Category: Players

Not the Ticket

About a month ago Athlon Sports published a piece called “ACC Coaches Talk Anonymously About Conference Foes for 2019”

Here is what they said about Pitt:

“Year in and year out you always see the same thing from these guys — they reflect Narduzzi in how they’re physical and disciplined and really mean working against you, but it’s always a question of how far their talent can take them. It’s not about a limitation of their culture or their play calling. It’s really all about what kind of talent they can get.” Continue reading “Not the Ticket” →

Song of the Southside

Song of the Southside

Pitt opens against Virginia on Saturday, and I approach the game with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation.  On one hand, there is a nearly palpable sense of confidence radiating from the Southside, and if you quiet your mind and turn your ear towards the Mon you can nearly make out the faintest of whispers saying, this year is different.  It is a siren song that Pitt fans yearn to believe.  One that is backed by the steely gazes of the upperclassman, and heard in the timbre of their voices.  It is projected through the stolid words of center Jimmy Morrissey, inferred by body language of the wide receivers licking their chops as they talk about the the passing game, and made that much more audible by grim determination of quarterback Kenny Pickett.

And yet for every reason to believe, there are a dozen reasons not to.  Jimmy Morrissey’s confidence?  There are four first-year starters surrounding him.  Those wide receivers?  Useless if they can’t get the ball.  And Kenny Pickett?  The last time we saw him, he was  nothing more than a shell-shocked sophomore, gritting his way through the last three games of the season.  Oh and don’t even get me started on the running backs and tight ends. Continue reading “Song of the Southside” →

On Kenny Pickett

On Kenny Pickett

I was recently interviewed for a podcast (season preview for Pitt football, will be published around July 4th and I’ll post the link when it goes up).  One of the questions was, “Do you guys have a quarterback?”  My answer was, “Well…no”.

Now that is not entirely true.  And when you listen the podcast you’ll understand why I said what I said.  It has to do with history versus potential, and right now, history shows we “kind of” don’t have a quarterback.

In fact, every first year quarterback since Bill Stull has – for the most part – has posted better stats than Kenny Pickett. Continue reading “On Kenny Pickett” →

Pitt Football 2019 Spring Preview: The Offense – Part 1

Pitt Football 2019 Spring Preview: The Offense – Part 1

IMG_1006First if all, my son, Raphael (no turtle jokes, please), celebrated his one-month birthday this past Saturday, and what better way to commemorate the occasion than to suit him up for spring ball.  As you can see young Raphael is expecting big things from the offense this season, because he is already working on his “touchdown” gesture.  (The actual truth is this one of the few shots I could get where he wasn’t crying, so one way or the other, I suppose he’s preparing for the season…)

And the other truth is that we might all be crying, because there are so many question marks on offense. Although with OC Mark Whipple at the helm, this is less likely than it was with Shawn Watson.  Nonetheless, there are many questions to be answered.  And so…where to begin?  In my opinion (as well as the opinion of Barry Alvarez, from whom I stole this quote) “It all starts with those big palookas up front”. Continue reading “Pitt Football 2019 Spring Preview: The Offense – Part 1” →