Sounds like Izzy is opting out for the bowl

[HopeandChangeforAntoons]

Not surprising and frankly I’m 100% on board. Kid gave it all, dealt with injury, and had a hell of a memorable year. Nothing to prove by playing in the Pinstripe Bowl. It’s time for C’bo and Hammond to start competition for RB1 spot (or 1A / 1B since this is Duzz).

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

common sense. he's awesome and had a great year. no reason to play in an exhibition game. it's Hammond's time anyways to take the reigns. i want to see more of him as we get ready for '23.

 

[joeydavid]

Not surprising and frankly I’m 100% on board. Kid gave it all, dealt with injury, and had a hell of a memorable year. Nothing to prove by playing in the Pinstripe Bowl. It’s time for C’bo and Hammond to start competition for RB1 spot (or 1A / 1B since this is Duzz).

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He should. Needs to get healthy and ready for the NFL combine..

 

[LVNVPanther]

The drop off to Hammond is negligible. Go get paid Israel.

 

[forbesfield]

Smart move, son.

 

[HailtoPitt]

Um, it's a big drop off. Izzy is the best RB is college.

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

Um, it's a big drop off. Izzy is the best RB is college.

different style running but i think Hammond can be a 1,000 yard back in this offense. if he stays healthy of course.. he should be the man next year but who the hell knows in this day and age of portal transfers..

Still got to find some depth after him and flanister. i think we have one rb recruit who plays WR in high school.

 

[Parkview57]

It’s time for C’bo and Hammond to start competition for RB1 spot

Nothing wrong with that, but don't be surprised if a new rb emerges next year...after all it is Pitt.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

Well then you know what, Izzy? You don't get the $50 Best Buy gift card or the sweet pair of Crocs that the other guys get for playing!


Yeah... this doesn't matter. We'll be down a handful of starters and so will the team we scrimmage against. You'd need your head checked to play in this game as a running back with NFL aspirations.

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

with the way we run the ball, we need at least 4 healthy backs for next year. i am convinced they'll never let Carter actually run the ball unless it's a full back dive.

Weird to say this but i wouldnt have it if Vincent Davis stayed another year. Cant imagine he would but who knows, maybe he's ok with being the 3rd string RB. not bad to have someone with his experience as the 3rd option.

 

[The Ole Six-Fiver]

I “respect the decision” but it’s a personal peeve of mine that this game that gets counted in the standings for the season, including W-L and player stats, is considered a meaningless exhibition game and fine for players to skip.

Whereas the initial round of the playoff, even when a slaughter is expected (and usually occurs), would professionally doom a kid who likewise decides to opt out. For example if the QB of Cincy did so last year.

Pickett: great to skip the bowl, would an idiot if he didn’t.
Cincy guy: would be a quitter, would call his intestinal fortitude into question.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

with the way we run the ball, we need at least 4 healthy backs for next year. i am convinced they'll never let Carter actually run the ball unless it's a full back dive.

Weird to say this but i wouldnt have it if Vincent Davis stayed another year. Cant imagine he would but who knows, maybe he's ok with being the 3rd string RB. not bad to have someone with his experience as the 3rd option.

The thing that really makes these bowls stupid is:

Izzy sits

VD, I would have to imagine, is going to transfer. Hell, maybe Carter has halfback aspirations and does the same, and they both leave before the bowl game.

So we're down to Hammond and C'Bo. If either one of those guys gets dinged up, some guy none of us have ever heard of before will get at least 5-10 carries.

Stupid stuff like this happens all the time in these bowls.

 

[RaleighPittFan]

The young man represented himself and Pitt extremely well during his time with Pitt football. Best of luck in the NFL.

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

The thing that really makes these bowls stupid is:

Izzy sits

VD, I would have to imagine, is going to transfer. Hell, maybe Carter has halfback aspirations and does the same, and they both leave before the bowl game.

So we're down to Hammond and C'Bo. If either one of those guys gets dinged up, some guy none of us have ever heard of before will get at least 5-10 carries.

Stupid stuff like this happens all the time in these bowls.

yeah, i agree, that's why you dont take em too serious. Go to the game a day ahead, hang out at the bar with other pitt fans, get weird with the drinks and go to the game with little if any worry of winning/losing.

I like them to see the next "wave" of players in a game-like situation. i want the younger guys to play. I want to see Johnson, Ford play a lot, Fitzsimmons.

