Aaron Berry gets love from his local paper.
Aaron Berry might not be the most impressive physical specimen, but when the freshman cornerback from Bishop McDevitt gets on the football field he is lavished with praise.
Just ask University of Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt. Even though he has only practiced with the Panthers for a week, and the workouts have been with other freshmen and young players, Berry has turned heads.
“Aaron Berry, he’s off to a fast start,” Wannstedt said. “He’s a player. And we’ve got Reggie Carter. KC [Kennard Cox] did some good things. Jovani Chappel, he’s like a little pit bull out here, so we have some serious competition for that other cornerback spot out there.”
One of the reasons Berry came to Pitt was his chance to get out and play early.
“The freshmen, we’re definitely getting more reps, so it’s been great,” Berry said. “When you’re a freshman, for most guys, they’re at the bottom of the depth chart. But this gives us a chance to work on things and not worry too much about that. We’re all together, and this helps us learn a lot more than usual.”
Even if Berry doesn’t contribute in the base defense this season, special teams are a possibility. The majority of his recruiting class should make an impact of some sort this season. They have to for Pitt to be successful.
“I wanted to play early, and this was the school where I could do that,” Berry said.
“And Coach Rhoads, he’s definitely one of the best DB coaches and defensive coordinators in the country. He puts a DB in the [NFL] league like every year. So, it was definitely the place for me to go to school.”
Now, I am not the biggest fan of Defensive Coordinator Paul Rhoads, but I will say he is a very good Defensive Backs coach.
LaRod Stephens-Howling gets a nice piece from Smizik.
Still, when you think of Pittsburgh football, you think of running backs who could move the pile, not dart around it.
Which maybe is why so many people have a difficult time with the fact that Pitt’s starting running back this season in all likelihood will be LaRod Stephens-Howling, who stands 5 feet 7 and, after gaining 15 pounds, weighs 175. The thought of such a specimen being an every-down back on the NCAA Division I-A level is hard for people to grasp.
It’s possible, even the Pitt coaching staff is having a problem with this concept. Certainly, when Stephens-Howling was recruited out of Johnstown High, it wasn’t to fill such a role. Players of his size are mostly seen as little more than gimmicks, someone who can catch a pass out of the backfield, run a reverse or a sweep and return kicks.
But to pound the line down after down, well, that’s for the big boys.
Except that the memory of Dorsett, arguably the most exciting athlete in Pittsburgh history, is too fresh to dismiss a player based on size. As a 19-year-old freshman in 1973, just months removed from Hopewell High School, Dorsett weighed about 160 pounds and ran for 1,686 yards. The most amazing aspect of that accomplishment is that he did it behind a line that returned intact from a 1-10 team the season before.
This is not to suggest Stephens-Howling is the second coming of Dorsett or even remotely comparable. It is to suggest, though, that body mass is not the key ingredient to successfully running the football. There’s more to the art than brute force. Quickness, the ability to accelerate and vision are at least as important as size.
Personally I always feel comparisons to transcendent sports figures are completely unfair and do more harm than good — and Dorsett is a transcendent figure in Pitt football. They create ridiculous expectatoins and resentment from others who inexplicably blame the player for getting the comparison.
I’m a fan of Stephens because I think it is very rare and hard to find a single back anymore in college. I prefer seeing a couple backs sharing the load, staying fresh and if this is going to be a run-first offense really being able to keep the defense off-balance with different running styles. He’s got a style that is more elusive and frustrating for a defense. He forces them to stay in position and react. Trying to be aggressive against Stephens when he is running can give him the opening for a quick burst.
Finally, if you have faith or trust in the bloodlines of athletes, then Pitt is in better shape then you may realize.
Forgive the Panthers if they express a nonchalant attitude toward their pro football surroundings, as 16 players have relatives who are current or former NFL players. Pitt has a cadre of Panthers who are hoping their success on Saturdays will translate into paydays on Sundays.
“It’s in your bloodlines,” said Pitt sophomore fullback Conredge Collins, whose father, Tony, played for the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins. “If you’ve got football and NFL that’s in your bloodline, the majority of the time you can go to that level, too. (When) you’ve got people that come from the NFL, you know what it takes.”
Collins is one of three Panthers whose fathers played in the NFL, joining senior linebacker H.B. Blades and redshirt freshman receiver Oderick Turner.
The others have cousins or uncles with NFL history.
