What a great day yesterday. It seems like we are learning about each other and each other’s families more and more on here. It was a nice day for me and the feedback on the article made my ego run more rampant that it usually does.
Back to football though, that’s what we are here for.
PITT has sent out a press release on the new renovations going on in the Southside Football facilities. Here is the advertisement and the link takes you to the actual website.:
As it is and will be for some time it eventually ties into donor giving. The levels are listed and it is a good cause for us PITT fans. I’m donating one month of the salary I get from Chas for my writing on The Blather.
Even if we media types can’t get into the actual fall camp practices and scrimmages we’ll be able to get into the facility. So, next time I get up to Pittsburgh I’ll take photos. If anyone else has access before me feel free to snap some and send them to me and I post them.
Here also is a May 16th article by Sam Werner of the Post-Gazette that I’ll link to again. It is a background piece on the facility renovations. I’m not sure about this quote from Narduzzi though:
As far as the aesthetic part of the renovation, Narduzzi even admitted that’s not for the players currently on Pitt’s roster.
“It’s obviously something visual where you go in, look it and go ‘Wow, this is beautiful,’” he said. “It’s not about the beautiful factor for the kids currently in our program. The beautiful factor is for the guys that are walking through those doors on recruiting visits.”
Hey, throw the returning players a bone Pat! They deserve nice things also, especially the ones who had to spend a season with Todd “Old Scratch” Graham as their head coach.
It really does look nice and let’s hope that Narduzzi is doing this with an eye toward staying at PITT for some time. Actually, let’s hope he wins enough games that PITT and its fans want him to stick around.
Last Saturday Kevin Gorman of the Trib-Review wrote a nice piece on PITT’s fine Offensive Lineman Jason Pinkston who played under Wannstedt from 2006 – 2010. If you remember Pinkston, from Baldwin HS, came to PITT as a defensive tackle then was moved over and to the OL and ended up getting drafted by the Cleveland Browns at # 135 in the 2011 NFL draft.
As you can see from the article he’s had a long road to get where he is and not the least of it has been his medical problems that derailed his professional career. This passage in the article is very interesting and is a point of view from a young man who desperately wants to play football again:
The hardest part for Pinkston isn’t just being away from football but also watching healthy players like San Francisco 49ers linebackers Patrick Willis and Chris Borland walk away in their primes.
Pinkston understands their long-term health concerns but can’t comprehend giving up the game voluntarily.
“It just puzzles me,” he said. “Football wasn’t taken away from you. You gave it away. I get jealous of those guys. I have no words for it. I’m just like, ‘Why? You put your life on hold and have to make so many sacrifices to get to the NFL, and you just hang it up?’ ”
The author of this article, Kevin Gorman does a fine writing job here and it reminds me of why I miss him on the PITT beat.
Chris Peak of Rivals.com has consistently hit home runs with his weekly podcasts where he talks about PITT football, basketball and other issues surrounding the PITT athletics. Starting last week he is doing in-depth previews of our 2015 opponents. Last week he covered the Youngstown State.
Peak makes a good point in stating that when someone is discussing Paul Chryst all you have to do is mention “YSU and Akron and it’s a conversation stopper”. It’s hard to argue with that. He goes on to talk about the opportunity Narduzzi has in his first two games of the upcoming season to ‘exorcize’ those loss demons. He mentions that PITT has lost to non-Power Five conference teams 11 times in the past 12 years so if Narduzzi can start off 2-0 that could mean a lot in getting the football games side of the program on the right track for the future.
Here are the May 14th podcast preview for the home opener against YSU and last weeks’ May 21st Akron podcast preview of that away game. If he sticks to that schedule then tomorrow evening’s podcast will be previewing the third game of the year, an away game against Iowa.
Here is a compilation by the NFL’s College Football 24/7 people listing the 15 best offensive players in CFB going into the season. James Conner comes in at #10 but he’s #1 in our hearts.
No mention of Tyler Boyd so that may be a bit of an incentive for “The African Goshawk” of PITT”s receiving corps. That’s the name I’m giving Boyd this year… or maybe just “Goshawk”. They are the baddest badass in the hunting bird world. That video link describes Boyd’s skills perfectly.
