These were 4 recruits who actually did have good offers. No, not blue blood offers but legit P5 offers. Perhaps most disappointing has been the lack of development of these players. If you take Pugh out, who was simply a "miss," you would think the other 3 would have been good enough to beat out the 2 5th year seniors from NA. As fans, we always want to see young guys play especially when the older ones are struggling and I realize Idowu plays well sometimes but if you cannot get on the field much in Year 3, thats a problem.
Brightwell, Pine, McKee, Pugh
- Thread starter Sean Miller Fan
- Start date
All four had the same position coach tells you more about the coach than the players mentioned
They were all solid recruits. It boggles my mind why Brightwell isn't starting.
If you put those 4 guys in the 2019 class, based on offers alone, they would be 4 of the Top 5-6, wouldn't they?
Narduzzi played linebacker and was a LB coach for like seven years. Some of the recruits have had decent ratings. It is pretty bizarre how badly we've done there.
Brightwell should have been starting for awhile now but it almost seems like the coaching staff is enamored with the walk on/try hard type with lesser talent? Maybe I am dead wrong... Cam Bright flashed more on Saturday than Zeise has the whole season... Pine looked great in the VT game last year but seemingly has disappeared and is out of position in the middle...
You can add ford, hamlin, camp and watts. the first 3 had plenty of offers from blue bloods. None have really done anything!
Pitt’s done poor at lb overall for years. Can’t remember a year where some aren’t converts from offense or other positions. Hasn’t changed under Narduzzi/Harley.
Narduzzi doesn’t put enough of a premium on speed. You can see it against teams who do. The LBs are smart. You could see that against GT. Outside of possibly Wirginis, who I think could hook on as a FA in the NFL, there is no elite athleticism at that position.
These kids are the victims of playing in a poorly schemed defense. Having average coaches teaching them is hurting, too.
What has really hurt is that the higher-rated recruits we've gotten like the ones you mentioned have not lived up to their rating. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find a Narduzzi recruit who has outplayed his star rating.
And yet people still believe that this staff can "coach up" all of these projects that are committing.
Pine was making progress. Blackwell outperformed the current starters. Briggs just clearly is not competitive, even if he's lucky to randomly get in someone's way, he's too small and weak to make a play. Still recall the Albany ... ALBANY ... RB to whom Briggs came flying into a pile to try to deliver a death blow ... and he bounced off the guy like a gnat. The back, more Earl Gray than Earl Campbell, was not impacted in the least.
It's just a whole SMH situation.
It's just a whole SMH situation.
The saving grace about pitt for years was they always had a couple guys that spectacularly outplayed their star ratings.
We almost never get actual unanimous 5 star guys, but Conner, dion, shady, Boyd, Donald, graham before getting hurt, even a guy like Brandon Lindsey played like 5 star guys.
We also have always, in our down years, had an exciting, star player.
Now, who is a star on this team?
Yea, that's the thing. We always had guys like that. Honestly, I cannot think of 1 player that has outperformed his rating. Maybe Wirginis? Was he a 2 star? If so, he probably has as he is a 3 star college football player. Player development has been plain bad
Yeah, it's a lot of fun to cheer on a great player and watch him evolve into a pro bowler in the NFL but it would be a heck of a lot more fun to cheer for a great team.
McKee has never shown anything and has struggled to even be in the conversation. I think we can write him off. Pine is getting on the field and I think will be a major contributor starting next year, but the best player on the team is ahead of him at the Mike. Pugh was a bust, flat out. Not sure why, as he was athletic as hell with excellent size--but he isn't even contributing at Howard despite being immediately eligible.
As you indicated, Brightwell is the concerning one. He shows every time he's on the field. He's highly active and more productive than the guys that get more reps. He started all last year at the Mike, which was not a good fit for him, but the point is he has a full year of full time game reps under his belt, so he's one of the most experienced LBs on the team. He may have more MAs in practice or even in games than the coaches like to see, but he makes a visible impact with his reps. He has good football speed and natural LB instincts that Zeise doesn't have. He plays with attitude and aggression. From what I've seen in games he should be starting and, like Wirginis, should only come out when he needs a blow.
Pitt rolled the dice with Narduzzi. He was assumed to be a good coordinator at a legit program, but the fact is, he had zero head coaching experience and if you thought he could fix Pitt in three years, you were wrong. I never expected him to out recruit Penn State or WVU, but to have less D1 talent than North Carolina, Duke, etc. is very discouraging. It is very obvious, that this staff cannot develop or progress kids with less talent.
