One feature we can look forward to seeing in Pitt’s offense this year is use of just about every eligible skill player of offense to catch a pass.
Having three experienced, game-ready wide receivers is not enough for him. He wants six to eight capable catchers.
Fortunately, he has a healthy crop of young receivers that have shown promise in the first week of camp.
Juniors Mike Shanahan and Cameron Saddler and sophomore Devin Street are firmly entrenched starters at the three wide-receiver positions in the Panthers’ new offense, and rightfully so.
Shanahan was second on the team in catches behind the departed Jonathan Baldwin with Saddler, who missed much of last season because of injury, getting seven receptions and Street getting 25 in 2010.
But newcomers and younger players, highlighted by redshirt freshman Salath Williams and true freshman Ronald Jones, are part of the list of players that could see playing time this season.
And not just to give the starters a rest.
“If they can’t play a substantial amount, then they won’t,” Graham said. “But all of them are competing right now to play.”
In addition, Ed Tinker, Josh Brinson, K’Wuan Williams put the number up to 8 receivers who will get opportunities to contribute. Lots of possibilities, configurations and combinations.
Cam Saddler gets some love as the X-factor in the receiving game. He’s been a talent, but between injuries and receiving sets that rarely had more than 2 WRs at a time has done very little.
At Gateway, he returned seven kickoffs for touchdowns over two seasons — one short of a national record — and Rivals.com rated him the No. 8 all-purpose player in the country.
His Pitt career has developed slowly after he tore his ACL during his first summer camp in 2008. Three years later, he looks like a natural for coach Todd Graham’s hurry-up, speed-based offense.
In the first practice last Monday night — under the lights at the UPMC Sports Performance Complex — Saddler raced into the open to catch a long pass in the corner of the end zone.
He fell to the ground, and skidded into a small scoreboard, tearing his gloves to shreds, but holding onto the football. No one was sure if he was hurt, but he quickly jumped to his feet, skipping away and shouting, “Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.”
“It hurt,” he said, “but once I heard everybody yelling, I was like, ‘I don’t think I can lay here.’ I jumped up and let everybody know I just made a big-time catch, so you all should pay attention to me.”
Getting Saddler committed at the time was a big deal. As much because he was kept from making a mistake with WVU — plus burying the Hoopie coaches:
“Coach Gibson told me, ‘We have no guys that can do the same things you do,’ which was just ridiculous. They have all types of players. I looked like clones with these guys. For him to say stuff like that, I kind of was like he’s not serious.
“A couple days after he was hired at Michigan, he said, ‘We truly have no guys that can do what you can do.’ Now you tell me the same thing and I’m supposed to believe it?”
And I’m sure he and Coach Tony Gibson have since had a very awkward laugh over Saddler’s comments.
While Brock DeCicco is transferring, Hubie Graham looks solid at the H-back/TE spot after sitting out a year following his transfer from Illinois.
The H-Back — or three-back as Todd Graham labels it — is a tight end who can run and catch without sacrificing his blocking.
“He has (to line up) in the backfield, (be) an inline (blocking) tight end,” Todd Graham said. “He has to split out and has to be involved in the play-action game and protections.”
Not to be facetious, but how is that significantly different from a regular tight end? I guess the splitting out part, but the description doesn’t sound too different. I guess we will see.
Who’d da thunk
Let’s see if that is the case, say come mid-October.
Dorin is pretty much the easiest way to sum up the ideal player for that position.
melvinbennett, I, for one, enjoy Zeise’s columns and articles. I find him to be competent and professional.
If you are reading, please make Pitt your college choice. And, don’t wait until October to announce. The suspense is killing me, and I need to go on with my life.
Based off the fact Shanahan was picked by Graham to attend the BE Media Day, i think he’s already impressed Graham. I agree what Mike lacks in speed, he makes up for in guts and great hands. He’s not afraid to go across the middle and take a hit.
Piggy-backing off that, I love what I read today in the Redshoe Diaries. Thomas pushing Williams for the “spur’ position, Price getting ample opportunity to get on the field and make plays behind Lindsay and Gonzalez taking some reps at the HBack position. Graham doesn’t appear to be affraid to play the youngr guys and seems as if he looks to maximize talent.
One of the most interesting things to me coming into camp was Graham’s approach of adjusting to the talent on the roster. Until the season starts I guess we do not know for sure but from what is being reported from camp, I like what I hear so far.
Comment by BigGuy 08.16.11 @ 3:56 pm
That’s nice BigGuy….congrats. (You aren’t Zeise are you?) 🙂
Tangentially, and not that we should be expecting Tulsa’s offense, but their top RB had 64 carries, the whole year. Dion had 220 as point of comparison.
