WOW, just WOW! Can Pitt Pick'em and why they Pick Pitt! Pitt is just so blessed to keep finding some of the Best & Brightest Recruits like Whitehead, Boyd, and Conner! Even in down and mediocre years Pitt keeps attracting Exceptional Recruits and coaching them up for College Record Books and the NFL Awards too!!! Why any Top Recruit would not want to learn and play with Players like Jordan Whitehead and come to Pitt is beyond me?
Nice Article enjoy it!
Article & Videos At Link:
http://triblive.com/sports/college/pitt/9459998-74/whitehead-pitt-running
Just to stay refreshed and alert to his many responsibilities, Jordan Whitehead goes to bed a little earlier than many of his Pitt teammates. And when he rises in the morning, he feels the soreness in his body longer than normal. Does he mind? Hardly. But those repeated sessions in the hot and cold tubs sure feel good.
“I don't want to let the team down,” he said of preparing his body to play on both sides of the football — something he has done for the past two games and likely will continue for the rest of the season. “I'm just trying to put the team first.” Meanwhile, he keeps tackling ball carriers from his safety spot, carrying the football as a running back (even running a pass pattern once) and crafting one of the best freshman seasons in recent Pitt football history.
“He's an unusual talent,” running backs coach Andre Powell said. Whitehead was sore Sunday after playing about 95 percent of the defensive snaps against Duke, recording nine tackles, intercepting a pass, breaking up another and rushing four times for 38 yards.
“He should be (sore),” Powell said. “But he looked good (Tuesday at practice).” Whitehead, 18, is one of Pitt's MVPs when you consider how strongly coaches value run support. He leads the team in tackles (82) and is eighth in the ACC. No other freshman is in the conference's top 20.
Coach Pat Narduzzi walks a thin line between putting one of his most productive players in a variety of necessary roles and not wearing him down. “Coach Narduzzi has made (Whitehead) available to us at any time,” Powell said. “We just have to be smart. He's not going to play 20 plays on offense, and he has a reduced workload on special teams.”
Whitehead attends only defensive meetings — Powell said there won't be a tug-of-war between offensive and defensive coaches in the offseason — but he has quickly picked up the few running plays he must learn. “I coached him for seven minutes the first week, and he scored two touchdowns (against Notre Dame),” Powell said. “Guys who have a knack, natural football players, things come easy for them.”
Whitehead has carried eight times for 65 yards, taking his longest gain (18 yards) to the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter of the Duke game. After running back Qadree Ollison scored on the next snap, Whitehead intercepted a Duke pass at the other end of the field.
He was 1 yard shy of becoming the only Pitt player in anyone's memory to score on offense and intercept a pass on defense in the same game. Fullback/linebacker Owen Marecic did it 13 seconds apart for Stanford in 2010 (returning the pick for a touchdown). Whitehead did it more than once in high school at Central Valley.
“It almost became an every game habit,” Central Valley coach Mark Lyons said. (If anyone recalls I talked to the Aliquippa, Hopewell and Central Valley Coaches when they were dining in Sewickley, and posted how they all agreed, Whitehead should play some Offense at Pitt, and shared it with the Board, and why I used their advice all season long to put Whitehead on Offense 6 to 10 plays?)
Powell said Whitehead's lack of experience at running back sometimes appears. So far, it hasn't mattered. “He made some plays where he probably did the wrong thing, but his speed was the eraser, negated the issue of him not going in the right hole,” he said. Junior safety Reggie Mitchell said teammates noticed Whitehead's willingness to learn almost from the day he arrived this summer.
“A lot of freshmen kind of stand off and keep to themselves,” Mitchell said. “He wanted to be around us all the time. We met a lot over the summer, and he was always with us asking questions. It translated directly onto the field.”
Notes: Mitchell, who appeared in a game Saturday for only the third time this season, said the stress fracture in his left foot he suffered in the season opener is totally healed. ... Running back James Conner's routine at practice didn't change Tuesday. He went through calisthenics with teammates for the third consecutive week, without a helmet or pads, then jogged into the facility with a trainer.
First-year wonders
Here are some of this season's top ACC freshmen:
Player School Pos. Skinny
Adonis Alexander Virginia Tech S Three interceptions
Eric Dungey Syracuse QB 1,298 yards passing, 351 rushing
Lamar Jackson Louisville QB 1,342 yards passing, 529 rushing
Qadree Ollison Pitt RB 859 yards rushing
Jordan Whitehead Pitt S/RB 82 tackles, 2 rushing TDs
Jerry DiPaola is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at jdipaola@tribweb.com or via Twitter @JDiPaola_Trib.
