I saw that Athlon's had Idowu as preseason 2nd Team All ACC. Kudos to Sean for the work that he has put in to get there. This kid may be the best Pitt linebacker since Scott McKillop. You could make an argument for Galambos or Grigsby I guess. But the fact that a former walk on is arguably the best LB that Pitt has had in 10 years is disheartening. Our QB recruiting has sucked over that period, but LB is as bad if not worse considering we have brought in more recruits at LB.
Pitt Linebackers
- Thread starter WiseAndGlorious
- Start date
can someone delete this post before my whole head literally explodes.
The defense (pts. allowed) the last 5 years has ranked-
70,56,50,109,65
The LB's have been bad, but its a total shitshow.
70,56,50,109,65
The LB's have been bad, but its a total shitshow.
I think LB is finally looking positive. They have some guys who have some ability, and more importantly some depth at the position.
That’s usually the case in college football, especially with programs like pitt. Very rare to have returning, proven units in college football. That’s what makes this game so great, and frustrating.
You want proven returning offenses or defenses, units you can looks at as a whole from the season before to judge what you’ll have going forward, college football isnt the game for you, the nfl is.
Except the new Vegas line which puts the over/ under wins at 9. But there are a lot of question marks.
Please tell me where that line is so I can place a bet.
Didn't see anything official. Going off what another poster said and if it is on the internet you know it is true. But 8 regular season is my over/ under if that matters.
How big of a bet would you let me place with you?
Most of these over/under lines has us at 5.5 or 6 wins. I think that’s low but I’m far from objective.
If you see a line at 8.5 or 9 for pitt wins, well I think that may be wrong.
The defense much less so, but still plenty of uncertainty.
You forgot special teams, God knows that to expect there.
I expect the D will be better than what we've seen so far under Duzzi. 9 returning starters and some guys who are coming into their own will virtually ensure that.
The O will probably struggle, but Pickett will give the O a chance to be better than it looks on paper.
If Paris Ford isn't going to start on D, the coaches would be wise to get him some reps on O. Not seeing any playmakers or special athletes outside of the QB on that O.
6 wins would be about right. 7 or more would be a successful year.
Quite a few teams have at least a couple units each year they can count on as strong units. I'd say we lean towards that being the case for our DBs, but then we still are really unsure at one S and CB spot. Every other position has really big question marks.
Lol. There is absolutely no "Vegas line" which has us at 9 wins. That under would be absolutely hammered.
As I said, unless he starts at CB, he should get some reps on O. Mediocre P5 teams shouldn't let an elite athlete and playmaker spend a lot of time on the bench.P5 TEAMS SHOULD NOT PLAY PLAYERS BOTH WAYS
Even if he only takes a few reps on O. The O needs someone who can make an athletic play, far more than the D does.
we have a LB unit that has 3 seniors and 3 backups who have all played last year, it doesn't get more experienced than that..
Our DEs both started all year last year and the backup, Folston played a lot too. Our DTs, roy, watts, camp, all played last year.
You guys want a team where we have all 22 starters returning? It's not gonna happen. Its college football, there is turnover every year. College football teams need to depend on unproven players to step up every year, it's part of the game..
I'd say there is a difference between returning experience and returning talent.
Yeah, the DL all returns. But the DL was one of the worst P5 DL in college football last year. How much are you willing to bank on it this year?
Agree. The linebackers are not a question mark. CB's should be good but there is inexperience on one side.
And where would a true Pitt fan place his bet in this scenario?
Personally, I'd bet on Pitt and the over or I would keep my money in my pocket.
im not saying anything is a sure thing, I am saying that every year, in college football, you will have an unknown. whether or not it pans out or works is to be determined. If you are waiting for a Pitt team to return a dominating, experienced offense or defense from the previous year, you will be waiting forever..
Parts of PItt's O or D is unproven. Of course it is, it always is and always will be. That's college football, it will always be this way.. whether we win 9 games or 5, will be largely dependent on whether or not a lot of these unproven players produce.
We will be having the same conversation next year at this time.. We will be starting 2 new unproven tackles, probably 1 unproven guard, 2 or 3 unproven linebackers, we'll be looking for a new DE, probably looking for a RB from a group of unproven running backs. I mean, this happens every year. Whether or not we win in '19 will again, be dependent on how these unproven players produce..
such that he is rooting for an 8-2 Pitt team to lose late in the season? tsk, tsk. use that non placed bet money to hit at the principle instead. Hell, a competent (almost said "good" which is impossible) lawyer should be able to screw someone out of that loan money easily without dissing Pitt by picking against them.
But this is mixing up the point I think being made above.
It's absolutely true every team is going to have units that are unknowns.
The point others are making is that most teams return some units that are known. You can bank on.
How many units on this upcoming Pitt team are you banking on worry free units for the upcoming season? I'd say we actually have a disproportionately low number of them compared to the average P5 team this year.
Zeise has played and is a SR, but has been a straight up bad player. Wirginis is a SR, but didn't play last year and has only played in spot duty (with up and down results) previously. Just having SRs doesn't make a unit a non-question mark or strong unit.
The DL was terrible last year. Terrible. The same issue with the LBs is present at DL, but at least we have some hope in the talent.
No one is talking about returning all 22 starters, but it is concerning to have essentially every unit be a question mark or almost assured weakness.
USC and Michigan are 2 teams that recently had 2 way players. Belicheck and The Patriots have also used 2 way players throughout the years. If he can help the offense, then you get Ford a few touches every game.
I don't have us getting to 8 wins.
If somebody is willing to spot me 4 more wins than Vegas, the fanhood can take a back seat.
This is like saying, "I bet you Pitt will score 100 points against Penn State," and I take that bet, and then you say, "So in the 4th quarter you're going to be rooting against Pitt to score again when they have 99?" I'd laugh and take the bet and say, "Yeah, I guess so."
when have you ever been that confident in a unit on pitt's team? Seriously. The OL a few years ago is about it. I and a lot of other people were "banking" on Henderson and Weah being a very good duo, we see how that turned out. We were all talking about how much RB depth we had last year, we see how that turned out.
I think the list of P5 teams with guaranteed returning, experienced, units is shorter than you think.
You really think most P5 teams just have unknowns across the board heading into the season?
People who were realistic did not consider either WR or RB top units last year. Not even close.
WR had 1 one trick pony and a guy who couldn't run routes or catch. The rest of the corps sucked.
RB had no sure things and only 1 guy who had really played and been solid, but nothing more and passed over (almost entirely) for carries in 2016.
so in your opinion, every unit is an almost assured weakness? Those are your words. Let me go out on a limb and predict the future for you. some units will be very good, some will be less than good. Some will over-achieve and others will under-achieve.
so every unit sucks and every unit this year will suck. every unit is an assured weakness, according to you. we got it, thank you for your '18 season breakdown. I am going to go ahead and watch anyways and just in case every unit doesn't suck, i'll get to say I was there. sorry you'll miss it.
Yes. Look at the ACC Coastal. I can tell you right now what GT has at QB, RB, OL. What Duke has at QB, RB, Defense. Etc. Etc.
The D-line at least has some young talented players that have potential: Watts, Camp, Weaver, Twyman, Bentley, Wheeler, Danielson all had decent offers.
I'm not saying the LB corps won't improve under Bates and with a healthy Wirginis, but we are looking at a lot of 4th and 5th year players. So more likely we've seen what we're going to get there unless a Cam Bright or Chase Pine comes into camp and starts kicking ass.
Why not? In the words of Herm Edwards, “you play to win the game”.P5 TEAMS SHOULD NOT PLAY PLAYERS BOTH WAYS
