At long last Pitt has updated the football roster for the 2013 season. Confirmations really of what was expected. Arthur Doakes who everyone knew was not going to be back with Pitt is gone. He has transferred to Stony Brook in New York.
Dan Mason is also gone. Suspended for the spring for “off the field issues,” all rumors said that he was not going to be returning. And indeed he is not. Obviously there is the “what might have been” before his gruesome injury a few years back against Miami. But his other issues detracted from what was such an inspirational effort on his part to rehab and get on the field last year. My hope is that Mason did enough to earn his degree during his 4 plus years.
Players who had/have legal issues leading to still on-going suspensions are still on the roster. Tra’von Chapman and Khaynin Mosley-Smith are still unclear regarding their chances of playing this year.
Smith has had his legal issues resolved. From a legal standpoint, his situation was resolved simply and treated as an extremely minor incident. From a publicity standpoint anytime the words “heroin” and “drug dealer” are involved, it becomes a bit more problematic. Best guess: a 2-4 game suspension.
As for Chapman, his legal status remains unresolved. His playing time was never really going to be an issue. Hurt for part of the spring he was already well behind the other QBs. He was all but guaranteed a redshirt. The issue is whether he gets to come back to the team. That obviously depends on what happens with the case. The postponement of the hearing til almost the end of July keeps everyone guessing.
If he hasn’t been kicked off the team yet, and assuming the misdemeanor assault and unlawful restraint charges get dismissed or reduced to something even lesser, Chapman is probably looking at some sort of quasi-season long suspension.
Otherwise there really isn’t anything too surprising on the roster. Freshman James Conner is listed at running back while Rachid Ibrahim is listed as a defensive back. The only reason this is noted is that Ibrahim introduced himself as a running back up at Mel Blount’s camp. Both Conner and Ibrahim played RB and on defense in high school.
Justin made an observation about the possibility in camp.
Ibrahim at RB makes sense. It's been a possibility. Him+Conner is great competition. The "loser" goes to defense. Ibrahim to DB Conner to DE
— NFLGimpy (@NFLGimpy) July 12, 2013
As we all know Pitt is a little thin at running back. Notwithstanding everyone wanting to root for Isaac Bennett to turn his visualizing success into reality.
The play call is an inside zone run.
Isaac Bennett is lined up deep in the backfield, a few yards behind his quarterback. Over 65,000 fans are packed into Heinz Field, most at a fever pitch for the most anticipated football game in recent Pitt history.
Bennett looks up from his running back position and sees the garnet and gold Florida State defenders on the other side of the ball. He hears the signals and sees the snap in front of him. Bennett starts forward and takes the handoff, he bursts through hole and sprints, untouched, through the defense and all the way to the end zone.
This is the point where Bennett usually snaps back to reality. He’s sitting in class or maybe even in the film room at Pitt’s football complex. Kickoff against the Seminoles is still more than a month away, but it’s the driving force behind every weight Bennett lifts and every sprint he runs this offseason.
“That’s all I think about,” Bennett said. “Night and day.”
Good thoughts.
For some reason this story didn’t get picked up by Rivals, the Trib or the PG. Seems like an upstanding young man. He also runs a fast shuttle time, especially for his size. link to espn.go.com
There will be naysayers who point out that Collins passed up the likes of U Penn and Cornell for our school, and that he’s not an elite talent, and that he only runs a 4.92 forty. I say let them say nay. Prove them wrong Mr. Collins. Congratulations and welcome to the Pitt Panthers.
I counted a roster of 97 players! I can’t come up with a dozen non-scholarship players on this roster, only 8. I wonder if there has to be more scholarships pulled before the end of fall camp therefore?
Looks like Murray could be a great addition for the panthers if we are interested in him. 6’10” and good game numbers. Think we will take a chance and get him?
There are only 82 scholarship players.
Chryst actually needs to give 3 walkons a scholarship to make the 85 limit.
I think the staff does want to do as Justin suggests above. Conner is a running back – at least for 2013 and the staff told Ibrahim that his first crack would be there also which makes complete sense to me.
Ibrahim was a big noise down here in the MD area and his smaller HS puts out some D1 recruits. From Rivals: “In 2012 he rushed for 1,737 yards and 20 touchdowns while averaging 8.5 yards per carry as the primary workhorse in Avalon’s offense.” So the kid can move anyway, we’ll see and that’s the type of story I love to follow.