Kancey is great and im a huge fan but we dont need to see him, he's cemented his legacy already.. I dont need to see alexandre, same, great career and loved watching him but i want to see Johnson play.

 

[Dointhatrag]

I saw one recent publication that him is up to the 6th rated RB in the 2023 draft

https://draftwire.usatoday.com/list...back-bijan-robinson-jahmyr-gibbs-blake-corum/

 

[CaptainMurphy]

I “respect the decision” but it’s a personal peeve of mine that this game that gets counted in the standings for the season, including W-L and player stats, is considered a meaningless exhibition game and fine for players to skip.

Whereas the initial round of the playoff, even when a slaughter is expected (and usually occurs), would professionally doom a kid who likewise decides to opt out. For example if the QB of Cincy did so last year.

Pickett: great to skip the bowl, would an idiot if he didn’t.
Cincy guy: would be a quitter, would call his intestinal fortitude into question.

Yeah it’s not an exhibition of the win counts and affects your ranking. I guess that irked me last year where everyone was calling the Peach Bowl an exhibition. It wasn’t. I don’t fault KP for sitting it out but it’s same as any game during the year to me.

I think Izzy will be a productive RB in the NFL.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

yeah, i agree, that's why you dont take em too serious. Go to the game a day ahead, hang out at the bar with other pitt fans, get weird with the drinks and go to the game with little if any worry of winning/losing.

I like them to see the next "wave" of players in a game-like situation. i want the younger guys to play. I want to see Johnson, Ford play a lot, Fitzsimmons.

Kancey is great and im a huge fan but we dont need to see him, he's cemented his legacy already.. I dont need to see alexandre, same, great career and loved watching him but i want to see Johnson play.

Agree. Although for a while I fell into a trap of being more excited about signing day and the young guys than the season at-hand and the guys who were actually starting. It can't always be "we'll get 'em next year," but yeah... when it comes to the bowls it can. I went from loving them to taking the stance "well, if you don't like them don't watch them" to actively hating them after that MSU game counted as a blemish on our record.

 

[PITTfanSD]

The thing that really makes these bowls stupid is:

Izzy sits

VD, I would have to imagine, is going to transfer. Hell, maybe Carter has halfback aspirations and does the same, and they both leave before the bowl game.

So we're down to Hammond and C'Bo. If either one of those guys gets dinged up, some guy none of us have ever heard of before will get at least 5-10 carries.

Stupid stuff like this happens all the time in these bowls.

It happened last year in our bowl game with our QBs!

 

[The Ole Six-Fiver]

Yeah it’s not an exhibition of the win counts and affects your ranking. I guess that irked me last year where everyone was calling the Peach Bowl an exhibition. It wasn’t. I don’t fault KP for sitting it out but it’s same as any game during the year to me.

I think Izzy will be a productive RB in the NFL.

I fault no individual players at all, but the system that permits this contradiction to not only be acceptable, but applauded.

The insanity of it, the team that finishes 5th in the poll … 5th in the freaking country, MFers … and gets the Rose Bowl (or whatever) … it’s encouraged and applauded that all of its players worth even half a dam should sit out. In fact they are called morons if they do play.

Whereas the #4 team, which might be in that slot over #5 by the barest of margins…a drunken Ron Cook vote, cast during a conjugal visit to Sandusky, for example…gets to be the sacrificial lamb opponent, usually to uber-mighty Alabama or Georgia, in the 1st round of the playoff. Any of #4’s players that would dare to opt out (for exactly the same reason #5 players would opt out), would be lambasted and presumably frowned upon by NFL scouts.

Meanwhile, as mentioned, all of these games are counted in official season stats.

Insanity.

 

[CaptainMurphy]

I fault no individual players at all, but the system that permits this contradiction to not only be acceptable, but applauded.

The insanity of it, the team that finishes 5th in the poll … 5th in the freaking country, MFers … and gets the Rose Bowl (or whatever) … it’s encouraged and applauded that all of its players worth even half a dam should sit out. In fact they are called morons if they do play.

Whereas the #4 team, which might be in that slot over #5 by the barest of margins…a drunken Ron Cook vote, cast during a conjugal visit to Sandusky, for example…gets to be the sacrificial lamb opponent, usually to uber-mighty Alabama or Georgia, in the 1st round of the playoff. Any of #4’s players that would dare to opt out (for exactly the same reason #5 players would opt out), would be lambasted and presumably frowned upon by NFL scouts.

Meanwhile, as mentioned, all of these games are counted in official season stats.

