Chris James to Wisconsin official....

[thebadby2]

earlier this month, not sure if that info hit the board yet. No big surprise, that was expected all along and Wisky was James' first choice out of HS.

I guess in 2017 we'll find out if he's the contact-averse pansy certain posters on this board painted him as, or if he's legit. If a RB can't put up good numbers at Wisky, they can't do it anywhere.

Personally, I thought he was on his way to a good career after his freshman season. Not sure if it was his nagging injuries or something else last year.

 

[Panther Parrothead]

earlier this month, not sure if that info hit the board yet. No big surprise, that was expected all along and Wisky was James' first choice out of HS.

I guess in 2017 we'll find out if he's the contact-averse pansy certain posters on this board painted him as, or if he's legit. If a RB can't put up good numbers at Wisky, they can't do it anywhere.

Personally, I thought he was on his way to a good career after his freshman season. Not sure if it was his nagging injuries or something else last year.

It's just my opinion, but James is a much better fit in the Chryst system. Put him behind an elephant-sized O-line dedicated to running the ball and he should do just fine.

Meanwhile, I'm not convinced that Pitt's offense had ever established an identity last year - other than chucking the ball to Tyler Boyd.

Not trying to hijack the thread, but this year, we supposedly have the best O-line in the ACC, along with a stable full of runningbacks to go with it. On the surface, it would appear that a playbook with 40,001 running plays should've been distributed. But is this what we'll see? Or will the new OC be Chaney, Part Deux?

 

[thebadby2]

It's just my opinion, but James is a much better fit in the Chryst system. Put him behind an elephant-sized O-line dedicated to running the ball and he should do just fine.

Meanwhile, I'm not convinced that Pitt's offense had ever established an identity last year - other than chucking the ball to Tyler Boyd.

Not trying to hijack the thread, but this year, we supposedly have the best O-line in the ACC, along with a stable full of runningbacks to go with it. On the surface, it would appear that a playbook with 40,001 running plays should've been distributed. But is this what we'll see? Or will the new OC be Chaney, Part Deux?

We are not nearly good enough to simply line up and run the ball against every opponent. We should be able to do it at will against the weaker ones, but against the better, more athletic defenses we will have to be able to stretch the field, something we weren't able to do last year. Given our WRs and QB, I don't think the passing game will be any better this year.

The identity was/is supposed to be identical to Michigan State's-balanced pro set team that runs the ball well between the tackles, mixes in jet sweeps, and uses shotgun and pre-snap motion a lot. We just didn't have the people to make it work very well last year. Wr have our Leveon Bell in James Conner, but we don't have a Connor Cook at QB and that strong stable of talented WRs MSU always has.

 

[steel_curtain]

We are not nearly good enough to simply line up and run the ball against every opponent. We should be able to do it at will against the weaker ones, but against the better, more athletic defenses we will have to be able to stretch the field, something we weren't able to do last year. Given our WRs and QB, I don't think the passing game will be any better this year.

The identity was/is supposed to be identical to Michigan State's-balanced pro set team that runs the ball well between the tackles, mixes in jet sweeps, and uses shotgun and pre-snap motion a lot. We just didn't have the people to make it work very well last year. Wr have our Leveon Bell in James Conner, but we don't have a Connor Cook at QB and that strong stable of talented WRs MSU always has.

"We are not nearly good enough to simply line up and run the ball against every opponent"



-With James Conner in 2014, Pitt averaged 250 rush yards per game, good enough for 15th in the entire country. Pitt had 35 Rush TD's, good enough for 14th in the entire country. In 2015 Pitt was 44th in the country in Rush Yards, and 84th in the country in Rush TD's. 84th, with our o-line and Ollison. Is this a joke?

-We had Chad friggin Voytik starting at QB in 2014. Our second leading receiver on the entire team was friggin Manasseh Garner, who had 200 receiving yards for the entire season.

-That team had zero talent, and Conner still put up 1800 yards and 26TD's.

