DiPaola of the Trib has a blog entry about J. P. Holtz waiting for the NFL draft that will be held on April 28-30.
When he’s not hanging out at the E Town Bar and Grille in Etna (I hear the fish sandwich kills), former Pitt tight end J.P. Holtz is getting ready for the NFL.
He has visited with several teams, including the Browns, Chargers, Bears, Bengals and Saints. Other than that, he’s working out almost every day – often with his former Pitt teammates at the South Side facility.
“It gets boring sometimes,” Holtz said Friday during an appearance on TribLive Radio.
“All you do is work out all day. It’s kind of nice, actually.” Holtz is ranked the 23rd tight end available in the draft, according to NFLDraftScout.com, after catching 81 passes for 931 yards and 11 touchdowns in four years at Pitt where he never missed a game or practice.
In his freshman season, he caught three passes for 54 yards and a touchdown in Pitt’s near-upset at Notre Dame. At 6-foot-3, 238 pounds, he could morph into a run-blocking fullback with the ability to catch short flips.
“I’m a pretty decent blocker,” he said. “I’ll do whatever a team needs me to do. I can do both. I really doesn’t matter to me. I just want to play football.”
Most mock drafts have indicated Boyd will be a second-round draft choice, and that matches projections he received from the NFL before giving up his last year of college eligibility. He ran a 4.58-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine in February, but improved three weeks ago at Pitt’s Pro Day to between 4.47 and 4.52, depending on what NFL stopwatch you use.
“That let them know I wasn’t a mediocre guy,” he said. He said several teams have asked him about his DUI arrest last year, and he said it was a one-and-done transgression.
“I don’t know if they trust me or not, but they have to take my word that I’m not going to do anything like that again,” he said. “My record is clean, besides that.”
When Boyd was asked by TribLive Radio’s Tim Benz about any weird questions the NFL threw at him, he said the Bengals inquired about his knowledge of Civil War history.
“They asked me what year was the battle of something,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting that. If they draft me, I’m going to ask them the same question they asked me to see if they get it right.”
The Pitt News weighs in with an article about Championship QB Matt Cavanaugh and relatively unknown RB Tony Dorsett being honorary coaches for Saturday’s Spring Game. As I said earlier I’ll be in the media room on the Southside for that player draft.
These men helped set the standard at Pitt. Our players and coaches walk past their images every day in our practice facility,” Narduzzi said in a release. “They are Pitt legends and we are honored to have them back.”
Dorsett, a running back who went on to play 11 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys and one season with the Denver Broncos, won the Heisman trophy as a senior at Pitt in 1976.
“I always love coming back home to Pitt and being around the current players,” Dorsett said in the release. “There is an unspoken bond because we are all Panthers. I told Coach Narduzzi to get those guys ready. Matt and I are expecting to see big things when they take the field for the spring game.”
“Having the opportunity to do this with my old teammate Tony [Dorsett] makes it even more special,” Cavanaugh said.
One thing to remember about this scrimmage is that because of the nature of the player draft it won’t be the 1st string kids versus 1st string kids because the ‘starters’ will be divided between the two squads.
Here is an interesting video I found. It is a 2011 video done by a group named “Next Level Athletes” who is presenting a video series “Tips From the Pros” targeting HS athletes who are being recruited to play college sports. This one is with Tony Dorsett and has some great advice for HS and college running backs.
This 2016 Blue-Gold Game, held at Heinz Field with the starting time of 1:00 pm will feature a true game format with the team being divided by position into two separate squads. Admission for the Blue-Gold Game is free for all fans. Doors at Heinz Field will open at 11:30 a.m., and parking will be available in the Gold lots beginning at 10 a.m. For more information and a listing of the day’s various fan attractions, click here: Blue-Gold Game Fan Information.
Folks – take advantage of this Pitt contest to win field passes for the Pitt-PSU game at Heinz field. if you haven’t had the experience of being down on the sidelines during a Pitt game you have to try to do so. The excitement is outrageous and you see everyone up close and personal.
“Pitt Athletics is giving away 50 pairs of Pregame Field Passes for the Pitt vs. Penn State game (game tickets not included) at this year’s Blue-Gold Spring Game on Saturday, April 16. Please fill out the below information by Thursday, April 14 by 11:59pm. Winners will be announced at the Spring Game during each quarter. Winners must be in attendance to claim field passes. No purchase necessary.”
I agree that people in State College, a very small town, knew that Sandusky was attracted to males. I don’t think that they all knew that he was a predator and targeting kids.
H2P
Pitt should select a graduating class to honor at each home game, like the Class of 1981, e.g. – not the football class, but the student body class– and invite graduates of that class, or the first so many who sign up, to be on the field before the game and “line the tunnel.”
They do this one game per season for members of the Varsity Letter Club and I really enjoy it year after year.
Good way to try to enhance the bond between the team and the alums — and great for kids as they become future Pitt fans.
Maybe at some point in the game they could put some class-related photos on the scoreboard and play the popular music from that year.
–Loved the video clip of TD. What a pleasure it was to watch him play.
Go Pitt.
Anyone else having trouble with the Pitt Ticket office?? I’ve been trying to buy mine for 3 weeks. Left 2 emails and 4 phone messages with only one returned call. At least they’re not playing the Duquesne fight song in the background music anymore!! If I could unretire and manage any organization, my first choice would be the Pitt TO! Second choice the VA!
Everyone would see Sandusky with little boys from his community organization all the time. He even took them to PSU bowl games and would have them stay in his hotel room with him. Joe knew, everyone knew!!!
A sick and evil man that will rightly die in prison.
Could make it on special teams if he’s fast and tough. He should land on a practice squad.
Tight ends that can CATCH are many… catch and BLOCK not so much.
However, the hire has been made .. so we must move forward.
This is kind of interesting
Holz is twice as good as the two-bit Jesse James but then again he didnt go to the Rooney’s favorite university known for producing solid citizens who stood by and watched 28 kids be raped -at a cost to taxpayers of 98 million and counting. THEY ALL KNEW. A friend and former PSU player’s son went to PSU around 2005 and the joke in the football showers was ‘dont drop the soap Sandusky is in the building’ – THEY ALL KNEW.
Herman Munster if you think the Rooneys are your friends think again with that HUUUUUUUUUUUGE head.