These are just my opinions. Don’t take them as the gospel or as heresy.
That McCoy is going really doesn’t surprise me. I know what he said, but plenty — like Larry Fitzgerald — have said similar in the past. No one should have been surprised.
El_Diablo: Colt McCoy and Michael Crabtree have announced they are returning next year as has another Heisman trophy hopeful , shady McCoy. When are you and your buddy bendel knock off the Shady will change his mind mantra.He loves Pitt, He loves Wanny and he loves the college life. Why is this so hard for you media guys to accept?
Paul Zeise: I’ll say it one more time — when his own coach has reservations about it, why shouldn’t we? I hope the kid comes back- it will make a more interesting team to cover that’s for sure. But again, when his own coach is telling people to hold off before they declare him back and when people around the program are still not completely sold, the responsible thing as a “media guy and a media guy buddy” is to report the fact that it is a long way between now and declaration day. We don’t make up stories, we don’t guess at things, we report what we know as has been told to us by people in the know. That’s what we do here.
Donald Brown told everyone he was coming back to UConn, but as soon as the International Bowl was over he admitted that he lied. I don’t think McCoy had his mind made up, and was necessarily lying. He was just trying to end speculation while the season was still happening. It’s what college players do, the same way college coaches try to deny interest in another job.
Now, I have to admit, that McCoy’s departure has me worried about the prospects for Pitt for next year. I know there’s a lot of optimism and enthusiasm for Chris Burns and even Shariff Harris. I know there a slew of other running backs coming in this recruiting class. McCoy, though, was a special player at the position and it isn’t some plug-and-play simplicity. McCoy accounted for 1793 yards (1488 rushing, 305 receiving) and 21 TDs. The rest of the offense produced 2659 total yards and 18 TDs.
Beyond that, the entire backfield is being replaced with Stephens-Howling and Collins both graduating. Whether you are of the opinion that the talent that will take over for them is superior or not, it also has to be acknowledged that Coach Wannstedt is not a big fan of inexperience and will be looking for ways to ease the players into the spots.
That may mean, gulp, actually trying to use the passing game. The place where the veterans and experience is located. Anyone feeling really confident about that, beyond falling back on — “well, it can’t get much worse”? From the subpar QB play to less than impressive route running by the receivers.
Beyond that, it can’t be glossed over that the O-line remains a big question mark. The team’s best lineman, C.J. Davis is gone. How well will Robb Houser come back from his leg injury and exactly who is going to be the back-up center? So far, there has been a distinct and noticeable inability to develop a center from the recruited offensive linemen. Jason Pinkston has not finished a season healthy yet and both times with the shoulders. How good the O-line is or can be is a huge unknown.
Then it comes to Offensive Coordinator Matt Cavanaugh. Whether it’s calling the game or developing QBs.
It keeps coming round to the chicken-egg thing with QB development. The supporters say he’s never had much to work with. Whether it was Chris Redmond and Kyle Boller with the Ravens or Stull, Bostick, Smith and Cross at Pitt. Detractors point to the fact that there was little improvement even with that material and he played a role at both spots in helping to evaluate the players to draft or recruit.
I’ve found myself increasingly siding with the detractors on Cavanaugh. He’s fine with QBs that all ready know what they are doing, but there aren’t any of those veterans available to him at Pitt. Palko graduated a couple years ago. I think he knows much about offense and what should be done. He does not do a good job teaching it. When it comes to calling the offense, he just doesn’t seem to have any feel for the game or what the players are or can do. There’s an absurd level of inconsistency.
We were very lucky to have McCoy, and have him healthy the entire time. That is just not easily replaced.
I would feel a lot better about 09 if we had any hope at QB but I just dont see it.
Now with Shady gone, maybe they will realize that the QB will now have be more of a playmaker and the other offensive talent must be better utilized. There is a lot of offesnive potential here (Burns, Harris at RB), (Byham, Dikcerson at TE) and (Baldwin, Porter & Wright at WR). There should be a bit more depth at OL – really only CJ Davis will be missed with newcomers Jacobsen, Nix and hopefully a healthy Pinkston and Houser returning.
