From the desk of Chris Peak
A look at senior Raymond Kirkley
Things seem to have come full-circle for running back Ray Kirkley. Despite the best efforts of the staff to keep the redshirt senior as a backup, injuries to Rashad Jennings, Brandon Mason, and LaRod Stephens-Howling have led Kirkley back to the starting role. He’s now rushed 46 times for 262 yards. Dave Wannstedt has talked about Kirkley being impressive throughout the summer, losing close to 20 pounds and getting quicker as a result. But there’s more keeping Kirkley in the game than just weight loss.
When I first started covering the team during training camp, I was told that Ray was a guy who would always work as hard (or harder) as anyone out there. I was told Ray was a guy who would fill his role and do whatever the team needed from him in order to win. I was told Ray was a guy who will never say a word about playing time or touches. Right now you’re seeing the sum total of those efforts and character traits. Rather than mope around when Jennings entered camp as the starter, Ray just put his head down and kept working hard. Then, when Stephens-Howling had a coming-out party against Nebraska and asserted himself as the number one guy, despite Kirkley’s 55-yard run against Notre Dame, Ray worked even harder.
As I’ve watched him grow as a running back in his senior year, I’m inclined to think back to one day of training camp when the team ran sprints at the end of practice. There was Ray, outrunning all the young guys (even Stephens-Howling), showing that he had the effort and desire to be the feature back on this team.
I’m not sure if he’s a better starting option than a healthy Stephens-Howling or a healthy Jennings, but one thing’s for sure: maybe more than anyone else on the team, you can count on Ray to work his rear end off doing whatever is needed to win.
The West Coast offense
There was some discussion on this board yesterday about Tyler Palko perhaps being displeased with the current offensive system. While I wouldn’t go that far, I would say that Palko does seem to miss Walt Harris’s schemes from time to time. There is a period of growth with a new offense (or any new system, for that matter). There are a few things to understand, though, about this new offense in comparison to what we saw for the last eight seasons.
Walt’s offense was geared for going downfield. Paul Zeise likes to say that Walt was always looking for a deep ball. In many ways, that is the biggest difference between Matt Cavanaugh as offensive coordinator and Walt Harris as offensive coordinator. And that difference really extends out to a broader theme which is this: Cavanaugh’s passing attack is far more akin to Bill Walsh’s West Coast offense than Walt’s was.
The key when talking about West Coast offenses is realizing that everyone since Walsh has run a mutation of the original concept. Coaches like Andy Reid, Mike Holmgren, Jon Gruden, Bill Callahan, and more all use their own variations of the system. Walt used a variation as well, although his scheme was actually quite closely related to the ‘run & shoot’ style of offense. Palko himself was recently heard comparing Walt’s system to the old Houston Oilers and Warren Moon. While Walsh was inclined to move the ball with shorter passes that had the potential to become big plays, Harris looked to create the big plays through the receiver’s routes. Cavanaugh has installed a system that is much more like Walsh’s, as evidenced by the lack of ‘big plays’ that has become a hot topic of conversation. The idea is to combine a power running game with a short passing game. When the running attack is successful, defenders are drawn to the line of scrimmage, thus opening more opportunities for the shorter passes to become big plays.
An interesting facet of this scheme is that there is a premium placed on having receivers make plays after catching the ball. Wide Receiver U. was built on deep balls to Antonio Bryant and Larry Fitzgerald. Look at the current corps, which is essentially Greg Lee, a deep ball catcher. Now look at the incoming recruits in the class of 2006, Aaron Smith and Dorin Dickerson: both are superior athletes who project as wide receivers but haven’t spent too much time in high school catching the ball. Dickerson has been running all over the WPIAL this season, showing how much ability he has to make plays with the ball in his hands. These are the kinds of players that will thrive in this offensive system. Combine that with the effective running game that should develop over the next two years, and the Panthers can have an offense that is very, very dangerous. It’s been said a lot about Dave Wannstedt’s defense, but it applies on the other side of the ball, too: you need to have the proper players to operate within your system.
The future looks very bright for the Pitt offense; in the meantime, the current players should continue to become more comfortable with Cavanaugh’s schemes and find ways to excel in it.
From the desk of Jim Snyder
New times for Rivals Radio
Starting on Monday Rivals Radio will expand their show with Bill King to three hours. It will now air on Sirius Satellite Radio from 7:00 AM until 10:00 AM EST (morning drive time). In addition Rivals airs a fourth hour that is currently only available only on the Internet.
They also do shows on Thursday evening and Sunday that look at the weekend games.
