5AF's Premier College Football Thread: 2017-18 Pittsburgh Super Panthers Football Thread (and Basketball)

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

miller is too light for lb and will probably always be too light to play mlb

[slappybrown]

Yea, the interior of the D-line looks great and they've recruited that position really well. The ends are the concern, but Weaver flashed in his playing time, and if Hendrix would play up to his potential, that could also be a strength. Unfortunately, I am not holding my breath on Hendrix. He may be a bum.

[slappybrown]

This is an interesting comment from peak:

I don't think Pitt asked them to leave, but I also think there was an understanding on both sides about the best moves for all parties.

[Stoosh]

miller is too light for lb and will probably always be too light to play mlb

I saw Miller as more of an OLB, kind of a Dom Decicco or Anthony Gonzalez-type...a high school safety who was tall enough to add about 15-20 lbs. but maintain his ability to play in coverage.

[Stoosh]

Yea, the interior of the D-line looks great and they've recruited that position really well. The ends are the concern, but Weaver flashed in his playing time, and if Hendrix would play up to his potential, that could also be a strength. Unfortunately, I am not holding my breath on Hendrix. He may be a bum.

To speak to the depth at DT, Peak also noted that Twyman had passed Carter on the depth chart some time ago, so that speaks well of the younger classes.

At DE, I think Weaver solidified himself as a starter and he could be a potential star. Best case scenario for 2018 would be for Hendrix to realize his potential. I'm really interested to see how Patrick Jones continues to develop as well. He was only listed as a 2-star recruit, but I remember VT really going after him so he always struck me as one of those under-the-radar prospects who becomes a big-time force. I thought he was someone who got quietly better as the season progressed and I'm hoping this means he's poised to take a big step forward.

[Dickie Dunn]

Had high hopes for Pugh and Miller so it stings a bit to see them go. No idea what Pugh will end up doing but it wouldn't surprise me if Miller heads back to Florida to play for an FIU or FAU. Henderson and Carter only had two years of eligibility left so a D1 transfer would leave them with a year of playing time. Will be interesting to see where they end up, if anywhere. At this point position depth looks like:

QB - 3
Pickett - SO
Town - RS JR
Patti - FR

RB - 4
Hall - SR
Ollison - RS SR
Davis - SO
Sibley - RS FR

FB - 2
Aston - RS SR
Sellers - RS JR

WR - 11
Araujo-Lopes - RS SR
Tipton - RS JR
Ffrench - JR
Mathews - JR
Flowers III - RS SO
Mack - RS SO*
Smith - RS FR
Butler-Jenkins - RS FR
Street - RS FR
O'Neil - FR
Jacques-Louis - FR

TE - 4
Clark - RS JR
Sear - SO
Reeves Jr. - RS FR
Carrigan - RS FR

OL - 15
Bookser - RS SR
Dintino - RS SR
Herndon - RS SR (listed as OL and 2nd string on the depth chart each week but spent more time at DL than OL)
Pilato - RS JR
Morgan - RS SO
Ford - RS SO
Morrissey - RS SO
Hargrove - RS SO
Houy - RS FR
Drexel - RS FR
Drake Jr. - RS FR
Warren - RS FR
Brown - RS JR
Kradel - FR
Zubovic - FR

DT - 9
Roy - RS SR
Camp - RS SO
Watts - JR
Wheeler - RS SO
Twyman - RS FR
Van Lynn - RS FR
Bentley - FR
Danielson - FR
Green - FR

DE - 7
Hendrix - RS SR
Folston Jr. - RS SR
Weaver - RS SO
Jones II - RS SO
Alexander - RS FR
Morgan - FR
Palmer - FR

LB - 12
Idowu - RS SR
Zeise - RS SR
Wirginis - RS SR
Williams - RS SR
Brightwell - RS JR
McKee Jr. - RS JR
Dorsey - RS JR
Pine - RS SO
Reynolds - RS SO
Bright - RS FR
Tucker - RS FR
Davis - FR

CB -7
Motley - RS SR
Jackson - RS JR
Coleman - RS SO
Mathis - SO
Pinnock - SO
Williams - FR
Tallandier - FR

S - 7
Briggs - RS SR
Stocker - RS JR
Hamlin - JR
Campbell - RS SO
Garner - RS SO
Ford - RS FR
Carter - FR

K - 1
Kessman - SO

P - 1
Christodoulou - RS FR

LS - 1
Adomitis - SO

By my count that puts them at 84 scholarships right now, so one spot left, though I do expect to see a bit more attrition to open up a couple more spots. Would really like to get a RB in this recruiting class and a TE and LB if possible.

