With the fine work by Justin and Reed, there isn’t much left for me to do at this point.
The pall cast over things with James Conner’s injury is noticeable. He’s having surgery, and because of the very cautious approach, he will not be coming back this season.
But Narduzzi said he had no problem coming to the conclusion that Conner needs to get the torn medial collateral ligament repaired immediately, regardless of the ramifications to the team.
Surgery is scheduled this week and will be performed by Dr. Volker Musahl, medical director at the UPMC Center for Sports Medicine. Musahl also performed knee surgery last year on Pitt center Artie Rowell.
MCL injuries typically heal between one to two weeks and four to six weeks, Charleston, S.C., sports medicine specialist and knee surgeon Dr. David Geier said.
That timetable would allow the MCL to heal nonsurgically and give Conner, the reigning ACC Offensive Player of the Year, a chance to return before the end of the season.
Narduzzi, however, said such a plan wasn’t considered.
“There are different ways to deal with it,” he said. “When you look at it for his sake and his health, doctors make that call. Ultimately, James makes that call. Certainly, it’s not a coach making that call.
“As a coach and a father, (for) his best interests and his future, he needs to get it repaired now.
“They could brace it up for five or six weeks and see how it works, and (Pitt could) lose him for half a season, but I don’t think that’s right for him, as a player and his future. He’s a guy who wants to play. If he could tape it up and go, he would.”
Narduzzi added, “There’s no question what the right thing to do was.”
Geier, who has no first-hand knowledge of Conner’s situation, said surgery “makes sense for a running back” because of the cutting and lateral motion required of players at that position.
Often, linemen who suffer such injuries are able to return in the same season.
As Narduzzi points out, this is about his future. First and foremost. If he were to try and just rest and rehab it, he could comeback this season, but that greatly puts his future in question and risks re-injuring it.
Yes, I know the Conner family put out a statement saying “they are counting the days until he can run the ball as a Panther once again,” but that is what they should say. He’s a running back and given their short life and increasingly disposable nature of them in the NFL, he almost has to go pro after this season.
It was a brutal first weekend for the ACC and injuries.
Pittsburgh running back James Conner and Syracuse quarterback Terrel Hunt won’t play again in 2015, Clemson receiver Mike Williams may have endured the same fate and Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Brewer told ESPN that he’s going to have surgery Tuesday for a broken collarbone – meaning he’ll have, at minimum, the next few weeks off.
Terrel Hunt has a torn achilles and has had no luck staying healthy. Mike Williams is an All-ACC WR, who, well, that was just brutal.
Add in other players hurt all over college football — Taysom Hill, Eddie Vanderdoes, Jesse Ertz and Tarean Folston — and the opening week is usually filled with these frustrating and sad endings before things even seemed to have started.
Amazing how Pitt started camp with way too many running backs and is now concerned that they may be short-handed. Ibrahim lost before the season started. Conner out. Now Chris James is day-to-day — or something. Suddenly the depth chart is Quadree Ollison, Chris James and Darrin Hall.
Ollison had a stunning debut — obviously — but it is hard to imagine he will be repeating that all season.
Reggie Mitchell’s status for the Akron game is also questionable with his own undisclosed injury.
Safety Reggie Mitchell missed most of the second half Saturday with an undisclosed injury. Narduzzi said Mitchell was day to day, but did not sound optimistic about his chances of playing against Akron this week.
“We’ll see how he practices,” Narduzzi said. “He’ll be out there, but will he practice? If he can’t practice, I don’t feel good playing guys who can’t practice, so we’ll see if he can practice by Wednesday, we’ll see where he is.”
On the bright side, Artie Rowell feels very confident that he will be ready to play all game on Saturday and Darryl Render should be able to go as well.
I didn’t stay for the post-game press conference. Between the darkening skies and wanting to hang out with friends I hadn’t seen in a while, I bolted after the game to a friend’s place on the North Side. Best decision as we caught the last three quarters of the PSU-Temple game.
As much as we reveled in the humiliation of Nitters by Temple — including seeing Temple take pity on PSU by not kicking a FG in the final minute to — the joy Temple fans had is almost forgotten. Read this piece from Philly on some long-suffering fans and the last Temple football player alive from the 1941 team.
Hope you’re right bj about Hamlin .. he has some attractive offers.
BTW, last heard, DE Zach Gilbert is scheduled to announce this Friday …. supposed between Pitt and VT.
TX – You are right, those Texans play a mean game of football. Dont worry the two Texan HS lads who tried to injure the referee will have a thorough an investigation done on them, conducted by Goodell and Kraft. LOL
Oughta bar them from any team high school team sport – even debate club.
Helped me recover from the heat quickly.
