DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
Somewhere between seeing the new Sports Illustrated with LeSean McCoy of the Eagles on the regional cover, or hearing on NFL Network that the Rams’ defensive coaches are describing Aaron Donald as a specimen unlike any they’ve witnessed in two decades, or reading that Tom Savage might become the Texans’ backup QB, or catching up on the latest regarding Larry Fitzgerald, Darrelle Revis, Jabaal Sheard, Devin Street and others … it’s easily reinforced that there’s this immense incongruity between the caliber of player the Pitt football program produces and the caliber of team.
And it borders, in all candor, on the bizarre.
I mean, explain, please, how a program can land the occasional world-class player — and that category comfortably fits McCoy, Fitzgerald, Revis and now Donald — but can barely survive .500 on an annual basis because of its perpetually inferior supporting casts?
How does that happen?
Wait, better question: Will it happen yet again with Tyler Boyd?
Here’s some of my talk today with the wonderfully gifted wide receiver after the Panthers opened their training camp on the South Side, in which that very topic was raised …
Boyd’s primary point is convincing: All he did at Clairton was win, win, win as part of the Bears’ state-record 66-game winning streak.
But he saw right away it wouldn’t be like that at Pitt, or even close, with the 41-13 mauling by Florida State at Heinz Field in the 2013 opener. Boyd did his thing. He was supremely athletic, almost singlehandedly responsible for those occasions when the Panthers moved the ball. But this one L stamped on it from front to finish.
I remember like yesterday Boyd’s frozen stare in the media room when he said, “This is different.”
Alas, the rest of the season would be much the same: Despite Boyd’s emergence, the presence of three other NFL draft picks and not exactly the most challenging schedule in the nation, Pitt wound up 7-6 and needed to beat MAC champ Bowling Green in the most anticlimactic bowl game imaginable to tread water.
It was same old, same old: After the season, football experts everywhere sang the virtues of Pitt’s best players. During the season, they weren’t nearly enough.
I asked Boyd how much it would mean if he were to help change that. “It would feel good, especially coming from Clairton, a team that had a lot of success. To try to come to Pitt and do the same thing, that would feel like I’m doing my job. That would feel like I’m doing everything I can to help the team win.”
Paul Chryst is plenty aware of this stigma. He’s 13-13, so he’s lived enough of it.
“That’s the next level for us, to grow together, to grow as a group,” the coach said. “It’s great for the university when an Aaron Donald comes along and gets the recognition he did. We couldn’t be more proud. But the fact is A.D. was so dominant that he could get recognized on a .500 team.”
And Boyd?
“We’re going to have to help Tyler, lift Tyler up, make sure he can do everything he’s capable of.”
That was no knock on Boyd but, rather, a concession to the wide receiver position. If Donald was double-teamed, even triple-teamed, he could still carve out his own response. The receiver needs a diverse attack, a dependable quarterback and other receivers to deflect some of the attention.
Pitt should have all that, but I’m not sure.
The running game should be there, given James Conner’s ability and a shored-up offensive line. For sure, Conner thinks so: “I know we’ll run the football, and I’m confident we’ll do a lot to keep defenses off Tyler. They’ll have to meet us at the line of scrimmage.”
The quarterback should be there, given Chad Voytik’s pedigree, his athleticism and the four games in which he appeared behind Savage last season. I’ve got grave doubts related to his size — he’s listed at 6 feet 1, for the record — but it’s easy to appreciate the enthusiasm he expressed after Day 1: “It feels awesome to get back out there again and compete.” The kid just oozes energy.
The rest of the receivers should be there, given Manasseh Garner’s 6-2 frame, senior experience and power style, as well as newcomer Adonis Jennings, a 6-3 specimen of a freshman. But it’s hard to imagine either having the immediate impact Street did.
And all that’s to say nothing of a defense that’s lost Donald to the NFL, safety Jason Hendricks to graduation, and now end Ejuan Price for the season to injury. If answers don’t develop there — and I’m talking about well before the Aug. 30 kickoff vs. Delaware — one can safely anticipate that Pitt victories will look a lot like that 58-55 caper at Duke last season.
This is why, no doubt, the Panthers were picked in the ACC preseason poll to finish sixth in the seven-team Coastal Division. And why expectations everywhere else aren’t a whole lot higher.
And it’s why they’ll continue to occupy such depths until the recruiting adds some serious quantity to the existing quality. So far in Chryst’s tenure, I’m not seeing it: Pitt’s recruiting has been ranked by Rivals.com as 47th for the class of 2012, 35th for 2013, 44th for 2014, and it’s currently 46th for 2015. There are 65 schools in the NCAA’s five power conferences, and that’s either the lower half or lower third all the way through.
For now, all concerned are talking a good game. They like their ability to identify and secure quality players regardless of the stars assigned to their names. They like the stability that’s finally in place in the post-Dave Wannstedt era. They like the discipline that’s finally in place unlike the Wannstedt era. They speak in passionate tones about what’s being built.
“We know what’s happening here, and we’re going to prove that,” Conner said. “It’s coming, too. You’ll see. Not in a couple years.”