The portion that is carried by Sirius Satellite Radio is on channel 123.
The Pitt game with Rutgers is being carried on channel 126 this week.
In addition the Pantherlair’s Chris Peak will be on WEAE-AM Friday night prior to the Pitt game. Chris Peak should be on the ESPN Radio show at approximately 7:25 PM. They will be doing a pre-game show.
Some odds and ends
A friend passed a long a trivia note to say the first nationally televised college game was between Pitt and Duke. The game was telecast by NBC on September 22, 1951. Anyone know if this is true?
The announcement that the Liberty Bowl has signed a four-year deal with Conference USA and the SEC is not good news. Fortunately it expires at about the time the football schools will have to make a decision. Do they want to break away from the basketball schools and add Memphis? The folks at Federal Express sponsor the Liberty Bowl. They are also headed by folks that support Memphis University. To be honest it did not make much sense to give the Big East the Liberty Bowl as long as Memphis is still in Conference USA. Incidentally the Memphis Tigers will struggle on the football field this fall. Their top two quarterbacks both suffered broken legs.
A little recruiting talk
Five-star prospect Darrin Walls will hold a press conference at Woodland Hills High school on Monday morning (Oct 3rd) at 9:00AM to announce which school he will attend. In my interview on Rivals Radio this week I pointed out that we have had at least 45 articles on Darrin Walls. We edited six video reels. We have had an audio interview from the locker room after the Gateway game. There have also been four AMP pieces on Walls. We have has wall-to-wall coverage of Darrin walls. We also reported on the radio show that he had been selected as Homecoming King this past Saturday evening.
Darrin Walls has visited Notre Dame on an “unofficial visit”. He has attended the Notre Dame-Pitt game. He attended the Notre Dame-Michigan game. He also tells us that he plans on going to the Notre Dame-Southern Cal game after his announcement.
Pitt started out behind with Darrin. He now will choose between Notre Dame, Pitt, Michigan and Florida. We have talked to Darin several times this past week and a number of others close to the situation. To be honest I do not know what he will announce. I am not optimistic but I certainly cannot rule Pitt out. We are efforting to have Darrin Walls on Rivals Radio on Monday after his press conference. Both Walls and Coach Novak have agreed.
Darrin has been suffering from a slight shoulder separation this year. He has not missed a game but Coach Novak has been spotting him. In some games he has been limited to playing only on offense. Coach Novak calls his injury a day-to-day thing. He has the Wolverines 5-0 but if they are going to make a playoff run they will need a healthy Darrin Walls.
We were talking to Pahokee coach last Foster this past week. Pitt has a verbal commitment from Ricky Gary and is recruiting Tamarcus Porter[/B]. Coach Foster said that his linebacker Vincent Cheves loves Pitt but the coaching staff has lost interest. Pitt has verbals from linebackers Nate Nix, Dan Loheyde[/B] and Greg Webster[/B]. Scholarships limitation simply means there is no room for Cheves.
Last Friday night a defensive lineman from Florida tried to commit to Harry. We urged him to get a hold of the coaches. You cannot commit to the Pantherlair. You must commit to the University of Pittsburgh. This player insisted he had an offer from Pitt, as did his father and his high school coach. Now we think he did not have a written offer. All I can say there are at least two players from Florida that would love to play for Pitt. In the days prior to scholarship limitations maybe you could gamble. Not today.
There was a post on the free football board indicating that David Harvey had committed to Pitt. Harvey was a four-star prospect a year ago from Penn Hills but failed to clear the NCAA Clearinghouse. Most of his interest a year ago seemed to come from West Virginia and Penn State. It is our understanding that he his taking night school courses try to get eligible. Our sources say Pitt has not offered him a scholarship and we do not believe they are currently recruiting him. Who knows depending on how recruiting goes for the balance of the year maybe there will be some interest at some point if he makes grades.
Harry and I both spoke to Baldwin’s Justin Hargrove this week. He told us that his head injury puts him out for the rest of the year but the doctors think he will make a full recovery. There is a slight chance it could end his football career. Pitt was already recruiting another defensive end after Tommie Duhart failed to qualify. The injury to Hargrove makes recruiting another defensive end a must. Eric Latimore, Audie Augustine, McKenzie Matthews[/B] and Geno Atkins[/B] are all possibilities.
One thing we can say for sure is that Dave Wannstedt knows how to recruit. He is a born salesman and also understands the importance of recruiting. Schools are constantly going to be making runs at Pitt’s top recruits until the Panthers put a string of wins together on the football field. Joe Thomas, Dorin Dickerson and Kevin Collier are all being recruited by other schools. We think Pitt will hold on if they just win a few games.
