I thought he was supposed to visit this weekend. haven't heard anything. maybe I got the date mixed up.
miles sanders
- Thread starter fivetoolprospect
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I'm sure he was really excited to see the games against Buffalo, SDSU, Rutgers, Army, and Indiana.
Pitt has several good backs after Conner. We have talent and depth. But we don't have that special back, and Sanders could possibly beat them all out as a true freshman.
I'm not so sure we don't have that "special back". The current crop is very young and we have had a lot of O line problems this year, as well as a new playbook.
That said, it would be awesome to get Sanders.
if we can flip him, probably will be the best get in our class.
sanders has to ask himself who he wants to play for. big differences between narduzzi and franklin. he will also have a quicker path to playing time at pitt. he can stay at home and be a star in his hometown.
hoping sanders, hamlin, hudson, pugh and some others all stay at home and play for narduzzi.
sanders has to ask himself who he wants to play for. big differences between narduzzi and franklin. he will also have a quicker path to playing time at pitt. he can stay at home and be a star in his hometown.
hoping sanders, hamlin, hudson, pugh and some others all stay at home and play for narduzzi.
I cant even remember a running back that came out of psu that did anything in the nfl recently to tell the truth. I like Hamlin and Hudson. I think Hudson is gonna be big time
Yeah--O line problems. As in season ending injuries, first year players starting, veteran players shuffling positions due to injury, etc.. We also graduated a guy who presently starts at RT for the Minnesota Vikings. So much of O line play is consistency and cohesiveness, the OL should have been taking a step forward with that this year, but due to injuries we took a step back.
Conner is a great back and certainly better than the guys who are trying to fill his shoes, but his numbers would be down this year too--(1) because of the O line issues, and (2) because like everyone else he would be acclimating to a brand new and totally different offense. For the same reason we don;t know exactly what we have with this group of young backs.The offensive numbers are down across the board--in fact our offense currently ranks 111 out of 127 in total O and 79th in rushing O of all D1 programs. Last year we finished 40th in total O and 15th in rushing O.
Did anyone (at least anyone capable of some level of objectivity and rational thought) believe that Conner was an "elite level" back his freshman year?
Yes.
I stated that he had a chance to establish a legacy at the University and be on par with some of the great backs that have come through the program.
You usually see it early with RBs, if they are special, it is a position where it just jumps out at you if they have that thing that makes them special, the brute power, the elite speed, the moves, the instincts. We could see it early with Shady, Dion, Graham and JC.
With JC you saw the brute power, the really nice feet and balance and good instincts.
There are degrees. People want to get all up in arms saying you think a kid sucks if you say he isn't special. Ollison looks like he can be a GOOD college back, but probably not at the level the aforementioned kids were. He isn't as brutally strong as JC and does not have his feet or balance.
He looks a bit like a Bam Morris, a bigger back with solid run skills, but not the power you would think for a guy that size. Nothing wrong with that.
Please... People said the same thing last year. We had WAY more upheaval on the oline last year.
And yes... From day one Conner performed well. Ollison is honestly also doing well, but Conner was even more physical. And Conner wouldn't have had a les great a year this year???? Huh??? He had what 80 yards on like his first 7 carries? He woulda had 2000 this year, the kid was set for a monster year.
Anyways Sanders would have an easy road to more playing time here, of course he would have to earn it, but none of those other guys except ollison are earning it now.
Wrong. They had the great Larry Johnson that likes to beat up women. Don't overlook state Penns continual contribution to the judicial system
Some of your posts are so off-base they are difficult to respond to. You're projecting the kind of year JC would have had by his first 7 carries against YSU? Are you serious? Ollison went for 207 on 16 carries in that same game. So he should be averaging over 200 YPG and 13 YPC, right? After seeing our offense struggle with the new playbook, new QB, new blocking schemes, new guy calling the plays, you think Conner would have had a better year than last? You actually believe the reason we went from 15th in rushing to 80th and 40th in total O to 111trh is that we';re missing James Conner?
