I had a chance to drive up and watch the PITT practice this morning. The practice session lasted from 10:15 until 12:30 with a one hour scrimmage to start off. Here are some observations:
1. If you were keeping score the offense bettered the defense this morning. Neither side was that great or that bad but the offense moved the ball in the air (Savage) and on the ground (Conner). A word about our true FR RB James Conner -damned impressive in every way.
If you look at him out there he looks almost slender given the stories about him being a bruising back. But he’s tall at a legit 6’2″ and he carries that 235 lbs well. He was ripping off positive yardage regularly with some big 15-20 yarders thrown in. The thing with Conner is that he can get inside and move the pile but also get through the interior LOS because he hits the holes so quickly. Then when you don’t expect it he cuts outside and out runs the linebackers, drops his shoulder and levels the DB. He did this time and again today.
Actually that ‘dropping the shoulder’ backfired a bit today as after one hit he lay on the ground with what looked at first like a separated shoulder. The coaching staff went into severe shock at the sight of it. Not to panic as he was up with an ice pack taped on and stayed on the sidelines for the rest of practice. I’m starting to think that PITT fans will forget about Shell in a hurry if this kid plays anywhere near the level in games as he has in practice – he’s the real deal and might be RB1 before the season ends.
Jaymar Parrish opens eyes with his play at FB also. He’s built like one and blocks like one. That will be an interesting position to watch with a starting FB returning.
2. Our passing game was hit and miss as it has been all season. Savage was back on the field a lot with the 1st string and he got some real work in. If they are ‘saving his arm’ it didn’t show today. As always he hit the deeper passes; 25+ yards pretty well. His accuracy on the shorter game was no so good and I think he really tries to force the ball in with his strong arm. There is absolutely no doubt he’s the starter, was the starter going into the spring and even earlier. Guys, there is no doubt he was brought in to start this season.
Voytik struggled today and apparently has been doing so this last week of practices. He badly under threw two deep balls that Street had to come back on and still Street almost made heroic plays. Voytik then threw two INTs in the shorter game. He did have one great throw rolling to his left and wailing it for a deep TD. He completed passes but his best plays by far were on the ground when he tucked the ball and scrambled. He can do that and get yards. However, those are not called plays and he is expected to be a drop back passer in this offense. He tends to hold onto the ball and as a result he gets flushed out a lot and would have been sacked a bunch had he not had the red jersey on. He also had a pass to a wide open receiver blocked at the LOS.
In my opinion we will be in dire straits if Savage goes down with an injury this season. Nothing has changed my previous opinion that Voytik isn’t ready at this point to be a starting BCS QB. This is based on my watching him a couple of times this spring, now in summer camp and in discussions with people who have watched all the practices and scrimmages. There is no consistency there.
The spring game was just that – he had a good practice scrimmage between the offense and very vanilla and 80% speed defense. His showing in that game isn’t what we’ll see in competition. He’s a rsFR and has three more years to make his mark at PITT so I’m not saying he can’t get better. I’m just saying he’s not ready, IMO, to start this season.
To stir the pot a bit, Trey Anderson was again throwing the best short game passes today and also had a 50+ yarder in the air dropped by the WR on a great throw down the left sidelines.
3. Onto our receivers: Tyler Boyd is the real deal. He is good in the short game, the deep balls and the running game in space. He’ll not be asked to be a between the tackles RB at all but he had a wonderful sweep play that must have gone for 30 yards. At first I hesitated to jump on the ‘Boyd is Great‘ bandwagon until I saw him in person but he stands out like no one else on offense. He’s fluid, quick, fast and can catch the ball… I mean circus catches that remind you of Larry Fitzgerald. He’s no question the #2 guy at this point and Gardner will be the #3 WR. The reason we’ll see Gardner at WR is that he has the speed to create mismatches with the LBs and the speed to get down field under Savage’s big arm.
Interesting note: A good friend of mine is a true HS football head coaching legend in Maryland. He watched Boyd in person at the Big 33 game and afterward told me that Boyd was the best HS player he has seen in 35 years. I believe that 100% now.
Our TEs had some trouble with drops today but will be integral in the offense – Holtz starting and Orndoff off the bench. Forget about Gardner at TE – he’s a WR for sure.
4. I’m no OL expert but it is fun as hell listening to Hueber scream at these kids. IMO we’ll be alright on the OL and I think better at the run game than pass protection at first. All the kids did well but when it is reported that Clemming has an edge on Johnson I don’t think that is etched in stone at all. I’ll be surprised if Johnson redshirts this season as we’ll need him down the line. He was getting as much if not more #1 snaps at RT than Clemming. The OL guys are all big as hell. Clemming looks to be the thinnest of all and he’s built very well.
