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April 7, 2013

Number two on my list of concerns, five being the least worrisome and one being the most, is our talent and quality of coaching on the Special Teams.

This area of the team is of particular concern to me because no one has even heard of any names at particular positions nor who will actually be coaching them.  That is a bit disconcerting to me as I truly feel that Special Teams are a full one third of the whole necessary for success.

The only thing we know for sure going into the Spring Game is that our punter for 2013 will be rsSR Matt Yoklic who did a good job for us as a starter in 2013.  From his bio:

In his first season as Pitt’s starting punter, averaged 41.2 yards on 62 punts…season average ranked second in the Big East…had a long of 58 (at Rutgers)…placed 21 punts inside the 20-yard line for the year…over the final six regular-season contests, Yoklic placed 18 punts inside the 20…averaged a career-best 46.8 yards on five punts against Cincinnati…also served as Pitt’s primary holder on placements…named to the Big East All-Academic Football Team for the second consecutive season.

So we have that position set and interestingly enough we’ll have two FR kickers on scholarship with the backup punter FR Ryan Winslow and the new placekicker FR Chris Blewitt who is the only scholarship PK we have now that Kevin Harper has graduated  It’s a pretty safe bet that these two players will be the starting kicker and punter even though we also have Brad Lukasak and Drake Greer on roster also.

We’ve all heard the jokes Blewitt’s name invokes but he was one of the best HS kickers in the country last season and I think we are lucky to have him.  Plus, he is a good punter so in case of an injury to Yoklic he can help out.

I’m OK with our kickers going into 2013 aside from the always worrisome unknown qualities of freshman players.  These are two positions, punter and place kicker, where true freshman can come in and make a positive impact right away.  I’m way more concerned with our kick return games.

Our offensive punt returns were average last year with Cameron Saddler taking the bulk of them and not doing a whole lot with them.  Since he’s gone now it will be JR Ronald Jones most likely back their fielding them.  Last season he had four returns for 59 yards for a 14.8 ypr average.  I like Jones doing this and think he’ll be a success at it – he’s quick and has good hands.  In addition we may see speedster rsJR Brandon Felder back there if he can remain healthy.

In last Thursday’s practice we also had the Davis twins, Street and rsFR Trenton Coles working out as punt returners.  Coles would be interesting to see back there as he is a past WPIAL 100m sprint champion and probably the fastest player on the team.

We had a good KO return man in Lafayette Pitts however and since he’s only a rsSO this coming season he’ll be back there again.  I see why we do this because of his talent in the task; he returned 30 kickoffs for 729 yards and a 24.4 ypr average. That was 39th in the nation and 4th in the Big East.  He did seem to rip off bigger runs when they were really needed though which was nice to see.  I just hate having a starter at another important position (DB), who is also our 2nd best defensive player, running full speed with 11 guys running full speed right back at him.  It makes for injuries where we can’t afford them.

Those are areas of some concern but not much more than we fans have before any season starts.  Where I am really concerned about the special teams is our returns defense. We pretty much sucked at it last season and I’m not sure we’ll be any better this year.  Our kickoff return defense was good for 42nd nationally with an average return of 20.48 yards.  That is mediocre at best.

One reason for that may be that our 2012 kicker, Kevin Harper, only had 12 touchbacks out of 70 kickoffs.  That is a 17% average and is very poor as he was allowing these return men to start well outside of their end zone.  One mitigating aspect with this problem for the 2013 season is, of course, the new placekicker, Blewitt, with a rumored ‘big leg’.

But wait!  There’s more!!  As bad as our kick return defense was our punt return defense was truly atrocious.  Yes, I said atrocious!  We were 118th nationally, that’s out of 120 teams listed folks, and gave up an average punt return of 13.1 yards.  Not only did we give up big yardage but we also allowed two TD returns.

The work Yoklic did in punting last season, which was 45th nationally with a 42 yard average, isn’t too bad.  We then have to factor in that porous punt defense which then left us at 100th in net punting.  That has to change for the better this season.  The punt game is supposed to be a plus in the battle of field position, not the detriment it was last year.