I realize that this is a glass half-full approach but think it is every bit as feasible as the gloom and doom I have been reading in many of the other posts over that last 24 hrs.
Take the way Stull repeatedly threw those fades 5 yards out of bounds all season long. I think we saw it in every single game from BG to oregon state. You have to wonder if that isn’t due to our coaching staff’s obsession with avoiding risk at all costs. Are the QBs ripped to pieces in the film room by the coaches if they put that throw anywhere but safely over the outside shoulder right on the sideline? If that’s the case, then unless you have Sam Bradford which we clearly do not, then you’re going to end up with most of those passes sailing wastefully out of bounds time and time again- as we saw all season. You have to know your players’ strengths and weaknesses and it seems like our coaches just cannot get it.
Quarterbacks huh? Can’t we just consolidate the offense into one big pile and have them run forward? I say bring back The Flying Wedge. Our boys don’t need teeth, they need to score TD’s.
You beat a basketball school by 1 point in the Car Care bowl and you get to be in the final rankings?! What the fuck.
I’m not saying our bowl performance was anything but very bad, but we lost by 3 to the Pac 10 runner-up. It’s different than playing the 4th or 5th best ACC team.
Plus, WE HAD THE SAME RECORD AND WE BEAT THEM!!!!!!
That’s all the recruitment pitch we need, and it turns Shady’s departure from a distraction to a benefit!
What’s the word on this mystical QB from Texas I keep hearing about btw? Does this guy have a name?
Speaking of staying or leaving Pitt, did anyone see Coach Dixon’s interview today on Jim Rome … very reassuring!! The following points were made:
1) he didn’t blame Pitt at all for going after Skip Prosser initially when Howland left
2) Pitt has already guven him 3 new contract extensions with bonuses without him asking for them — he says that Pitt has been very loyal to him, and he really likes the City.
3) He says that he doesn’t want to be the coach who is always looking for the next job. He also sees Pitt now as a destination and not as a means.
Of course, that may change later this year when Arizona offers to make him the highest paid coach .. but as of now, it seems really encouraging
Examples? Look at Case Keenum from UH, Chase Clement from Rice, or Johnson from Utah. All three were lightly recruited guys who can light it up with their feet and their arms. Any of them would be a massive upgrade over what Pitt has. High school ball in Texas is very well coached.
The QB from Texas is named Kolby Gray and he’s one of the kids visiting this weekend. Here’s the list for those interested:
link to pittsburgh.scout.com
Zeise just reported that his mind isn’t made up yet. It seems to me like he wants to stay, but is being pushed by his family to make the jump.
Let’s hope Dave changes things for the next bowl game. And that we solve this QB crisis.
I am up for anything at this point at the QB position, an open battle anything. I hope that he is a gem and we cash in that would be great!! Don’t take it as a knock on him, I think everyone should want to go to Pitt!
Shady better come back to Pitt as he will not be a #1 pick. He would be lucky to be a #2 and more likly a #3 or lower. I am sure Shady knows the Cris Taft story.
From the little I’ve seen and read about Kolby Gray, based on a few minutes of highlight films and newspapers, he reminds me of another Texas high school QB, Christian Ponder of Florida State.
They both have similar size and measurables, strong arms, and big bodies, so that while they don’t have blazing speed, they can take off and absorb a hit.
He seemed to be the 2nd choice for the bigger in-state schools, and there’s no shame in that. As it is, Texas got Garrett Gilbert to verbal early, Tech got Jacob Karam, and A&M got Tommy Dorman last year.
I’ll be honest that I am hoping we land that kid not only because I think that he’s talented, but also because I am hoping we can mine Houston or Dallas suburbs for a sleeper prospect or two every so often.
Houston Guy is correct that Texas high schools are well coached. Indeed, Florida high schools also run much more sophisticated offenses than most WPIAL teams from back home.
FYI, here’s the Youtube clip that I saw. I stand by the Christian Ponder comparison. If Houston Guy is in any way affiliated, best of luck to Kolby with his decision and I personally hope that Pitt Is It for him.
