Elijah Fields given a one-day suspension as a wake-up call. Again.
Sophomore Andrew Taglianetti replaced redshirt junior Elijah Fields at free safety with the first-team defense because of what Wannstedt termed an “internal issue” involving Fields on Wednesday. “Elijah will be back working with the first group,” Wannstedt said. “He hasn’t started yet. He hasn’t done anything. We’re being very demanding on these players. It’s not just what happens on the field.”
Zeise is less than charitable about this. Seeing it as Fields still not getting it in his 4th year. Since I don’t know what it was this time — and one practice seems relatively minor — it may simply be that Fields is one of those kids who needs a regular shake-up. He may be a redshirt junior and extremely talented, but I don’t think anyone seriously considers him a team leader. He is a talented cog with pro possibilities.
Also happening as usual, is the D-line overwhelming the O-line.
Speaking of the more things change, the more they stay the same – watching Pitt’s defensive line dominate a practice has become fun in some ways, particularly when it is still going on with the second and third units in there.
Gus Mustakas is back and apparently at full strength to lend more depth and further force inside the defensive line.
And continuing the familiarity theme, the quarterback play slipped noticeably. Obviously not helped by the O-line getting blasted back.
Despite receiving praise from Wannstedt — who said he “thought that all the quarterbacks threw the ball well” — it was actually a tough day for the signal callers, Stull in particular. They were under constant pressure and, as a result, their throws weren’t as crisp as previous practices. Stull threw five consecutive incomplete passes, as the team drill ended with Stull and Sunseri combining to complete only one of their final 10 passes.
Not a cause to sound the alarm, but not a good day, either.
Cat Basket is hoping for freshman Dan Mason to beat back Wannstedt-ian perceptions and become the starting middle linebacker. Looking for one word to describe that goal: Quixotic.
On the matter of the running back competition, Coach Wannstedt emphasized that it will more likely because of one thing that will eliminate contenders.
“We’re going to have to work on the running game, we’re going to have to find a couple tailbacks and the only way to do that is to run the plays in practice. Unfortunately, it’s going to come down to the guy that gives up that one fumble or makes a mental mistake. He’s going to eliminate himself. Coach David Walker has a very difficult job.”
I do think, unlike a couple other positions, that running back is truly open regardless of whether the kid is a freshman or not. Mainly because three of the contenders are true freshmen while a fourth is a redshirt freshman.
“They all realize there’s not a player in our room that has won a job,” Walker said. “Everybody is being given a fair opportunity to compete. It’s a competitive environment. This is a production business and the guys that are the most productive in camp are the guys who are going to play, regardless of everything else.
“When we say it’s an open competition, it is open competition across the board. The guy who may be taking the fifth rep today might be taking the first rep Sept. 5 (in the season opener against Youngstown State). Who knows how it’s going to play out?”
What will really help any running back? An offensive line they can trust. There’s a focus on sophomores Lucas Nix and Chris Jacobson. Nix already has the right tackle spot locked up, and Jacobson is trying to beat out Joe Thomas for left guard.
Wise said Jacobson has a lot of ability, but he needs to do better with the mental part of the game and the intricacies and fundamentals of line work.
“Chris, it hasn’t come as natural to him,” Wise said. “But he has very good toughness, [and] he is still sorting some things out more. He is still thinking too much, but it is coming.”
Jacobson knows that beating out Thomas (6-5, 290 pounds), a player with 27 career starts, is not going to be easy, but Jacobson also knows that the Panthers are counting on him to contribute this season.
“Coaches want me to prove I deserve to start. It is a competition, that’s what I thrive on,” Jacobson said. “I didn’t know what I was doing last year, but [guard] John Malecki and even [former quarterback] Tyler Palko did a good job in the offseason explaining things to me and working with me.”
And there’s the segue to all the former Panthers on the Arizona Cardinals squad that stopped by to talk to the Pitt players before the exhibition NFL game last night.
