Kids today. Harumph. Get off my lawn!. Always in a hurry.
“I am ready to get the ball in my hands and have smoke behind me,” [Corey Davis] said. “When I turn on my jets, it’s just about over with for anybody who is chasing me.
“But I am very humble to say that.”
Pitt’s Malcolm Crockett, another freshman back competing for playing time behind Ray Graham and Zach Brown, speaks with equal conviction.
If Crockett is forced to take a redshirt this season, coaches might as well ask him to wear a straitjacket. Coach Todd Graham wants to strain and train his players, but Crockett has no intention of allowing anyone to restrain him.
“When I came here, I had a mindset not to redshirt,” he said. “My mindset was to learn quick, don’t play like a freshman, play like I have been here for a couple years.”
Both will likely see action. The article already indicates that Davis is competing for kick return duties.
You don’t want to dampen their enthusiasm, but they remind me of this conversation.
Crash: You gotta play this game with fear and arrogance.
Ebby: Right. Fear and ignorance.
Competing for punt return duties is another freshman with speed. Ronald Jones.
“Even though he was a quarterback, when I watched his film, his foot speed, change of direction, his quickness — all the things you look for in a slot receiver, they were evident,” said Pitt receivers coach Mike Norvell.
“He was overlooked because of his size, I’m sure, but, boy, we really liked what we saw and then we did some research and found out he played receiver as a sophomore, so he had experience.
“When I watched his highlight film, that burst and change of direction, boy, it got me excited. And in the two weeks since he’s been here, he’s just been really, really impressive in everything he’s done.”
Norvell said Jones has been a game-breaker in scrimmages and live team drills and has worked hard to improve his route-running and learn the finer points of being a receiver.
Graham said he does not like to make comparisons between players, particularly when it involves a freshman, but he couldn’t help it with Jones, who he said reminds him of Tulsa star Damaris Johnson, who holds the NCAA all-time records for all-purpose yards (7,796) and career kickoff return yardage (3,417) despite being 5-8, 170 . Graham coached Johnson at Tulsa.
Jones is a small kid, but in the new offensive system, his height isn’t considered a big deal. He’s also connected to the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen via the same home town and McCutchen’s father is Jones’ pastor and coach for high school football and basketball.
“I want to get a chance to showcase my skills.”
Guy is genuine, been speed his whole life.
I like his wifes comment about his driving, “some people like to drive with him, if thats your kinda thing” LMAO!
However I do think there is a fine line between “best player” and “best player to have out there”.
There are going to be some growing pains with both the offense and defense – it is inevitable IMO. The staff has to do whatever it can to minimize mistakes – we are going to have missed assignments and turnovers on offense; we’ll give up some big plays on defense. A reasonable ‘risk analysis’ has to be performed with true freshman.
That said – if a true freshman clearly gives us a big advantage over the incumbent then he should be played… but not just because he may excel in just one criteria, such as speed. Hell, for the RBs and WRs alone blocking has to be a big part of thier game and that’s where true freshmen usually have problems.
Graham wants this team to be fast and quick. There are faster and quicker WRs than Shanahan and Street but I wouldn’t sit them down on that issue alone.
Rotating new kids into the play is fine for me as long as we still have the right blend of talent and experience in the two (or in some cases such as WR three) deep. I’m excited to see these new faces and anxious to see how they perform, but the bread and butter of this team are the returning starters.
Wbb – you are correct in all but the humble part.
I don’t mean “minimize mistakes” like we have seen in the recent past where it cripples the team, but that the staff has to take a reasonable approach to thier personnel decisions based on risk/reward for the situation at hand.
You are a legend in your own shallow mind
(Disclaimer: because of past comments regarding similar posts, I have to state that I am being facetious.)
And, have you heard, Pitt’s a basketball school?
It has grown back bearing a scarlet “R” which faces my house.
Stay tuned.
This one missed us, but we haven’t even hit the peak of hurricane season yet. It won’t be over soon enough for me. By that time, we’ll be starting a new basketball season and we’ll have a good idea of how High Octane football is working out.
Stay safe!
Everyone stay safe.
link to thequad.blogs.nytimes.com
HAIL TO PITT!
CHECK OUT THIS !! ON ORANGEBLOODS.COM
They are reporting if Notre Dame enters the Big 12, PITT could be added along with Notre Dame.
Wowza.
Makes sense they hired a coach from Texas with Texas connections if we’re planning to enter the Big 12 and compete against Texas, TT, Oklahoma and the others.
As for Pitt and the BigXII-2, I wouldn’t be opposed to it if Notre Dame went too. Doubt that’ll ever happen.
What I can’t understand is that Irene is sleepwalking N at around 12 MPH.
Math 180 tells me it’ll reach Metuchen at around kickoff next Saturday. Where am I going wrong?
And I’d make the 5 hour drive to the ‘burgh in a heartbeat to watch our Panthers play a serious opponent.
Steve, that storm seemed to last forever. I have no idea what day it is.
Biggest problem was finding a pooping spot for Buddy Da Dog.
Phew.
It is also great to see that TG is keeping things close to the vest. Under the previous coach he was an open book about what they were going to run, even saying what their favorite play was and that it was thier identity.