in Pitt Football 970 Words

Up Next: A Look at Boston College

by Richard Hefner

Pitt, coming off an upsetting (both spiritually & physically) loss to NC State is now 3-1, 2-1 in conference play. We will be leaving the cavernous confines of Heinz Field  to play our next opponent, the Boston College Eagles. The Eagles 22 – 26 loss to UNC dropped BC to 2-1, 1-1 in conference play with wins over a  horrid Duke team (0-4) & a snake bit Texas State team (1-3 with all 3 losses by a total of 13 points). Unlike Pitt’s 1’st 4 games, kickoff is scheduled for a 4:00pm kickoff. The Bad, it is still on the ACCN network.

Boston College is lead by 1’st year HC Jeff Hafley. He replaces Steve Addazio who in his 7 years had a truly mediocre overall 44-44 record & a dismal 22-34 (39.3%) record in conference play. Hafley joins a long list of past Pitt assistant coaches to be hired as a head coach. The last was Josh Conklin now at Wofford in the Southern Conference (SoCon). While the Southern Conference at one time or another had nearly every southern SEC or ACC team as a member, it is now better known for the yearly SoCon weekend where SEC teams play SoCon (& other cupcakes) teams the week before Thanksgiving. To Pitt fans it is better known as the past conference home of “Elon”University.

How was HCJH recruiting in his transitional year (2020) & the preceding 4 classes.

BTW – BC’s 2021 class is ranked #28 with 22 recruits, 1 4-star & a 2.95 avg. star rank.

At first, it looks like HCJH hit a home run with his small but greatly improved star ranking. A 3.00 average star ranking. Four of BC’s total of 9 where 2020 recruits in the “All” important % of recruits with a 5.7 or better Rivals rankings. But like Narduzzi’s 2015 transitional class, all the 5.7 or above committed to Addazio. Hats off to Hafley for keeping them in the fold. (Though it helps that two of the 4, (both OLmen) where from Massachusetts.).

The 95 recruits are the lowest number of any ACC team over that time frame.

No one that I am aware of opted out due to Covid.

BC did have some transfer activity. 9 players entered the portal. One of them decided to return to the fold. More on him later. The greatest loss was QB Anthony Brown. Brown started the 1’st 6 games of the 2019 campaign before injury cut his season short. He transferred to Oregon.

IMO, Hafley keep some of scholarships in his hip pocket for transfers. He ended up with 5, 3 of them were grad transfers. Below is BC’s transfer activity.

BC’s additions to their roster included  3 grad transfers for immediate help on defense. Luc Bequette was a 2019 3’rd team All PAC-12 selection. On offense, BC went with immediate & potential future firepower. Both are 2018 enrollees at their prior schools. BC picked up Ohio State RB Jaelan Gill. The other was noted local Pine-Richland H.S. alum My Nephew, Neil Walker, Ben DiNucci, QB Phil Jurkovec.

Jurkovec replaces 24/7 unranked QB Dennis Grosel (which is funny itself in that according to Rivals commitment list, BC signed 7 QB’s (excluding Brown) from 2016 – 2019.)

So how has Jurkovec done? Here are his stats for this year:

Here is KP’s QB rating for comparison. Below the NCAA totals are the breakout between OOC & conference games to help out those who always say QB ratings are inflated by OOC games.

Who are the potential “Stars” for NC State based on returning All ACC , Athlon & PFF?

The importance of the above chart is that it shows BC’s strength & the players to watch.  It is on offense, especially in the Oline – there are four. Five if you include the TE. Two are preseason All ACC (shown in bold). One is a walk-on. How do you judge a Oline? One is sacks allowed. BC is tied for #65 (of 74) allowing 11 or 3.67/game.

 David Bailey, the RB, takes over for departed A.J. Dillon. Baileys numbers for 2020 are: 33 attempts, 112 yards 1TD, 3.4yds/att., 37.3 yds./game. Compare that to his 2019 totals: 148 attempts, 844 yards, 7 TD’s, 5.7yds./att., 64.9 yds/game. Remember, he was the “back-up” RB. Pitt would (you fill in the blank) to have a running back with those 2019 numbers. BC’s running stats so far this season is 88 for 211 yards, 3TD’s, 2.4yds./att., 70.4 yds/game. (That is only .5 yards/game more than Bailey averaged last year.

Koby White, the opt “back in” transfer, was expected to be BC’s top receiving threat. He is out for the season with an ACL injury.

