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?
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.
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!
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.
Does the Compass Bowl (if not defunct) change it’s rules, as to take Pitt yet again at 4-8.
One can only hope ! 🙂
That would be me.
Although I did let my optimism and support for Chryst get the best of me later in a oouple of other predictions.
Enough is enough !
These local rag sheets just love to rub it in.
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.
Emel I feel your pain in respect to the HUGE BOX score..
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….
“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
Sing it boys!!!
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.
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.