"WAY more upheaval" on the O line last year than this year? Really? For starters, the O line last year was working with the same playbook and OL coach they had for three years. The two guys on the right side of the line were multi-year starters at their respective positions and they;re both in the NFL now. The guy who started the last 10 games at center after Rowell went down started this season on the Rimington watch list, now he's playing guard. the guy who suffered a season ending ACL injury last year is back at center, our starting RT is out for the year and the guy playing in his place was a RS freshman tight end 3 months ago. Our best lineman, Biz, missed two games due to injury and is probably,y still not close to 100%. Add to the mix the fact that we have a brand new offensive scheme, coordinator, QB and playbook. Miles Sanders? Hell, we could have Barry Sanders in the backfield this season, for the reasons above, we would still be struggling to run the ball compared to last year.
As for the young RBs you're poormouthing, James has had nagging injuries all year, Darren Hall as a true freshman has been an impact player until he had his own injury, and Ollison in his very first year of action looks pretty damned good behind what has been a pretty shaky O-line to this point--he has more YPG and YPC than Conner did through his first 5 games as a freshman. I would go so far as to say that when healthy, we are loaded at RB behind our superstar. With Conner and Ibrahim healthy, one of the very best stables of backs in the country. But even the best backs need solid, consistent O-line play to have success. That was the biggest difference between Conner's first season and his second year--he came back as a better player but the O line was also a lot better.
Would our offense be better with James Conner? Obviously it would. Would it be a ton better? Like 20 spots higher in rushing and total O? I sincerely doubt it.
btw James Conner did not perform well from day one in 2013. He had a bunch of bad games that year. The line being very young and injured and bad didn't help, but he wasn't James Conner Crusher of 5 Tacklers On One Play yet either.
Funny, I think the same thing about your posts. First off, it wasnt basing Conner's season from one quarter of one game goofball, it was basing his season off being THE ACC PLAYER OF THE FREAKING YEAR!!!!
Next... it didnt badmouth any of our current backs, it merely said they didnt look elite thus far, and said Ollison looks very good. I know the english language troubles you, but try to follow along. I dont think having bad games makes a bad back, and of course having a bad line doesnt make a back elite either. Look, if you want to argue that Hall and James are at James Conner's level now, you have at it, you certainly made worse claims before. I am just happy we didnt suspend Boyd for the year or I'd have to stomach you comparing Weah and Ziese with Boyd.
And... wow... Barry Sanders would look bad behind this years line?? Whaaaa????? Ollison is AVERAGING 6.5 ypc. Barry Sanders would get more than the 2000 yards Conner would have had. How much better would we be WITH Conner? We would be 5-0 for starters.
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We miss Connor. He's a huge difference maker and It's a big dropoff from him to the young guys.
At some point hopefully someone will notice that I never said any of these guys were on par with Conner . They are not, and in fact I think I said just that multiple times in my posts. But they're pretty good looking young players, with a potential star or two in the group.
What I'm saying, over and over, is that for a variety of reasons, this year's offense is not capable of reproducing last year's output no matter who is at RB. The line is not performing to last year's standards, mostly due to inuiries. That's an undeniable fact. The players, especially the OL, are struggling with the new offense and playbook. That's an undeniable fact. They spent three years learning one playbook and sustem, now they have a completely different one. No question Conner would have helped our run game. He's one of the very best. No question we're a better team with him at RB. But does he single handedky make our O top 15 in rushing instead of 80th? That's the difference from last year to this year. INo way, no how.
I'm also saying we ha e quality depth at RB. Do we have Conner's equal? Of course not. Do we have young talent with future star power? I think so, and we'd all better hope so. I'm saying/I said that if Conner and Ibrahim were both healthy we'd have one of the best and deepest stables of RBs in college football. Funny, the usual couple of slappys who struggle with reading conprehension issues are jumping all over me for complimenting our young RBs, which in their simple minds equates to denigrating James Conner. Only on the Lair.
