Drake Maye was a 5.9 and flipped from Bama to UNC. Would have gotten to the 6.0 mark had he stuck with Bama IMO.
Do you think we are better off getting a QB from the portal?
- Thread starter jivecat
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What does mastering it look like? Especially as it relates to blue bloods actually winning a championship.
I think it's best to keep going after the high 3-star types with an eye towards development. If Cignetti/Jurkovic have a good season, I think those high 3's-low 4's will be easily in Pitt's wheel house. We just aren't there currently so gambling on projects in both types of recruiting is our MO.
I can't speak to what game you saw, but he was dominant in almost every game he played. This included the WPIAL championship against PCC and PIAA championship against St Joe's.
As a Sr he had almost 4k yards passing / 39 TDs with 1200 rushing yards and another 24 TDs. They went 16-0 and there wasn't a close game (look at what happened the year prior when he got hurt).
A strong armed 6'5" guy who runs like a deer, performing like that against 6A competition in PA, is always going to get recruiting hype.
Agree, then you fill in with the portal as needed.
I think they already have their QB for next year with Veilleux. From the little I saw from him in the spring, he looks like he can play.
I think the first and most important part is to be able to hang onto your own guys that you recruited to fit your team. That is why this is tough to measure, because it usually only comes out when a player transfers. Narduzzi seemed to do what he could to keep Addison, but failed. But several key players including Pickett, Kancey and Dennis indicated that they rebuffed overtures from other programs.
I think the other thing is identifying the portal players that are good fits. The results there are a mixed bag. Wiltz was a LB at a smaller school that didn’t get much buzz, but I thought he was a real nice pickup. Simon and Flemister look like solid contributors. WRs been underwhelming but hopefully improve this fall. The transfer QBs since Peterman have all been duds.
But I’m not sure that’s a skill that can be “mastered.”
Addison blew up as the best WR in college football. Went through spring practice and maybe didn’t like what he was seeing from the offense. He left to go play in one of the top offenses in college football and play with the eventual Heisman winner. And for a ton of money.
I’m not sure it’s in Narduzzi’s power to keep him at that point. So it’s not something that can be mastered.
I’m also not sure how anything you’re saying doesn’t result in a TCU like treatment in a national title game.
I’m interested in how “mastering” the portal allows a 3* program to beat UGA in January.
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Right. The portal isn’t some magic that can transform Pitt into a UGA or Ohio State. But getting Pitt to TCU level would still be a step forward for this program, even if they would receive a similar beat down in a CFP. The goal should be incremental improvement through net gain / loss.
“Mastery” is silly since the next kid’s situation is different from the last. But NIL is usually a large motivator. Knowing the right players so you can allocate limited dollars is vital. To your implied point, it still doesn’t replace the need to recruit good players. But using it to make consistent improvements (back to back top 25 seasons) can hopefully help on the recruiting also.
If you can't compete on the NIL level....you need to be able to identify the players who fit your system and can be inserted into your program. Sort of like the Bill Belichek model in the NFL. This is where the portal is a tool to make teams like PITT able to compete against huge NIL booster funds.
To be fair, Jurk will be surrounded by a LOT more talent on both sides of the ball. That alone should elevate his play.
But the teams with the huge NIL booster funds are going to get the best portal players.
Just look at 247’s portal player rankings.
The portal isn’t so much about identifying talent. Because a huge % of the players in the portal are a known commodity. They are what they are.
The portal is far more about acquisition. Can you land the guys we know all know have been good college players, or at least have a high % shot of being good players, because they were elite coming out of HS and haven’t been in college that long?
Narduzzi has consistently hit on transfers, and at multiple positions on both offense and defense.
I don't think he needs to change anything about how he uses the transfer portal.
But but but, of the 6000 QBs who were 2 or 3 star propects, more of them ended up in the NFL. Therefor, we are better off brining in only 2 star trasnfers.
/Sarcasm
pittdan77
Athletic Director
I don't know much about playing the game at QB but I do know that most of these guys were usually the best player at some point early in life and I have yet to meet one that isn't pretty sure their excrement doesn't stink. I think a lot of them peak early and that's why you see these superstar HS kids tank. They get to college and find out there's a lot more to playing the position. Huge jump that athleticism just doesn't cover for. They have to become smarter and do a lot more homework to play the game. Jump gets even bigger to the NFL. I think that's one reason Pitt's offense struggled last year. Not reading the blitz well in a conference with so much speed.