He motioned to a bracelet with the inscription, “THE TIME IS NOW.”
“That’s our mentality.”
Nice. But until that happens, here’s predicting that Pitt’s best chance at postseason glory remains the Super Bowl.
PHOTO OF BOYD: PETER MADIA, UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
Did you mean Jason Hendricks as the safety that left to the NFL?
College football is 2/3 recruiting and 1/3 coaching.
Chryst can’t recruit.
Chryst and his handpicked assistants haven’t shown they can coach.
Stars matter.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/eye-on-college-football/21641769
Bizarre is a great word to describe the caliber of the team despite plenty of NFL talent production. Hope for the best this season, I follow USAFA, as an alumni, and Pitt as the home-town school.
Go Navy
Go Birds, sink Navy! Although this year, I’m not holding out.
Nice write up, too many preseason articles are all sugar and spice. I’m a Pitt grad and hope they will do well but can recruiting pick up with the sleeping giant in State College looking like they are waking up? Better recruits and more of them are the answer.
I keep my sugar and spice in the beverage at hand.
Great article, DK. Would love to hear someone ask Chryst how well Pitt is doing with recruiting in his mind after reading those stats and what he thinks they can do to improve and what are his major obstacles in recruiting. How long is long enough to start to judge? For me 2015.
Asked and answered, many times over. The general sentiment is that Pitt’s doing fine, and they’ll support that by pointing out how few schools offered Donald, Conner and others.
The book is still out on PC as a coach and he leaves me concerned, yet to use the recruiting rankings as a final judgment is flawed to a degree. Three classes with three different head coaches has played a huge role. Ultimately two years in and we still don’t know yet.
Pitt is .500 under PC. He and Pitt need to have five years and then make the decision if he is the right man for the job. Pitt cannot continue to pay fired coaches.But there lies the problem. Pitt will never be considered a true destination job until it ponies up $.
I’ve always found five years to be fair in college football. Seconded.
The biggest thing to look for is “IF” Chryst gets an extension after this season.
Wanny got extended after 3rd season. However that was after beating WVU 13-9 and he had some great recruiting classes.
Chryst doesn’t have the recruits.
Lets see if he can must 8 wins.
Would not have been the perfect fit for our scheme but if Aaron Donald were there at 15, it would have been tough to go with Ryan Shazier, despite Shazier’s tremendous promise. Aaron’s got star written all over him. He’ll make Pitt proud and a number of teams sorry they passed.
Don’t think they would have picked Aaron either way. NFL seems to have him pegged as a 4 man front guy. I happen to think he could play on a 3 man front, but he would definitely be undersized as a 6′ DE.
Hoping Boomer’s boy does Pgh proud!
In the meantime I will continue to root for my Panthers and hope that PC is the right man for the job. He is a genuinely good guy, but being a good guy doesn’t mean he will be a good coach. Hail to Pitt.
First, Dejan, you will wear out your italics font if you keep using it for words like ‘should’ when describing the Panthers.
That’s very funny. Well done.
Second, recruiting. How much can an existing player have on influencing another to come to Pitt? If new Penn State coach Franklin can back up his verbal rhetoric, things could get really ugly for Pitt. And living in PSU country (Altoona), is hard enough already.
Speaking of Pitt football, you guys may already know this story but it blew my mind. No kid should have to go what this one did. Glad a full ride to Pitt finally means he knows where he can lay his head each night.
http://tinyurl.com/m3t63cv
Casper the Friendly,
.
A chilling story worth reading . . . . Thanks!
I’m not much for “recruiting class rankings” as an end all for measuring recruiting/coaching.
.
I’m also tired of seeing guys sign at Pitt, whose other finalist schools were Bowling Green, Old Dominion, and Eastern Kentucky.
I would love to see a competitive Pitt team, but I have my doubts. With Franklin at PSU, Pitt recruiting is in trouble. Big time players love the college atmosphere. Pitt doesn’t have that. Players would rather play in front of 100k+ at Beaver Stadium compared to an empty Heinz
I have no doubts that PC is a fine man & fine offensive coach who can develop QBs. But, they need an elite recruiter to get higher caliber players. They’ll never get top notch talent if the coach takes a laid back approach to recruiting. They seem to lack enthusiasm for it.
We need PC to become the recruiter that the Stache was while somehow not being the most conservative play calling team on the planet…I have never seen a team go into a shell like the Panthers do on such a regular basis…like they are preserving the 12-0 season…
Wanny’s teams got after people defensively, and kept the offense in the game. PC’s teams get after people offensively, and keep the defense in the game. They need to develop a complete team. Not enough talent overall.
socialpolling_verb
I’ve always felt that the University of Pittsburgh was generally below-average on recruiting, but the City of Pittsburgh was excellent. Something about this city draws people in, which can be a “wild card” for those excellent recruits like McCoy, Fitz, et. al
Pitt will continue to land big time players. The program still has enough reputation to do so. The problem is in large part due to not having a head coach who can utilize Pitt’s weapons effectively and minimize the team’s weaknesses. Hopefully PC is different.