Insanity.

Yeah maybe they should consider locking records and rankings for all non-CFP teams. Make those games true exhibitions then given that opting out now appears to be the norm.

That would likely give some fans less of an incentive to go though. So I doubt that ever happens.

 

[The Ole Six-Fiver]

Yeah maybe they should consider locking records and rankings for all non-CFP teams. Make those games true exhibitions then given that opting out now appears to be the norm.

That would likely give some fans less of an incentive to go though. So I doubt that ever happens.

Yeah, unfortunately it’s too late to do the proper thing (requiring these players to play, as their scholarship, aka contract, should require). So, taking them out of the records seems to next best alternative.

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

Insanity.

a drunken Ron Cook vote, cast during a conjugal visit to Sandusky, for example.

​

 

[Ski11585]

Smart move. Get healthy and get ready to blow some minds with killer combine numbers.

 

[4382]

Yeah maybe they should consider locking records and rankings for all non-CFP teams. Make those games true exhibitions then given that opting out now appears to be the norm.

That would likely give some fans less of an incentive to go though. So I doubt that ever happens.

The irony is not long ago bowl stats didn’t count. I think what they should do is make them underclassmen showcases. Only guys with eligibility remaining are allowed to play. Let the upperclassman and those who declare for the draft participate in mini combines at fan feats.

 

[CaptainMurphy]

Smart move. Get healthy and get ready to blow some minds with killer combine numbers.

Would love to see the Steelers take him in the mid rounds. Shore up that line but they desperately need another quality back given Najee’s injury history and Warren is still a relatively unknown.

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

Would love to see the Steelers take him in the mid rounds. Shore up that line but they desperately need another quality back given Najee’s injury history and Warren is still a relatively unknown.

there is a ridiculous amount of quality RBs on the free agent list this upcoming off season. unreal list of players. I think we should have some room to play around with too as far as cap space..

 

[NCPitt]

I fault no individual players at all, but the system that permits this contradiction to not only be acceptable, but applauded.

The insanity of it, the team that finishes 5th in the poll … 5th in the freaking country, MFers … and gets the Rose Bowl (or whatever) … it’s encouraged and applauded that all of its players worth even half a dam should sit out. In fact they are called morons if they do play.

Whereas the #4 team, which might be in that slot over #5 by the barest of margins…a drunken Ron Cook vote, cast during a conjugal visit to Sandusky, for example…gets to be the sacrificial lamb opponent, usually to uber-mighty Alabama or Georgia, in the 1st round of the playoff. Any of #4’s players that would dare to opt out (for exactly the same reason #5 players would opt out), would be lambasted and presumably frowned upon by NFL scouts.

Meanwhile, as mentioned, all of these games are counted in official season stats.

Insanity.

Somebody doesn't understand the difference between meaningful and meaningless games.

Having a shot - regardless of how slim - at a national title is the very definition of meaningful.

The opportunity to move up a few slots in team rankings or put up a few more personal stats in a non-title game is meaningless to players aspiring to move on to pro careers, as much as that might disappoint fanboys.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

Yeah it’s not an exhibition of the win counts and affects your ranking. I guess that irked me last year where everyone was calling the Peach Bowl an exhibition. It wasn’t. I don’t fault KP for sitting it out but it’s same as any game during the year to me.

I think Izzy will be a productive RB in the NFL.

they really need to consider not doing anymore rankings after bowls. Because until they do the bowls aren't meaningless although many players take them to be. A top 10 ranking and the first 12 win season since 1976 were at stake in the Peach Bowl. Hardly meaningless.

Will be interesting to see what happens to the non playoff bowls moving forward.

 

[h2p_5150]

there is a ridiculous amount of quality RBs on the free agent list this upcoming off season. unreal list of players. I think we should have some room to play around with too as far as cap space..

Yeah sign a vet to a 1 year deal to be a backup. I don't want Izzy on the Steelers wasting away on the bench.

 

[thebadby2]

Not surprising and frankly I’m 100% on board. Kid gave it all, dealt with injury, and had a hell of a memorable year. Nothing to prove by playing in the Pinstripe Bowl. It’s time for C’bo and Hammond to start competition for RB1 spot (or 1A / 1B since this is Duzz).

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I'll always understand it, but I'll never be good with it. No beef with the player doing the smart thing. It's the world we live in now. I just don't love where the institution of college football is at.