So far this year, BC has attempted 117 passes. They have only run the ball (including sacks) 88 times. If my math is correct (and you can bet your sweet patootie it is) that is a pass/run % of 57.1 to 42.9. Pitt P/R % is 47.7 to 52.3. So which team is pass     happy?

The top 3 BC receivers are in order TE (of course a TE) Hunter Long (25 for 270 yards & 1 TD 10.3 yds/rec), WR Zay Flowers (15-243, 1, 16.3 yds/rec), & RB Travis Levy 11-74, 0 TD, 6.73 yds/rec). These 3 players are responsible for 63.8% of all receptions. Let us hope that Pitt does not let the TE run free.

Pitt opens as a 4.5-point favorite. If my preseason projection of 8 wins is to be met, Pitt needs to win. I was not able to watch most of the game, but I did see the 1’st qtr. To me, it seems that the Pitt Dline spent a lot of time reading about the Pitt hype and believing it. It is my belief that the NC State game was a wake-up call for the defense. Kind of like the locals saying that last Saturdays against Virginia was the yearly wake-up call for Clemson.

Pitt wins this one 24 – 20 (As long as that pesky TE is not lost in coverage).

99 thoughts on “Up Next: A Look at Boston College”

  1. After I wrote & submitted this article, I read a tweet that said BC’s TE Hunter Long has been targeted 48 times. Maybe Mike can check his PFF toy & see if I read tweet correctly.

    If Tweet is true, that is a catch rate of 52%. Does he have hands of stone? Or is Jurkovec not an accurate passer?

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  2. You can bet BC’s game plan is to get rid of the ball quick like NCST and throw to the one on one coverage deep looking for penalties. That will be the plan for all teams moving forward.

    On D, stack the line and make KP beat you. Our OL is getting no push up front.

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  3. Good news….

    Pitt (the entire university) reported one new positive COVID-19 case during its last bi-weekly update on Oct. 1, with a total of 253 positive cases since Aug. 1.

    Credit to Pitt students and staff!

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  4. another great job Richard. I know while others here have, I haven’t expressed my gratitude nearly as much for your and Maestro’s efforts — especially for this year

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  5. One BC personnel loss who doesn’t show up on the roster was their very good OLine coach who found immediate employment with the Nits when Addazio was let go..shame PITT didn’t jump on him……who knows maybe this year or next we can be heading to “Duzz’s n Dazz’s Pizza parlor” after the game…….feel the same as I did after that NC game a couple of years back ….the D has been exposed and more injuries adding up…..could be a long year….

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    1. I didn’t know bout the BC OL coach. May explain why running game is down, That & or the new coordinator change in offensive philosophy.

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  7. I’m thinking that it may be getting rather late in the game for Narduzzi to be thinking about still another change in OC for next year, or a change in OL coach for that matter. This year was supposed to see a benefit from assistant coaching stability, and as we can see so far, the OL, TE position and running game have not improved. So shuffling coaches again would take a couple more years to affect future play, and Narduzzi may not have that much time to produce. PN is probably in a position where he has to do it with the horses he has, both players and coaches.

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  8. Regarding Justin’s post last article about TEs…

    Justin – we have had crap for TEs since Orndoff and Holtz. See this:

    https://pittsburghsportsnow.com/2018/10/16/does-pitt-have-a-tight-end-problem/

    PN TE recruiting is really terrible and his transfers haven’t done much at all. He lucked out inheriting PC’s TEs named above. He has gotten commitments from TEs in only three years he’s been here.

    2017 – Sear (3), Corrigan (3) and Charles (Where did he go!) Reeves (4*)

    2019 – Collier (3*)

    2020 Morag (2*)

    His transfers have been below average also – 38 combined catches by our TEs las season and only one (1) TD with a poor 8.7 ypc. Hell, in 2018 our TEs had a total of nine (9) catches.

    And it isn’t as if our latest TEs are blocking all that well either – just watch when the few time a Pitt RB gets past the LBs over this and last season – see any TEs downfield throwing blocks on anything like a consistent basis?

    Personally – I think you build an offense looking at the OL first, TEs second then a FB third with the “skill players” last. Why? Because if you have great up front blocking (especially in the run game) it makes those skill players work much easier and effective.

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    1. My concern regarding transfers this year- got a good one in Turner but bringing an OT from Hampton U down here in Norfolk and thinking he could possibly start doesn’t bode well for the program…recruiting lineman, TE’s and possibly RB’s has been mediocre but that is my opinion.

