Pitt's WR's.... Next Few Years

[Chescat]

Although a BIG weakness at the start of year, I see improvement now and in the near future.
Weah is finally looking like a legitimate WR; I still see a big learning curve for him, but at his present
rate of improvement that is a good thing. Henderson is great on the jet sweeps, but he also has
proven he can be a decent WR; needs to improve his routes. Tipton is producing and will only
get better. Mathews has IMO, the most potential of all our WR's. He's tall, fast. athletic and could
be a star if he keeps it up. Challingsworth, if he gets over the injuries might also fit in somewhere.
Going into this year he along with Ford had some experience. The others may have past him by.
Lopes is starting to show some things, but I'm not sure how much better he can be...seems to be
a possession type. French, fast and is producing on the jet sweeps, otherwise at this point he probably wouldn't be seeing the field. Frosh?..Flowers? Recruits?

Not a great group, but by next year it will be at least decent talent wise, and solid in the experience dept. They will give a new QB an experienced group to throw to.

 

[CaptainMurphy]

What I am glad to see is that we are developing some depth. Last year it seemed to be Boyd, followed by a huge drop off, and the rest headed up by Ford. Obviously we have no one at Boyd's level, but I do like the fact that we seem to have 3-4 guys who are capable of making plays and doing some good things once they get the ball in their hands.

 

[Mikefln]

The future is with Henderson, Mathews and Tipton. They all still need work, but I can see great improvement by all three heading into next year. The other guys are behind these 3. While not as much talent as we like, there is enough next year to keep defenses honest with a competent QB.

 

[BuffetParrothead]

Although a BIG weakness at the start of year, I see improvement now and in the near future.
Weah is finally looking like a legitimate WR; I still see a big learning curve for him, but at his present
rate of improvement that is a good thing. Henderson is great on the jet sweeps, but he also has
proven he can be a decent WR; needs to improve his routes. Tipton is producing and will only
get better. Mathews has IMO, the most potential of all our WR's. He's tall, fast. athletic and could
be a star if he keeps it up. Challingsworth, if he gets over the injuries might also fit in somewhere.
Going into this year he along with Ford had some experience. The others may have past him by.
Lopes is starting to show some things, but I'm not sure how much better he can be...seems to be
a possession type. French, fast and is producing on the jet sweeps, otherwise at this point he probably wouldn't be seeing the field. Frosh?..Flowers? Recruits?

Not a great group, but by next year it will be at least decent talent wise, and solid in the experience dept. They will give a new QB an experienced group to throw to.

First things first!
One of our problems with the WR performance is PITT problems at QB.
Lets get a QB in place who can consistently hit WR's and others and at that time give them a grade!

 

[MajorMajors]

Good topic.

Weah -- Jester is doing well, but could be so much better. He's catching the ball now, but I don't see him using his speed like he should. He should be able to run past a lot of these DBs, but we don't seem to see that.

Tipton -- Tipton is going to be very good - though he needs to learn to read the jet sweeps better on when to cut (same with Ffrench) - those two left a lot of yards on the table against our last couple of opponents.

Matthews -- I was a bit disappointed in how Matthews played that one ball thrown to him in the corner of the endzone. I expected him to make a play for that ball. Now NP seemed to put too much mustard on the throw, but still, I think that's the kind of play Matthews is capable of making or at least going up for...

Henderson -- I don't understand, with his quickness, why he isn't getting thrown to more often...

We need to recruit a WR burner for the future.

Go Pitt.

 

[Chescat]

First things first!
One of our problems with the WR performance is PITT problems at QB.
Lets get a QB in place who can consistently hit WR's and others and at that time give them a grade!

Good point! However, while not always on the money with his passes, Peterman is at least adequate. Some of his misses might be wrong route running by the receivers. That's hard to tell from a fan's point of view without knowing the timing patterns and the routes themselves. But I do agree that Pitt's QB problems are part of the equation. It will be interesting to see if a new QB can step in next year and "consistently hit WR'S." My point though is still the same, we at least will have improvement and experience within the WR group.

 

[BuffetParrothead]

Good point! However, while not always on the money with his passes, Peterman is at least adequate. Some of his misses might be wrong route running by the receivers. That's hard to tell from a fan's point of view without knowing the timing patterns and the routes themselves. But I do agree that Pitt's QB problems are part of the equation. It will be interesting to see if a new QB can step in next year and "consistently hit WR'S." My point though is still the same, we at least will have improvement and experience within the WR group.

Here's a question!
If we have the opportunity will we grab a 5 yr grad student QB or begin to develop one of the younger QB's.
I like the lets start recruiting and developing our young QB's option. Its time that we established a QB "pipeline" like we do with RB's, OL's, and WR's.

 

[President Stache]

I think Flowers will be a good one as well. Needed to add strength which I hear he is doing.

 

[Chescat]

Here's a question!
If we have the opportunity will we grab a 5 yr grad student QB or begin to develop one of the younger QB's.
I like the lets start recruiting and developing our young QB's option. Its time that we established a QB "pipeline" like we do with RB's, OL's, and WR's.