-You want to talk about an apple and oranges comparison? The 2014 team sucked. The 2016 team is far better on offense, across the entire board, at almost every single position.

-And we dumped Jim Chaney, the biggest win of all.

-Ill tell you right now Pitt will see the biggest turnaround in rush yards and rush TD's in comparison to any other team in the entire country this year. We will statistically vault higher in 2016 in comparison to 2015 in rush yards and rush TD's than any other team. Ill say it for the 1000th time, we had some of the worst play calling on offense I ever watched last year. It was pathetic. 84th in the country in Rush TD's last year. ROFL at Jim Chaney, a clown of a coordinator.

-We will run the ball against everyone this year. And we won't be running 3 pass plays in a row on the 6 yard line in the redzone like spread happy pass happy Get the Ball to Boyd every play of the game Jim Chaney. Worst Pro-set coordinator ever.

 

[Old School1]

I thought James had a lot of potential and I don't like seeing good RB's going elsewhere.
At that key position you never know how things will work out for guys!
We have Conner for just one more year and than its up to the " best of the rest" at that spot.
One injury to another RB can change things bigtime.
For some reason unless its coaching staff induced we seem to lose a lot of players but maybe
other programs do as well!

 

[Swervin27]

I thought James had a lot of potential and I don't like seeing good RB's going elsewhere.
At that key position you never know how things will work out for guys!
We have Conner for just one more year and than its up to the " best of the rest" at that spot.
One injury to another RB can change things bigtime.
For some reason unless its coaching staff induced we seem to lose a lot of players but maybe
other programs do as well!

we have Conner for 2 more years.. I wish Chris James well but something has to go SERIOUSLY wrong if we are missing him anytime soon..

 

[Delpanther]

He had his chances. He did virtually nothing with them. When you play, you have to produce- he didn't, which is why he found himself buried on the depth chart.

 

[OriginalEther]

we have Conner for 2 more years.. I wish Chris James well but something has to go SERIOUSLY wrong if we are missing him anytime soon..

It's one more year, unless the cancer comes back around end of season.

It was a given that, even with the mcl tear, that Conner would have declared for the Nfl last season. Doubt that would change after this season.

 

[joeydavid]

At this point Pitt's oline and running backs are far superior than UW's. Chryst will fix that like he did at Pitt but in the interim there are carried to be had there which he wouldn't see at Pitt.

earlier this month, not sure if that info hit the board yet. No big surprise, that was expected all along and Wisky was James' first choice out of HS.

I guess in 2017 we'll find out if he's the contact-averse pansy certain posters on this board painted him as, or if he's legit. If a RB can't put up good numbers at Wisky, they can't do it anywhere.

Personally, I thought he was on his way to a good career after his freshman season. Not sure if it was his nagging injuries or something else last year.

 

[thebadby2]

At this point Pitt's oline and running backs are far superior than UW's. Chryst will fix that like he did at Pitt but in the interim there are carried to be had there which he wouldn't see at Pitt.

There's nothing for Chryst to fix at Wisky. They have the same team they have always had. The only glitch was they had a very young and inexperienced O line last year, which really set back their usual national top 10 rushing game. I expect that will be a lot better this year. I mean, they were #3 in the country in 2014, #8 in 2013, etc. etc. Last year they were 84th, which has to be the lowest they've been since Alvarez became the HC years ago. They had a bunch of rookies on the O line. They still have Corey Clement and a couple of promising young RBs.

 

[cmr2133]

Who is Chris James?

 

[joeydavid]

Yeah, you're right being 84th in nation playing a God awfully easy schedule means they have nothing to fix. The correct answer is- they have a depth and talent issue at both RB and on the Oline. Both of which Chryst will need to and will address immediately.

There's nothing for Chryst to fix at Wisky. They have the same team they have always had. The only glitch was they had a very young and inexperienced O line last year, which really set back their usual national top 10 rushing game. I expect that will be a lot better this year. I mean, they were #3 in the country in 2014, #8 in 2013, etc. etc. Last year they were 84th, which has to be the lowest they've been since Alvarez became the HC years ago. They had a bunch of rookies on the O line. They still have Corey Clement and a couple of promising young RBs.