Five former Pitt players who are now members of the Arizona Cardinals visited the Panthers at the UPMC Sports Performance Complex on Thursday before their preseason game against the Steelers at Heinz Field. All-Pro receiver Larry Fitzgerald, linebacker Gerald Hayes, quarterback Tyler Palko, running back LaRod Stephens-Howling and secondary coach Teryl Austin took turns speaking to Pitt players. “Ever since I’ve been back here, I’ve been trying to bring alive our great tradition. That’s one thing we have here that a lot of schools don’t have around the country,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “Those are the guys that made this program. It was awful nice of them to come by and spend a little time, and they all said something to our team. Hopefully, it sticks with a few guys and makes a difference with a couple guys.”
You would hope.
Last night watching Palko in the 4th quarter, I saw a QB when seeing the 1st or 2nd options covered, not panicking and improvising to make a play …. something sorely missing from the Pitt QBs the past 2 years, and sadly not to be expected this year. I believe it is essential that the O-line steps us this year, and Cignetti be more creative in getting the ball in the hands of the the playmakers (soemthing that I believe that was not a strength of his predecessor)
As for Palko, I think we should keep in mind that he was a much better college QB than any of the guys on the Pitt team at this point, both physically and mentally. I don’t expect Stull or Bostick to ever get to the level that Palko did while at Pitt, but that does not mean they cannot find ways to be successful. In particular, I would really like to see these guys develop a mental toughness that they have not consistently shown to date. And yes, I am hoping that Cignetti is more creative, particularly in terms of putting guys in the position where they are most likely to succeed, rather than trying to force players to fit a particular mold or system.
‘Leave it to a former Pitt qb to put up 7 for the Cards. Give Palko the backup spot in the desert. Let Leinart beer bong with the ladies and party-plan with his boyfriend, Lachey.’
Palko looked confident and in control last night, and St. Pierre just looked like a bad quarterback.
Rick Pitino is also human and will not miss a beat.
But, damn, I wish I got paid a fraction of what these guys make.
J Flacco – 3 star (Rivals & Scout): 1st round pick, starter with Ravens
T Palko – 4 star (R & S); undrafted, backup with Cardinals
A Morelli – 4 star (R) & 5 star (S): undrafted, coaching QBs at Plum High
even JoePa has recently admitted that he should have benched Morelli as senior in favor of Daryl Clark, and remember, Matt Cassel was 2nd team QB under Carson Palmer but was not promoted in favor or Leinert.
The lesson here is that stockpiling much 4 or 5 star talent may hide 3 star talent who just take a bit longer to development and reaches their peak later.
Was great seeing all those past Panthers take the field as Cardinals! The only thing that would have been better is if they were wearing the black and gold!
As for QBs and the line, the o-line had better establish themselves quickly. This too seems to be a reoccurring theme. Heck, Brady would look terrible without a line that gave him time to be successful. Regardless as to where we stand with our QB’s, We at least need to give them the chance to succeed.
Hail to Pitt!
However, in fairness, Ty;er was a very productive QB at Pitt — the obvious issue during his years as a starter, especially the last 2 years, was the defense, not the offense.
I’m serious when I say that he looked way better than St. Pierre last night, but St. Pierre is Whisenhunt’s old butt buddy from their Steeler days.
fortuitous timing for surgery … I guess
link to pittsburgh.rivals.com
let’s see … he attends high school in NC, his dad coaches in Alabama, but with a name hinting that he should be running numbers in northern Jersey
And his other kid’s name is Vinnie…
Sal Sunseri is the most Italian person on the face of the planet.
However, I would take Palko because of the intangible. As we saw the other night, Tyler would do anything to make something out of nothing (great improvisational skills) … and he did that quite a bit while at Pitt — remember when he ran over the BC linebacker for the 1st down, or the few times that he flicked the ball forward for key 1st downs as he was being tackled.