Lastly, if we’re lining up every 12-15 seconds, just to hand the ball off, that probably means that Tino is not capable of running the offense the way it’s supposed to be run and we will be incredibly easy to defend. A RB run heavy, hurry up, no huddle, shotgun-based, spread offense? Does that sound logical? Would certainly be novel.
I think Shell was smart to postpone his announcement until October. It does sound like he’s leaning towards Pitt. Hopefully we show him enough balance and RayG is ripping it up by then and we seal the deal and get him to commit.
One more thing about the both of them .. when you are as talented as both of them are, you can thrive in any system. OC Magee used to call plays at WVU, and if anyne cares to remember, it was the running of White and Slaton that scored 38 vs Georgia and 48 vs Oklahoma. While you will see more passing here at Pitt, any coach worth his salt will utilize a talented RB.
link to espn.go.com
And, Zeise is about as balanced in reporting as Reed…just bustin your balz. I like the reporting from both so don’t change a thing.
I will say, that I have heard Graham say many times, if they have a workhorse running back or receiver who continually moves the chains, they will get the ball.
I think he may want to wait, and see how Graham (RB) and, is it Brown from Wis, do??
If they are sitting on the bench playing tidly winks, then maybe, but, I have a feeling Graham and Brown will be having big years.
We’ll have to wait and see.
Guy from Syracuse put it bluntly and too the point, speaking of the Syracuse a.d..
“I love our rivalries with UCONN, Pitt and WVU, but, and ideally, all together, but, if push comes to shove, he better be ready to jump to keep us in the game”.
Couldn’t have said it better. Would love us to stay together in the Big East with some new members. All of us go to the ACC. Like the fella said, if push comes to shove, Nordy has got to be lookin’ out for Pitt. Then, he needs to look out for Pitt, and finally, he should look after Pitt.
Yes, some hard feelings if things come to pass, but Nordy has got to make sure Pitt is relevant if football and basketball in the future, even if means taking a leap.
I’d rather take a leap by myself into something stable, than hold hands together with some friends on a ship that is going down.
This is bad for Pitt if Marinatto thinks he has found some frends. I hope he is not that naive, Swofford will be stealing teams from behind as he’s smiling at Marinatto.
Wow, if something happens, I hope Nordy and Pederson are on this.
You end up not in one of the biggies, your program is about shot.
Also, if someone told me tomorrow, the next three teams to the Big East would be Kansas, Kansas St and Missouri, I’d lock that up for 20 years.
So much could happen though, Missouri may be a prime candidate for the SEC, not to mention the Big Ten.
And, don’t think that Delaney from the Big Ten isn’t keepin’ his pulse on all of this. Scares me that nothing has been heard from him!!
On a different note, this Miami football stuff, if true, makes SMU and Ohio State look like Boy Scouts:
Just as funny is someone stating a RB won’t have success in this offense. Sit back and watch the numbers Ray Graham puts up this year and you will see.
He’s not a 2 star out of Germantown.
You are right, 4 and 5’s fail, but, I think with the QB out of Tennessee and him, would really get the ball rolling for Coach Graham.
I think, if you follow my thoughts, it’s not a terrible thing if we don’t get him, we’ll keep moving forward, but, I believe it would be huge if we do.
I thought there was something behind the move to get Anderson to walk-on. That was a big financial committment for him without some hope of playing or getting a scholarship soon…
Personally, I think he has done an excellent job recruiting. Yes, lots of 2’s and 3’s, but, I have to laugh when I see some people questioning his recruiting………he just started in January!!! He needs time for the kids to see his team play, needs time to get to know the local coaches etc. etc.
I just think it would be a great start, and really get momentum for him in that area if he has an elite 11 qb and a top rb allready in his pocket.
I stated before not to underestimate Trey Anderson. He is no “franchise player” 🙂 but he is good. IMO, a much better passer than AG and he has experience in a very similar offense.
I hope Tino has improved, can get better velocity with mechanics, hopefully they have been coaching him, but, if he sputters, Graham does not appear to be someone who is going to keep him in if he’s not producing.
MB
Not making excuses, just leery. Hopefully we come out smokin’.
By the way, you posted somewhere else about shunning, I have started implementing that here at my office!!
A lot. Michael Dyer broke Bo Jackson’s freshman school record while still splitting carries with McCalebb and Fannin, not to mention Cam Newton.
“He has (to line up) in the backfield (when we decide to use him), (be) an inline (blocking) tight end (only when we are in short yardaage),” Todd Graham said. “He has to split out and has to be involved in the play-action game and protections.” (in other words, he either is a decoy or blocks)