Nice Article enjoy it!
Article & Videos At Link:
http://triblive.com/sports/college/pitt/9459998-74/whitehead-pitt-running
Just to stay refreshed and alert to his many responsibilities, Jordan Whitehead goes to bed a little earlier than many of his Pitt teammates. And when he rises in the morning, he feels the soreness in his body longer than normal. Does he mind? Hardly. But those repeated sessions in the hot and cold tubs sure feel good.
“I don't want to let the team down,” he said of preparing his body to play on both sides of the football — something he has done for the past two games and likely will continue for the rest of the season. “I'm just trying to put the team first.” Meanwhile, he keeps tackling ball carriers from his safety spot, carrying the football as a running back (even running a pass pattern once) and crafting one of the best freshman seasons in recent Pitt football history.
“He's an unusual talent,” running backs coach Andre Powell said. Whitehead was sore Sunday after playing about 95 percent of the defensive snaps against Duke, recording nine tackles, intercepting a pass, breaking up another and rushing four times for 38 yards.
“He should be (sore),” Powell said. “But he looked good (Tuesday at practice).” Whitehead, 18, is one of Pitt's MVPs when you consider how strongly coaches value run support. He leads the team in tackles (82) and is eighth in the ACC. No other freshman is in the conference's top 20.
Coach Pat Narduzzi walks a thin line between putting one of his most productive players in a variety of necessary roles and not wearing him down. “Coach Narduzzi has made (Whitehead) available to us at any time,” Powell said. “We just have to be smart. He's not going to play 20 plays on offense, and he has a reduced workload on special teams.”
Whitehead attends only defensive meetings — Powell said there won't be a tug-of-war between offensive and defensive coaches in the offseason — but he has quickly picked up the few running plays he must learn. “I coached him for seven minutes the first week, and he scored two touchdowns (against Notre Dame),” Powell said. “Guys who have a knack, natural football players, things come easy for them.”
Whitehead has carried eight times for 65 yards, taking his longest gain (18 yards) to the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter of the Duke game. After running back Qadree Ollison scored on the next snap, Whitehead intercepted a Duke pass at the other end of the field.
He was 1 yard shy of becoming the only Pitt player in anyone's memory to score on offense and intercept a pass on defense in the same game. Fullback/linebacker Owen Marecic did it 13 seconds apart for Stanford in 2010 (returning the pick for a touchdown). Whitehead did it more than once in high school at Central Valley.
“It almost became an every game habit,” Central Valley coach Mark Lyons said. (If anyone recalls I talked to the Aliquippa, Hopewell and Central Valley Coaches when they were dining in Sewickley, and posted how they all agreed, Whitehead should play some Offense at Pitt, and shared it with the Board, and why I used their advice all season long to put Whitehead on Offense 6 to 10 plays?)
Powell said Whitehead's lack of experience at running back sometimes appears. So far, it hasn't mattered. “He made some plays where he probably did the wrong thing, but his speed was the eraser, negated the issue of him not going in the right hole,” he said. Junior safety Reggie Mitchell said teammates noticed Whitehead's willingness to learn almost from the day he arrived this summer.
“A lot of freshmen kind of stand off and keep to themselves,” Mitchell said. “He wanted to be around us all the time. We met a lot over the summer, and he was always with us asking questions. It translated directly onto the field.”
Notes: Mitchell, who appeared in a game Saturday for only the third time this season, said the stress fracture in his left foot he suffered in the season opener is totally healed. ... Running back James Conner's routine at practice didn't change Tuesday. He went through calisthenics with teammates for the third consecutive week, without a helmet or pads, then jogged into the facility with a trainer.
First-year wonders
Here are some of this season's top ACC freshmen:
Player School Pos. Skinny
Adonis Alexander Virginia Tech S Three interceptions
Eric Dungey Syracuse QB 1,298 yards passing, 351 rushing
Lamar Jackson Louisville QB 1,342 yards passing, 529 rushing
Qadree Ollison Pitt RB 859 yards rushing
Jordan Whitehead Pitt S/RB 82 tackles, 2 rushing TDs
Jerry DiPaola is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at jdipaola@tribweb.com or via Twitter @JDiPaola_Trib.