 

[CaptainMurphy]

Yeah sign a vet to a 1 year deal to be a backup. I don't want Izzy on the Steelers wasting away on the bench.

Most of the NFL anymore seems to feature a 2-3 back rotation. Which is good as it hopefully can help prolong careers.

 

[PITTfanSD]

Most of the NFL anymore seems to feature a 2-3 back rotation. Which is good as it hopefully can help prolong careers.

Agree here. Tomlin and Cowher running the same back till the wheels come off has hurt us at playoff time. If you think about the times they won the SB they had complimentary backs.

Sadly, I think Najee was overused last year and you are seeing the results now. It was great for my Fantasy team but bad for his future earnings.

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

Agree here. Tomlin and Cowher running the same back till the wheels come off has hurt us at playoff time. If you think about the times they won the SB they had complimentary backs.

Sadly, I think Najee was overused last year and you are seeing the results now. It was great for my Fantasy team but bad for his future earnings.

Conner was over used here. needed to be either a complimentary back or have an equally good one taking 50% of the carries. He, IMO, is probably one of the better "backup" RBs in the league but someone that shouldnt be the lead guy..

obviously that was and is his role in AZ and it extended his career dramatically.

 

[TempleBAPittMPA]

Overuse of Najee, overuse of Conner, I think the same thing happened to the guy from Illinois whose name I can't even remember now. I'm reminded of the famous (infamous?) Tomlin quote about running Willie Parker until the wheels fall off . . . and that's exactly what happened.

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

Overuse of Najee, overuse of Conner, I think the same thing happened to the guy from Illinois whose name I can't even remember now. I'm reminded of the famous (infamous?) Tomlin quote about running Willie Parker until the wheels fall off . . . and that's exactly what happened.

frustrating because Warren was looking good for us too. Surprisingly Mcfarland and Snell looked great last week for us but i dont expect that to last..

Steelers should play naj and Jaylen Warren 55/45. and on short downs/goal lines, put warren in. My biggest pet peave is using Naj on short downs, he's terrible at it..

 

[PITTfanSD]

Overuse of Najee, overuse of Conner, I think the same thing happened to the guy from Illinois whose name I can't even remember now. I'm reminded of the famous (infamous?) Tomlin quote about running Willie Parker until the wheels fall off . . . and that's exactly what happened.

Rashaad Mendenhall maybe?

We always were in good position until playoff and the RB got hurt and Ben would throw a million times in a loss. Rinse and repeat every freakin year.

 

[Dointhatrag]

Izzy staying in the hizzy for bowl game

 

[Gunga_Galunga]

Good luck to him.

 

[CJsE]

I “respect the decision” but it’s a personal peeve of mine that this game that gets counted in the standings for the season, including W-L and player stats, is considered a meaningless exhibition game and fine for players to skip.

Whereas the initial round of the playoff, even when a slaughter is expected (and usually occurs), would professionally doom a kid who likewise decides to opt out. For example if the QB of Cincy did so last year.

Pickett: great to skip the bowl, would an idiot if he didn’t.
Cincy guy: would be a quitter, would call his intestinal fortitude into question.

Think of it more as the final regular season game in the NFL. If you are guaranteed the top spot and a bye in the playoffs a coach should be fired if he's playing his star QB or RB.

The stats and record of that final game still goes into the records book, but it has zero meaning on your chances of winning a championship. The NCAA got greedy and too many bowls makes everything not a playoff game meaningless. It's only going to get worse once it's 12-teams.

 

[President Stache]

Not surprising and frankly I’m 100% on board. Kid gave it all, dealt with injury, and had a hell of a memorable year. Nothing to prove by playing in the Pinstripe Bowl. It’s time for C’bo and Hammond to start competition for RB1 spot (or 1A / 1B since this is Duzz).

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Well, first that doesnt say that, so let him say it himself.

Second, no idea what draft stock he has, I would guess it isnt top few rounds?

Third, did we accept the pin stripe bowl?

Fourth, it is fine if he doesnt want to play, but I still think if kids want to improve their draft stock, they should play in the meaningless bowl games. It is a great chance for the country to see them play, most college football fans will never see a Pitt game unless it is the bowl game. And, unless you really have nothing to gain from the exposure, not playing in the game when all your teammates are playing is still, at best, a dick move to them, but I cant fault a Pickett who will make millions the next year. A Paris Ford? Yeah, obviously both tarnished his chance of looking good in a national audience and tarnished his reputation among Pitt fans.