This brings us to special team’s coaching or the lack thereof.  You’ll see in this listing of our coaching staff there is no one assigned to the special teams and indeed special teams  are not addressed anywhere at all, in any form of media, that I can find.  Does anyone else but me find this truly bothersome?

My last article in this series of ‘Five Worrisome Things’ will be posted the day after the Spring game, which I am attending BTW if anyone wants to drink too much beer before the scrimmage starts.  Anyone care to guess what that ‘most worrisome’ topic might be?





Well, the do call if “foot”ball for a reason now don’t they?
Our entire special teams lat year was below average so as a whole, I’ll take average.
A cadaver is an omprovement from Cam:sorry dude, but your best moves are with the ladies.
Our kicks off can’t get worse even if we squib.
Our field goals will likely remain constant because kicking in high school is one thing: kicking in big games in front of big crowds at a position so prone to head case issues leads me to think a freshman will have a tough time.
coverage is an entirely different thing and I generally look at teams with bad coverage stats as those that don’t like to hit. Kick off coverage is a nasty business and we don’t have many nasty players. At least not yet.

Comment by sfpitt 04.07.13 @ 8:08 pm

Anything being emphasized during spring drills about kickoff returns?

Comment by alcofan 04.07.13 @ 9:22 pm

Shouldn’t this be #2?

Comment by panther94 04.07.13 @ 9:52 pm

Guys I just checked out our schedule again. I see 4 victories next year. Can anyone tell me why I’m wrong? I really tried to find more W’s I just don’t see them.

Comment by Upittbaseball 04.07.13 @ 9:53 pm

Who are you counting?

Comment by panther94 04.07.13 @ 10:01 pm

New Mexico, UVA, Duke (even though Duke is getting better we should win) and Old Dominion.

Comment by Upittbaseball 04.07.13 @ 10:09 pm

you missed kicking FSU A#$ opening game… lol…

Comment by Pittscript 04.07.13 @ 10:12 pm

Make that 5 pitt script! Pitt script you the guy behind the new logos and colors?

Comment by Upittbaseball 04.07.13 @ 10:20 pm

What about Navy, Syracuse, and North Carolina? All winnable w/out being a stretch.

Comment by panther94 04.07.13 @ 10:21 pm

Syracuse looked really good last year. Navy and triple option will give us fits and UNC I feel is getting better. So knows until the games start. I love the better competition. No more freebies other than ODU but someone said they were good in D1AA and made the move to D1

Comment by Upittbaseball 04.07.13 @ 10:24 pm

Syracuse beat us by a point last year and that’s because of a meltdown by someone I will not mention. Also, they have a new coach. Navy and GTech are back to back, so you’d think if we don’t beat Navy, maybe we take care of GTech the next week. Who knows about Carolina.

Comment by panther94 04.07.13 @ 10:30 pm

Remember our QB whoever that is will be better than ABT but still hasn’t played D1 snaps ever or in at least 2 years.

Comment by Upittbaseball 04.07.13 @ 10:32 pm

The funny thing is that all these teams are counting us as a win too.

Comment by Atlanta Panther 04.08.13 @ 12:06 am

94 – yes it should and thanks.

Atlanta – so true. I don’t like to predict any sort of W/L record until mid-summer camp when the two deeps are set. I’ll say this – if a few things/players shake out in our favor we could have a decent year… but I guess that can be said prior to any season.

Comment by Reed 04.08.13 @ 4:50 am

Last yr at this time who predicted a V-Tech win?

Comment by alcofan 04.08.13 @ 6:44 am

I’m just glad that we’re not playing Youngstown State again this year, so at least we won’t have that loss to recouperate from again in 2013.

Yes, our kickoff and punt return coverage history has been awful. Now for the good news, and I have been talking up this guy since the day he committed, our best recruit in this class after Dorian Johnson, is Chris Blewitt, a local kid from my neck of the woods down here in the DC area.

SFPitt comments in the 1st post of this thread about the huge transition from HS to college that affects any athlete making that leap. I feel, that from a perspective of being able to make that transition as effectively as possible, however, that a kicker can accomplish it with a minimum of performance drop off. Sure it is a much bigger stage, big stadiums, large crowds, noise issues, etc. all things that can get into a kicker’s head, but really, he still has to deal with the same dynamics as in HS when the ball is kicked.