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    2. His recruiting of offensive lineman in general feels pretty mediocre, too, at this point. He inherited some pretty high quality guys from PC, who seemed to excel at recruiting those positions, but now those guys are all gone and the Narduzzi biggies just get in there and lean on people.

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    3. You forgot Wright and Mimes. Wright was playing a lot this year before getting hurt and is very athletic. He is our only hope.

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  9. I have to ask since I don’t know….. How were Holtz and Orndoff ranked by Rivals? I don’t think they were highly rated?

    From what I remember, Reeves was a prima donna, flunked out and then wanted to come back and Narduzzi told him NO! Typical 4* player.

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  11. Cam Bright is the key PITT injury who needs to come back this week. Don’t know if Pine was benched or hurt?

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    1. That’s what we need for offensive lineman! Absolutely. A few nasty, you know the dude with the tail.

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  13. Reed has it right. Average RBs and QBs can play above average if there is a good offensive line to count on, but a poor OL leads to offensive troubles in all other areas. Give a QB some extra time and even slightly slower WRs can get open eventually. Until Pitt has a powerful and skilled OL to drive the offense, there will continue to be poor offensive production.

    And a note to ike: I am never in favor of changing a coach in mid-season, and in fact have hated firing coaches under any circumstances (I mentioned before that I still feel bad about Foge getting the boot). So I’m with you that we should play the season out and see how it goes.

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  14. I don’t advocate mid-season coaching switches…really not fair to the players.

    Ike – here is JP Holtz’s Rivals page:

    https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2012/jp-holtz-11571

    Orndoff’s:

    https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2013/scott-orndoff-41384

    The difference is that Chryst had been used to good TE’s as the OC at Wisconsin so he knew what to look for and how to recruit them. To me the real gem was Scott Orndoff as he could be a TE then split out like a WR and still block very well in both roles.

    Plus I spent a good part of the evening drinking beer with Orndoff’s father prior to the Pinstripe Bowl. Interesting fact about that bowl game. Almost every Pitt players’ parents had two night reservations at the hotel.

    After that loss I walked into the lobby and didn’t see one Pitt player, parent or fan – that’s how pissed everyone was at that loss. Which BTW was another loss that dropped us out of the Top 25 as we were ranked #22 and a 5.5 point favorite going in.

    Sound familiar?

    https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2016/12/27/14071672/pinstripe-bowl-odds-pittsburgh-northwestern-betting-preview

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    1. Thanks Reed but it is more than stats. It is also data. As i said in the above article, it includes names that will be mentioned. In the article on NC State, every preseason pick was mentioned by the TV announcers at one time or another except the 3 OLine picks. (If they toil in anonymity, they did their job.)

      I also like to point out walk-ons, transfers in (they do work out sometimes even if Pitt seems to fail (except Millen & maybe Turner).

      It just takes time (& I have it in the evenings), excel & word and you to can chug out your take on any subject.

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        1. Reed – didn’t take it as negative. I love Pitt football & college football in general. I do data gathering on ACC teams in general & SEC teams in macro for my own knowledge & love sharing it with others.

          For example the “transfer portal”. 24/7 does a good job on tracking P5 transfers ins & outs. But you can do a deeper dive by team. You can then click on the name & usually there is an article or two on why the transfer occurred & why it is good or bad for that team. Be sure to read the comments. Data is just jotting down name & stats. Knowledge is having an understanding of why it happens.

          Liked by 1 person

        1. Your right, Nate Peterman was our best transfer. The LB transfer from Florida – Johnson was also a pleasant addition.

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  18. I have seen it written a few times this week that Hafley, Cignetti, and Jurkovec may have elevated motivation for this game due to their ties to the Pitt program and/or the Pittsburgh area. Good lord, if the Pitt team doesn’t come out fired up for this game after the egg they laid last week AND their terrible performance against BC last year, their definitely is a motivational problem with this coaching staff.

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    1. Hafley left on his own accord and on good terms, Cignetti was let go with the wanny firing,,, Jurkovec was and is just a Jerkovic, He wasn’t treated bad by PITT but had big pie eyes in the sky’s. Watch out for another dinker and dunker, a hike and a heaver. Hopefully Ford feels better and knocks the snot out of some people. Otherwise it should be an uneventful game. Put me in coach

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  19. Lots of people think better recruiting of OL is needed. I think the OL coach needs replaced. All our current OL guys are 3 star recruits which would be equal to most of our DL guys or in fact most of our team. We seem to do well with those type of guys in other positions.