 

[JohnnyGossamer]

I thought James had a lot of potential and I don't like seeing good RB's going elsewhere.
At that key position you never know how things will work out for guys!
We have Conner for just one more year and than its up to the " best of the rest" at that spot.
One injury to another RB can change things bigtime.
For some reason unless its coaching staff induced we seem to lose a lot of players but maybe
other programs do as well!

Pitt still has Ollison and Hall as well as Moss and whatever other incoming RBs are in the next few classes. No worries here.

 

[thebadby2]

Yeah, you're right being 84th in nation playing a God awfully easy schedule means they have nothing to fix. The correct answer is- they have a depth and talent issue at both RB and on the Oline. Both of which Chryst will need to and will address immediately.

You familiar with the concept of a one-off? They have plenty of O line depth and talent-but it's all young. What can Chryst do to fix that-wave a wand and make them older and more experienced? Fix it my ass, if anything Chryst broke it. Gary Anderson had that program humming when he left, that rushing offense was a machine while he was there. The cupboard is far from bare. They have plenty to work with.

As for RB, Corey Clement is healthy and he's a beast. Taiwan Deal is a stud and only a soph.

The real question mark for Wisky this year is replacing their 4 year stariting QB.

 

[joeydavid]

To surmise your analysis- UW's issues were not having experienced talent on the oline, which isn't a problem (especially not because of the previous coach didn't recruit the position well) but their first year coach is the person who "broke it". Ok, got it.

It always pissed me off when Chryst refused to use his DeLorean to go back in time and recruit players for other coaches that he might at some point coach. There, I think matched the idiocy of your non-logical dribble.

You familiar with the concept of a one-off? They have plenty of O line depth and talent-but it's all young. What can Chryst do to fix that-wave a wand and make them older and more experienced? Fix it my ass, if anything Chryst broke it. Gary Anderson had that program humming when he left, that rushing offense was a machine while he was there. The cupboard is far from bare. They have plenty to work with.

As for RB, Corey Clement is healthy and he's a beast. Taiwan Deal is a stud and only a soph.

The real question mark for Wisky this year is replacing their 4 year stariting QB.

 

[QuitCallingMeWanny]

That is not what he said at all.....

To surmise your analysis- UW's issues were not having experienced talent on the oline, which isn't a problem (especially not because of the previous coach didn't recruit the position well) but their first year coach is the person who "broke it". Ok, got it.

It always pissed me off when Chryst refused to use his DeLorean to go back in time and recruit players for other coaches that he might at some point coach. There, I think matched the idiocy of your non-logical dribble.

That i

 

[thebadby2]

To surmise your analysis- UW's issues were not having experienced talent on the oline, which isn't a problem (especially not because of the previous coach didn't recruit the position well) but their first year coach is the person who "broke it". Ok, got it.

It always pissed me off when Chryst refused to use his DeLorean to go back in time and recruit players for other coaches that he might at some point coach. There, I think matched the idiocy of your non-logical dribble.

To surmise, one down year for the run game, immediately following a Wisconsin program all-time record rushing year in 2014, does not mean that there's some kind of problem that needs to be "fixed". Wisky lost 4 multi-year OL starters to graduation and injuries. So they graduate three multi-year starting guys and lose a 4th to injury, that's a whole new OL. The recruiting and depth were fine. They had 20 scholarship OLs on the roster last year. On top of that, Wisky's top RB, Clement, basically missed the whole 2015 season due to injury. Naturally, the running game is going to struggle in a year like that. It should be much better this year.

So I really don't think Chryst did anything wrong, but neither did Gary Andersen. It was just a down year for the usual strong running game. Nothing more. PC doesn't need to fix anything. He just needs to keep doing what they do there every year.

Not sure how you disagree so strongly with this simple fact-based premise. It really isn't arguable.