For those of you who don’t know, I live in the Atlanta Metro area. For those of you who don’t know, I also happen to own a royal blue Pitt Script ball cap, which I rarely wear. Well I saw that ballcap sitting on the closet shelf on Saturday morning and I decided to wear it all day long.
It must have been fate because Qadree Ollison was drafted by the Falcons that afternoon. Then, later that evening Pitt notched their third 2020 commit who just happened to be from Macon, Georgia. What are the odds?Continue reading “Georgia on my Mind”→
I just registered for the Washington, DC portion of the 2019 FB and BB Alumni Meet & Greet. I did this the last few years also (one of them was when PN first called me “The Spy“) and will attend again this year.
For the DC area it is on the evening of Friday May 10th. Here is the link to register.
Of all the Panthers eligible to be drafter or signed as a FA, who has the most NFL upside?
Do the Steelers grab a Panther this year?
Who is your sleeper pick to get drafted?
Here is a list of all Pitt’s Draft-Eligible Players:
WR – Rafael Araujo-Lopes
FB – George Aston
OL – Alex Bookser
EDGE – James Folston
RB – Darrin Hall
DL – Dewayne Hendrix
LB – Oluwaseun Idowu
WR? – Colin Jonov
RB – Qadree Ollison
DL – Shane Roy
LB – Quintin Wirginis
LB – Elijah Zeise
Thanks to Joe Lawrence for the content suggestion
Day 2 addendum. I’ve been following the draft on cbssports.com (their live coverage is excellent by the way), and they have a nice little section about “best available” by position. So of course I decided to check out Running Back. What a freakin’ travesty. Here are the questionable backs that cbssports lists above Hall and Ollison.
Ryquell Armstead – Temple – 181:
Armstead is an authoritative back who gets to top speed quickly but doesn’t have another gear in his arsenal to hit big-gainers. His feet are impressive at times. He’s not that elusive in space, and despite his powerful running style, he doesn’t bounce off many tackle attempts. — CT
10
210
1098
5.2
13
MM’s take – tell me how this is better than QO? And yet her is Armstead, from TEMPLE, no less ranked at 181, while Ollison labors at 279. Also, you know who does have another gear…Darrin Hall. He’s ranked 449. smh.
Jalin Moore – App State – 209:
Decent bounce, but his vision is lacking. Above-average contact balance and leg churn through tackles. Wiggle dissipates as he gets further away from the line of scrimmage, and his long speed is a major concern. Hard-nosed runner who could carve out a role as a RB3 in the NFL. — CT
5
63
400
6.3
6
MM’s take – so here is a guy that got hurt, can’t find the hole and isn’t fast. Correct me if I’m wrong but Ollison and Hall both ran in the 4.5 range and are pretty damn good at hitting the hole. Also durable as heck. Just sayin’
LJ Scott – Mich State – 192
Rare flashes of impressive feet for a bigger back his size. Vision isn’t great but didn’t have much room to run late in his long college career. Decently powerful but not as powerful as you’d expect at his size. — CT
5
79
264
3.3
0
MM’s take – You know who are as powerful as you’d expect at their size? Qadree Ollison and Darrin Hall. Good job ranking this dude above them. And good job blaming his 3.3 YPC on the offensive line.
Nick Brosette – LSU – 268
Powerful but strictly linear runner. Lacks contact balance, shiftiness, and vision needed to be a consistent contributor at the next level. — CT
13
240
1039
4.3
14
MM’s take – Yup, seems like a guy I’d draft ahead of the guy who did this:
Annnd just in case you hadn’t scouted the two most underrated backs in the class:
Qadree Ollision – Pitt – 279
Ollison is a tall, zone-blocking back with good one-cut ability for his size and above-average ankle flexion that allows him to hit those cutback lanes he sees. There’s some power and contact balance to his game too but stiffness in his hips. — CT
Remember that post I wrote just a few days ago that said Pitt was making all the right moves and fan sentiment was at a ten year high? Well, I should have known better. If you haven’t yet seen the news, this happened:
So 2000 – 2014 eh?
The good news is that nobody outside of Pittsburgh is actually talking about Pitt, including our friends at Sports Illustrated.
The bad news is that since Pitt (and arguably Northwestern) are the small fry in this fish tank, IF the court finds that there is wrongdoing by any university, it’s very likely that we’ll get the worst of it, while the Alabamas, the Notre Dames and the Penn States of the world get, well you know…
However, it’s also entirely plausible that Blazer was not acting on the behalf of any university at all, and he was simply trying to entice these student athletes to use his financial services after they turned pro.
And to think that just twelve hours ago all was well with the world. If only.
So if you’re a believer in the power of positive thought, we can get out of this. Just repeat after me: “Plausible Deniability. Plausible Deniability. Plausible Deniability”.
pittpov.com 