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March 27, 2013

Note:  Due to breaking developments my “PITT’s Five Things for Spring” list we are sharing with FSU’s Chant Rant blog may have to be modified as, obviously, RB may soon be a reason for concern.

Number five on my list of concerns, five being the least worrisome  and one being the most,  is our depth at Wide Receiver.  PITT went into spring drills with one true wide out returning as a starter.  That would be Devin Street and he’s been a productive player for us for over the last three years.  Last season he had his best year yet with 73 receptions for 975 yards (13.4 ypc) and five TDs.  That is a lot of production returning.  Street has also been our best deep threat which, ironically, due to a QB who couldn’t throw a deep ball to save his life, led him to be wasted in that role up until this season.

However, transfer Tom Savage (yes, he hasn’t played for two year which is another thing to be concerned about) will most probably be our QB this season and his deep passes are the strength of his game; big arm and very accurate.  His yards per completion average is a very good 14.3 so we PITT fans expect big things from that combo in 2013.

After Street however there are a lot of question marks.  Rounding out the remaining prospects we have only one WR who saw any meaningful PT in Ed Tinker, a local Pittsburgh City League player,  who played in all the 2012 games but mostly on special teams.  Tinker only had five receptions for 68 yards and a single TD but showed some flash with those receptions coming at the end of the season.  He’s talented but largely unproven.

In addition we are very high on Manasseh Gardner, another City Leaguer (it is unusually for PITT to have two on roster) who transferred back home to play for Paul Chryst.  Chryst had recruited him to Wisconsin when Chryst was the OC there.  This guy is the talk of spring practices so far and showing both good speed and great hands.  He has that feel that he could explode given the chance to play regularly.  He’s just a playmaker.  Chances are he’ll jump Tinker and be the second WR on the field.  However, PITT is going to see a lot of three and even four WR sets so all three will get ample playing time.

There is a chance that our OC will use Gardner more as a hybrid H-back and put him on the OL as a TE sometimes also.  If that happens then we won’t be seeing three or four WR sets.

One player who opened eyes last season as a true FR walk-on was Chris Wuestner.  He did so well in summer camp last year that the staff awarded him a scholarship prior to the first game.  He’s the type of player who skimmed under the recruiting radar as he missed his whole JR year of HS with a shoulder injury so the big schools hadn’t been following him.  He averaged nearly 17 yards per catch as a HS SR, compiling 52 receptions for 880 yards and nine touchdowns.

He reminds me of a bigger and faster Steve Largent – if that makes any sense.  He runs surgical routes and catches everything thrown in his vicinity, at least in practices.

Most PITT fans don’t even know who this kid is as he redshirted last season but the staff sure does and he’ll see playing time this season. Plus, he’s an Army Colonel’s son so he’s been good at discipline all his life.  That may not be true but as a retired military man I wanted to throw that in.

So – the scouting report for our WR area of concern is basically this.  We have a very good starter on one side and who really knows what on the other.  It is worrisome but all of these untested WRs have been showing well this spring and I feel that once they all get summer camp under their belts we’ll be able to field a decent WR corps for the FSU game.





my sleeper is Brandon Ifill if he is healthy. He played a lot at DB as a natural frosh and then took a redshirt because of a knee injury and moved to WR. He was a heck of a talent at Penn Hills as a receiverand quite a gamebreaker

Comment by wbb 03.27.13 @ 7:50 pm

I remember reading about Chris Wuestner either last summer or last season. They said he catches everything. If the comments above are correct about the precision of the routes he runs then it sounds like we be seeing a lot of him. I also liked what Reed wrote about Manasseh Gardner. Actually it sounds like Pitt has a good bit of talent at wide reciever, just not a lot of experience.

Comment by Justinian 03.27.13 @ 8:00 pm

I also expect Ronald Jones and possibly Tyler Boyd to make contributions

Comment by wbb 03.27.13 @ 8:09 pm

Not even a name dropped for Ronald Jones or our star recruit Tyler Boyd?

Comment by Dr. Tom 03.27.13 @ 8:11 pm

Oops, wbb, Obviously great minds think alike I’m typing while you are posting at the same time.

Comment by Dr. Tom 03.27.13 @ 8:14 pm

on 2nd review, this is supposed to be an analysis for the spring thus Boyd is not to be included i guess

Comment by wbb 03.27.13 @ 8:18 pm

Chryst has been stocking up on tight ends so I think we will not see as many 3 and 4 receiver sets.

Comment by gc 03.27.13 @ 8:56 pm

wbb – correct, this is a spring review series. I’ll do a full projection at the end of spring camp.

I like Jones also but wonder if he fits the mold for Rudolph & Chryst. They seem to have employed bigger WRs in the past.

Comment by Reed 03.28.13 @ 4:15 am

I believe that effective play at the QB position will make what Pitt has at WR/TE effective, particularly if JP Holz shows improvement from a very good Frosh year. Combined with Gardner, Street, Tinker and Wuestner I don’t see why this couldn’t be an effective lineup, however have to admit it doesn’t provide for much depth. I’d prefer to see Boyd as a RS this year if possible to allow him to get his feet on the ground academically and adapt to a level of talent that he clearly didn’t see in his HS career.
The FSU blog is raving about the embarassment of riches at the CB position, so it sounds like this group will be tested very early. Hopefully they surprise the nation.

Comment by Taxing Matters 03.28.13 @ 3:20 pm

As per Sam W in the PG he sees Boyd as THEE impact frosh.
One hidden stat on Boyd that might make a difference: he is quite familiar with a 14 game season followed quickly by hoops.
That is one reason I like him so much: anyone who has been thru that grind has some mental toughness. My concern is the classroom. Clairton SD is obviously challenged but their kids usually have 2 strikes against them when they get up each day.
If you make it out of Clairton alive and with your wits about you, Darwin suggests you are one tough dude/dudess!

Comment by SFPitt 03.30.13 @ 10:07 am

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