I was thinking the same thing. I’d actually rather them play it at 9:00 am…
There really is no such thing as a ‘injury redshirt”… there are just redshirts with a possible medical waiver at the end of his four years – once that is granted that year is called a “Medical Redshirt”..
What can and does happen sometimes is that a player can petition the NFL for a 5th year if in one of his four years (not counting his redshirt year) he gets hurt before the team played a 30% of its regular season.
Here is what it is in Conner’s case right now. If he sits out this season 2015 (this season) will be treated as a regular year because he played in a game and since he played in 2013 & ’14 AND this season he’ll come back in 2017 as a SR. This is not a redshirt year until the NCAA says it is.
Now, if he gets to the end of his 4th year then he can petition the NCAA for a “medical waiver” retroactive back to 2015 and get that 5th year of eligibility in 2017. Then he’ll be a rsSR. But again – only if the NCAA grants that medical waiver if Conner even decides to apply for it.
But this season can’t be considered a redshirt year unless the NCAA grants that waiver after the end of the 2016 season.
“A special case involves the eligibility of a player who loses the majority of a season to injury. Popularly known as a medical redshirt, a hardship waiver may be granted to athletes who appear in fewer than 30% of team competitions (none after the midpoint of the season) then suffers a season-ending injury. Players granted such a waiver are treated for the purposes of eligibility as though they did not compete in that season.”
I like Pitt to cover. Akron doesn’t have a QB. They won’t be able to to keep pace. I see Pitt well into the 30s again.
Could be the game to get Chad going. Oklahoma hung 439 yards passing on them.
Connor is a sommewhat slow (by NFL standards) RB who isn’t kept in to block on obvious 3rd down passing plays. Two of the things the Steelers liked about Bell in passing on Lacy that draft was the fact that he could block and catch out of the back field.
If Connor is smart he better prove both of those assets before jumping to the draft. Slow upright runners don’t last long in the NFL.
For JC, if the rehab goes well and he is medically cleared to play before the end of the season (likely not before mid-Nov), he has a decision to make. I am sure his heart would say to come back, but he must also consider what is best for himself and family.
The Team has a lot to improve and prove!
Fair enough… but I think Chad has the best combination of track record and pedigree out of the bunch. And he will be throwing to the best WR on the field.
I think Chad and Boyd have a big game, 10-12 catches and a couple of TDs. Akron will be stacking the box.
I’m surprised they didn’t try to force the issue with Chad against YSU more. I mean 14 attempts isn’t enough if you’re trying to develop him and get him confidence.
It’s like they weren’t even trying to throw the ball… Although 325 rushing yards, a 7.6 YPC, and the fact that the game was in doubt until the final whistle surely had something to do with it.
WalterFootball.com’s most recent mock has him going in the 2nd round, with only Elliott and Henry ahead of him.
Question marks about Conner’s game at the NFL level seem to center most on two things. There seem to be concerns about his breakaway speed. There were also questions about his ability to catch the ball routinely out of the backfield. There may also be concerns about workload but as more NFL teams move to RB-by-committee approaches, this is a secondary concern at best.
I can understand the concerns about his lack of breakaway speed, but some of this is a product of his size. To his credit, he has long runs of 74, 60, 56, 45, 41 and 40 (at least twice) in his two years here. Two of his three longest came against GT and UNC, respectively. There may be more; I’m pulling those numbers just from the “longest” numbers in his game-by-game stats.
Questions about his abilities to catch the ball out of the backfield were to be addressed this year.
I don’t know. He may not be a first-round pick as NFL teams embrace the RB-by-committee approach and that position has been a bit devalued, but I also can’t imagine he slips much further than the 3rd round.
I see a guy like Eddie Lacy (Packers’ 2nd-round pick in 2013) and don’t see a huge difference between him & Conner. Lacy did not run at the 2013 Combine; at Bama’s Pro Day, he ran what was reported to be about a 4.59 or 4.62 in the 40.
Conner has shown enough speed to prove that he can run away from competition at a higher level, and I would think his tackle-breaking ability more than compensates for any concerns about his speed. Look at that element of his game, think about some of those runs we’ve seen against VT and Duke, and then remember that this is a kid who just turned 20 years old this past May. He’s been dishing out that kind of punishment the last two years to kids who were in some cases two, three or even four years older than him.
We’ve had 78 days since June, 90 or higher and half of those it was 95 or higher. And 11 of those days it was 99 or 100 degrees.
Add in substantially higher humidity as well and a more brilliant sun.
Most of you would melt down here. 🙂
Comment by rkb 09.08.15 @ 1:44 pm
Cudos.
After watching hundreds of football games and being at dozens of them live, Pitt has among the worst game atmospheres.
