The fascination is generally with the offense. I’d say more this year so with so many changes to the starters and especially with the novelty (some might say, relief) at someone other than Tino Sunseri under center this year. I know I’ll be returning to that side of the ball soon enough. That said, the reality is the success of this team — especially early in the season — hinges with the defense. Another reason that I really question using Jason Hendricks, K’Wuan Williams and Lafayette Pitts in the return game.
Would it shock anyone that Coach Paul Chryst does not share those concerns?
“We know every time a guy is out there, there’s a risk for injury, but I don’t have any concerns,” Chryst said.
Pitts averaged 24.3 yards per kickoff return last season, including a 64-yarder against Gardner-Webb. Hendricks and Williams have never returned kicks for Pitt.
For the record, if this blows up in his face, it won’t be second guessing or hindsight to criticize the decision.
In the cases of Williams and Hendricks, whether it is to help showcase their versatility to the NFL. Or actually that he thinks they are the best options for returning punts, I think this is a really bad idea. It may be that he feels that these are the best choices and with the offense likely to struggle a bit in real game situations to start he wants to put the offense in the best position possible.
It just doesn’t seem worth the risk. The secondary is Pitt’s biggest strength. Pitt struggled to generate a pass rush last year. There’s potential at the ends, but big questions. No matter how aggressive new DC Matt House wants to be, the secondary has to be at full strength to allow blitzes and being aggressive up front.
Okay, I swear I’ll let this go now.
Back to the defense and getting ready for Monday night.
The combination of high humidity and Florida State’s speed could lead Pitt’s defense straight into a dark state it hopes to avoid: Exhaustion.
Wait, did the game get moved to Tallahassee and I didn’t get the memo? If the issue is “exhaustion,” it won’t be from the humidity. It will be because the offense couldn’t stay on the field. Fine, let’s move on.
“I can see playing with 20 guys on defense,” senior middle linebacker Shane Gordon said. “If guys are tired, we are going to have guys who are ready to go.”
Pitt’s two-deep defensive depth chart looks like an interesting combination of seniors (six) and freshmen (eight, including redshirts). Mix in pass-rush specialist Ejuan Price at defensive end and former safeties Anthony Gonzalez and Bam Bradley at linebacker, and Pitt might have some players to counter Florida State’s speed.
“We have some guys we feel can run pretty well,” coach Paul Chryst said.
Seven starters return, plus junior outside linebacker Todd Thomas, who is Gonzalez’s backup after starting 13 games over the past two seasons.
Like Pitt, Florida State will have a new starter at QB. So both sides will no doubt be looking to generate pressure on the QB. The difference is that FSU has a proven O-line made up of nothing but juniors and seniors. All 6-4 or bigger and all over 300 pounds. No doubt Chryst and OC Joe Rudolph will look at that O-line and think, “That is what we want.” So generating pressure up front is going to require blitzing and overloading.
It may be that Pitt plays twenty guys on defense. I hope not. I would take that to mean that the defense is out there too much, and the coaches are still trying to find the right starting combo.
Part of that mix is with Ejuan Price and Anthony Gonzalez finally appearing to have a set position. Gonzalez, especially has been bounced around a bit — QB, H-Back, S and now OLB. While technically recruited as a QB, everyone knew that wasn’t where he would stay (except maybe Gonzalez). He finally has a position and is embracing it.
“After my first year, I was skeptical,” he said. “(At quarterback), you get to make plays. There is no better feeling than that. That’s why I wanted to come in and play quarterback.
“It just hasn’t worked out for me, and it’s time to move on.”
Gonzalez has played four positions at Pitt, including safety and H-back, but he made the permanent move to strong-side linebacker late last season, starting for the first time in the BBVA Compass Bowl. He starts on the weak side, but Chryst said he is comfortable putting Gonzalez at either position.
Gonzalez said his experience at quarterback helps him on the other side of the line of scrimmage.
“You know where the quarterback wants to go,” he said. “Knowing when you have help and when you don’t.”
As for Price, it wasn’t quite so radical as moving from outside linebacker to defensive end.
“I didn’t like putting my hand on the ground just because I wasn’t used to it, but now that I’m acclimated to it, I feel good,” he said.
“I actually like [defensive] end better because there’s less thinking involved, there’s more ‘go.’ ”
The past few practices have seen Price move primarily to a traditional defensive end role, but he and Palermo said there are packages in Pitt’s defense that would have Price standing up and sometimes dropping back in coverage. But Price knows his main job is getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
“The coaches have different roles for me,” he said. “They have a package where they have me stand up and rush, but at the end of the day, pressure is pressure, whether you put your hand on the ground or you are standing up. It is basically the same technique.”
Palermo said raw talent has never been an issue with Price, who was rated a three- and four-star recruit out of Woodland Hills and originally signed with Ohio State before picking Pitt. At this point, his biggest challenge is shaking off the mental rust of more than a year without live-action football.
“He’s still got a lot to learn, and when I say that, it’s not so much fundamentally — he’s pretty good — but he’s got to learn the defenses,” Palermo said. “He’s got to make sure if they do this, then our adjustment is that. Those are the things that he’s got to learn. When he’s got those down, there’s no telling how good a football player he’ll be.”
And while Gonzalez struggled at times to get on the field because his first three position moves were all made with an eye to the next season, Price was out with an injury all of last year.
“I’m definitely ready to go,” he said. “I tell [my teammates] every day, I’m just happy to be relevant again.”
Hopefully Pitt football will be at some point soon, as well.
I’m OK with Price at DE, looking forward to it actually. That year off after a pretty decent true FR year might have him set at the position. He’s fast and has put on some weight, more than the listed 230 I think.
