While discussing PITT’s prospective passing game (hold the applause) on a message board this morning I came across some information that opened my eyes about how Chryst as an OC approached using his personnel to move the ball through the air.
Looking back over Wisconsin’s last five seasons it is apparent that Chryst loves to use his TEs in the passing game. His TEs were super productive and one was always in the team’s top three in receptions each season:
2011 – Pedersen, 30/356 yards; 8 TDs; 3rd in receptions
2010 – Kendricks, 43/663 yards; 5 TDs; 1st
2009 – Graham, 51/624 yards; 7 TDs; 2nd
2008 – Graham, 40/540 yards; 5 TDs; 1st & Beckum, 23/264 0 TDs; 4th
2007 – Beckum, 75/982 yards; 6 TDs; 1st
Hubie Graham, Carswell and Carozzoni have to love these stats and you can see why TE Scott Orndoff chose to play at PITT under our new HC. Compare those Wisky receiving stats to how PITT has used the TE in the past and we see there is a marked difference
2011 – H. Graham, 28/325 yards; 3 TDs; 3rd
2010 – Cruz, 19/213 yards; 2 TDs; 6th
2009 – Dickerson, 49/529 yards; 10 TDs; 2nd
2008 – Byham, 20/260 yards; 1 TD; 6th
2007 – Byham, 15/210 yards; 1 TD; 5th
With that I’d put Dickerson down as more of an H-Back/WR than a TE during his good SR year in 2009. Our other TE that year, Nate Byham, had 10/108 yards and 0 TDs.
An interesting and encouraging note is that all these Wisconsin TEs, up to 2011, have been drafted into the NFL and their current TE, Jacob Pedersen, is going into his JR ranked the #6 TE in the country. For PITT both Dickerson and Byham were drafted but Dickerson was drafted as a WR rather than a TE.
So looking ahead to 2012 we can optimistically draw on the fact that Sunseri had a pretty good connection going with Hubie Graham last season as Graham caught more passes as a TE (28) than did any other PITT TE in the last five years, again discounting Dickerson. Add another decent receiving TE into the mix with Drew Carswell, who caught 13 balls for 140 yards last season, and I think Chryst and Rudolph will rely on these two as he had his Wisconsin TEs in the past.
I do have a question very relative to the subject!!!!!!!!
What about Decicco?? Brock I believe?? Transferred to Wisky, then coaches left for here.
Any chance he might want to come back home??
Would we want him to come home???
Even if he did want to come home, would there be too much non sense from the NCAA for him to even try???
LOL, don’t mind me, I’m on Scotch right now!!!
The followingis from the Trib … absolutely love the comments from Samuelson’s HS coach at the bottom:
link to triblive.com