On the other side, Tyler Palko’s precision passing is getting more attention.
“I don’t care what offense you’re in. You have to make good decisions,” Palko said. “When you throw a football, you’re taking a chance. If I’m making bad decisions and bad reads, we’re not going to be on the field very long.”
Pitt offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh has credited Palko’s work ethic in film study, but he noted the greatest improvement has come in his fundamentals. Palko isn’t holding the ball as long or throwing off his back foot as often. He isn’t staring down targets. In fact, he has distributed the ball to at least six different receivers every game, connecting with seven three times and eight twice.
“If his fundamentals are in order, I think he could be a good passer all the time,” Cavanaugh said before the Toledo game. “Sometimes, if he gets rattled or starts guessing, his feet aren’t set and he becomes inconsistent. He knows that now, and I think he’s buying into what we’re doing.”
In my Q&A with Syracuse blogger Matt Glaude, he never published the final installment of his questions to me, but he asked me about Palko this year.
Tyler Palko is leading the nation in passing efficiency. Has this been the result of playing a somewhat favorable schedule to start the season or is he really that effective? How has Palko been getting it done? Is it all Derek Kinder and Joe DelSardo?
Part of it is simply making the decisions faster. At the risk of going cliche, Palko is the son of a very successful Western PA high school coach. It took him a while to really get the system that Wannstedt and OC Cavanaugh installed. I mean, get in a wrapping his head around the nuances, understanding the concepts, reasons and simply grokking it. Once he reached that point, it made things easier to know what his role and what he needed to do.
What has aided this has been a receiving corp that went from question mark/weakness to strength. This without DelSardo even catching a pass this season. Kinder has stepped up in a tremendous way to become the #1 receiver. Redshirt sophomore Marcel Pestano and redshirt freshman Oderick Turner made tremendous strides from an inconsistent spring to improving training camp to solid receivers.
From there you add Darrell Strong at Tight End, who is starting to match expectations when Pitt recruited him, as the big target receiving TE like Todd Heap.
I think Palko really knowing and understanding the system itself and what it is supposed to do is huge. There’s a difference for a player like Palko in being told to run a certain play or series, and comprehending the reasons and the whole game plan. He seems much more comfortable when he understands the whole plan.
It’s part of why I think he will be playing on Sundays. He has shown that he can thrive in two different systems doing different things. He has a good enough arm, but more important he has the head to be a NFL QB.
