who’s never started a major college game.
Tino Sunseri, a redshirt sophomore, has thrown all of 17 college passes. He’s never stepped into a stadium knowing that his team’s success that day rested largely on his play. He’s never thrown a touchdown pass that’s won a college game, or thrown an interception that’s lost it.
Still, the Panthers don’t seem to be the least bit worried that Sunseri’s inexperience is a glaring negative going into one of the toughest road openers in school history.
“Everybody has to start somewhere,” Sunseri said. “Look at all the great quarterbacks who come out, Colt McCoy, all those other guys. They had to start and play some teams. I’d rather play one of the teams that’s good rather than a bad one.”
Everyone is publicly being confident.
The helpful thing is having a target like Jon Baldwin. Size, strength and hops.
Tristan Roberts gets some love from his local paper for being such a hard worker.
Motivating himself by just wanting to contribute to the team and stay healthy, Roberts has shot up the depth chart this offseason and currently finds his name in the starting lineup at weakside linebacker.
Roberts played some linebacker for the Panthers two years, but has not played every down since his days at Pennridge.
“I got here and played weak side, went to strong side, and now I am back learning the weak side more in depth,” Roberts said. “Weak does a lot more running around. The biggest challenge is the speed difference from high school. I used to be one of the fastest, now every defensive back is faster than me. It makes it more important that I know what is going on.”
And just as he gets the local profile, Paul Zeise blogs that Greg Williams seems to finally snapped out of a funk and is pushing hard to start.
Chris Jacobson is one of the three new starters for the interior of the O-line. And the only one that I feel reasonably confident can handle it.
“I feel like I’m in the best shape of my life right now,” he said. “I’m ready to go and I feel great. The mental preparation, it’s all there now.”
The 6-foot-3, 290-pounder looks the part and has the physical tools. He could help make Pitt’s left side the dominant run side with Jason Pinkston.
“When he comes off that ball, he comes off low and hard,” said defensive tackle Myles Caragein, who was Jacobson’s high school teammate. “When you line up against him, it’s not a walk in the park. It’s a brawl every time.”
As for the rest of the line, Jacobson said he feels confident in center Alex Karabin and right guard Greg Gaskins. The three new starters, he said, “are going out there every day and proving ourselves.”
And we will be watching for that proof very intently.
