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August 14, 2007

Really, is there a college coach who wouldn’t want to redshirt his freshmen if he could? They’d also like to be able to lock the players for all 4 years with 1 or 2 extra years of eligibility. Last year 16 freshmen played and 11 redshirted for Pitt (2007 Media guide, page 107). With 23 freshmen (including gray shirt Justin Hargrove but subtracting Kyle Hubbard), Coach Wannstedt can talk about it for the future, but it is likely to be a similar comparison this season.

In fact, the actual number of freshmen who see the field likely will be less than a handful, and Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said that is a sign his program is slowly getting to the point where it has enough depth to not have to rely on many freshmen.

He said that will be a welcome change from the way things have been in his first two seasons, when a number of freshmen were thrown into action out of necessity before they were ready. And while he believes there will always be a need for some freshmen to play, he hopes to get to the point where he has the luxury of redshirting most of his freshmen.

“It would be nice to be able to redshirt as many as we can,” Wannstedt said. “I’d hope to be able to do so. You’d like to get to a point where you have enough depth where you’re playing only four or five of the guys, particularly the skilled guys. We’ll redshirt as many as we can but we’re not there yet. We probably need two more recruiting classes. We’ve had two full classes since I’ve been here and need probably two more to really have the depth to start being a little more choosier about who we play and who we redshirt.”

Here are the players not likely to redshirt from the 23 because of depth and/or talent reasons:

  • Justin Hargrove — DL
  • Dom DeCicco — S
  • John Fieger — OL
  • Greg Gaskins — OL
  • Jordan Gibbs — OL
  • Chris Jacobson — OL
  • Tony Tucker — DL
  • LeSean McCoy — RB
  • Maurice Williams — WR
  • Aundre Wright — WR
  • Aaron Smith — CB
  • Buddy Jackson — CB
  • Sherod Murdock — CB
  • Henry Hynoski — FB
  • Shariff Harris — RB
  • Myles Caragein — DL

That’s 16 possible. Again, not all of them will, but based on the first week reports from camp, projected talent and (lack of) depth at positions these are the most likely to be on the depth chart and seeing playing time this season.

The battle for the remaining back-up Defensive End was the subject of this story. Chris McKillop and Joe Clermond are the starters and Greg Romeus seems to have one back-up spot nailed down. That leaves the other with redshirt freshman Tyler Tkach, and freshmen Hargrove, Tucker and Sheard.

“They’re different kinds of players with different strengths,” defensive line coach Greg Gattuso said. “The hard part is getting them comfortable, because in our system they’ve got to know both sides. The faster they can learn, the faster they can play.”

Sheard appears to have the inside edge. He worked with the second unit opposite Tkach in team drills Monday, while Romeus ran with the first team in place of McKillop, who was resting a sore hamstring.

Sheard was also the focus of the story. The hook is that Sheard was a swimmer and a lifeguard. He’s raw but athletic and talented according to Gattuso.

In Zeise’s brief Q&A yesterday evening he thinks a lot more of the balls that would have gone Derek Kinder’s way will be spread among the three tight ends.

Bruce Feldman of ESPN.com blogs briefly (Insider subs.) that he doesn’t buy the Ron Cook premise that Pitt will be better in the long run with Kinder out for 2007.

I disagree. To me, that’s like saying I was better off in the long run when I told my parents the truth behind what happened to their sofa while they were out of town when I was in high school. Sure, it opened the lines of communication, but did that year of awkwardness really make things better between us? No, of course not. Now Pitt is more likely to struggle in 2007. This will only further undercut Dave Wannstedt’s talk of being a top 25 program to recruits and make it that much harder to battle the West Virginias and Louisvilles of the world.

Good point, since we’ve been focused on wins and losses and the possibility of 2008 as the season actually gets close. Recruiting and perception-wise another sub-par season only hurts Wannstedt on the recruiting trail and whispers that he can’t do anything with the talent he recruits.





Didn’t Aaron Smith redshirt last year?