Considering all of the variables that a kicker has to deal with from HS to college, the physical ones are really minimal, from the kicker’s perspective, almost everything involved in that transition is mental. The field is still 120 yards long, the goal posts are still the same width and the weather remains a constant variable. As long as the kicking unit is able to provide adequate protection to permit the kick to get away, the rest is no different from the HS situation.

Therefore, I predict that you will see a new Pitt weapon unvieled on Labor Day evening that will soon be proven to be a forte in our special teams play for the rest of the season, and that “true Freshman” secret weapon is named Chris Blewitt.

Mark my words, 50% of our kickoffs make it into the endzone next season or my name isn’t Dr. Tom.

You’ll see, Hail to Pitt!

Comment by Dr. Tom 04.08.13 @ 7:12 am

Alot of kick coverage is “want to” and last year’s team seemed to be missing that element in some quarters. As more of the types of FOOTBALL players that PC is looking get on the team may make the coverage teams better. One thing I did like is that it seemed that Bennett and Crockett were the better kick coverage guys and that shows that they like to hit and play the game. Hopefully that shows now that they are playing bigger roles.

Comment by Taxing Matters 04.08.13 @ 7:52 am

Duke went to the Belk Bowl last year and gave Cincinnati (a team that blew us out) all it could handle.

Plus the game is in Durham.

Don’t know if I would count that as a sure “W”.

I see 3 wins for sure on the schedule, the Lobos, the Monarachs (that won’t be a rollover) and the Orange (new coach and middling talent at best).

Probably might see an upset of a top tier ACC team I would imagine (they need to throw us a bone, right). And perhaps a win over UVA or Duke.

That’s 5….but 4 is certainly achievable as well.

Comment by EMel 04.08.13 @ 8:37 am

The large looming question is:

Does the Compass Bowl (if not defunct) change it’s rules, as to take Pitt yet again at 4-8.

One can only hope ! 🙂

Comment by EMel 04.08.13 @ 8:41 am

alcofan…

That would be me.

Comment by PittofDreams 04.08.13 @ 9:22 am

alcofan

Although I did let my optimism and support for Chryst get the best of me later in a oouple of other predictions.

Comment by PittofDreams 04.08.13 @ 9:24 am

Emel….I struggled with the Duke W. had I said 3 wins I would be told I was a WVU troll. Lol

Comment by Upittbaseball 04.08.13 @ 9:27 am

EMel, I don’t think the Compass Bowl wants to see Pitt any more than we want to go there. That’s probably a good thing.

Comment by Justinian 04.08.13 @ 9:35 am

Dr Tom, Is your name really Dr Tom?

Comment by wbb 04.08.13 @ 9:58 am

I wish the Trib would remove the HUGE BOX score of the Wichita-Pitt from the Top of their Pitt page.

Enough is enough !

These local rag sheets just love to rub it in.

Comment by EMel 04.08.13 @ 10:25 am

On a positive note, at least we aren’t as bad as the pitiful Pirates.

A measly 21 hits in 6 games(3.5 hpg), is truly pathetic regardless of who the opponents pitcher is.

But the media seems to always give them a free pass.
Nutting must have pretty good ‘freebie’ spreads for our distinguished local sportswriters.

Comment by EMel 04.08.13 @ 11:17 am

WBB believe Dr. Tom has said he is a dentist ergo the moniker/handle “Dr. Tom”…

Emel I feel your pain in respect to the HUGE BOX score..

Comment by Kenny 04.08.13 @ 11:26 am

Unless something has changed, the biggest adjustment for PKers transitioning from HS to college is that in HS you kick FG and EP off of a pad and in college you kick off of the ground, which is a big adjustment.

Comment by pittman4ever 04.08.13 @ 11:26 am

@upittbaseball.

No the initiative for Pitt Script on facebook and twitter is not me…. actually I was just trying to think of a name back when I found this Pitt community here and ‘pittscript’ came to mind.

However, there would be no better way to create some buzz and excitement heading into the ACC than to come back with the Script and older colors (which would actually be in line with today’s styles).