Jamie Dixon had Jamel McLean (6’ 8”) in for an official visit this past weekend. He is supposed to have press conference on Monday to choose between Tulsa and Pitt. You have to like Pitt’s chances on this one. It is hard to believe a guy from Virginia will chose to play in Oklahoma. Geography usually is the decider in this type of recruiting battle.
Pitt already has a commitment from 4-star swingman Gilbert Brown (6’ 6”) for the Class of 2007. Guard Mike Cook (6’ 2”) has also transferred in from East Carolina. He is a proven player that played in a conference with Louisville, DePaul, Cincinnati and Memphis. McLean would help give them some size.
Pitt vs. Rutgers
It is hard to believe that Pitt has beaten Rutgers six years in a row and now is a 1-point underdog in tonight’s game. Last year Pitt blasted Rutgers and led 38-3 at the half. Pitt has virtually everyone back from that team but Rob Petitti who is now with the Dallas Cowboys.
Last year Palko completed 27 of 43 passes for 351 yards and three touchdowns against Rutgers. All the guys that caught every single pass for Pitt are back and yet here we are worried about throwing the ball effectively. Go figure.
I like Pitt by a score of 24-21.
After watching Cincinnati on Wednesday Pitt has a chance to put together a little winning streak if they can find a way to get past Rutgers. The Bearcats were just awful. It will take them a couple of years to rebuild. Pitt’s next three football games are at home.
The War Room is targeted towards our premium customers. We ask that all information reported in the War Room MUST stay right here! That’s the way this deal works. When this information is repeated outside of the Between Fifth and Forbes forum it only cheapens the price of yours and every other die-hard who have purchased premium services. The War Room is one of our more popular features...thank you all for keeping the information on this board.
This post was edited on 9/30 8:12 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
A look at senior Raymond Kirkley
Things seem to have come full-circle for running back Ray Kirkley. Despite the best efforts of the staff to keep the redshirt senior as a backup, injuries to Rashad Jennings, Brandon Mason, and LaRod Stephens-Howling have led Kirkley back to the starting role. He’s now rushed 46 times for 262 yards. Dave Wannstedt has talked about Kirkley being impressive throughout the summer, losing close to 20 pounds and getting quicker as a result. But there’s more keeping Kirkley in the game than just weight loss.
When I first started covering the team during training camp, I was told that Ray was a guy who would always work as hard (or harder) as anyone out there. I was told Ray was a guy who would fill his role and do whatever the team needed from him in order to win. I was told Ray was a guy who will never say a word about playing time or touches. Right now you’re seeing the sum total of those efforts and character traits. Rather than mope around when Jennings entered camp as the starter, Ray just put his head down and kept working hard. Then, when Stephens-Howling had a coming-out party against Nebraska and asserted himself as the number one guy, despite Kirkley’s 55-yard run against Notre Dame, Ray worked even harder.
As I’ve watched him grow as a running back in his senior year, I’m inclined to think back to one day of training camp when the team ran sprints at the end of practice. There was Ray, outrunning all the young guys (even Stephens-Howling), showing that he had the effort and desire to be the feature back on this team.
I’m not sure if he’s a better starting option than a healthy Stephens-Howling or a healthy Jennings, but one thing’s for sure: maybe more than anyone else on the team, you can count on Ray to work his rear end off doing whatever is needed to win.
The West Coast offense
There was some discussion on this board yesterday about Tyler Palko perhaps being displeased with the current offensive system. While I wouldn’t go that far, I would say that Palko does seem to miss Walt Harris’s schemes from time to time. There is a period of growth with a new offense (or any new system, for that matter). There are a few things to understand, though, about this new offense in comparison to what we saw for the last eight seasons.
Walt’s offense was geared for going downfield. Paul Zeise likes to say that Walt was always looking for a deep ball. In many ways, that is the biggest difference between Matt Cavanaugh as offensive coordinator and Walt Harris as offensive coordinator. And that difference really extends out to a broader theme which is this: Cavanaugh’s passing attack is far more akin to Bill Walsh’s West Coast offense than Walt’s was.
