Kenny Pickett is the best Pitt QB since...
- Thread starter HailtoPitt
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He reminds me of Pete Gonzalez.
Mayve not the best pure QB, maybe not the best decision maker passing, but has guts, determination and athleticism that’s puts us in position to win games.
Peterman was definitely the better QB of the 2. Peterman and even Savage were pure passers that made good decisions and could throw to all levels. They lacked Kenny’s athleticism though.
Petersen and Savage were both very good and in very different situations with the talent around them. Pickett I'd put along side Palko in terms of our guys who were actual Pitt recruits. I bet he'll be a good back up QB in the NFL who everyone will like, like a Charlie Batch.
Yeah and I get that probably has a lot to do with it, but Peterman also had 2 different OCs and systems in 2 seasons and picked them both up and played incredibly well in both. But how much of the reigning in is on Whipple and how much is Pickett? Is Whipple known for making his QBs run to the sideline to get coaching between every play, or is that because Pickett needs the extra instruction? Is Whipple known for trying to make it so that his QB is throwing to a stationary target 90% of the time?
I have no way of knowing the answer, I can only judge based off what I see him do on the field and what others have pointed to in every scouting assessment of his play. He has great physical ability, but needs to have a breakout season in some of his mental blocks and decision making.
I'd love nothing more than for him to make me eat my words by the end of the season, get drafted early, and have a phenomenal pro career. The kid has given all of his effort to Pitt.
Pitt had zero running game other than the last two minutes
I’d say the running game is what needs to get it’s act together for Pitt to get “next level “.
Peterman had the huge advantage of having a good OL and running game. I need to see this season play out before giving a final judgment.
A very promising start for Kenny. It’s very early, though. He’s had only one quiz and one test so far this season. He has many more to coming before he gets a final grade.
A very good, but not a perfect score on this last test - still in the “A” range. He needs to start and finish games stronger (part of that is on the play calling). Let’s see if he can putting away solid P5 teams at the end of games with TDs instead of having to rely on the defense to make big stops. If he shows he can do that in games, then we can talk about Kenny being up there with some of Pitt’s best all-time at the position.
A very good, but not a perfect score on this last test - still in the “A” range. He needs to start and finish games stronger (part of that is on the play calling). Let’s see if he can putting away solid P5 teams at the end of games with TDs instead of having to rely on the defense to make big stops. If he shows he can do that in games, then we can talk about Kenny being up there with some of Pitt’s best all-time at the position.
I think people that say Van Pelt was a very good QB couldn’t have been a Pitt fan. He was 16-24 as a starter with 64 tds and 59 int. Against p5 opponents that number was 38 tds and 50 ints.
He was constantly out drinking the night before games.
Palko, peterman, savage, Gonzalez Rutherford were all as good
He was constantly out drinking the night before games.
Palko, peterman, savage, Gonzalez Rutherford were all as good
He was good, the team was so void of talent under Majors 2 and Hacket, students were making the team after tryouts
Rutherford deserves more of a mention than he gets, that one season especially was spectacular.
Ummm except First team All-American and Biletnikoff Award winner Antonio Bryant to throw to. Detrich Jells, Henry Tuten
Second team All America. Curvin Richards to hand off to, then Hall of Famer Curtis Martin.
And 4 olinemen drafted into the NFL
We have had good players sprinkled in throughout the years, always have , but my high school friend made the team after a tryout from small Houston Pa, so there was lacking talent at many positions.
So , according to you, right by drafts etc , Duzz should have a much better record ? Van Pelt was good!
You have no idea what you're talking about regarding team talent when Van Pelt played. He never played a snap under Majors.
I don’t know about “could easily pass him.”
Nate had 27 TDs. This is WAY too early in the season. Kenny would have to start averaging almost 3 TDs a game to reach that number. He now has two games with two TDs. He has not thrown more than 14 TDs in a season. He looks like he is much improved, but Peterman was darn good his last season.
Rutherford doesn’t get any respect on this board for reasons I can’t comprehend. He was a better college QB than KP or Peterman or Savage or Gonzo by any measure you want to employ. Start with stats.
Was at this game. It was one of the most electric and exciting Pitt games I’ve ever attended. Rod was spectacular.
Because his stats are slighted because he was throwing to one of the top 2 Wide Receivers to ever play the game. Most of his TD passes were nothing more than throwing a jump ball to Fritz. He tries that with any other WR it isa 50/50 ball. Because Fritz was that damn special it was like a 90/10 ball with the 10 being incomplete instead of intercepted because Fritz used his body that well.
I am not saying he was a bad QB by any stretch, but I rank him above Gonzo and KP but below Peterman and Savage. The biggest crime is we only had Savage for 1 year.
Peterman was solid but Kenny is better than Peterman. Kenny is on his way to being a top 3 round pick.
I usually just ignore Rutherford because if you were at Pitt and around the athletes while he was there you wouldn't give him any respect either. The sheer number of stories involving him would make Ben's rookie season as a Steeler pale in comparison.
I love that narrative. Rod was nothing without Fitz. Fitz made him look good by catching a ton of uncatchable balls that would have been incompletions with any other receiver.
Fitz was special, no doubt. He caught balls nobody else could. But Rod was the guy getting him the ball, and Rod had over 2000 passing yards to other receivers that senior year, guys like Kris Wilson and Prince Brokenborogh—2 guys who make the Pitt receivers of the last couple of years look surehanded.