Based on that position breakdown, here is the official Dickie Dunn's Way Too Early Two-Deep That Would Win A National Championship If The Coaches Would Just Listen To Me:

QB: Pickett, Town
RB: Hall, Ollison
FB: Aston
TE: Clark, Reeves Jr.
WR: Mathews, Tipton
WR: Jacques-Louis, Smith
WR: Araujo-Lopes, Ffrench
LT: Pilato, Drake Jr.
LG: Bookser, Ford
C: Drexel, Morrissey
RG: Warren, Dintino
RT: Brown, Hargrove

DE: Hendrix, Weaver, Folston Jr., Jones II
DT: Camp, Watts, Twyman, Wheeler
MoLB: Zeise, Pine
MiLB: Wirginis, Reynolds
SLB: Brightwell, McKee Jr. (I write this knowing that the coaches with play Idowu in 110% of the snaps)
CB: Jackson, Coleman, Mathis, Pinnock
S: Ford, Hamlin, Campbell, Garner

I think a lot of this is pretty easy to project, at least in the early goings. I think Shocky ends up being the one freshman to contribute this season as he appears to be an impact receiver for Pickett. Offensive line is the toughest to project. Other than Bookser occupying one of the guard positions I think every other spot is up for grabs.

[slappybrown]

Peak says he expects two more to leave. Another guy on PL had it at 82 schollies, with three spots open:

Seniors (16)
WR – Rafael Araujo-Lopes (RS)
FB – George Aston (RS)
OL – Alex Bookser (RS)
DB – Dennis Briggs (RS)
OL – Connor Dintino (RS)
DE – James Folston (RS)
RB – Darrin Hall
DE – Dewayne Hendrix (RS)
OL – Mike Herndon (RS)
LB – Seun Idowu (RS)
DB – Phillipie Motley (RS)
RB – Qadree Ollison (RS)
DT – Shane Roy (RS)
LB – Jalen Williams (RS)
LB – Quintin Wirginis (RS)
LB – Elijah Zeise (RS)

Juniors (13)
LB – Saleem Brightwell (RS)
OL – Chase Brown (RS)
TE – Chris Clark (RS)
WR – Maurice Ffrench
DB – Damar Hamlin
DB – Dane Jackson (RS)
WR – Aaron Mathews
LB – Anthony McKee (RS)
OL – Tony Pilato (RS)
DB – Jazzee Stocker (RS)
QB – Ricky Town (RS)
WR – Tre Tipton (RS)
DT – Amir Watts

Sophomores (21)
DT – Keyshon Camp (RS)
DB – Phil Campbell (RS)
DB – Therran Coleman (RS)
RB – A.J. Davis
WR – Ruben Flowers (RS)
OL – Brandon Ford (RS)
DB – Bricen Garner (RS)
OL – Bryce Hargrove (RS)
DE – Patrick Jones (RS)
PK – Alex Kessman (RS)
WR – Taysir Mack (RS)
DB – Damarri Mathis
OL – Justin Morgan (RS)
OL – Jimmy Morrissey (RS)
QB – Kenny Pickett
LB – Chase Pine (RS)
DB – Jason Pinnock
LB – Elias Reynolds (RS)
TE – Tyler Sear
DE – Rashad Weaver (RS)
DT – Rashad Wheeler (RS)

RS Freshmen (18)
DE – Deslin Alexandre (RS)
LB – Cameron Bright (RS)
WR – Dontavius Butler-Jenkins (RS)
TE – Grant Carrigan (RS)
PK – Kirk Christodoulou (RS)
OL – Jerry Drake (RS)
OL – Owen Drexel (RS)
DB – Paris Ford (RS)
OL – Gabe Houy (RS)
LB – Kyle Nunn (RS)
TE – Charles Reeves (RS)
RB – Todd Sibley (RS)
WR – Michael Smith (RS)
WR – Darian Street (RS)
LB – Albert Tucker (RS)
DT – Jaylen Twyman (RS)
DE – Carson Van Lynn (RS)
OL – Carter Warren (RS)

Freshmen (14)
DT – Tyler Bentley
DB – V’Lique Carter
DT – Devin Danielson
LB – Wendell Davis
DT – David Green
WR – Shocky Jacques-Louis
OL – Jake Kradel
DE – John Morgan
WR – Cameron O’Neil
DE – Noah Palmer
QB – Nick Patti
DB – Judson Tallandier
DB – Marquis Williams
OL – Blake Zubovic

Not sure where you two are diverging since that list is too long for me to care enough to compare.

