masthead.jpg

switchconcepts.com, U3dpdGNo-a25, DIRECT rubiconproject.com, 14766, RESELLER pubmatic.com, 30666, RESELLER, 5d62403b186f2ace appnexus.com, 1117, RESELLER thetradedesk.com, switchconcepts, RESELLER taboola.com, switchconceptopenrtb, RESELLER bidswitch.com, switchconcepts, RESELLER contextweb.com, 560031, RESELLER amazon-adsystem.com, 3160, RESELLER crimtan.com, switch, RESELLER quantcast.com, switchconcepts , RESELLER rhythmone.com, 1934627955, RESELLER ssphwy.com, switchconcepts, RESELLER emxdgt.com, 59, RESELLER appnexus.com, 1356, RESELLER sovrn.com, 96786, RESELLER, fafdf38b16bf6b2b indexexchange.com, 180008, RESELLER nativeads.com, 52853, RESELLER theagency.com, 1058, RESELLER google.com, pub-3515913239267445, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0
August 7, 2010

Concerns for the O-Line

Filed under: Football,Practice — Chas @ 10:01 am

I swear, it wouldn’t be Pitt training camp without concerns over the O-line. Last year, the primary concern was whether Robb Houser would be sufficiently recovered to play center. Whether there was sufficient depth, and if new starters would perform.

This year the concern is all about center and the interior O-line spots. It does have a decided, Groundhog Day feel to it. Only the names have changed.

“We have some issues on our team we need to address, football-wise, right off the bat,” Wannstedt said. “In the spring, Jack Lippert moved to center, we had Chris Jacobson working at left guard and Greg Gaskins working along with Ryan Turnley at right guard, so there is some good competition going there.

“But I don’t think any of us really walked away from the spring and said we are locked in at any one of the three positions, so that is a good thing because it means we will have competition and so we need to get that solidified.”

Of the three spots, only Chris Jacobson seems a lock to be the starter at left guard. Gaskins is penciled in as starter, but Turnley is right there.

Right guard is redshirt junior Gaskins’ to lose, but he will face stiff competition from redshirt sophomore Turnley. The two battled in the spring, but neither distinguished himself. Their competition will be closely monitored.

As for the center spot, well this is where it gets interesting/terrifying. As much as Coach Wannstedt has had a philosophy of having versatility on the O-line, the lack of good recruiting at the center position is noticeable. The battle is between a converted D-line player (Lippert) and a walk-on (Alex Karabin). At the moment, Karabin is the starter. How can there not be more than a little nervousness?

Naturally, Coach Wannstedt is more confident — publicly.

On the realistic expectations for the offensive line for the season opener:

“The offensive line probably takes longer than any other position to come together, but Tony Wise will get them ready. I am confident of that.

I’ve always believed that going into training camp, from a coaching standpoint, is that you focus in and make each player understand that he needs to get his game to the highest possible level that he can play, and I believe that can happen. If our starting center is Alex Karabin, our job and his job is getting Alex to play as well as he can. On the other side, Jason Pinkston who has been around here, better get his game playing at the level that he is most capable of, as is Jon Baldwin and Dion Lewis. That really has to be both the players’ and coaches’ focus coming out of training camp.

With opening out at Utah, there’s no margin for error. We’re going to have to go out there and play as well as we can in order to win that game, and everybody knows that. This is a very, very important training camp for us as a football team. We have a lot to get done in the next 27 days.”

Right now the O-line concerns outweigh even the worries over a new QB.





Since Coach Wise has arrived our OL has been at least serviceable. I have no reason to believe that will not continue. The success of our season will rise and fall with one player…Tino Sunseri…No pressure!

Comment by HbgFrank 08.07.10 @ 12:06 pm

6-0 in Ireland, if Guiness didn’t taste like puke, I’d hoist one for the Panthers. Will a Heineken suffice?

link to pittsburghpanthers.com

Hail to Pitt!

Comment by Steve 08.07.10 @ 6:59 pm

HbgFrank – pay attention to Chas’ last sentence in this article addressing our rebuilt OL… “Right now the O-line concerns outweigh even the worries over a new QB.”

In my opinion a lot of what we will consider Sunseri’s success, or lack of the same, will be directly attributed to how well that rebuilt interior OL plays.