I was at ND when Wilson came open on a deep post route, a sure TD-the guy could really run Unfortunately he couldn’t catch. Rod flicked his wrist and dropped a 50 yard dime right in Wilson’s hands in full stride. Wilson dropped it. Later in the second quarter, Rod hit Wilson in the hands in the back of the ND end zone on 3rd down. Dropped. We end up with more than twice the yardage ND had on the day but lost 14-6. Wilson’s 2 drops cost us a 10 win season, and kept Rod from a 400 yard, 3 TD game. As it was he had 310 and a TD in the loss.
Let’s put it this way-Pitt hasn’t had a QB since Rod that could throw a deep ball as pretty as that one was--and that includes Savage, the only other guy we’ve had in a that stretch that could be considered in the same sentence as Rod in terms of arm strength.
Take it from WLAT, who some here consider to be GDO:
"Rod's very accurate," says Harris. "A lot of people try to say his success is just Larry catching the ball, but Rod is putting it in places where only Larry can catch it."
There you have it-the WROD of GDO.
I will give you Prince being lackluster but not Kris Wilson, he was a great TE for us and made the NFL. You can cherry pick any WR to find the catch they didn't make or a bad game. If we had a TE like Wilson the last few years maybe we win another game a season. Your take is weird for a guy who was drafted in the 2nd round and was in the league for 8 years some of those years as a starter.
I will agree that Rod had a strong arm probably the best in recent years and threw a decent deep ball. But there is more to being a QB than that, and even at that, again HE STILL HAD LARRY FITZGERLAD to make the play on it. Who else makes that play at Texas A&M? Who else catches that ball at the insight bowl game? Yes i cherrypicked 2 plays because they were the most sensational of the bunch but Larry made plays on the ball that would have been incompletions to any other WR and going back to the jump ball at best 50/50 with any other WR.
If you think differently, fine, in the grand scheme of things it really doesn't matter what any of us think. it changes absolutely nothing.
I don't think differently about Larry. I think differently about Rutherford. Not sure we've had a QB since who could even get the ball into the same zip codes Larry was making some of those spectacular catches in. And Walt wasn't wrong about putting the ball where only Larry could get it. High point, back shoulder, hell Fitz and Rod practically invented the back shoulder route in college football. Who have we had since Rod that you'd trust to be that accurate?
Wilson was good and ahead of his time as a field stretching TE in college football. He was at times inconsistent with his hands. That ND game stands out because those were perfect throws and his 2 drops cost us that game.
It's interesting to me that there are a fair number of posters on this board who give Fitz literally all the credit for Rutherford's 3700 yards. 37 TDs and 157 rating in 2004, instead of crediting both players for those amazing numbers and that amazing season they had. I mean at any other program I can think of fans would be very happy to claim both players and credit both of them for that stellar year. I can only speculate as to why that might be.
Your last sentence please do not go that route with me. I do not appreciate it.
As for Rod, I never said he was bad, I just felt that there are others since who are better. Yes he probably had the strongest arm since 2000, but overall QB play I feel that there were better since him. Namely Palko, Savage and Peterson. Doesn't mean I think he was bad, but I do think most of his success was by having literally the 2nd greatest WR in the history of the game. You say Fitz and Rod invented that route in college football, maybe. But I argue that any and I mean any starting QB Pitt has had since (including Trey Anderson) could have made that throw, because it was more about Fitz playing the ball so damn well, then it was about the pass. Like I said before Fitz knew how to position his body that it made it so low risk even for badly thrown balls.
Again none of this matters now. You rate a QB higher than I rate him, not exactly something worth a pissing contest.
Pitt fans are a funny bunch, and I think one of the reasons why Rod's tenure at Pitt is underrated is because the team didn't meet expectations during his time here (Toledo, tire bowl loss, etc).
I think Rutherford is underrated by many and Savage is overrated. I think Pickett is very comparable to Palko in many ways.
Peterman might have been the best of all of them. Too bad we didn't have him for another year or two.
Peterman might have been the best of all of them. Too bad we didn't have him for another year or two.
Kenny has nfl talent . To start and succeed not just to carry an Alex van pelt autographed model clip board
Last sentence is true. One more thought-Savage gets way too much credit on this board. He was OK. Not a bit better than that. And yes I know he played behind a mess of an O line. That goes for most of the Pitt QBs not named Peterman since Todd Graham was hired.
Your last sentence is true also, only you can take it back way further than that. Since AVP you can probably count one your hands how many times Pitt had a good line to throw behind. Gonzo had 1, Prestly had 1, Rod had 2 Palko had 1, Stull had 1, Tino had 1.5, then Peterman had 2. That is 9.5 out of 30 years. Not good.
Peterman. Both were as good as the players around them. Not talented enough to overcome it, but they'd hit open guys and run if they had to because teams didn't scheme to stop them scrambling.
I'd put Palko and Rutherford above him. Savage had better tools but it never manifested. Statistically he's, generously, at the Stull/Sunseri/Voytik level so far in his career. Maybe his receivers break off enough runs off of his short passes to catapult him above them this year.
Pickett's vastly overrated because people like toughness and moxie, IMO.
I'd put Palko and Rutherford above him. Savage had better tools but it never manifested. Statistically he's, generously, at the Stull/Sunseri/Voytik level so far in his career. Maybe his receivers break off enough runs off of his short passes to catapult him above them this year.
Pickett's vastly overrated because people like toughness and moxie, IMO.
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