Ultimately, most colleges don't have an NFL worthy QB more than once a decade unless they just really get lucky. You have to make due with something short of that most of the time.
Ultimately, most colleges don't have an NFL worthy QB more than once a decade unless they just really get lucky. You have to make due with something short of that most of the time.
It is funny with guys like him. They harm us while they are ballyhooed high schoolers by not even having us on their list. It definitely hurts our local perception no matter what anyone says. Then they fail at the supposedly dream schools, come slinking back, and our coaches and fans are supposed to just fall all over them?
I mean, as a fan and ticket holder I’ll hold my nose and welcome Jurk, because he apparently is our best alternative at the position. Do I prefer we’d be going with a one star like DiNucci as our QB going in? No, that would suck. But this portal paradigm for getting your key players is a tough system for a fan with any “school” pride to love. From the perspective of a Pitt alum/fan, Jurk was a guy we truly would have wanted here as a HS recruit, but he blew us off on not one but two occasions, and it’s not like he was even a great player at his plan A and B. He struck out completely at ND and was merely OK at BC. And now he’s landed at plan C, much older, beat up, with mostly all the bloom off his rose. Whee . Let’s Go Phil. 😒
At some point I know we are just rooting for laundry, and the flip side that he has ‘experience’ and ‘maturity’ and all that stuff rings true. But there are humans in those uniforms and humans that buy tix and watch. This player thought very little of Pitt when he was at his peak. It’s tough for a more traditional fan (and alum) like me to appreciate. But the moment he wins a big game I’m sure I’ll adjust.
I think free agency in pro sports has us all emotionally conditioned for this stuff. I don't even blink when guys go from the Steelers to the Ravens or the Flyers to the Penguins or the Yankees to the Red Sox (I tried to think of a Pirates rival, but Bob Nutting isn't a team) anymore. Kind of funny that our other option is a dude who chose Penn State over us, initially.
I do think that second spurning gets heavily underplayed. People seem content to just go with the "Well, Kenny was here" explanation. Definitely worked out for the best, but Kenny wasn't Kenny at the time Jurkovec transferred from Notre Dame.
I noted it is more my own mindset (and traditional, aka old grads/fans like me). And I think the grad part of that is important. Those like me still, stupidly perhaps but that’s the reality, relate to the team via our association with Pitt. So when all these local guys as HS recruits very publicly tweet / tweet more / tweet even more / announce / call press conferences, etc (not saying Phil was so egregious in his campaign but others are) … and palpably leaving out the local P5 program, which by the way is NOT 1996 Pitt but is quite accomplished now… it’s different than a Steeler joining the Ravens, it’s my Alma mater being trashed. And the optics that we are happy to be there for the sloppy seconds or trashy thirds is no better, even worse in some ways.
It’s the difference between the “real” Pro sports and the “college” Pro sports. And I fully admit it is on me to get over, not them, it’s “just business” etc … but I’m not over it yet.
No, but if this Transfer portal and the rules existed back then, Ben Roethlisberger would have ended up at an Ohio State, ND or Michigan. A guy like Dante Culpepper would likely been on an SEC team. Josh Allen to some big program in the Midwest or Oregon.
That's what this game changing thing the transfer/NIL is.
With the portal and NIL tOSU can finally buy a decent NFL QB?
They dude at Coastal went back to Coastal this year.
If you’re on a First Round path, I’m not sure the NIL money is worth the uncertainty of a new system and new set up.
At the point where you’ve become a First Rounder at UCF, that’s the point where you’re probably just going to enter the Draft.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
It's not like the NFL isn't going to find you, either.
That’s what is lost on the Jurk thing. As I wrote I’m ok with him in the context that he’s apparently our best alternative for next season and that is ultimately what fans should prioritize. But being realistic, the NFL would have definitely advised (and his agent would have implored) him to enter the draft if the NFL was considering him a high prospect. They didn’t, I guess. He’s making a final run with us strictly to improve his stock. No dream school, not even religious pretense to it, no emotion whatever. Nothing wrong with it, “just business” as we’ve said above. But this extreme-cynical model of the sport now gives old school fans less to be really truly excited about. Its not what attracted me to college football, why I was a bigger fan than the NFL. It’s increasingly more for Vegas, for video games, for fantasy leagues.
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