Comment by Fcuk Paterno 08.14.07 @ 12:09 pm

i thought aaron smith redshirted last year?

Comment by Fcuk Paterno 08.14.07 @ 12:16 pm

Both Smith and Hargrove gray shirted due to injury. I believe this still leaves them available to redshirt.

Comment by Josh 08.14.07 @ 12:36 pm

John Fieger is a pussy. They should cut him, he was getting burned by kids going to Ball State at the Big 33 game.

Comment by Chris 08.14.07 @ 2:42 pm

I don’t think there will be more than ten freshmen playing… Out of this list I think the only players who have a good shot of playing are:

Justin Hargrove — DL
Dom DeCicco — S
Greg Gaskins – OL
Chris Jacobson — OL
LeSean McCoy — RB
Maurice Williams — WR
Aundre Wright — WR
Aaron Smith — CB
Sherod Murdock — CB

Hopefully Mo Williams and Chris Jacobson redshirt. I think they have too much potential and they won’t have a huge impact if they play. Williams because there are a bunch of receivers, even with Kinder out. Jacobson because I believe Dom Williams will be the backup at both guard positions.

Comment by Ace 08.14.07 @ 4:54 pm

I can’t see any scenario where Gaskins doesn’t RS. If we get to the point where we’re depending on a 16 year old C, the season is over anyway.

Comment by Brian 08.14.07 @ 6:14 pm

from some writer on fox sports at:
link to msn.foxsports.com

Pittsburgh will once again underachieve as soon as the schedule stiffens in the second half of the year. It’s been only two years, but the early returns on Dave Wannstedt, now 11-12 at his alma mater, have not been promising, even as his recruiting classes shine. Plus, there’s a palpable feeling in that locker room dividing Wanny’s kids and Walt Harris’ recruits. It bears watching, especially if the Panthers lose a game they shouldn’t early on in the year.

aside from everything else…has ANYONE heard about the ‘palpable feeling’ that divides walts and wanny’s recruits???

Comment by matt 08.15.07 @ 1:33 am

I love how a team of sophomores and freshman are supposed to win the big east – and if they don’t they’re “underacheiving.” For the 11th million time, how many classes did it take before rutgers made a comeback? Who are these programs that get new head coaches and are 10-2 after 2 years, when the coach before was bringing in all 2- and 3-star kids the last couple of years? Give it a fucking break, after the ’08 season start bitching if they’re not there. Last year and this year are the only 2 years of Wanny recruits – 05 he was just trying to keep Walt’s kids from bolting and grabbing whatever was left. We had 1 4-star and 0 5-star recruits. Are we really supposed to make a BCS game with freshman, redshirt freshman, and sophomores, and mediocre juniors and seniors?

BTW, in 03 and 04, we had 1 single 4-star recruit (Graessle, the punter) and 0 5-star recruits. So to all the moron journalists that now want to rewrite history and say Harris didn’t leave the cupboard bare – check the facts, and go fuck yourselves. He didn’t have a half decent class since ’02 (with Fitzgerald and Palko).

Let these Wanny classes at least become upper-classmen before we start tossing the “underachieve” word around. Granted, maybe he could have come in and put some fuckign crazy ass system in to steal a few wins instead of a pro offense which relies on more talent (see: that shithole to our south) – but thats not a way to prepare for a solid program continuing into the future, and prepare kids for the NFL. We’re still having to play true freshman at several positions – and not because they’re so amazing we have to get them in the game. In 08 some of these good kids will be juniors and in 09 we’ll have some good seniors and juniors! Imagine that! If he can’t win in 09, then i’ll be pissed.

Right now i’m tired of these second rate journalists reprinting crap they read in other articles from some other second rate journalists. They get paid for this dribble?

Comment by Stuart 08.15.07 @ 5:06 am

I do agree that Wanny is building his own program and Walt didn’t leave much behind in regards to the most important part of a football team, O & D lines. You can’t compare Pitt to Rutgers rebuild!! Rutgers hadn’t been to a bowl game game since 1978 I think and outside of being the birthplace of college football, has no history.