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  20. a little clarification … JP Holtz committed to PSU but switched when the sanctions hit. I could be wrong but I believe but the only 4* tar local TE since Holtz was TJ Banks who is currently a RS soph at WVU and has seen little PT thus far. Thus far this year he has 1 reception for 11 yards

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    1. Banks was in some off field trouble recently at wvcc.

      That answered the question for me as to why this staff did not go hard after Banks when a TE is desperately needed.

      Character matters…

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      1. Just because someone may have gotten into trouble at one place, doesnt necessarily mean he would get into trouble at another. Culture has a lot to do with it.

        Perhaps the best example is the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers. An established culture lets questionable actors join the squad, but on a short leash. Once breached, they go away. My sense with Banks is that it was not a huge transgression as he was not dismissed from the team. My recollection was that Pitt didn’t offer him until late, despite him being in our backyard. He took offense to the lateness and moved on. I dont blame him. Kids go where they feel they fit in best and at places they feel want them. The problem with the Banks logic was that if he was really good, he could have come in and played early as that position is weak at Pitt (as if that had to be emphasized).

        Same with Reeves. Ultra talented on the field but didn’t fit the culture. I could have seen him going to Miami or NC or any of other of 50 universities where academics is not really a part of the deal. Not saying that Pitt emphasizes academics more, but you have to try a bit harder academically at Pitt. Athlete-students is the best way to characterize D1 football and Bball. Yes, there is an occasional Doctor, and others that use sports to get an education, but that is not how it usually works.

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        1. Reeves was way over-hyped. I watched him in his last spring game here. He was slow off the line – and after he got moving — he was still slow.

          Maybe he was injured, but injured players don’t usually see the field in a spring game. Was not surprised to see him leave. Even with our crappy TE recruiting, I doubt he would have seen the field…

          Go Pitt.

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  23. We need a list of transfers that played during the Narduzzi years, Once we have a list we can then vote or comment on players that made an impact (Peterman, Price), solid players (Johnson, Millen), backup (I would put K. Wilson & Petrishen here), TBD (Mack, Turner, Krull, Yellen,), Better luck next time/should have given a scholarship to a deserving walk-on (our TE’s transfers). There are others that I can not remember their names – the DL transfer from Michigan State, the OL guy from Texas. Was there another OL transfer? Any others?

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    1. Richard you ask a question I should know the answer to. Takes me back to my mom (guardian) and when I went to visit her in a nursing home, I asked her what she had good for lunch? Her response was, “OH don’t ask me that”. I said, wow was it that bad? She said no that’s not it, I just don’t remember what I had to eat and I don’t want to try and remember. Words I live by to this day. Let it go!

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  24. The QB from USC, three TE’s – one from UCLA, one from Arkansas and Flanagan from Rutgers.

    Hard to remember their names because they were so non-impactful.

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    1. Scarpino is the MSU guy I was thinking about. Was there some named Ulzuilo?? or something like that or was he another one of those TE’s

      Ricky Town, was includes in Pitt’s Rivals 2018 class. He did play at USC or UCLA but left & went to a JUCO before coming to PITT. So he is not a transfer.

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  27. Savage also was a transfer but IMO, except for Duke and New Mexico, played way below his talent …. which I assume is why he transferred twice

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    1. Is that Tom Savage? Didn’t he start at Rutgers & 1’st transfer to Arizona/Arizona State. before Pitt.

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    2. Savage played well for Pitt. Remember, the O-line was terrible that season and Tom took a beating. So much he was knocked out of the bowl game. It just showed Chryst and his O-line coach knew how to build and coach lines, but the two sure weren’t miracle workers. Savage’s beating was an example.

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      1. 2012: Sunseri 393 attempts 38 sacks
        2013: Savage 389 attempts 43 sacks
        2014: Voytik 287 attempts 20 sacks

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          1. 2019 – Pickett 469 attempts, TOTAL team 513 attempts 29 sacks

            2020 – Pickett 133 attempts, total team 142 attempts 8 sacks in 4 games, 2.00/game projected:11 games – 22, 12 games – 24.

            Need to use total team attempts because sacks are not recorded by QB.

            Liked by 1 person

  28. Excellent work Richard…and I had forgotten about some of the transfers mentioned above.
    I guess there is a good reason I forgot about them.

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  29. OT but it looks like the site of the Original Hot Dog site will be developed into a sandwich shop and a Viva Los Tacos…
    So much for Mark Cuban stepping in.

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  30. I’ve always felt that unless a staff is pretty sure a transfer will do well right off the bat (I.e. Peterman) then keeping recruits involved in the two, or three deep, makes for more team cohesion as the players get older.