Not only that even with all the colleges mining talent there’s just too many kids. After Mack Brown picks his class that’s still only 22 or so with plenty left!
Recruiting Gray in my opinion is so huge even if the kid never ends up being a star, because if done right it offers a real door opener to get some talent down here in the future.
The guy Brian Johnson who just won the Sugar Bowl for Utah is from about an hour east of Houston. If I’m not mistaken it was Utah and Syracuse competing for him. Yes, that Syracuse!
Getting back to Gray, his offer sheet doesn’t read UT, Tech, etc. but the schools offering him ask their QB’s to make a lot of plays for them -Utah, Boise, Rice, etc. These schools don’t want game managers.
Here’s the guy he reminds me a lot of.. its Chase Clement from Rice.. this is a compliment. Yes, lightly recruited QB’s can make plays against the big boys!
Nice analysis and I hope that you like Houston. I moved down to North Florida last year and Jimbo can probably also attest to how big high school football is down here and how deep and talented so many of the teams are.
For starters, most of the school districts are county wide and have fairly liberal transfer rules. Thus, teams in Duval County (Jacksonville) and Miami-Dade become positively stacked. There is simply too much talent for the biggest schools in Texas, Florida, or Cali to hold onto, so a lot of it slips through the cracks.
The one comment that DW made when he hired Bennett was that it could make some inroads in Texas. I would love for the staff to just target like 8-10 high schools in the suburbs of Houston or Dallas and open up a bit of a pipeline to supplement a recruiting class every once in awhile, especially in a down year in PA.
Perhaps the presence of Pitt hoops in Houston for Dwight Miller and J.J. Richardson, combined with recruiting Kolby Gray may give us that crack to assert ourselves a little more in recruiting.
I think when you have large, highly populated warm weather states, like here, Texas, and Cali, the players have more time outside to practice and develop faster.
What has always impressed me about Western PA is that it’s much-smaller, not to mention cold-weather, area when compared to the three giant states I listed above. But it manages to hold its own as far as producing talent.
And we have that talent in our backyard at Pitt, Plus, Wanny has always had some connections here in Florida, and also we seem to have some inroads in New Jersey (which I always felt was an underrated area). So I agree, landing this Kolby guy would be HUGE in terms of future recruiting in Texas, which I actually feel is less picked-over than Florida.
Now if he’d only fire Cav. But with our luck, he’d just replace him with Bruce Arians.
BTW, to the one guy who said it, beating UNC in a tire bowl or whatever DOES NOT mean that WVU had a better overall season than we did.
Thanks for the shoutout for my screen name. I’ve definitely talked about differences in athletics here than back home in Western PA. My take is that the circumstances here are conducive to producing a different sort of ‘athlete’ and allowing the kids to specialize more.
That’s not to knock the talent back home. However, top baseball or football players have the option of practicing outdoors for literally 10-11 months per year. Plus, the hotter weather year round makes it easier to stay leaner.
The top players back home tend to be more well-rounded in numerous sports. So, while we can agree that Pryor is a tremendous athletic talent, kids like he and Baldwin and the other top talent go from football to basketball/wrestling to baseball/track. The top players down here tend to pick their top sports by age 14 or 15 and just specialized and train for it year round.
No philosophy is necessarily better, it’s just a different way of training.
DW definitely has expanded on the success that Pitt had in Broward County and ‘The Muck’. Other than Greg Lee and Sherrod Murdock, I don’t remember much coming from Tampa, though. It seems like that may be a place worth trying to get a little foothold, as well as Naples, home of Greg Williams. What’s your opinion?
Lakeland (between Tampa and Orlando) is the home of Ray Lewis, and Apopka (just east of Orlando) is where Warren Sapp was from. So yeah, there’s good talent everywhere in this state, but there really seems to be a ton of it down in Miami.
Didn’t Wanny sign a corner from Lakeland in his latest class? I’m sure there are other guys here in the Tampa area that could help us, but I am admittedly not a recruiting guru.