Yesterday’s practice held a perfect example of this – the defensive play of the day was when Dan Mason went straight up the middle and jumped to deflect a Sunseri pass. This is what has some of us fans worried. Sunseri is 6′ tall at the most and all three positions of Center and both Guards will be new starters with totally inexperienced players at center and RG. Expect to see a few batted down passes per game since Sunseri had two knocked down in his short PT last season in only 17 attempts.

What I worry about is this and Sunseri being forced to move out of the pocket due to interior pressure. Sure he has the legs to do so but that isn’t the ideal scenario for a rookie Starting QB to have when trying to avoid INTs.

The bottom line is that in football nothing ever happens in a vacuum… each player’s success depends on how well others play in addition to his own talents and abilities.

Comment by Reed 08.08.10 @ 4:41 am

My problem is, why do we come into a huge season without a scholarship Center on board? I know Lippert is converted, but Alex Karabin. I think he’ll be fine. But as a team that is going to be a power running team, we need to have both guards and center covered for every season. Wasn’t Gaskins a Center by trade? Why is he moved now?

Comment by JimJohnstown 08.08.10 @ 2:43 pm

Reed, I was responding to the last sentence of the post. I said that I think the OL will be just fine. The running back talent is there, the WR talent is there. We need a QB that is more than just serviceable. We need a QB that can throw the ball when the whole stadium knows he has to throw the ball. If we have that, then we will have a BCS team.

Comment by HbgFrank 08.08.10 @ 4:55 pm

Hbg – OK, that makes more sense and I agree that if we can trot out Tino Sunseri and basically tell an opponent that we are going to throw against you and then do so, he’ll have arrived.

I suspect, especially in the first third or so of the season, that some fans will be longing for the days of Bill Stull and his low turnover ratio though.

Comment by Reed 08.09.10 @ 5:25 am

I may be the only one out here wondering why the hell no one;s looking at Bostick to play QB?? He looked great at the ND game and performed admirably when forced into action. The kid has a nice arm and can get the ball downfield. What am I missing here??

Comment by The Hagen 08.09.10 @ 7:49 am

Tino is the guy. Pat Bostick has taken the Charlie Batch role basically. He’s an aspiring coach and he’s been in the system for a while.So its like another coach. We’ve redshirted him like 7 times already it seems. But in the whole scheme of things, PB was a failure. He was a top flight QB recruit. And when he committed, both Rivals and Scout made a huge deal and wrote big articles…..”The Impact of Pat”. I saved all the clips because I thought we had the next Dan Marino on our hands. Far from it….

But has anyone noticed Wanny’s new scheme of QB recruiting? We tried getting the big recruit in Bostick,and failed.

Now he is going after lesser QB’s that come from winning programs.

Tino-Central Catholic State Champ
Mark Myers-St Ignatius top team in Ohio
A Gonzalez-Liberty,played in states as a jr.
Nova-Bosco Prep #1 team in the Nation last year.

Hopefully translates into some Championships for the Panthers.

Comment by JimJohnstown 08.09.10 @ 10:12 am

The key to success concerning the offensive line this year will be keeping the 5 starters injury free. Alex Karabin has a good resume and has just been waiting for his chance. Why DW has NOT given him a scholarship up to this point is the big question. Karabin is the oldest man on the team, thats right a 6′ 1″ 290 lb. MAN, he turns 24 in Oct. He has earned 2 letters already and has been the second team center for all of last year primarily working with Tino under center. The continuity between those two is already in place. He will do just fine. I think people will be surprised at how strong this O-line will be, IF they stay healthy. Now if a couple first stringers go down with injury, then we have problems, the experienced depth just isn’t there, especially at center. As always, we’ll see.

Comment by Dr Tom 08.09.10 @ 10:21 am

Reed, I agree with you 100%. It is a really tall order to ask any new QB to come in and play at a high level from their first start. Given that first start is on the road against a tuff Utah team, followed shortly by a visit from Miami, that tall order is even larger. I really don’t believe that Tino is that far ahead (or ahead at all) of Pat as a QB if we are just talking about running the huddle, reading the defense, and making throws. The edge for Tino is his mobility. I don’t care what Tino and the coaches have been saying about him not taking off a lot, I think that we will see just that. If teams make those all out bull rushes to the QB on obvious passing downs like they did to Stull last year, you are going to see Tino run right up the middle for 10 or 15 yards. All in all, I think we are very solid at the QB postion. I see the value of a mobile QB, but I don’t see a big drop off if Tino gets hurt and Pat has to play.

Comment by HbgFrank 08.09.10 @ 11:47 am

Powered by WordPress © PittBlather.com

Site Meter