Elijah Zeise is just not a Power 5 linebacker. Poor ball reaction skills, late to plays, bad ball instincts and just can't drive through ball carriers. He's going to be a liability against real teams. But what's especially scary is that there's no one with enough talent to supplant him.
Zeise Is Wrong
- Thread starter djbpitt
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There are many posters who will disagree with you and me about this. Many believe he improved a lot last year and turned the corner the last 2 games and will be great this year.
Me, I think he’s a backup for Pitt as BEST.
Me, I think he’s a backup for Pitt as BEST.
I left his gap open on the third and 2 run that went for 15 yards. He went for the fake.
He is not having a good game today
Wirginis is all over the place making plays that just didn’t get made last year. The other 2 LBs have been AWOL. I think in the case of Idowu it’s because Wirginis is eating up everything between the hashes.
Hendrix has been soft on his edge several times.
The DBs do not look good as a group.
He isn't a good player and it is worrisome we don't have a better option in year 4.
Brightwell needs to start and have zeise backing up both outside spots. Everyone jumped on his nuts after he had a few nice plays against Miami.
Posters thinks his dad is a pitt Dan so they over estimate him as a player.
Posters thinks his dad is a pitt Dan so they over estimate him as a player.
Zeise looks far stronger. Not getting tossed around as easily. When he wrapped up on a ball carrier they stopped cold. Problem was it was typically after a solid gain.
He's nowhere near a problem compared to the safeties ... yecccchh. Briggs, for heavens sake, can't possibly be the best option. I mean, my goodness.
He's nowhere near a problem compared to the safeties ... yecccchh. Briggs, for heavens sake, can't possibly be the best option. I mean, my goodness.
Agreed - the safeties are the biggest weakness. They need to get that straightened out ASAP.
Didn’t Pitt recruit some 4star kid out of Steel Valley a couple years ago to play safety?
Nope, to play CB. He’s there now, just had his first game of his career today, almost had an int. Future is bright for him.
I know it. Just being sarcastic. Eager to see him play more because some of these guys just don’t have the talent the start on a P5 team.
Zeise is ok, but IMO brightwell is the far superior linebacker.
We need Hamlin to be the real deal ASAP and get Campbell out there. Also need to see what Coleman is about. Playing these older guys at safety is continuous failures. I don’t care how well they know the playbook
Brightwell certainly flashes more when he’s in. He deserves the starter reps at money LB IMO. He’s a hard nosed, aggressive player and a born linebacker.
We have a better option. Saleem Brightwell is better at everything. I really think Zeise only starts because his dad hosts a radio show.
I don't really agree (maybe on Brightwell, but close) with either, but I really think we should have a better HCPN recruit at this point.
I really think Zeise gets too much criticism because his dad hosts a radio show
No offense to Zeise, but I agree that Brightwell is more of a natural linebacker and sticks out far more in his play (remember his pick and almost to the house return against Clemson, which was a huge play in that game late).
Brightwell is legit. He just played out of position last year, but he’s a football player. He has instincts and aggression. Zeise is more athlete than football player, you don’t notice him much when he’s out there-that’s not good.
For as bad as Zeise was again yesterday, where was Idowu? Wirginis and Brightwell appeared to make most of the stops from the lb unit.
Idowu is a good story but a subpar starter for a P5 team LB, a worse deficiency by far than Zeise. As is Briggs as a S.
It's frustrating. But the coaches have their sword in the rock opinion on these guys, they've thought this way 3 years now on these guys, and regardless how bad and obvious it looks on the field, they're sticking with em (meanwhile, shifting CB randomly in and out of games like ice cream sprinkles).
It's crazy, and the annual shaky defenses prove it. But as others say, it ultimately reflects on Narduzzi, no matter how many DC he runs off. And if he doesn't care ... what can anyone else do. "Have faith" I guess...
An anti Idowu comment, uh oh. Expect to hear it from the crowd.
There are 65 power five teams in college football. That means there a 1430 starting power 5 players. How many of them are inadequate or subpar? Two? Eleven? 923?
But safety is as much a scheme as it is a personnel issue. Narduzzi asks a lot physically of his safeties. That’s going to result in some ugly plays on the field sometimes.
Narduzzi doesn’t ask the linebackers to do a ton. Zeise’s issues are not a scheme issue, they are Zeise.
When you have a system that asks a ton of some positions, you really need the other positions you aren’t asking much from, to uphold their end of the deal.
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