Comment by Fcuk Paterno 08.15.07 @ 9:01 am

Good post Stuart.

I see this year is a pivotal year-with next year being expectation year.

How many games do you think Pitt and Wanny need to win to be succesful in recruiting this year and taking the next step for the program the future?

Comment by scoocher 08.15.07 @ 9:03 am

i agree with stuart, i dont know what people want out of wanny. you cant run his pro-style running offense with west coast players, especially with the kids that walt had on O and D line. they have a lot of talent on the field right now, but most of it is young and inexperienced, so of course they’ll struggle against the top teams in the country.

i think wanny is a hell of a recruiter, and even if we only win 4 or 5 games he’ll find some way to spin it. but i think next year we’ll see 8 or 9 wins once the young guys come together on this team.

Comment by matt 08.15.07 @ 9:33 am

I belive 7-5 is a distinct possibility.

Comment by Kenny 08.15.07 @ 11:20 am

Fox Noise stikes again…Really, the locker room is divided after three years? Walt’s recruits are secretly sitting around wishing Walt was there? How they must have sighed when he was hired and fired by Stanford in record time! This is DW’s team, on the field and off. Great post Stuart. Let the talent that he is recruiting mature and then judge his results. I’m not a Walt hater, but I do think DW’s ceiling is a lot higher than Walts…For one reason: Recruiting. Talent wins games. Coaches only put them in position to do so. If Urban Myer could start coaching Temple tommorow, and win more games than they loose, then you will convince me that coaches are more important than players. DW is a good coach, he is brining in good players, and we will see a result on the field over the next several seasons. For all of you DW haters: Who is the coach, that is an ace recruiter, that’s going to come to Pitt if DW is not there?

Comment by HbgFrank 08.15.07 @ 12:54 pm

I think he needs to be 7-5 for kids to believe that we’re still headed in the right direction. At the same time though, looking at the recruiting board, we’re not going to have as good of a class this year as we did the last two unless we win 10+ games. A bunch of kids have already crossed us off their lists for this year, presumably from the record for the last two years – they must be believing the dribble in the newspapers that DW can’t win “with talent.” They believe the expectations of fresh/soph taking the big east.

At the same time, when these two great classes get to be a little older in 08 and 09, i think we’re inevitably going to have some great classes again in 09 and 10 because those juniors and seniors in HS will see us winning again and want to be a part of it. If adults have short memories, imagine kids in HS. They want to win yesterday.

What would make me happy this year? That 7th (or 8th…or 9th…or 10th) win comes at WVU. There is a reason that QBs who pretend to be RBs don’t do anything in the NFL. I’m hoping having WVU on the last day of the year will pay some dividends due to the stupidity of their system.

And Joe Paterno “leaves” so that we can get back to scheduling them.

Comment by Stuart 08.15.07 @ 4:07 pm

I love how the Wanny lovers love to hear themselves talk while Rome burns. Wanny has a bad track record, and the recruits are finally figuring it out.

Comment by Joshua 08.16.07 @ 12:17 am

Exactly. He didn’t win in 2 years with mediocre players. Fire him. Bring back Wlat. Get us some criminals from the south or east to play. PSU has sucked more often than us this decade and they kept their coach through more than 2 PATHETIC years – with players HE RECRUITED. What program are we supposed to be more like? What should we be doing if you have all the answers?

He’s still bringing in 4- and 5-star players.

Comment by Stuart 08.16.07 @ 12:54 am

Stuart-

I don’t think WVU’s system is stupid. Quiet the opposite. I enjoy creativity and that system is a good example of it-along with the guy down at Texas Tech.

Both these schools have setup systems and went out and got guys that would fit them rather than competing head to head with the big boys.

I’d like to see Pitt go in this direction instead of trying to convince recruits to pick us over tOSU.

This model has worked for the Big East and TV. Don’t try and compete for Saturday night games with the SEC..have your own night on Thursday (and exclusive to boot I my add).

Comment by scoocher 08.16.07 @ 10:14 am

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