And I am backed up on some tabs. There are things going back to mid-April in some of my browser tabs. Time to empty at least a few at a time.
The unintentional side-effect is a little bit of distance and perspective on things.
Going back to the end of spring practice (yes, I really did mean some old tabs). The depth at linebacker is there. The actual starting line-up might still be in flux by the summer camp.
The Panthers will probably begin the 2010 season with middle linebacker Dan Mason flanked by Max Gruder and Greg Williams. Unlike last season, Pitt appears to have plenty of depth — including Manny Williams, Shane Gordon, Carl Fleming and Tristan Roberts.
Roberts has been among the most improved players this spring. He has played well enough to challenge for a starting job, particularly with Greg Williams sitting out much of the past week with injuries.
Gruder has experience and seems likely. Dan Mason is a lock at MLB — even if he is still relying a little more on athleticism .
“You can tell Mason is still learning,” [Linebackers Coach Bernard] Clark said. “He played on pure talent last season. He was flying real fast to the ball. I talked with him, and he told me, ‘I just played.’ Now, he’s concentrating on what he has to do. He is the leader of the defense, so he needs to relax and be patient.”
Mason’s confidence grew with each practice and scrimmage. Wannstedt is confident he has found the right man to replace Gunn, an All-Big East first-team selection last season.
“There is some pressure, but I trust what the coaches have taught me,” Mason said. “It’s a big role I have, but I can handle it by staying focused. When you play linebacker, you can’t play tensed and nervous. You can’t worry about making mistakes. You have to take some risk, which is the natural.
“I learned a lot about keeping your composure and, if something bad happens, it’s not the end of the world, because you’re still got another play.”
While Mason is the aggressor, Gruder is patient and Williams possesses big-play potential. Gruder arguably was the team’s best defensive player during the second half of last season, and Williams’ sometimes-spotty play was punctuated with two defensive touchdowns.
“Dan has a passion for the game and great speed,” Clark said. “You have to slow him down, because he’s so intense. He has the skills, but the thing that drove me crazy is the fact that he was missing some tackles. Max wants to do everything perfect. He’s playing harder and faster, and that comes with maturity. Greg has all the tools, but he needs to become more disciplined.”
Williams, though, was really pushed by a resurgent and now healthy Tristan Roberts. Someone who I had completely forgotten — which is a credit to the depth and the overall level of play at linebackers the last couple of year. Surprising many.
4. Tristan Roberts, Pittsburgh: Roberts didn’t play last year because of an injury and was mostly a special-teams player the year before. Now healthy, he made a big push this spring at outside linebacker, giving two-year starter Greg Williams reason to worry about his job security in the fall.
Now Williams was battling some injuries in the spring, but he has been inconsistent. Flashing excellence and then disappearing when he plays. Being pushed by Roberts could be the best thing for him.
Quarterback questions were answered early by the Pitt coaching staff when Tino Sunseri took first team snaps from the beginning, and never left that group. He is saying the right things.
“I have a lot of work to do,” Sunseri said. “But I feel like I came a long way this spring. Just being able to play as much as I could play, it has been a great experience. We have a lot of potential on offense but we have to keep learning and keep working on the things we do well, and if we do those things I think we can be pretty explosive.”
He has the coaches confidence and that can’t hurt.
Ontario, I think I speak for all Pitt fans who would love to see Williams have a breakout year and become an all-everything. The reason for the fuss about Fields is that we have read for over 3 years of his NFL potential … but it is time to move forward without him.
In almost every case when writing about Elijah Fields the mainstream media writers would hedge their bets regarding just how far he progressed, and in interviews the staff would do the same. However, the enamored fans would be all ga-ga over Fields and his perceived potential.
We saw the same thing happen with Greg Cross two years ago – the beat writers would caution that he had a long way to go to get on the field but the fans demanded he see playing time because he’d break a play or two in practice.
PITT fans have a habit of doing this – making kids out to be stars when they haven’t done much to show they deserve the praise at all.
We started to see the same thing with Dan Mason after the Navy game last season – until reality reared its ugly head and he fell back down to earth. IMO he may very well become a superstar at MLB but he’ll have to show it on the field before I am convinced – but I’ll bet a dollar we’ll be reading posts about how great he’ll be this season before he’s played that way.
In the same light, I remember both Gorman and Zeise telling us what a great physical specimen Fields was he had an NFL body and great natural skills .. and this was in his natural freshman year when he played special teams. He also returned an interception for a TD in his first spring game after his freshman year … only to be suspended a few months later which, of course, was a microcosm of his Pitt career.