Pretty funny (no actually depressing) that our colors are called ‘silly putty’ and navy blue… gag… we look like an endless amount of other college and high school teams from afar. Totally depressing color scheme.

Others have noted that UCLA and others use both to great effect… block lettering and their script… but that just makes too much common sense for this “marketing” crew at Pitt.

I can’t think of an easier way too for SP to get some positive vibe from the Pitt community as well… not to mention merchandise sales etc…

… also would suddenly makee 65,000 “yellow” seats almost look like they were there for Pitt…

… but common sense is probably asking too much at times from these guys.. SP and Cochran.

So “silly putty” gold and navy blue along with Soviet Era block letters it is….

Comment by Pittscript 04.08.13 @ 12:42 pm

I wonder if Karen Sypher is gonna watch the game tonight?

Comment by alcofan 04.08.13 @ 12:56 pm

The marketing folks at Pitt probably make 40k a year and do what SP says. If they really wanted to make some excitement they would say the following..
“Bring in your old Pitt Gear and the Universtity will be you 50% the new blue and gold Pitt stuff. Donate those clothes to Haiti. Get rid of the old stuff and give folks a discount on new stuff. I’m with you guys the Silly Putty is baby poop mustard is gross. Yellow and Blue. Done Deal with Script PITT

Comment by Upittbaseball 04.08.13 @ 1:11 pm

“The Bucs are going all the way, all the way, all the way, the Bucs are going all the way, all the way this year”!!

Sing it boys!!!

Comment by Dan 04.08.13 @ 1:13 pm

Most AD’s at other schools do everything they can to bring in money to help pay for non-revenue sports, NOT PITT! Smiley should go see the pirate’s. They haven’t had a winning season in 20 years and they still draw 2 million a year. Not bad for a team that sucks. They do it with every combination of promotions they can think of. If Nutting ran Pitt they would have SCRIPT T-SHIRT giveaway’s almost every day. The teams would stink but they would draw more fan’s. Are the marketing people at the Pirates Pitt Grads?

Comment by Wayne 04.08.13 @ 3:12 pm

Adelson has a diff take: link to espn.go.com

Comment by panther94 04.08.13 @ 4:25 pm

panther94: the way i see this whole situation, i am positive that it is explained to these kids when they sign that if they choose to transfer they have to deal with Pitt first. he chose to transfer, and now is being subjected to the terms of the contract he signed (or his parents signed but is enforced viz a viz rushel shell — w/e) i feel no pity for someone who had an opportunity to attend a top ranked university free of charge and then decided to leave. in the real world, when you try to up and leave your position in a business you suffer consequences. signing an athletic scholarship is essentially a business, and you’ve gotta pay to play the game. end of story.

Comment by MikePITT 04.08.13 @ 7:13 pm

@wbb, the short version, my future mother-in-law gave me that nickname when I started dating her daughter just after I finished my general practice residency program at the now defunct Montifiore Hospital that was subsequently acquired by the UPMC dynasty. Once I began my private practice in dentistry, I just kind of kept that informal handle for myself, so that I could stay on a first name basis with my patients, and the rest is history. BTW, I thought that you had transferred to the Carnegie Mellon fan base?

Comment by Dr. Tom 04.08.13 @ 8:08 pm

Reed – Appreciate your articles. I have no doubt that the NO. 1 MOST WORRISOME topic will be—– ——– QB production…

Can the two-headed monster of Savage-Voytik come up with “production” that approaches what Mr. You-Know-Who did last season?

By the way, it certainly looks like Tom Savage will be the starter, but I would like to see Coach Chyrst put in a package of plays for Voytik to run when Pitt is near the goal line. That might sound crazy, but the threat of a QB run at the goal line has to make it really, really tough on the defense. Plus, just from a numbers standpont, if the QB runs it, Pitt can have an extra blocker.

I remember how easily Pitt used to score near the goal line when Palko was the QB. He would roll out and many times find a TE all alone for an easy lob for the TD. It was one thing that Coach Cav’s offense did really well. Could be a great weapon now – especially with Orndoff and Holtz in the lineup.

Go Pitt.

Comment by MajorMajors 04.10.13 @ 10:35 am

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