I hope that is an artist’s rendition and not actually done because that could cause rifts among player personnel… we have more than enough All-American alumni to throw up there.
That is not to say that the guys up front on the O Line aren’t to be recognized too for the dirty work they do in the trenches that spring these guys to make plays but I believe there is an understanding and respect on this team. Both Conner and Boyd appear to be humble guys and lead by example.
So what is the hold-up?
Could it be Notre Dame and their special deal with NBC? An ACC Network would put money in everyone’s pocket and would probably negate the need for a special deal for ND.
It would have great appeal all along the East coast and midwest for both basketball and football. It would make room for the other sports like, track, wrestling and gymnastics. There would be pretty good viewership for Lacrosse and soccer. Women’s sports could get much more attention. Pre-game shows in Football and BBall would be longer and more detailed. Plenty of old film on great games of the past could be shown.
What in the world is the hold up? This would make the conference much more cohesive and stronger financially. It would be a strong recruiting tool in all sports.
What am I missing? Why has this not happened?
I don’t know details either because, well, it is behind closed doors but I know that in the past some players who everyone thought were either loved or hated were neither.
I tend to think that how players view each other has nothing at all to do with how talented the other players are. If someone is a jerk, they are a jerk even if they might be an All-American. Some of the most talented players on every team have some problems… i.e. ‘taking plays off’ and we have seen it at PITT over the years and we’ll see it again.
One thing I have come to understand about college ball is that there are few cases of really strong loyalty between players. For instance I read on here that a commenter wondered if, for instance, Votik faltered and another QB got the starting job, the rest of the offense would hold that against the other QB. I very much doubt that would happen at all. Winning and losing jobs is what happens at this level of play and we are going to see more than a couple ex-starters be sat down for Narduzzi & staff’s choices to play instead.
That is what real competition is. Who is starting any given game is a much bigger deal to us fans than it is to the players on the roster.
Just my opinion about this. And yes, I still think Voytik is the starter against YSU!
I believe the Pitt Football Camps will be starting in a few weeks … so we may have some commitments to talk about soon – hopefully.
Obviously, inferring that these guys are here for a the ong hawl. Hopefully, after the first couple years, we’ll all still be wanting I got them to o be here e for a long time as well.
I have no problem with this philosophy.
Once more, true.
This would be a good strategy for our bball coach to try. Funny how Howland and Jamie sold a dream to recruits. Pictures of a proposed Events Center. That is when our recruiting took off in my opinion. They sold the dream and executed with some big wins. Coaches need to be like Picasso and sell the picture to recruits and show them how they fit into a puzzle.
Interesting story I recently heard. Urb was closing on a potential recruit and had a puzzle with a football player in an osu jersey holding up a 2019 national championship trophy. There was one piece of the puzzle missing and it was the head. Urb pulls out the final piece to solving the puzzle and puts the puzzle piece into the spot. It was the kids face on a puzzle piece. I think there was a minor infraction on recruiting there, but a great idea nonetheless, if true.
Thanks for posting that link. Good to hear Coach Duzz. The bit about the grads from the different decades was funny.
I like how he’s keeping kind of a low profile – or perhaps low expectations – on recruiting, but at the same time he and the staff seem to be putting a super effort into it…
Go Pitt.
It would be good pick up on the transfer wheel if he decided to come back home and play at Pitt.
He would be the first high ranked QB out of PA. Pitt has recruited since Bostick. More importantly W. PA. QB that have passed on Pitt.
There were comments from the ACC meetings on the network from the commissioner. I believe he said it is on schedule. Can’t find the article.
It would be nice if Pitt would put out a Sunday morning highlight show. I loved watching the ND and PSU shows when I was a kid. Lindsey Nelson narrating the ND games was great.
I’m ready for some football – but we must wait a few months…
I remember another Pitt great with the nickname “Hawk”. Can the Beast and Goshawk take me back to those good old days? I can’t wait to find out…
HTP!