And what’s worse they don’t seem willing to change it, when it would be a very simple thing to do.
Have one of their well paid assistants to an Assistant, just watch or attend a game from where they do it right. Like USC for instance, another urban school that plays in a big city (far bigger than Pittsburgh). Heck send one of the dolts to Huntington, Wva.
Haha, no doubt. My uncle just laughs, and laughs at me when we have summer dinners outside on his deck at his home in northern Virginia… Me – just sitting there with beads of sweat constantly pouring down my face.
I think he does it out of sport.
Nonsense…all these other colleges have the same kids, who listen to this crap 24/7.
But for 3 hours a week, they don’t. They let their much practiced great bands create the vibe for the game.
Not some a-hole with a 6th grade education, named 50 cent.
Which btw also have terrible game atmospheres. So bad that if the rap/crap wasn’t blaring, you’d fall asleep.
Actually I quit going to Hornets games, cause it was so ghetto.
– you can always put on more clothing
– when I’m stuck indoors, I’d prefer it to be dark and dreary outside and not bright and sunny
But Pitt does.
right wbb, the south is dreadful in the summer. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. When they say you can play golf year round. Wrong….you can’t play in the summer, way too hot. You’d have to change your golf shirt every few holes, as well as your golf gloves and really your shorts too. (haha)
I hate being indoors & usually spend my days outdoors on my 27acres. I’ve been calling it quits when my wife calls for lunch.
I once walked out on a Gamecock game at half time due to the heat. Spurrier was upset & called out the fans for leaving. The local papers investigated & over 400+ fans were treated for heat related issues at the game.
UPitt & his group in the DFW area know heat but not humidity. I once had to spend 6 months in Dallas & commuted back to East Texas on weekends. ET would be 94 & 70% humidity. When I returned to Dallas on Sunday it would be 100+ but only 20% humidity. I thought I was in heaven temperature wise (not physially or morally).
ESPN has it’s first bowl predictions out.
Good news, we’re going bowling.
Bad news……it’s Detroit again.
Yep you guys down there in Columbia are always a few degrees hotter than here.
How’s the water level on Lake Murray. Our two lakes are both around 4 feet lower than normal due to the drought. A lot of boats are grounded in the more shallow channels.
I believe we shall see more of Peterman this week.
As well as the pass protection being suspect at this time, CV is pretty good at making plays off of busted plays. As some of our better plays last year will attest to.
Arkansas QB last year threw for 2285 yards.
Pitt QB last year threw for 2233 yards.
But Voytik did that on 52 less pass attempts.
So he’s done it before, let him fling it.
Today it 101 so I’m happy. Cold Front and Rain coming they say. Only got a little rain once over last 3 months.
And hopefully we’ll see a trick play or two this week, or I’m going to start having my doubts about Chaney.
Did you send Paulie an email and suggest the new specs (eyeware) ?
With family ties in Texas and Shreveport, I second that, on both accounts. Getting off that little puddle jumper on the tarmac at the airport in Shreveport in the middle of the summer is a feeling I will never forget. Saying it was like stepping into a sauna doesn’t even do it justice. Just thick, heavy, wet, hard to breath air. Felt like I was moving in slow motion.
You go for a jog in Houston in the summer and it’s pointless to take a shower after. You’ll be sweating for another hour at least.
…that the students were there.
It’s kind of like what DW said when asked if he would do the “Wildcat with someone other that LeSean McCoy and he said “Why would I want to take the ball out of McCoy’s hands?”
We are going to have the running game down pat by the time we hit ACC play. What we need is Voytik to concentrate on completing passes that will get us first downs and big chunks of yardage… and to do that he needs to get past his 1st receiver. If Chaney is set on using Voytik as the starter then that’s what has to be done.
It’s so hot here, nobody even attempts to walk, let alone jog ! lol
Went to Lake Murray to watch the South Carolina – North Carolina game last Thursday with friends. Lake is down but not 4 feet. Different drainage into Murray then the Catawba river lakes. Waterree is supposedly down.
Upitt – Houston has to be the worst except maybe N.O. I lived about 50 miles south of Tyler, Tx. In the Piney woods.
Looks like I’m sucking it up…
that’s funny since Chaney’s greatest success was at Purdue in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, with a QB who could run.
Let’s go back and take a look see.
Chaney was at Purdue for 1997-2005.
Now keeping in mind that CV had 108 rushing attempts last year for 466 yards, which included sack yardage lost. As do the numbers below.