What I'm saying, over and over, is that for a variety of reasons, this year's offense is not capable of reproducing last year's output no matter who is at RB. The line is not performing to last year's standards, mostly due to inuiries. That's an undeniable fact. The players, especially the OL, are struggling with the new offense and playbook. That's an undeniable fact. They spent three years learning one playbook and sustem, now they have a completely different one. No question Conner would have helped our run game. He's one of the very best. No question we're a better team with him at RB. But does he single handedky make our O top 15 in rushing instead of 80th? That's the difference from last year to this year. INo way, no how.
I'm also saying we ha e quality depth at RB. Do we have Conner's equal? Of course not. Do we have young talent with future star power? I think so, and we'd all better hope so. I'm saying/I said that if Conner and Ibrahim were both healthy we'd have one of the best and deepest stables of RBs in college football. Funny, the usual couple of slappys who struggle with reading conprehension issues are jumping all over me for complimenting our young RBs, which in their simple minds equates to denigrating James Conner. Only on the Lair.
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Did anyone (at least anyone capable of some level of objectivity and rational thought) believe that Conner was an "elite level" back his freshman year?[/QUOTE]
Interesting that you bring this up.......
Several Pitt fans I know thought JC was the best young back in America...going away.....
I disagreed....suggesting that Fournette at LSU is the next Adrian Peterson.
Look who was correct yet again.,.........
We had AN EXCELLENT Oline last year
Clemmings -- top NFL pick, starting for Vikings this year
Rotheram -- graduated -- I think he's on an NFL roster too
JJS -- hurt in preseason out for year
That's 3 STARTERS gone from the OL - 60% of the line is replaced
Yea, I'll say -- we have huge OL problems this year
JJS started three games last season. We have four offensive linemen on this team that started at least ten college football games before this season. JJS isn't one of them.
You are right. JJS was no doubt going to start this year though, and the staff was talking about him being maybe a better tackle than Bisnowaty. That might be a big stretch, but he's a good tackle nonetheless.
I agree that JJS certainly has the makings of a good offensive tackle. I just wanted to comment on the fact that our offensive line as it is currently constructed has a lot more experience than people seem to think.
Wow, didn't realize people were that misinformed. Other than O'Neill who looks like a work in progress, and is playing in JJS's spot, the rest of the line were pretty big recruits and have a lot of game experience. Totally agree with you there.
You're also right as well, from a starting perspective we lost most of last year's starting line. But 4 of the 5 guys playing this year have a good bit of experience in games coming into the year. I'm just saying we don't have complete scrubs out there. They've done a good job of protecting Peterman, maybe the run blocking could improve a little bit.
I honestly think they need to open up the competition a little more at running back. James could be special if he learns some patience. Ollison could be special if he finished his runs more physically. Make them compete for playing time.
I was down on James but re-watched the UVA game and he looked good, real good on some runs. Hope it continues, he is our most talented back not named JC. Having him and Ollison at 100% could really help us win some games..
Our current backs are strong runners, but I can't remember any of them "juking" a guy out this season. This is the missing element in our running backs. We don't have the quick change-of-direction guy.
With the struggles of our OL, a runner who can make one guy miss would make an enormous difference.
On the OL argument - while Artie is back and has experience, he continues to struggle on some plays. He has always seemed to struggle against the bigger DTs - I've seen some guys getting past him this season. I'm still surprised they haven't tried Officer back at center with Bookser at guard. They are obviously going with the experienced guys, but we're still getting a lot of Oline breakdowns.
Go Pitt.
With the struggles of our OL, a runner who can make one guy miss would make an enormous difference.
On the OL argument - while Artie is back and has experience, he continues to struggle on some plays. He has always seemed to struggle against the bigger DTs - I've seen some guys getting past him this season. I'm still surprised they haven't tried Officer back at center with Bookser at guard. They are obviously going with the experienced guys, but we're still getting a lot of Oline breakdowns.
Go Pitt.
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