5. The defense held their own but I’ll comment on the LBs. Thomas was in with the ones a bit today and so was Bradley, Grigsby was with the twos. All of them were aggressive and really pushed. An interesting note about Thomas is that a) he’s bigger than he was at this time last year and b) he stayed out on the field after everyone else had gone into the locker room. He was moving slowly as he walked off, alone, and as he passed me I got the impression that he was leaving it all out on the field. I expect he’ll be back in the starting lineup before too long. That whole week long drama with Thomas really caught all the football program staff by surprise.
6. The loss of Eric Williams is going to have more impact than expected. The plan apparently was to move him back to Safety and have Vinopal as the second Safety there. There is a push to have the Clariton DBs get a lot of snaps to alleviate that situation but expect Vinopal to start I think. he’s got the defense calls down but now has to match that with his actual play.
7. Blewitt was killing it again today – he’s the starting FG kicker no doubt and his leg is strong and accurate. We didn’t see any KOs today so I don’t know who will be doing that. Pitts, Street and Boyd were rotating on KO returns and punts. Don’t know who it will be but Boyd gets to 60 in about .75 seconds.
I had a chance to talk with Dave Durham before the practice – nice kid who loved OSU but saw the handwriting on the wall with Urban Myer. He’s happy at DE.
I also talked with Jeremy Talini a bit about the Hawai’ian Islands – he’s from Kailua and knows where the tree house I lived in for two years is on Kailua Road. He’s a big boy and thinks he’ll be on ‘ready red shirt’ list. Loves Pittsburgh and said that Pittsburghers are much like his Island people – very helpful and nice, which is true.
Also and a side note; Kevin Weatherspoon’s Mom is smoking hot… not… kidding.!
All in all I was impressed with what I saw but not blown away. Things are pretty much like I thought they would be at this point in Chryst’s tenure. Expect a LOT of freshmen to play this year, both redshirts and true. I said I’d hold off my ‘formal’ season W/L prediction until I had seen the team in action in a scrimmage. So here it is.
I see a 6-6 season that could go up to 7-5 if we get lucky breaks on the injury front. Injuries at QB, DL and RB could be devastating for us and could easily lead to a losing season. I don’t see this team topping 8 wins by any means with the ACC schedule we are facing. In other words everything has to click for us to be on the good side of .500 ball.
That said I can see this team getting better in a hurry as the players get experience and we get acclimated to the ACC. I’d like to see a JUCO QB in the fold for insurance and competition as Chapman won’t be ready at all in 2014.
Note: I’ll be staying in town and attending the 2013 Kickoff Luncheon. If any fights break out between the SR players or if Chryst starts spilling state secrets I’ll write something up about it.
From the gist of your piece it would be appear this year’s TS will be the complete opposite of last year’s TS.
Meaning he’ll be good on the long passes. but not so much on the short passes.
Got a question on Boyd, does he use his body like Fitz did to shield off defenders from the ball ?
I’ve had a really good feeling about him since he totally dominated Quad A players in the Big 33 game. I think we got the best player in the state, and this kid is going to prove it !
He appears to be out of the Larry Fitz school of football, in more ways than one !
FSU, New Mexico, Duke & UVA.
3 of those are very winnable. Need to win those.
Cause the schedule gets much tougher after that.
Hail to Pitt!
Boyd and Garner are going to be a handful. This should be Street’s best year now that DB’s will have to worry about the former two. It is exciting to hear about how good Boyd is doing as every indication coming out of that Big 33 game is that he is a super star. Hopefully he stays hungry and grounded (and healthy).
Defensively I am anxious to see how our CB’s fair. They have the potential to be Darrell Revis
Thomas has always been one of my favorite current Pitt players so it is good to see his hunger back. He is a sunday player and the week away likely refocused him.
The schedule screams 6 and 6, but I expect Pitt to be a pretty decent team by the end of September (if they can avoid injuries at positions with little depth). Then they could make a run at some of those teams in the second half of the season.
Go Pitt.
… and for taking the bold step of attempting to shed some light on the matter surrounding the relative passing abilities of Messrs Voytik and Anderson.
Let’s get back to the On-Campus Stadium.
JK
Anyway, it shows how few Pitt Fans there are, at least people that are really interested to know what the coaches and players are saying.
We need a good showing with FSU or attendance will drop precipitously for the less desirable opponents.