    Chris Clark was another TE who bagged out of Pitt’s program.

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  31. Didn’t we have a OL transfer from Texas?

    This could be a good article for a Bye week. We got one coming up on 10/31.

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  32. About transfers, many times it’s more about the fit than the players and type of scheme that a team runs. Johnson from Florida was a perfect fit for him and Nate Peterman is even a better example. Then there are players like Flanagan who didn’t get the ball thrown to him. If I’m thinking of the right player (Flanagan) I think he signed onto an NFL practice squad recently.

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  33. I don’t have a problem with transfers and expect that the transfer success rate is slightly better than the recruiting success rate. Obviously you recruit transfers to positions of need and you can see that by how many O linemen and tight ends have come, also QB’s. I agree that only a few have a major impact but where would we have been without Peterman who ran our best offense in many years.

    But face it, just like with regular recruiting, we are not getting the cream of the crop when it comes to transfers.

    Overall, recruiting is still the biggest issue at Pitt. We get so few bonafide elite players that we need lower rated players to overachieve. This seems to be working fairly well on the defense but not so well on offense.
    Unfortunately the place where on paper, running backs we have had the most success, 4 stars, they have mostly underachieved.

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  34. Question? How many transfer QB’s played in the National Championship game the past ten years. Anyone know?

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  38. Wasn’t Baker Mayfield a transfer? and the recent Oklahoma QB, forget his name? I should have asked about the Heisman trophy to the list of championship games.

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  40. yep. especially on the O-line Reed. We are and have been bad there, recruiting would embarrass the MAC coaches and we are toast on the O Line for years to come.

    As a result, we can talk all we want but mediocrity is guaranteed. Fat, slow, un-athletic linemen that no top tier D1 program wants leads to an occasional good player but leads to what we’ve become for a long time.

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    1. Morrissey had a bad game last week but he was named first or second team all preseason ACC for crying out loud. The over reaction is funny to me. Winners don’t over react. They hit the pill right down the middle off the fairway under pressure. Pressure never got to me, I was just a lousy golfer.

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      1. One lineman does not an OL make. There are five (TE included) other linemen in the OL, and all of them are probably riding the bench on any other ACC team. Borbeley can’t coach and can’t recruit.

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  41. The better question is how many 5th year transfers (not graduate transfers) quarterbacked a national championship team since 2000? Zero. There is a HUGE difference in my mind between a 5th year transfer and a graduate transfer.

    If you are in your 5th year and transferring, you are typically not NFL talent. Burrow graduated in 3 years and transferred. Mayfield transferred after his walk-on first year at ttech. That’s been the problem with Pitt’s transfers. We get them after 4 years typically. If they had elite talent they wouldn’t come to Pitt. They would go to the Draft.

    A graduate transfer can be in his 3rd year and stuck behind a stud, like burrow was. Burrow was a 4star, Cam Newton was a 5 star. they had the talent. Max Browne never had the talent and it took him to the 5th year to try and make a go of it.

    By taking transfers, usually with some promise of playing time (desperate measure by coaches), it causes internal problems with the guys who have worked for years and are passed up for development and playing time, with an outsider. Ulizzio was bad. Stef Millin was bad. Hodges lost the job early. Now wilson from Hampton seems to be in that boat. The Tight end with multiple last names was bad. Flanagan was average, Gragg from Arcand sauce was not productive. The qb from USC was bad. Peterman was very good. KJohnson was good for Pitt, but may have stunted the growth from other LBs that could have used the playing time.

    Soft hands Krull can be added to the tight end list. So to me, one above average talent (Peterman). One very good player (KJohnson). The rest were growth and development blockers, as well as locker room disrupters.

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    2. Stefano Millen was so bad he was voted 2’nd team All ACC in 2018. The 2018 offensive tackles in the ACC must have been horrendous that a “bad” transfer from Kent State was the 3’rd leading vote receiver.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Outside Clempson in 2018, the ACC was deemed almost as weak as the PAC14 on the left coast. Only 3 teams in the ACC finished with more than 7 wins in 2018. There were 5 teams that finished over .500 in ACC conference play. Slim pickings. He was so talented, he didn’t even get a free agent tryout anywhere. Nothing against him as a person. Just not talented enough.

        All ACC means nothing as far as talent evaluation goes. The league evaluates talent and they saw none to average. No free agency signing / practice squad. That should tell you all you need to know about selection to all ACC. Not being harsh, because candidly, I don’t care. Just pointing out the facts of talent. Maybe all 32 nfl teams missed the memo on Millen…..or maybe they all thought he was related to Matt MIllen which would explain the complete oversight of talent.

