It’s Jonathan Baldwin week. His first 100 yard game came against Navy. In the past two games, he has become the player to stretch the field — as everyone was expecting back in training camp.
That means it is time to make him available to the media for puff pieces.
Pitt’s coaches, clearly, are concerned about heaping too much on Baldwin too early, be it playing time or praise. He’s still a backup and, according to Bossard, played only 21 snaps against Navy.
They shouldn’t worry so much.
Every so often, an athlete with a different skill set and mindset comes along, and normal rules don’t apply.
Johnson started right away at Georgia Tech and became only the second true freshman in school history to be named All-Atlantic Coast Conference.
No stage is too big for such athletes. No time is too soon.
Ohio State coach Jim Tressel has thrust Pryor into about as high-pressure a situation as any freshman could face.
The soft-spoken Baldwin isn’t the type to lobby for playing time, but he’s quick to reject the notion that going from Aliquippa to the Big East was a major adjustment.
“That transition wasn’t really anything,” he said.
So, he’s ready for full-time duty if called upon?
“Yes.”
The piece makes it seem that Wannstedt is all but conceding he can/should be playing a lot more.
Which is funny, because another piece has the WR Coach Bryan Bossard still playing the “he’s still learning and not quite ready yet” approach.
“The sky is the limit,” Pitt receivers coach Bryan Bossard said. “We’re barely scratching the surface on what he can do.”
At the moment, Baldwin is almost strictly a one-dimensional player. He is most effective at running deep routes and making instinctive plays against smaller defensive backs. Bossard said Baldwin must develop his route-running skills in order to be a more complete player.
“He’s had success on the deep balls, but there’s more to the game than running deep balls,” Bossard said. “He has to learn how to work his intermediate cuts and get on the same page with the quarterbacks. By far he is our best vertical threat, but there is more to the game than throwing the ball down the field.”
Bossard said if Pitt wasn’t so deep at receiver, Baldwin might be in a position to earn more playing time. But, with a veteran corps of receivers, there is no rush on the part of the coaching staff to play Baldwin more.
Yes. Just a vertical threat. Those short, vital catches over the middle in the Syracuse game were just lucky.
Yes, Baldwin has to work on his blocking and no doubt his route running skills could certainly be refined. The fact is, Pitt needs his presence on the field a good deal because he is a deep threat teams can’t ignore. His presence, automatically helps to spread the field because of that.
Good thing we got Dixon locked up not long ago.
Just play the kid! He’s a difference maker.
As to Baldwin, Chas is dead on- just having him on the field is going to terrorize that defense. I have a feeling he’s going to be on a field a lot this week and here on out.
Just watch the games again and concentrate on what Baldwin does on our running plays – which are still the bread and butter of this offense. He constantly is lost as to who and how to block downfield. We all love McCoy when he breaks off a good run, but there are reasons he’s able to do that – and downfield blocking is a huge part of it.
He needs to be in more, yes, but he doesn’t need to be in on every single play if his presence is a detriment to the play that is being called. PITT is fortunate that we have an experienced WR corps that does have the skills needed to execute on rushing plays, and the coaches would be fools not to use them where best served.