I understand the desire for an on-campus stadium, but we need a winning football team and more of a fan base first. One that doesn’t turn on the team, coach and school every time we lose a game.
I do see more folks wearing their Pitt garb around town. That’s a good sign. We need a whole lot more.
It pays to proof read before you hit submit, which reminds me, where you been Frankcan?
GC – I don’t think Savage is going to be terrible in the short game – just that it isn’t his strong point. In all the times I’ve watched him I haven’t seen him really float a ball to a RB out on a pattern or a WR/TE. He can take some off but a few of those drops I mentioned above were the result of the ball getting to a TE before he turned around. It’s as if Savage is anxious out there and gets a bit excited.
Savage was pretty consistent on hitting those 20+ outs also. Again, this is my opinion and I’ve stated many times that I think we’ll miss the PRODUCTION that came out of that position last year.
My statements about Anderson is really to make fans aware that he isn’t just a running QB or an afterthough in the QB corps. I get the feeling that if he had to play some extended games where he could get into a groove that he’d do OK for us. But he’s certainly 3rd string.
Same with my thoughts on Voytik – he can make some amazing plays then come out with two straight poor ones. He’s not a rookie any longer and I believe PITT fans think he’s more advanced then he actually is. Don’t get me wrong, he’ll start in 2014 and may do very well for us but 2013 isn’t a starting year for him.
There were a lot of formations with Boyd, Garner and Weatherspoon at the same time. Three pretty fast guys. Of course Street is a firm #1 WR and we’ll see multiple formations in the passing game.
The running game was pretty much a lone setback with two TEs on the line. I really can’t say enought about hoiw inpressed I was with Conner’s abilities. He’s not as big as Heyward or even Shell as far as bulk goes but he’s powerful annd hard to bring down. He was dragging DBs down the sidelines on a few plays yesterday.
Off for breakfast then the Kickoff Luncheon. To let you know how dedicated I am to you guys I wrote the article above in the Carnegie library in Oakland yesterday afternoon and am doing this comment from the Westin hotel’s business center at $7.95 for every 15 minutes. I’ll put a travel claim in later.
I don’t get the feeling that we’ll see a lot of trick plays. The beat writers I was with said that they hadn’t seen them either but that Chryst might be praticing them in private. To me more important to get the basics working with all the new personnel.
Majors – Jevonte Pitts was in a lot rotating with Vinopal. I think everyone is holding their breath a bit for that position.
I had a lot of fun out there yesterday – there were a lot of peopl watching and the coaches mixed up the ‘good cop / bad cop’ thing pretty well. Palermo isn’t hesitant at all to rip the LBs a new one and his voice carries. But the kids responded to his observations.
Chetthejet – I have to admit that O & D line play is the hardest for me to watch and guage when at ground level. It isn’t that Clemmings played poorly – not at all the staff is very satisfied with his progress I understand, but I also think we can’t rule out Johnson seeing PT.
I’ve some strong opinions on redshirts. If you have a stable coaching staff and a program is chugging along with positive results then fine, hold guys back for a year.
But when there is the urgency this staff and program is under to produce a winning season then I say use all the talent at hand. I get the feeling that some PITT fans look too much toward the future and forget that the present might end up a crisis situation. Three straight losing seasons will do PITT no good at all and IMO will really impact recruiting. Win now at all cost is my thoughts then Chryst will have made an uptick in the progress of the program and others will beieve he’ll be a decent HC.
Finally, and this means nothing as far as the FSU game goes, but the players were really enjoying the scrimmage and very vocally supportive of their teammates. That goes on everywhere I guess but it was nice to see considering the transfers, suspension drama, etc…
While we are known for 1 “how the hell did you lose that?” game per year, I think this team can avoid that loss. The problem is there are only 2 or 3 games like that (New Mexico, Old Dominion, maybe Duke/VA). No other team is it unreasonable for us to lose to. Hell, Duke or VA could easily be a 6 win team next season. No one would argue if we lost to any of the last 6 teams on the schedule.
The days of WTF losses may be gone, only because of limited opportunities.
To me, being able to throw over the middle has been lacking and is much more valuable than the 5 yard flare, counting on the receiver to pick up the additional yards needed for the first down.
1. Offer every Clairton HS graduate a scholarship.
No other steps necessary.
For those of us who will remember his performances first hand in such situations, rather than just looking at his QB statistics, we will always recall his inability to put the team on his back and pull out a victory from the jaws of defeat. It got to the point that it became a given that if we needed a huge offensive play in the waning seconds of a game to snatch out a victory, we could depend on Tino to wilt like a pansie on a hot July afternoon.
