It was just announced that Conner has won the ACC Offensive Player of the Year Award. Conner beat Jameis Winston 16-13. Naturally, he’s also the Offensive Player of the Year as well. Conner had a historic season in 2014 which included breaking Tony Dorsett’s record for rushing touchdowns in a season.
Not bad for a guy who was initially recruited as a DE.
Welp, Pitt finally cracks the AP and Coaches Polls. Coming in at #22 and #21 respectively. Huzzah!
Lamar Patterson was named ACC Player of the Week for the second time this season. It oddly feels like his performance is being taken for granted. We acknowledge he is playing really well. That this team would be in big trouble if he hadn’t raised his game — which is really impressive when you think about the steady improvement he has shown in the past three seasons. Each year, getting better. Improving facets of his game and his conditioning. And the improved maturity. And versatility.
Morning, everyone. The deep freeze may be coming to an end but a third day of no school for the kids further disrupts life.
Amidst the hoopla for the last BCS Championship game, the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) released their Freshman All-American Team.
Tyler Boyd made the squad, so one more accolade for him and this Pitt squad.
Among some other things.
The Lombardi Award — for best offensive or defensive lineman — went to Aaron Donald as expected. He also had a chance to speak to Pitt’s other Lombardi Award winner, Hugh Green.
Yesterday he was also named to the All-ACC squad (1st team) and named ACC Defensive Player of the Year by the ACC Coaches. The only shock is that at least a couple coaches did not vote him #1 at DT.
Additionally he was named to the USA Today All-American 1st team.
Running late on this, I know.
On Monday Aaron Donald picked up the first of what has an excellent chance at being several more awards for everything he did this past season.
The Pittsburgh senior defensive tackle won the Bronko Nagurski award given to the nation’s top college defensive player.
The 6-foot, 285-pound Donald was presented the award at a ceremony Monday night in Charlotte.
The ACC Defensive Player of the Year, Donald averaged 2.2 tackles for loss per game while ranking 10th in forced fumbles and 13th in sacks per game.
He had 28½ sacks for his career with one game left to play.
“I’m just so excited,” Donald said. “I think it is a great way for my father to celebrate his birthday. And I think it’s huge for the University of Pittsburgh. There were so many people wishing me well.”
Tonight is the presentation for the Lombardi Award — best lineman or linebacker. On Thursday night, it’s the ESPN-centric extravaganza of college sports awards where Donald is up for the Bednarik Award (defensive player of the year) and the Outland Trophy (best offensive or defensive interior lineman).
The ACC announced their all-ACC teams today. No shock that Aaron Donald was on the first team squad. What I found mildly surprising was that he wasn’t a unanimous pick. The only unanimous pick was BC RB Andre Williams. Even FSU QB Jameis Winston or UNC TE Eric Ebron couldn’t get all unanimous picks. Rough crowd.
Tyler Boyd was second team All-ACC. Devin Street was on the third team. Offensive guard Matt Rotheram and safeties Jason Hendricks and Ray Vinopal were all honorable mention.
Ever since the game on Saturday, I’ve been tossing this over in my head. Coming up blank at this point, because what Aaron Donald has been doing for Pitt has been beyond anything you expect or is within the norm for a defensive tackle.
Outside of the quarterback position, football is a game where you really, truly cannot declare one player is capable of taking over a game. There are special teams, offense, defense. Calls by the coaches. Too many facets. Too many players. Beyond the hyperbole and tremendous gaffes at some point, it is simplistic to declare one player that much of a difference maker. Especially when it comes to the defense.
Yet, what Aaron Donald has done all season. What he did against Syracuse. It has been nothing short of amazing.
Donald, who is a strong candidate for five national awards, recorded nine tackles — 3 1/2 for a loss to give him a nation-leading 26 — and blocked an extra-point try that was the difference in the game.
Chryst, who rarely praises his players, stepped outside himself briefly to talk about the effect Donald had on Pitt’s second victory in the past three weeks.
“Your eyes go to him, and he sees it and he gives you the nod,” Chryst said. “And more often than not, he comes through. That’s the mark of a great one.
“I think right now he is playing at that level. He impacts the game in such a big way. It’s pretty special to be around.”
Aaron Donald will almost certainly be a 1st team All-American by the end of the season. His numbers have been eye-popping. Anyone who has watched him face double-teams and occasional triple-teams comes away impressed and amazed by how he still manages to be disruptive.
Donald wreaks havoc on opposing backfields with his remarkable first-step quickness, yet displays enough strength and power to win with physicality. With few offensive linemen capable of dealing with defenders with diverse games, Donald has consistently delivered disruptive plays for the Panthers’ defense. He leads the nation with 22.5 tackles for loss and is tied for sixth in the country with 10 sacks. Those numbers are impressive for a pass rusher, particularly an interior defender rarely given free runs to the quarterback off the edge.
His performance this year has him drawing NFL comparisons to Geno Atkins and there is no longer draftnik talk (for the moment) about how he will fall in the draft because he isn’t the prototypical DT size.
Pitt and Duke haven’t played each other in football in 37 years. Yet, you would think there is a long-storied past based on some of the stories from this week.