I’m becoming more firmly convinced that HC Paul Chryst takes the whole of the player’s history and attitude into account when levying discipline and not just prior incidents that is why it is tough for us fans to try to predict what he’ll do in any one situation. The football program is not a democracy where all players are subject to equal discipline awards for the same transgressions… unless you fail a NCAA mandated drug test where then it’s a year suspension.
It will be very interesting to see what Chryst does with Chapman. I think Chryst is waiting not for the Ohio judicial decision but what the recorded facts of the case are before passing judgement (at least this is what I would do). I remind fans that PITT must act independently from the judicial system and come to its own decisions according to the programs internal standards. They are two different issues completely – Ohio will base their decision on applicable laws or a plea bargain for charge level and a guilty or not guilty finding whereas PITT needs only the actual facts of the matter to come to a conclusion on whether or not the student athlete stays on scholarship and in the program.
But the bottom line here is that PITT owes nothing to Chapman at this point. They honored their offer of a scholarship and Chapman knew full well, especially after the FR spring orientations, what was expected of him. However, in the program’s climate now where we are seeing major changes in the roster from last season to this training camp I’d bet the odds are against him being at PITT in 2013 at least and probably ever.
21 days until camp opens… yeah! Something concrete and directly pertaining to playing football to write and talk about.
I would have thought Rackard would be one but if we lose two LBs in the two mentioned I think he’ll stay. I also thought Barthelemy (long snapper) would be asked to leave.
Of course Chapman’s scholarship is up in the air.
Dan83 – Chryst doesn’t have to issue out those three scholarships to walk-ons. He does do that but he can also save them for this 2014 class which we will probably see happen and they will be used after the HS season is over and the second wave of recruits start committing.
As of right now the roster has 38 FR, both true and redshirt, out of 85 players who are scholarship going into this summer camp – anyone still think there isn’t a major housecleaning going on?
Is this really that major of a housecleaning? We have 85 scholarships, and if all scholarship players stayed in the program for a full five years we would average 17 scholarships per class– or 34 total for true and redshirt freshmen. Given that there will always be at least a few players who don’t last the whole five years (disciplinary reasons, transfers, an occasional early NFL draft pick), it stands to reason that the younger classes will have more players than the older ones. I don’t know, but I’m guessing the number of frosh (redshirt and true) we have is pretty typical for a D1 program.
In watching his HS highlights what surprised me is his break away speed once in the open field, not blazing but quick! I could see Conner being a dominating running back for Pitt in a season or two behind the massive OL Chryst is methodically putting in place.
The only question on whether he needs to hit 85 before the season starts is whether or not that would be a Title 9 violation if he didn’t.
I think he has to max it out or ask for a waiver due to the circumstances.
– He is apparently a good enough student to be an early enrollee (january)
– His dad is an assistant coach at Kent St
– He was charged with an action that occurred inside his home.
While he indeed may be guilty, he doesn’t seem that he would be a problem-child.
I just wish one of those redshirt freshmen would have got some playing time last year. That being Chad Voytik. I would feel a lot more comfortable with an offense that will have 3 new players in the backfield. (albeit Sir Isaac has some experience)
The big wildcard this year is Tom Savage as we know. Just how is he going to play after not having played in a real game for 3 years.
The other big question on offense is; will Tyler Boyd have an immediate impact on it ?
Hopefully the answer is: Yes and in a big way !
(p.s. hope things work out for Chapman, GF’s, old or new can cause problems when left behind)
I actually feel pretty good as far as the RB roster goes so far. We have Des Brown for this year, Bennett for ’13 & ’14, Crockett for ’13, ’14 & ’15, Conner and Ibrahim for ’13-’16/’17 and then we’ll have at least Briggs (who I think will be a good one here) and hopefully James, McKenzie or Quadree Ollison for the next four years from ’14-’18/’19.
It would be great to get a James or McKenzie but I’ve a feeling that we are going to see some serious yardage on the ground due to the good OL we’ll be fielding starting this year and getting better from then on.
Still believe Tyler Boyd is going to get a look in the backfield in special sets. Looks like a wide receiver but runs like a running back.
In any case, playmakers need to see the ball anyway you can get it to them… and obviously Boyd is that special kind of player who has a knack for getting to the endzone.
Offensively, the big question remaining for me is actually quarterback.
