You know, I really do want to let the whole McCoy thing fade. I get the whole Penn State frustration and, “well if he doesn’t want to come here, we don’t want him” thing. Frankly I and many Pitt fans have been guilty of the same attitude. The character assassination disturbs me, but again, it happens way too often with everyone to think of it as unique to PSU fans. The one thing I think worth pointing out is that the RB position at PSU is not exactly loaded at the moment to believe that Penn State ever pulled the offer.
Unless redshirt freshmen Brent Carter and Evan Royster emerge as quality replacements for Tony Hunt, the coaching staff will have to choose between seniors Austin Scott and Rodney Kinlaw to carry the load for the offense.
If you think that running combination is going to strike fear in the hearts and minds of Big Ten defensive coordinators, you’ve swallowed way too much blue-and-white propaganda.
Joe Paterno, a master at manipulating his players through the media, continually praised Scott, who was redshirted, and Kinlaw, who played sparingly, during the latter part of the 2006 campaign. At his season wrapup press conference the morning after the Outback Bowl, the veteran coach said he has big expectations for both players next season.
His reasoning: Their performance in practice – Kinlaw as a backup to Hunt, and Scott as the demonstration team’s tailback.
Frankly, I’m not buying it.
Kinlaw, who’s ran for 326 yards on 80 carries in his collegiate career, has shown little at the position, certainly not enough to convince anyone that he can be a big yardage-producing, durable back.
The mercurial Scott, meantime, has been a colossal disappointment at Penn State. And, after his mysterious departure from the team during bowl week in Tampa, some insiders even question if the former Parkland star will be back next season.
Interesting. I suppose the PSU hope is to still get Broderick Green to renege on his USC verbal. You know, because that’s the kind of character that does fit.
Meanwhile, ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. took a look this week at recruiting in all the conferences. Capsules of each team in each conference. This one is from the Big East (Insider subs.).
Selling point: Lots of history, led by former NFL head coach Dave Wannstedt.
2007 class highlights: With the departure of starter Tyler Palko, the Panthers added a top-15 quarterback prospect in Pat Bostick (Lancaster, Pa. / Manheim Township). Pitt struggled to move the ball on the ground on offense, so several running back prospects will look to pick up the slack, led by , LeSean McCoy (Harrisburg, Pa./Milford Academy), one of the top running backs from the Class of ’06, who has reportedly committed, and Xavier Stinson (Hollywood, Fla. / Chaminade-Madonna). Also, don’t forget No. 6 fullback Henry Hynoski (Catawissa, Pa./Southern Columbia) to help open holes.
The offensive line has also been addressed, and Chris Jacobson (Pittsburgh/Keystone Oaks) is one of the more physical guards in this class.
Pittsburgh was one of the worst in the nation in defending the run in 2006, so DEs Myles Caragein (Pittsburgh/Keystone Oaks) and Tony Tucker (Washington, D.C./Saint Johns College) have been added. Pitt also went to the junior college ranks to try and get some immediate help by adding Tommie Duhart out of Coffeyville Community College. Safety Maurice Williams (Erie, Pa./Strong Vincent) gives Pittsburgh an excellent athlete in the secondary.
Could see on the field in 2007: Bostick, Williams, Jacobson, Stinson, Duhart.
Rutgers has had a great recruiting season. WVU has been solid and USF is likely to be full of sleeper talent. USF could be poised to do even better in the closing weeks as the way too early 2007 top-25 are including USF at #25. It can’t hurt their profile. Especially while FSU and Miami are still overhauling their coaching staffs.
Our team last year had pretty specific weaknesses, most notably line play on both sides and a sustainable running game. He can rectify that without completely overhauling the lineups.
Duhart could come in and start if necessary – much the same as Otah did, and Otah turned out all right. And if Caragein can bulk up over the off season he could be a real force at nose tackle with his championship wrestling skills (much like the Pro-Bowl NT from the Ravens Kelly Gregg).
I, for one, would not discount Stull as the starting QB. He’s been in all the practices taking second team snaps, knows Cavanaugh’s system, and comes from a HS program that has produced good college QBs. Also, he showed he could produce when he got his small amount of playing time last season. We tend to discount all that in favor of Bostick’s rep as a 5-star HS player.
I would also like to see Hynoski get considerable playing time, but that’s an interesting proposition. He really wasn’t a blocker in HS as he was a great runner and was the rushing workhorse for his team I don’t know how hard it is to teach that skill, but having him and McCoy in the backfield together could be very productive down the road. Dorsett always had a good fullback in front of him, and last season Rutgers did very well in the same set up with Leonard and Rice – especially since Leonard wasn’t a big drop in rushing talent those times he got to carry the ball.
The key will be how the young kids do on defense, and I’m optimistic that we’ll see an improvement on that side. Blades is gone, but wouldn’t it be nice if plays were stopped at the line of scrimmage vice our linebacker getting a million tackles?
I agree with this guy, and feel that our team’s success hinges much more on guys like untested players like Nix, Webster, Fields, Berry, Byham, Bokor, Malecki, Pinkston etc producing rather than a superstar RB.
But, I really want a superstar RB dammit!
Believe me, I want this to happen as much as the next guy, but I’m not pinning my hopes for the team on one kid that hasn’t enrolled yet.