For two programs that are very different and only 17 games played between them, history is the theme. The first game was back in 1929, and Pitt was a victim of the 1938 “Iron Dukes” team. But Pitt and Duke played another game in 1950 that at least counts as a step in history.
Pitt was about to travel to Durham, N.C., with a player destined to become part of a scene never witnessed on a college football field in that state: a black man playing against a white man.
Flint Greene, a backup defensive tackle for Pitt who was an all-state selection on WPIAL championship teams at New Kensington High School, made history that day, turning a 28-14 Duke victory into the first integrated football game in North Carolina. ACC historian Al Featherston said Duke and North Carolina had played against blacks only on the road out of state.
Altoona native Blaine Earon, a Blue Devils All-American defensive end, attended Wade’s meeting.
“He said to us, ‘If there is anybody who has an objection, let me know,’ ” Earon said from his home near Atlanta. “Nobody put up their hands. I’m serious. The only time it was mentioned was at that meeting.”
By all accounts, Greene’s presence prompted no reaction on the field or in the stands.
“You didn’t even know the guy was there,” said Billy Cox, the Duke quarterback.
It may have helped that Duke was very proactive in making sure there was no issue.
Wade warned his players he would pull them if they caused trouble for Greene. Duke president Hollis Edens and Wade issued a statement to reporters.
“Yes, we have heard that Pittsburgh has a Negro on its squad,” the statement read. “The coaches of each team have the unquestioned right to play any eligible man they choose to play. We have neither the right nor the desire to ask a coach to restrict or limit his team’s participation on the grounds of creed or color.
“Duke students and fans have a fine record of treating visiting teams courteously. We have every reason to believe this record will be continued.”
Cox, who grew up in Mount Airy, N.C., and was a classmate of Andy Griffith’s, said Wade’s warning may have been unnecessary.
“I don’t think we were far enough south,” he said.
Yes. Yes, you were. If that was the first integrated football game played in North Carolina. You definitely “were far enough south.”
For those of us stuck watching at home, that meant not seeing the Retirement of Larry Fitzgerald’s number at halftime.
Thankfully Pitt posted it.
Goosebumps.
You get a watchlist nod! And you get a watchlist nod! He gets a watchlist nod! Everybody gets a watchlist nod!
Still weeks before training camp. Not even any good arrests happening at this point in the college football offseason. So for the myriad of college football individual honors that are quickly forgotten once they are handed out in January (or is it December?), announcing the watchlists for the various awards makes sense.
We are bored/desperate enough. You get attention across all the conferences as long as you include a couple from each conference. Which they do. The watchlist is basically the acknowledgment that, yes this guy might be good and he’s got some hype. We’ll mention him.
So far, Pitt has four players mentioned on the watchlists:
Ray Graham — Maxwell Award (Best college football player)
Aaron Donald — Bednarik Award (Best defensive player)
Hubie Graham — John Mackey Award (Tight End
Ryan Turnley — Rimington Trophy (Center)
The Maxwell and Bednarik watchlists have 65 names each. The Mackey has 33 names and Rimington lists 51 names on their respective watchlists.
Like I said, the awards at least get some attention.
It’s a bit of a basketball round-up.
First up, J.J. Moore got injured over the weekend playing pick-up basketball.
Pitt sophomore forward J.J. Moore will undergo surgery for a fractured fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot after suffering the injury in a pickup game Friday.
The injury takes three months to heal.
Moore’s injury is common among basketball players. It is the same injury that forced Levance Fields and Jermaine Dixon out of the lineup in recent seasons.
It isn’t the healing that is the concern. It is the possibility of it being a recurrent issue. It was a bit of a problem for Levance Fields. Still, while he won’t be playing in the summer league, he will be ready for the start of the practices before the season begins.
No, he’s not trying to get out of going to Pitt. Turns out Steven Adams did not pull out of the Jordan Brand Classic and will be playing Saturday night on ESPN at 7pm down in Charlotte. Another chance to see the 6’10 to 7′-er (depending on where you get your measurements) before he comes to Pitt. He will get another matchup against the No. 1 player in the 2012 recruiting class, Kentucky-bound Nerlens Noel.
Obviously he is one of the players to watch (Insider subs):
Adams is the most physically imposing player in the game, thanks to his unique combination of strength and athleticism. He will attack the rim and score with his excellent mobility, huge hands and soft touch inside 15 feet. Defensively, he is very difficult to score over and Noel has said he is the hardest guy he’s ever tried to score on.
He’s also the subject of a feature article from ESPN.
With only 7 full games (he started game 8, but went down in the first minutes of the game) Ray Graham still was impressive enough to be named 1st Team All-Big East. He couldn’t win offensive player of the year (that went to Cinci RB, Isiah Pead), but it is still a solid accomplishment.
Graham — probably not surprisingly — was the only Pitt player named to the All-Big East Team (1st or 2d).
On defense, Pitt placed five players. Only Safety Jared Holley, however, was a 1st teamer. Chas Alecxih, Aaron Donald, Max Gruder and Antwuan Reed were all named to the 2nd team. Somewhat surprisingly, Brandon Lindsey didn’t make either team. The Big East stats stuff list him as a linebacker which may have contributed to the confusion.
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