True Freshman To Play

[Pitt_Boss]

I know people are a little less interested in this since it is becoming rarer for a player to use all their eligibility at one school, but just going from memory of what I saw, Pitt only had 2 true freshman play:

Sincere Edwards - Kent St
Malachi Thomas - Kent St
Jahsear Whittington - Kent St

Am I missing anyone?

I know some like Goff, Brewu, etc. may eventually play, but just keeping an eye out for ones that actually do.

Given all the openings on the team this year, it is a good thing in a way if we can afford to still redshirt most freshman and develop them. Even if we are developing them for Colorado

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

Didn't Whittington play? I barely know the high school recruits anymore, so I might be off on that.

 

[TitoBeagle]

Didn't Whittington play? I barely know the high school recruits anymore, so I might be off on that.

Ya last two defensive series

 

[PittMan 72]

Ya last two defensive series

Yep. #25.

 

[pittbb80]

Goff has a cast on. If he heals up I’d have to think he’ll play

 

[PittMan 72]

Goff has a cast on. If he heals up I’d have to think he’ll play mentioned

Duzz mentioned Goff in his press conference today. Said they hope to have him available soon.

Goff and Brewu (when/if he’s healthy) would be 2 more true FR that could potentially play.

 

[Pitt_Boss]

I somehow missed Whittington, but I'll take your word for it - list updated.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

I somehow missed Whittington, but I'll take your word for it - list updated.

Go to the Pitt web site and call up the box score. They have a participation report there that lists everyone who played for both teams.

 

[doubleAA's]

Brewu was injured too. It is nearly unheard of for Nard dog to have 3 true freshmen in the first game, but we would have had 5 if those 2 were healthy.

 

[Farnox]

Brewu was injured too. It is nearly unheard of for Nard dog to have 3 true freshmen in the first game, but we would have had 5 if those 2 were healthy.

The new age of College Football. Use them or lose them.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

The new age of College Football. Use them or lose them.

Yep. This is another residual effect to the portal era that few talk about. It's probably not in some of these players' best interests to play when they're 18 instead of 22. That could be the difference between a career in professional football or not, as there have been plenty of late bloomers.

But if there's no guarantee you're going to keep them anyway, might as well not look to preserve anyone's redshirt if they can help the team even a small amount.

 

[Pitt_Boss]

I think there is a sweet spot still for a school like Pitt if they can still manage to redshirt 75% of each FR class. Not redshirt to preserve eligibility, but I mean if you are otherwise deep at their position that you don't need to play them before they are ready. Most 3 star recruits we get can use the redshirt year to adjust/learn/grow/lift/etc (vs the 5 stars that walk right in and play at OSU, Bama, etc).

Redshirt them for a year and then they can contribute meaningful as redshirt FR and redshirt SO probably before you may lose them. It's not ideal to then lose them for the next 2 years after you helped develop them, however the other side is we've definitely had guys that could has played or played more as RS FR and RS SO but didn't because they were stuck behind an upperclassman with "seniority" or the staff didn't "trust them" yet.

For example, after redshirting a year, C. Kancey played in 11 games and started 4 as RS FR. In today's world, he just starts the whole season. You can probably afford a raise for his RS SO year and then after he gets 7.5 and 14TFL, he goes to play his JR season at Texas A&M and then declares for the draft. Again, not ideal, buy can still get 2 good seasons out of a recruit, which is really all we got out of Kancey because he RS, then played part-time as a RS FR, then was great as RS SO & RS JR before going pro.