1997 – QB was Billy Dicken 97 attempts – 351 yards
1998 – QB – Drew Brees – 69 attempts – 193 yards
1999 – QB – Drew Brees – 79 attempts – 177 yards
2000 – QB – Drew Brees – 95 attempts – 521 yards
2001 – QB – Brandon Hance – 112 attempts – 242 yds
2002 – QB – Brandon Kirsch – 72 attempts – 423 yds
QB – Kyle Orton – 43 attempts – 47 yds
(115 total attempts)
2003 – QB – Kyle Orton – 112 attempts – 237 yds
2004 – QB – Kyle Orton – 80 attempts – 112 yds
2005 – 2 QB’s – 100 attempts – 449 yrds
As you can see in 6 of Chaney’s years at Purdue, where he had his most success as an OC, he had a QB or QB’s that totaled close to or exceeded CV’s rushing attempts last year.
So he was a fan of running QB’s in his most successful years as an OC.
2014(Ark) – QB- Brandon Allen – 42 attempts – 0 yds
2013(Ark) – QB -Brandon Allen – 29 attempts – 29yds
2012(Tenn) – QB- Tyler Bray – 15 attempts (-34yds)
2011(Tenn) – QB – Tyler Bray 26 attempts (-70 yds)
2010(Ten) – QB – Tyler Bray – 20 attempts (-103 yd)
– QB Matt Simms – 45 atts (-108 yds)
2009(Ten) – QB Jon Crompton – 44 atts. (-52 yds)
His most recent teams with QB’s that couldn’t run went a combined 33 wins and 42 losses.
With the best of the lot being 7-6 and the worst being the 2013 Arkansas team at 3-9.
Needless to say his Purdue teams with QB’s that could run the ball were much better as several of them went 9-4 and one went 9-3.
If you guessed Billy Dickens give yourself a big pat on the back.
I suggest he go back and look at his own book of work, when deciding who should play QB for Pitt.
Haha…
POD is a big Bertke fan & if Cheney can develop Bertke into Bray type qb PITT fans will be very,very happy. Hopefully, we keep recruiting RB’s, OL & get some good wr’s.
Yea yea I know. You can tell that from how few attempts Bray made and his negative yardage, which meant he didn’t get many yards at all when he attempted to scramble as well.
Point was, Chaney’s offense was a lot more successful with QB’s WHO COULD ALSO RUN !
Cause he wasn’t very successful at Arky or Tenn.
A lot of more successful teams in college football, have QB’s that can also run. I think sometimes people forget that.
But if you go back over the last 20 national championship teams, you will see that the majority of them had QB’s that also could run and change the outcome of the game.
Cam Newton at Auburn, Vince Young and Tim Tebow come immediately into mind. Even way back when Pitt won it’s most recent NC, Pitt’s QB’s had 161 rushing attempts…..even with the great Tony Dorsett in the backfield.
The QB being able to run, is an extra RB in the backfield, that sometimes the opposing defense has an extremely tough time defending. Cause it’s an extra threat, that even negates a strong pass rush.
Pitt just had a QB with a cannon for an arm, that being Savage.
The better teams easily negated any advantage he gave Pitt, as he was a statue in the pocket.
And that was with 2 NFL receivers. One curret (Devin Street) and 1 future(Boyd) & some good TE’s.
So just having someone with a good arm…doesn’t get you very far. I’d rather have a good athlete at QB who can beat you several different ways.
Tennessee had fired Fullmer (pro set)because he couldn’t win the SEC east let alone championship. They hired Kiffin for spread. Kiffin left after a year & Tn. settled for Dooley. The team was in shambles with players leaving & recruiting nosediving due to the new hire. Bray & wr’s were the team both offensive & defense & the defense sucked.
Arkansas had just fired Petrino (and shame on Louisville for hiring him) & the Ark. team quit, just quit on their interim.
In comes Bielima from Wisc who switches to power football. You can not run a pro set with 6’2″ 290 pound OL. They also had player turnover due to switch in style.
I agree with Reed that our departed coach stabilized & kept PITT from falling into the nose dives that Tn & Ark went into.
But you aren’t suggesting that has anything to do with the fact that Chaney did believe in a QB who could also run the ball….while he was at Purdue.
As far as our departed coach, he’s departed. Thankfully.
And if Dantonio retires, in a few years. Most likely Nard Dog will be departing as well. Unless he’s an utter failure at Pitt.
Would you rather coach some where they get 75,000 for a game and 90% stay till the end or some where you get 40,000 & 90% of them leave in the 4th quarter or earlier. Other than when it’s Notre Dame or PSU.
Heck Nard Dog appeared on some Mich State radio show in the week leading up to the YSU game.
And that why I added…..’Most likely’, as opposed to Definitely.
Uhhh.. if every scouting service didn’t have him listed as a top 5 RB in this class you might have a leg to stand on.
He is not slow.
… and MCL is a very minor injury.