If possible, I'd do both. Grab the 5 yr grad if he's experienced and been successful. Much as I
liked Savage, he basically had very little experience due to injuries and transfers. Voytik clearly
wasn't ready so Chryst had to find somebody. Proof of that was they brought in Peterman
because AGAIN, Voytick wasn't the answer. MacVittie seems to be the future, but he has zero
experience, and even very little H.S. experience at the QB position. The transfer from Central
Fla (?) appears to be nothing special although he has some experience. DeNucci and the frosh
from N.J. will probably not factor in next year. If we landed a legit 5 yr grad student, I'd think
it would be a good move. IF the others beat him out, so be it. If not, they could use the year
as backups and develop for the following year.

 

[Swervin27]

I like Weah, Tipton and Henderson of course, not sure how anyone is feeling that great about anyone else, including Matthews, based on actual game performances.. Is this based on just a warm, tickly feeling inside or are we at least using some quote from Canada from summer ball? They can obviously get better but can't you say that for anyone, on any team, in any sport, ever?

 

[Chescat]

I like Weah, Tipton and Henderson of course, not sure how anyone is feeling that great about anyone else, including Matthews, based on actual game performances.. Is this based on just a warm, tickly feeling inside or are we at least using some quote from Canada from summer ball? They can obviously get better but can't you say that for anyone, on any team, in any sport, ever?

I liked what I saw of Mathews in the Big 33 game. I was at that game and he was clearly the best
WR on both sides. The coaches must see something in him since they burned a redshirt to get
him on the field. Now granted the others ahead of him weren't world beaters, but Tipton, Weah,
Henderson, and Lopes were doing enough to get by. I doubt they would burn his redshirt if they
didn't think he was at least as good.
I agree with you about Weah, Tipton, and Henderson...but I'd have Mathews in that group as well.
Flowers (4 star recruit ) getting a redshirt this year...we know nothing about his possibilities.

 

[Swervin27]

Matthews playing and burning the shirt confuses me. every time I think burning a shirt makes sense, to play the freshmen, then all of a sudden that redshirt is the most important thing in the world (see our CBs) yet the time I think it's a waste to play a guy a few snaps, then we see someone like Matthews play.

 

[mehinpgh]

No talk about Ffrench? I find him to be a quicker, shiftier version of Tipton...wish Ff was getting Tiptons plays...but I could be wrong...

 

[pittpitt]

Don't forget 5* TE Chris Clark coming in next year. He's not a WR obviously, but his abilities will have a clear impact on the passing game. He's huge, fast for his size, will make catches 20-30 yards downfield, and has great ball skills.

Even if we only have him for 1 year, Clark + another year of improvement from Weah/Henderson/Tipton/Mathews/Ffrench + 4* Flowers (who's been practicing all year) could turn out to be a really good receiving group.

 

[pittdan77]

I wish the secondary was improving as quickly.

 

[revampedpanthers]

If possible, I'd do both. Grab the 5 yr grad if he's experienced and been successful. Much as I
liked Savage, he basically had very little experience due to injuries and transfers. Voytik clearly
wasn't ready so Chryst had to find somebody. Proof of that was they brought in Peterman
because AGAIN, Voytick wasn't the answer. MacVittie seems to be the future, but he has zero
experience, and even very little H.S. experience at the QB position. The transfer from Central
Fla (?) appears to be nothing special although he has some experience. DeNucci and the frosh
from N.J. will probably not factor in next year. If we landed a legit 5 yr grad student, I'd think
it would be a good move. IF the others beat him out, so be it. If not, they could use the year
as backups and develop for the following year.

The kid from UCF is the insurance policy if Macvittie isn't ready. Both will have a full year of practice with the team so they at least should know the plays.

 

[Swervin27]

No talk about Ffrench? I find him to be a quicker, shiftier version of Tipton...wish Ff was getting Tiptons plays...but I could be wrong...

I like Tipton as a wr, not a fan of him running the jet sweeps. Tipton is starting to make some traditional wr plays though, which is what we need. Let someone else run the sweeps.

 

[JohnnyGossamer]

Jets - Hendy, Ffrench and Whitehead
Traditional - Weah, Matthews and Tipton

Ford may return after the BYE too.

 

[raleighpanther]

I like the 2017 recruit Dontavius Butler out of Florida. Really strong, good size, great blocker, and loves to block. His team doesn't throw the ball much, which is why he is a bit under the radar. But I saw some camp film of him, and he has strong hands, and he goes and gets the ball over DBs. One to watch out for.

Mathews is making a nice contribution; I know zero problem with his redshirt being burned. You shouldn't measure his contribution just by his number of receptions, which are few. He is getting a lot of playing time each week and is a solid blocker as WR, which is critical to making those jet sweeps work, which is critical to our offense. And he is a good special teams player. He made a really nice tackle on a punt Saturday, sprinting down the field past the guy trying to block him, and drilling the returner as soon as he caught the punt.

 

[MajorMajors]

We haven't had many WRs who "go and get the ball over DBs" with any regularity. I still think Mathews can bring that, though we haven't seen it yet.

Good to hear some good words about Butler; would like to see us add a burner WR for a future deep threat.

Go Pitt.