Need to see that Savage is capable of making good quick decisions as to where to go with the ball.
Bad decisions and the inability to read defenses was the knock against him at Rutgers.
Reed after watching Ibrahim’s videos he has good feet, balance, speed and some jukeability. Wonder if he is heavier than the 185 listen on the roster. He was listed as 185 as a sophomore, would tend to thing he put some more weight on to have a go at RB…
As for Boyd, I’d be really surprised if he doesn’t contribute this year. I expect there will be a package of plays designed to get the ball in his hands.
If we don’t get embarrassed by a blow out, I’ll be satisfied. I can’t get the recent memory of YSU pushing us all over the field and taking it to us on our own turf, just a short 10 months ago in our last home opener.
FSU is no YSU my friends. With a typical Pitt slow start and a couple unfornunate plays going against Pitt early, this team could really get it’s lunch eaten by these guys. Welcome to the ACC.
But then again, as I always say, “that’s why they play the game”. Who knows, stranger things have happened, we DO have our new secret weapon, it’s not a WMD but it is ABT!
I think fans will be a bit surprised at some things this year. Des Brown will get some time at RB,
Savage will struggle early on, maybe even all season, and we’ll be calling for Voytik but there won’t be a change right away if at all, in an injury case of course. I’m not sold that Chryst feels all that comfortable with Voytik regardless of what he did in that vanilla spring game. Savage may be an INT machine. Guys, believe it or not I think we are going to miss an experienced QB no matter what his name was or how he choked. There I said it! I know we will miss his offensive output.
I really think it was a shame that La Quentin Smith bulked up to 275. He might be asked to lose some of that and slide back down to OLB if both Grigsby and Bradley leave – if not he’ll be in the rotation at DE this season.
Let’s ratchet back the expectations for Tyler Boyd this season. He’ll get some PT but we aren’t going to see an offense based around him. Trickeration, reverses, crossing patterns, an occasional deep throw from Savage, but he’ll not be a starter in 2013.
I too would like to see him in the role akin to the one Tavon Austin filled at WVU. Each season he made an impact at RB because he didn’t start in that spot until his SR year. Austin succeed on the ground specifically because his rushing caught the defenses off guard:
FR – Rushed 40% of touches – 7.8 ypc – 21 touches
FR – Rushed 25% of touches – 10.6 ypc – 73 touches
FR – Rushed 15% of touches – 11.4 ypc – 117 touches
FR – Rushed 63% of touches – 8.9 ypc – 186 touches.
His SR year was an outrageous success for Austin as he played both WR and RB almost equally lining up behind the QB on a lot of snaps. He had 1289 yards receiving and 643 yards rushing. for an average of 10.3 yards every time he touched the ball.
I think this is about the progression we’ll see from Boyd also but he may get a few more tha 21 touches in his FR year.
1. When did Rushel Shell disdain contact? He might be a punk, but Shell did not seem to shy away from hits. Pitt lost talent but gained respect by not taking him back.
2. Mason not being on the rost is not a surprise, but man does it suck. I covered him in high school and could have been a great player. Hopefully he finds something to do now that football is over.
3. There is ZERO chance Pitt takes a chance on an idiot like Murray. The guy may be talented, but WVU could not deal with him. WVU! Dixon is doing fine without Murray.
As has been the case for many seasons now, Pitt’s football fortunes this season will depend squarely on the play at the most important position on the field, QB. I hope that you are mistaken Reed, and that Savage will be a surprise for Pitt this year. And I mean “surprise” in a good way.
If Savage can just manage to keep the defensive secondary honest with legitimate deep throws that connect once in awhile, that’s where the tandem of Street and Boyd would combine for an “explosive” play as our old buddy Fraud would say, and that could make all the difference in the world, opening up the potential for a decent running attack. Scripted plays for Boyd on various deep patterns could fit that bill and if successful, all of a sudden there aren’t ten in the box to snuff out our running game and pressure our QB constantly.
Of course it wasn’t VATech. It started to show after Louisville.
Shell started running with less and less authority. Slow to the line.
Watch the tape.
He was a freshman.
Reed, do you think Palermo might help in this regard…..
Conditioning may have been part of the problem as Shell reportedly quit lifting weights and seemed to start packing on some pounds as the season wore on.
Undoubtedly, he was also banged up a bit.
Whatever the reason, late in the season Shell seemed to show a diminished desire for hitting the holes as hard as he did earlier on.