That one fact alone was a team spirit killer! Now that we are beginning the ABT Era, it will be interesting to see if we have any individuals that can step into that void and reproduce the kind of confidence back into this team that can create the attitude that “Pitt can pull this one out if we just get one last chance”!
From the sounds of it, in fall camp, Tyler Boyd might just have that kind of potential going forward to initiate that team mentality of “just get it to Boyd and somehow he’ll come down with it” kind of big play results that the Panthers have been left without for way too long.
Once we get that kind of mindset entrenched in this Panther squad, then that is when this team starts playing BEYOND their potential and we can start elevating our play above the level of mediocrity that we have all become way too accustomed to over the last three years.
I never text. Therefore I rarely know the meaning of the miscellaneous acronyms and shortcuts that texters use. So how is it that I knew immediately what ABT means??
Question to those back home any possiblity of the Central Catholic QB of taking back his verbal to Florida State and consider Pitt. I hope Pitt is letting him know they still want him if he should change his mind. At best he will see the field his senior year. The RS freshman is rumored to be all world. His mobility may be the back breaker on Sept. 2
I disagree w/ Reed in that the fact the way this team is built up front, I think they are going to gel 3rd game of season and just start anhilating other teams. If they start to win the LOS, Savage has time to beat the defense deep. I think too much has been made of the so called ACC”speed”
I think Street, Boyd & Garner are going to be equally sucessful for us. Lafayette Pitts is a shut down type of back & Williams is also. Does anyone really ever block Aaron Donald?
8-4 is a real possibility
Titleman – I think you are consistently misunderstanding what I am saying about Sunseri’s attributes. I understand completely what his mistakes cost us, they were big and killed some games. I also understand that 3500+ yards, a 65% completion rate and 20 TD vs 3 INTs might be a pipe dream for our QBs this season.
The point of playing QB doesn’t matter so much if you aren’t moving the ball down field and getting in a position to score points.
I look askance at fans who automatically think that any QB we throw out there is going to be mistake free and automatically ‘better’ compared to our last QB. I don’t think that at all especially after watching them in action a few times. They will be different but I’ll hold my breath that either Savage or Voytik will preform better under pressure than Sunseri did.
They might but it isn’t a lock that they will.
Punxy – 8-4 would be nice and isn’t out of the question, I agree that our OL will be better than last year. They will have to be to give either QB time to be successful – neither of which have a quick trigger. Personally I think either 7-5 or 5-7 is more realistic.
Put it another way, I’d bet we are in a bowl again this year.
Surprisingly the Sunseri-Baldwin connection produced 17 plays over 30 yards in 2010. Granted Baldwin had the height and reach to go up and get those a bit off the mark throws. But Sunseri was still getting the deep ball to him. Sunseri had a pretty decent year in 2010.
Had not Sunseri been forced to play in Graham’s offense in 2011, let’s say Chryst was hired instead of Graham I believe Sunseri would have had a good 2011 year, progressing and ending with an even better 2012 season.
All that said I wouldn’t want Sunseri back as a starter again this season because of all those dramatic failures we all saw and felt with him at QB. That is the great thing about college football – things change year by year.
My point all along has been we’ll be excited to have Savage at QB but along as the season progresses we’ll wish we were getting more actual production out of him. I’m just not sure how well he is going to be able to move the ball and chains on a continual basis which is the main way to get into scoring range.
Here’s a hidden stat that I think is important. In 2009, Savage’s best year at RU, he had a 34% third down conversion rate, not very good at all. In Sunseri’s three years he had 42%, 34% (Graham) and 40%. There is a big difference between 34% and those 40% & 42% conversion rates.
What showcases Savage’s strong point is his Yards Per Completion (ypc) which over his career was 12.35 (good) but as a starter he rang up a 14.8 ypc rate (excellent). However, he comes back to earth with a mediocre 7.76 Yard Per Attempt (ypa) rate. Those ypa rates are what get you or don’t get you 1st downs.
I think it is going to be fun to see how Savage actually does out there as there are so many questions with him given his time out of competition and now being with Chryst and Bollinger who made helped Sunseri so much. He could really break out and if that happens we’ll be in pretty good shape offensively.
This is important based on past training camp reports …. did Anderson play against the 1st team defense?
Glad to see Blewitt back on the field .. and wouldn’t be surprised at all if Thomas is starting vs FSU. Also not surprised if DJ plays this year.
Finally, how about a picture of Mrs Weatherspoon!