Just to recap for the readers, Price: “Played in all 13 games as a true freshman linebacker, starting five…had 27 tackles, 6.5 TFLs and four sacks…had a season-high six tackles (all solo) against USF…had five tackles at Rutgers…had two sacks at Iowa and one at both Louisville and West Virginia.”
So the kid can get after the ball carriers and the QB and could possible be a sack machine by mid-season. I really like him. Plus, the OL won’t be able to guess if he’s turning inside or outside by looking at his legs. Powerful as hell but pretty bowlegged.
The two positions of our starting 22 I’m most wary about is Gonzalez at LB and Clemmings at RT. I’m “going Missouri” on these and saying I’ll believe it when I see it.
Clemming’s hype was all about his size, athleticism and, ironically, the fact that he only played two years of ball in HS Because of that I believe the pundits projected this fantastic transition to college ball. I’m just not sold on him. Put it this way. The pressures on the QB we saw mostly in the spring and summer camps were from the right side making the QB roll to the left. IMO Johnson won’t redshirt and we’ll see him get PT experience early so that he can fleet up to starter as soon as necessary.
Gonzalez I just don’t know about. When I concentrated on watching the defense in practices and scrimmages I can’t remember one time I looked down at my roster to see who was the # who made a good play it was never Gonzales’ name I found. Some of the other LBs stood out at certain times; Bradley, Grigsby, Thomas, Caprara etc… but no Gonzalez.
Anyway, I think we need at least 3 turnovers from this group to win the game. Turnovers are the equalizer when you are playing a superior team.
Price is going to be key, we will need some pressure on the young QB. Most young guys don’t do well under pressure. Donald, Ezell and Gordon need to shut down the inside run.
We will need many open field tackles from everyone to stay with them. Thomas is the best open field guy on the team. If they run around Gonzalez and/or Bradley, Thomas will be on the field early.
You cannot simulate the speed in practice. Hope we are up to the task.
Hail to Pitt!
By the same token if the D gets the take-a-ways and leaves the O with a short field, that’s how you win.
I’m just wondering how the refs won’t end up noticing the extra nine guys that we’ll have on the field though, that’s usually a penalty isn’t it?
Most to prove in the ACC:
4. Florida State’s staff: Despite the loss of 11 players to the NFL draft, Florida State still abounds with talent, but there are six new assistants on staff tasked with developing it. All of these hires will eventually be a reflection on coach Jimbo Fisher. The Noles will start 2013 with a new defensive coordinator in Jeremy Pruitt, new running backs coach, new quarterbacks coach, new tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator, new defensive ends coach and a new linebackers coach.
7. Pitt’s running backs: It went downhill when Rushel Shell decided to transfer. Now, the lead candidate to replace him, Isaac Bennett, has spent most of the summer with an injured knee. Pitt is missing its top two rushers from last fall — and now the next two in line are question marks heading into the season. The situation is in limbo as the Panthers get set to make their ACC debut against Florida State on Monday, as freshman James Conner was also injured. Malcolm Crockett, who had 12 carries last year, could be the solution.
Four returning starters on the offensive line. Two experienced backs and two newcomers.
James Wilder is big and runs hard. Freeman is the shorter and stockier slasher.
Two newcomers bring a little more speed to the equation. There’s the true freshman Green and RS freshman Pender.
Pender, the quickest and shiftiest of the bunch… looks to be the playmaker, especially on third down.
Reportedly, FSU is going to run some two back sets which is going to really challenge Pitt at the point of attack.
The question is whether Pitt’s front seven will hold up under pressure of a relentless run game.
Get ready for a lot of nail-biting third and shorts.
Clemmings is the least of our worries. He’s going to be fine.
What I’m concerned about is Savage’s decision making… especially under duress.
His weaknesses are his tendency to become so focused on a receiver that he becomes oblivious to roaming defensive backs and the rush.
There’s none better than Chryst to identify a QBs strengths and weaknesses and adjust routes and play calls, the best example being Tino last year.
Here’s a quote from Chryst in the Trib Review that tells you he’s attempting to work the same magic with Savage.
“Part of it is we know him (Savage) better,” Chryst said. “We know his strengths and can play to those.”
It remains to see just how adept Savage is to putting Chryst’s tutelage into action.
On D, we just have to keep rotating our linemen until we find combos that work — I like our depth but the LBs worry me a bit…as Reed mentioned, not real sure about Gonzalez either but looks like the kid will have a chance to show his stuff.
Bingo POD, there’s the key to this game. FSU starting a frosh QB, they will want to establish the ground game to take the pressure off him. Not to mention Winston has some wheels of his own.
If Pitt’s run D holds up, consider that #1 on the list of ways Pitt wins this game.
They also do this quick pitch thing where the QB drops back to pass and the RB (or possibly a slot receiver) comes in front of the QB for the pitch. … Pitt will need to stop the run for sure.
That’s a shuffle pass, Marino use to do it a few times a game to try and surprise the defense and sneak a back thru the line.
Worried some about the inexperience of the LB’s as we will have basically 2 new OLB’s starting. Cause Gonzo has a whole 1 game experience, at that position. And Bradley has zippo. TT might be in by the 2nd series. Gotta keep Gordon on the field the whole game as well.
The LB’s will be the key if FSU is going to try to ram it down our throats, cause their offensive line is humongous & experienced which will negate our D-Line to some extent.
We’re also playing with at least 1 brand new DE as well (Durham). And who knows how he is going to shake out. Hopefully well !
I’m hoping Pitt will be okay on D but good point about the new OLBs. Also, I’ve heard on here that Vinopal struggles with the pass/speed. Is he good in run support?
off topic: Out here in Denver the big buzz is the massive poster of Flacco that adorns the side of Mile High/Sports Authority Field.
That and Savage being to wrapped up in his own mistakes.