        I put zero emotion into player evaluations. They are all good kids i think and they all try hard. I tend to throw that out and just type what i see, or in this case, what i saw a few years ago.

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        1. The young man had a good season and was recognized for doing so. The point being is that he was a good pickup via the transfer route. Isn’t that what we were talking about? Decent to good transfer pickups?

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        2. I stand by my comment. League evaluations mean squat when you show no interest into going into the league. That was reported in the paper about Millin. There are college players who do get burnt out & move on with their life. I know a man who was drafted & made it through preseason, and made the Falcons roster. But said he was tired of it all & left before the season opener.

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          1. Anyone remember Mike Reid, a psu alum who played for Cincinnati and just got tired of it and just wanted to play the piano?

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  43. I and some fellow commenters (wwb, Ike. Special K, Reed, PittPT, Erie Express) helped in my identifying up to 20 transfers. The oldest being Price & Savage. Really don’t want to back any further.

    I used “up to” because of Manny Stocker a QB back in ’15 – ’16. His younger brother (Jayzee) got a scholarship. I don’t know if Manny got one. I included Petrishen because he received on this year.

    I found my lineman from Texas – Brandon Hodges. Gregg Gragg (Arkansas) & Nakia Stewart Smith (???) was our forgettable duo from last year.

    Pitt did take in 5 for the time frame 8/1/19 to 7/31/20. That is 25% of all identified transfers.

    A fun fact – there may be more than 20 but if 20 is the total since 2012 (Savage sit out year) until this year (9 seasons) that is an average of 2.22/year. Florida State has 8 transfers in for this year alone.

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  44. Richard – appreciate your article and all the info you inject into the comments.

    (I haven’t been reading or posting much — still bummed over that last game…)

    Go Pitt.

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  45. Thank you – John. I always try to add something. Data & stats are boring. I understand about Saturday. Same for me but for personal reasons.

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  46. Richard, you’re right. Data and stats are two separate set of numbers but I don’t feel they are boring, just stats are easily manipulated in the wrong hands with the wrong agenda. I think stats in your possession are in good hands. You’re like a wizard that can actually make statistics tell the truth and the whole truth. Keep up the great work my great friend.

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  47. Pulled these three keys from a BC blog called Eagle in Atlanta:

    Three Simple Keys
    1. Stops on 3rd down. Last week was beyond frustrating. The whole point of a bend but don’t break D is not to allow long 3rd down conversions. Pickett is a good QB. If you give him time, he will find someone open. They need to bring him down.
    2. Go deep more. The ease in which Jurkovec can fling it is probably something we haven’t had since Shinskie. The late TD called back that Long caught was just a rope. We need to challenge downfield more. The explosive plays can be backbreakers for Pitt.
    3. Stay aggressive in Special Teams. The short kickoff didn’t work, but the idea was good. I think we need to keep trying things like that, especially as an underdog.

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    1. That’s one thing I miss about the Blather. On Chas’ site, he used to have a list of links to blogs covering other Big East & then ACC teams. Now I have to use SBNation (Cardiac Hill) or google/bing them. I am now lazy & just use SBNation. B’Cs site really likes to cover BC Hockey & Soccer.

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  48. OT — Pitt women’s soccer beat BC yesterday 4-3. The winning goal was about as pretty a shot as you’ll likely to see, no matter the level of play, high school, college, pros.

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  49. The fact that Narduzzi missed getting the best QB to come out of WPA since Marino not once but twice is really too bad. Hopefully we don’t start paying for it tomorrow. Let’s hope our D-line makes him think about it, if just a little. Which defense will show up, the one from last week or two weeks ago?

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    1. Im not a Duzz apologist, but think its important to note that some kids dream of playing at ND. Especially Catholic kids. Brian Kelly could have been coaching Pitt and Shawn Watson coaching ND and Mr. Jurkovec still picks South Bend.

      Two kids in our local HS could not get into ND, so both enrolled at Holy Corss College across the road with the dream of doing a Rudy and transferring in. Both just wanted to be around it. Crazy stuff.

      Sounds like Jurkovec acknoledges he was just like that. What is interesting is that he said that when choosing the next stop, his focus was entirely on the coaches. Smart. I cannot argue with his choice. Would have preferred Cignetti over Whipple myself.

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  51. Well you need to check your ego and get the player. As Joe Namath used to say it is 2am and miss America aint coming through the door

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