On the other hand, you did not see this from Rod is his final years. I remeber seeing him at Perry High — he was a great runner, and most people may remember that he scored the only TD as a flanker in his freshmen year when Pitt beat PSU 12-0. But he rarely used his great athletic skills in his final years for improvisng on a play where his primary targets were covered. Pitt lost a few close games his years as starters where they may have been just a play or two from turning it around (T A&M, Toledo, WVU, ND)… although,in fairness, they did pull out that great ganes vs VA Tech … and I remember being disappointed that Rutherford did not always utilize his athletic ability … although, maybe Walt had a harness on him.
I do recall Rod Rutherford leveling a Miami linebacker or safety at the orange bowl his junior year. That was also Fitzgerald’s breakout game.
Rutherford gets a bad rap because everyone thinks Fitzgerald made him look good. There is probably some truth to that, but Rutherford was damn good on his own. He had a cannon for an arm, which is a lot more to say for Palko. I would take Rod over Tyler any day of the week.
Palko was a very different type of QB. As you note, he didn’t have the big arm, but he studied and knew the game as well as any QB Pitt has had in a long time. When I mentioned his ability to see the field earlier, I wasn’t really commenting on his scrambling ability (which would lead to good and bad results), but his ability to find the 3rd or 4th receiver in a progression. Maturity was an issue for Palko, particularly when he struggled on the field (Rutherford had his own maturity issues, but not so much on the field), but by his senior year he seemed to get his temper under control.
Bottom line – these guys were both very good college QBs, both far better than what we have at the moment.
Also, I view both of these guys as very good, but not great. college QBs. They both had a few significant shortcomings that keep them out of the “great” category, in my mind.
I always look forward to football talk-though, like most of you I assume, get immensely frustrated with this team.
The question that really need to be answered is this-How can a legitimate D1 program (with a storied history) not have one good quarterback for the second straight year?
link to community.post-gazette.com
An excerpt from Zeise:
“Unless the goal of the quarterback is to make sure his receivers have no chance to catch the ball, I can’t quite figure out why a change hasn’t been made yet.”
and, commenting on the “inexperience” excuse for not playing certain guys …
“And frankly, if you have an entire training camp plus the added bonus of three mulligans (to use another golf reference) to start the season (i.e teams you should be able to physically overmatch and thus win while protecting the quarterback and helping him gain confidence and get his feet wet and get used to the flow of the game) – that’s seven weeks of work you could have to get a guy ready before the varsity games start. But the key is getting him as many reps as possible and well, you’ve now wasted an entire week.”
Even Kevin Gorman at the Trib, who seems to be a bit more optimistic about the QB struggles to date, is openly acknowledging that Stull is really struggling. He also points out that Stull really seems to have a hard time recovering from a bad play, even when the failure was not really his (Stull’s) fault. His suggestion is that this reflects a lack of self-confidence, which is a real problem for a 5th year senior.
Good points in both the PG and Trib “blogs” – definitely worth checking out. And yes, it is still early…
I’d love to pile on here, but it won’t serve us any purpose with the readers and only drub up some statistical jargon from Pre-Lousiville game 2008 to sell us on something we all know…
But I won’t.
Like Dad always said, “Dance with the girl you brought…” ; so we’re stuck with him, I guess we have to live with him this year.
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Where’d PALKO come from ? ? ?
He’s got a GUN for and arm and he’s pretty quick on his feet.
I tuned in to the last quarter and saw St Pierre getting knocked around and a couple of decent RUN PLAYS, but I didn’t have to see LIENHART in the first half to know that his attitude hasn’t changed much. Just look at the way he’s standing in the “PICTURE”, arms folded as if to say “WHAT ME WORRY” ? ? I have it ALL wrapped up “I’m so GREAT” ! ! “LETS PARTY” ! ! ! ! ! !
Go PALKO———KICK HIS BUTT ! ! ! !