How Good are We?

Pitt has now completed a third of the season and we are starting to get a feel for the team. As usual there are two ways to look at things.

On one hand you can look at the defense and say “Well dang, this is the best defense we’ve had since 2009, and probably the best coached defense we’ve had since the ’70’s. I think this team is going to be pretty good.” You could also say “The offense has been up and down but they’ve shown growth each week and they’ve got some upside. The arrow is pointing up for Pitt.” Continue reading “How Good are We?” →

Pitt Football 2019 Spring Preview: The Defense

Pitt’s spring practice starts on Wednesday, and all I can say is, “Man, that came up fast”. Seems like just yesterday we were complaining about what went down in El Paso.

And yet here we are, just a few days out from fourteen closed practices and one glorified scrimmage that will tell us very little about how good this team actually is. Nonetheless, all of the information that comes out of spring practice will be both controlled by Pitt’s Coaching Staff and much discussed by the fans – thanks to Pat Narduzzi’s unpopular closed-practice policy.

In the meantime, we can speculate as to what will happen, and who will emerge, and how good the team will be, and speculate we shall.

But first, lets kick it off with a little rah-rah:

Winter Conditioning ✅

Spring 🏈 starts Wednesday!#H2P pic.twitter.com/cZujXnOR5b

— Pitt Football (@Pitt_FB) March 2, 2019

Continue reading “Pitt Football 2019 Spring Preview: The Defense” →

Are Pat and Staff Developing Players?

Here is a well-researched article by Brian Ferrari, aka “notrocketscience”, and it should give some good food for thought as we head into spring ball in the next couple of weeks.

We have much discussion about Pitt recruiting on the POV. This year’s class is considered too low in rank by almost everyone. Some believe all of Narduzzi’s classes were ranked too low. I am not one of those people. I feel all of the classes, with the exception of this year, were on par for what Pitt can accomplish with their football budget. I also feel Pitt football can reach a level of success we all expect with those classes. For me, that is eight to nine wins per year with occasional ten win seasons. Top 25 rankings should happen.

Let’s forget where Pitt’s classes have been ranked by Rivals. After all, it has zero impact on how the players are ultimately developed by the coaches. An eighteen year old kid changes a lot in four to five years. Instead, let’s look at the players on the current roster that contributed last year and are poised to contribute more this coming year. How good are they? Has Pitt developed them? Do we see potential NFL draft picks?

Continue reading “Are Pat and Staff Developing Players?” →

Lethal Offense 3?

Well fans, we now have our Wide Receivers Coach officially in the fold, and by most accounts Chris Beatty is a good one. He’s got a solid coaching resume and also boasts some very good recruiting credentials, which is exactly what this program needs.

Now we have three long months (until the spring game) to fantasize about what our offense will be.

Rumor has it that Whipple likes to throw the ball. Much has been made of that, but what should we expect really? I went back to the well and asked Daily Hampton Gazette Umass Beat Writer Josh Walfish some in-depth questions about what we will probably see in 2019. Josh was extremely gracious and gave me some great answers, so THANK YOU Josh. Also I’d be remis not to credit Pittsburgh Sports Now’s Alan Saunders for the idea. Saunders originally interviewed Walfish for one of the very first pieces published on Whipple, which I found to be excellent.

I’ve pasted the Josh Walfish interview below for your reading pleasure. The “MM Notes” were added after the fact. Enjoy…

Continue reading “Lethal Offense 3?” →

Category: Defense