Savage did play as a sophomore although not nearly as much as he did as a freshman.
2 TDs, 3 INTs with a 6.28 YPA… not stats that are going to win many games.
And don’t look now, but it seems Savage was also susceptible to getting sacked… 35 his freshman year… and 14 his sophomore year ON JUST 83 ATTEMPTS.
Chryst will certainly give him his best chance of succeed as a pro-style quarterback. But there might be good reason why Savage seemed to have difficulty finding a place to call home.
I’m just not sold on either of them at this point and truth be told Savage wasn’t that good back in 2009 even if he was a”Freshman All-American”. All that means is that of all the freshman QB starters that year he was the best… of a very limited pool I would think.
The best performer gets the nod. Lets just hope that these guys actually play like they practice.
Two recent painful examples .. (1) In 08, Bowling Green had returning QB and receiving corp in a spread playing against 3 LBs with no experience, and in fact 2 of the 3 never played LB before even in high school,
(2) Last year, experienced QB and others lined up for YSU against 9 new defensive starter for Pitt … and 5 coring drives that averaged > 70 yards.
Hopefully, our 9 returning defenders can keep the score low against a new QB, because I’d be surprised if Pitt could win a shootout
This is why I think the summer training camp is going to be so telling especially for this position. Spring drills and the spring game are as vanilla as can be – really a conditioning and ‘reminder’ period with no twists and turns from the defense.
In the summer the defense gets set and they work on shifting formations, disguising coverages, blitzing, etc… and this defense, which is pretty much set in personnel for the most part, will do that early and often. If Voytik can play much better than he has in the past against ‘real’ defenses then he may have a shot. If not it will be Savage almost by default.
I was pretty shocked in the spring at how ‘average at best’ Savage’s short passing game was and at how long it took him to get passes off. If every play was a deep ball he’d throw for 400+ yards a game – that is just how good his long passes are. But that isn’t how Chryst and Rudolph is going to call a game.
Savage’s career YPC average is an outstanding 14.2 because of that ability to throw deep. However, his career completion rate is a very poor 532%. To put things in perspective that 53 would be around 90th in the nation in 2012. Now add that to a 7.42 YPC career rate which would have been 60th last year.
My hope is that Bollinger, who I think is a good QB coach, can help Savage to make quicker decisions and to get the ball out sooner. That’ll help with both the completion rat and the sacks taken.
Is there a correlation here guys?
Re: Title IX
The law does state “The total amount of athletic aid must be substantially proportionate to the ratio of female and male athletes”.
Scholarship limits are set by the NCAA for each sport. For example, The NCAA tells Pitt they can only offer 12 men’s basketball scholarships, 85 for football, and 15 for women’s basketball. So assuming each Pitt sport offers the NCAA max number of scholarships, that would total 143 for men and 91 for women. Pitt could still comply with the financial aid part of Title IX as long as long as they were spending the same amount per athlete for men and women.
So even if Pitt were short a few football scholarships this season, it would not cause them a compliance issue, fewer men athletes, lesser spend on men, proportionate spend maintained.
Title IX does however require “Substantially proportionate athletic opportunities for male and female athletes”. Pitt is clearly not doing that based on the numbers above. Pitt undergrad enrollment is nearly 50/50 male to female. There are other ways to comply.
The dirty little secret, according to the federal govt website
“Although most institutions are not in compliance with Title IX, no institution has actually lost any federal money”.
Really, the only risk for the school is it could be sued if it doesn’t comply.
So…as a practical matter, .who is going to sue Pitt if they offer men two fewer scholarships in football next year?
There is ZERO chance Pitt will cut any women’s scholarships next year because of the number of scholarships the football team uses drops.
The decision to cut men’s soccer and baseball at Towson was made by the president and NOT mandated by scholarship limits under Title IX. While some did cite Title IX as a reason, the real issue, as always, was money. Towson had choices. They could have added a women’s sport or two, but they didn’t want to spend the money. An outside group offered other title IX compliance solutions that wouldn’t cost as much, but they were rejected. I have not seen the latest, I think the baseball team is still fighting it?
Roster makeover almost completed. Loss of
Doakes and Mason open spots for
recruitment of additional freshmen
in next year’s class. Unfortunate scenario
for Mason. Could’ve have been the
MLB we haven’t had since Mckillop.