[Freddy Rumsen]

It's hard to believe that Zeise is already a redshirt senior. Wonder if he'll try for a medical Redshirt

[slappybrown]

A good question to ask imo: is Darrin Hall actually good? I am not convinced. He had three good to great games against bad to decent teams -- Duke, UVA, UNC -- then poo'd himself the last two games against actual good teams, when he had an actual living breathing QB in Pickett, putting up a sparkling 25 carries for 34 yards against VaTech and the U. Outside of those three games, his season was trash: 56 carries for 106 yards.

Hope AJ Davis or Todd Sibley grab that job, because I am not sold on Hall.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

hall isn't that good. lets put it this way, I was way more sold on ollison's 1000 yard season than halls good games. but I am not confident that either of those two are good. I am not confident that AJ Davis is good. Who knows about sibley

but one thing I am confident is that running backs are a dime a dozen and someone will play well enough.

[Dickie Dunn]

Another guy on PL had it at 82 schollies, with three spots open:

Not sure where you two are diverging since that list is too long for me to care enough to compare.

His number is correct. I had Sellers, Dorsey, and Adomitis as scholarship players, which they are not. He also added redshirt freshman LB Kyle Nunn, who somehow is a scholarship player. So yup, 82 scholarships, three spots open, with the possibility of two more opening up.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

nunn was a normal recruit with some P5 offers

https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/ ... -nunn-1355

[slappybrown]

Another guy on PL had it at 82 schollies, with three spots open:

Not sure where you two are diverging since that list is too long for me to care enough to compare.

His number is correct. I had Sellers, Dorsey, and Adomitis as scholarship players, which they are not. He also added redshirt freshman LB Kyle Nunn, who somehow is a scholarship player. So yup, 82 scholarships, three spots open, with the possibility of two more opening up.

so that pushes them to 21 in this class from the current 16 commits. nice

[Nittany Ned]

Curious as to what would drive you Pitt fans crazier - a WVU hoops national championship (very possible this year) or a Nittany Lion national championship.

...I’m sure the latter.

[slappybrown]

I suppose the boogeyman would keep me up at night if I thought he was real, too, but I generally don't give any thought to things from the land of make believe, like the boogeyman or uwv/ups national championships.

[willeyeam]

Don't think I'll have to worry about either

[columbia]

Neither is competent enough to be a rival, so who cares.

[DrunkenCoatsey]

Looks like Pitt is going to struggle to sell out the Duke game. How pathetic? I remember when the ACC was going to be the greatest most bestest conference ever with Pitt (and others) included. Amazing how fast they fell from perennial March failure to bottom feeder.

[slappybrown]

Welp welcome back I guess

[columbia]

[Dickie Dunn]

Being reported that Northwestern LB’s coach Randy Bates will be the new DC for the Super Panthers.

Retired Navy LT, LB coach at Northwestern since 2006, been coaching for 37 years, had a 6 season stint at Louisiana Tech as DC before going to NW but other than that has been a position coach his entire career.

Unexpected hire to me. I figured a Partridge promotion or an experienced DC, which in the big picture this guy is not. He is however regarded as one of NW’s best recruiters and 247 called him one of the “hottest recruiters” in the Big 10. Brought in a lot of talent from Texas (specifically Houston). I wonder if Duzzi will take a more hands on role with his defense and have this guy recruit more than Conklin.

[Freddy Rumsen]

I think Bates is actually the perfect hire for what this team needs.

[columbia]

I think Bates is actually the perfect hire for what this team needs.

Correct.
Likely to have limited further ambition, for one thing.

[dodint]

*chuckle*

[Dickie Dunn]

That's a good point. Also, I was unaware that Pat Fitzgerald's official title is "Dan and Susan Jones Family Head Football Coach". Had never see the coaching position naming rights thing before but apparently he isn't the only one. Weird.

Edit:

"In his six years with the Bulldogs, Bates served in numerous capacities, all on the defensive side of the football. He worked with the entire secondary in 2000 and 2001, the cornerbacks in 2002, linebackers in 2003, the entire secondary in 2004 and finally defensive coordinator and secondary coach in 2005. In his final season at La Tech, Bates led Louisiana Tech to one of the school's top defensive performances in the last decade, which resulted in a 7-4 overall record and third-place finish in the Western Athletic Conference. The defense gave up the fewest points since 1994 and ranked fifth in the country in turnover margin."


So he was actually only DC at LaTech for one season?