At the game last week, Defensive End Vernon Botts made a bunch of great stops and it seemed to be the first time we had seen him on the field. Apparently it was, he was filling in for the injured Charles Sallet and earned more time.
“It felt like I finally contributed in a way that I’d like to every week,” he said. “Hopefully, I can keep that up.”
Botts, a redshirt junior, made four tackles (three solo), including one for minus-10 yards that helped extinguish a potential scoring drive. He got extensive playing time after starter Charles Sallet suffered a knee injury in the second quarter.
Botts showed very good speed and solid tackling. It was part of an improvement, overall for the defense.
The unit is starting to read plays as they develop, enabling action to be taken.
On two pivotal plays last week against South Florida, cornerback Josh Lay and defensive end Vernon Botts showed how far Pitt’s defense has come since the start of the season.
In the third quarter, Lay made his first interception of the season, which set up the Panthers’ final touchdown. Early in the fourth quarter, Botts stopped a reverse for a 10-yard loss, which helped push USF out of field-goal range.
Both Botts and Lay were able to sniff out the plays before the ball was even snapped. That is the kind of read-and-react playmaking that defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads has been waiting to see.
Tyler Palko’s better play has gotten noticed, from ESPN.com’s Bruce Feldman’s blog (Insider Subs.)
Pitt is starting to finally come on and QB Tyler Palko is beginning to look like the player he was last season. What happened?
“I think they finally took the leash off him,” says one Big East defensive coach. “They were just way too conservative with him. Walt (Harris) let him do his thing. Now they finally are getting back to that.”
That free-wheeling style is probably not something the Pitt coaches had been hoping to go with, but seems like a good idea they realized that that’s the m.o. that fits their best player. Too bad they waited so long to grasp that.
Aside from the mad scrambling to get back into the game in New Jersey, I haven’t seen much to indicate “they took the leash off him.”
Coach Wannstedt attributes it to him being comfortable in the new schemes, finally. That is also what Palko said after the USF win. That’s more what I’m seeing.