The key when talking about West Coast offenses is realizing that everyone since Walsh has run a mutation of the original concept. Coaches like Andy Reid, Mike Holmgren, Jon Gruden, Bill Callahan, and more all use their own variations of the system. Walt used a variation as well, although his scheme was actually quite closely related to the ‘run & shoot’ style of offense. Palko himself was recently heard comparing Walt’s system to the old Houston Oilers and Warren Moon. While Walsh was inclined to move the ball with shorter passes that had the potential to become big plays, Harris looked to create the big plays through the receiver’s routes. Cavanaugh has installed a system that is much more like Walsh’s, as evidenced by the lack of ‘big plays’ that has become a hot topic of conversation. The idea is to combine a power running game with a short passing game. When the running attack is successful, defenders are drawn to the line of scrimmage, thus opening more opportunities for the shorter passes to become big plays.
An interesting facet of this scheme is that there is a premium placed on having receivers make plays after catching the ball. Wide Receiver U. was built on deep balls to Antonio Bryant and Larry Fitzgerald. Look at the current corps, which is essentially Greg Lee, a deep ball catcher. Now look at the incoming recruits in the class of 2006, Aaron Smith and Dorin Dickerson: both are superior athletes who project as wide receivers but haven’t spent too much time in high school catching the ball. Dickerson has been running all over the WPIAL this season, showing how much ability he has to make plays with the ball in his hands. These are the kinds of players that will thrive in this offensive system. Combine that with the effective running game that should develop over the next two years, and the Panthers can have an offense that is very, very dangerous. It’s been said a lot about Dave Wannstedt’s defense, but it applies on the other side of the ball, too: you need to have the proper players to operate within your system.
The future looks very bright for the Pitt offense; in the meantime, the current players should continue to become more comfortable with Cavanaugh’s schemes and find ways to excel in it.
From the desk of Jim Snyder
New times for Rivals Radio
Starting on Monday Rivals Radio will expand their show with Bill King to three hours. It will now air on Sirius Satellite Radio from 7:00 AM until 10:00 AM EST (morning drive time). In addition Rivals airs a fourth hour that is currently only available only on the Internet.
They also do shows on Thursday evening and Sunday that look at the weekend games.
The portion that is carried by Sirius Satellite Radio is on channel 123.
The Pitt game with Rutgers is being carried on channel 126 this week.
In addition the Pantherlair’s Chris Peak will be on WEAE-AM Friday night prior to the Pitt game. Chris Peak should be on the ESPN Radio show at approximately 7:25 PM. They will be doing a pre-game show.
Some odds and ends
A friend passed a long a trivia note to say the first nationally televised college game was between Pitt and Duke. The game was telecast by NBC on September 22, 1951. Anyone know if this is true?
The announcement that the Liberty Bowl has signed a four-year deal with Conference USA and the SEC is not good news. Fortunately it expires at about the time the football schools will have to make a decision. Do they want to break away from the basketball schools and add Memphis? The folks at Federal Express sponsor the Liberty Bowl. They are also headed by folks that support Memphis University. To be honest it did not make much sense to give the Big East the Liberty Bowl as long as Memphis is still in Conference USA. Incidentally the Memphis Tigers will struggle on the football field this fall. Their top two quarterbacks both suffered broken legs.
A little recruiting talk
Five-star prospect Darrin Walls will hold a press conference at Woodland Hills High school on Monday morning (Oct 3rd) at 9:00AM to announce which school he will attend. In my interview on Rivals Radio this week I pointed out that we have had at least 45 articles on Darrin Walls. We edited six video reels. We have had an audio interview from the locker room after the Gateway game. There have also been four AMP pieces on Walls. We have has wall-to-wall coverage of Darrin walls. We also reported on the radio show that he had been selected as Homecoming King this past Saturday evening.
Darrin Walls has visited Notre Dame on an “unofficial visit”. He has attended the Notre Dame-Pitt game. He attended the Notre Dame-Michigan game. He also tells us that he plans on going to the Notre Dame-Southern Cal game after his announcement.
Pitt started out behind with Darrin. He now will choose between Notre Dame, Pitt, Michigan and Florida. We have talked to Darin several times this past week and a number of others close to the situation. To be honest I do not know what he will announce. I am not optimistic but I certainly cannot rule Pitt out. We are efforting to have Darrin Walls on Rivals Radio on Monday after his press conference. Both Walls and Coach Novak have agreed.
Darrin has been suffering from a slight shoulder separation this year. He has not missed a game but Coach Novak has been spotting him. In some games he has been limited to playing only on offense. Coach Novak calls his injury a day-to-day thing. He has the Wolverines 5-0 but if they are going to make a playoff run they will need a healthy Darrin Walls.
We were talking to Pahokee coach last Foster this past week. Pitt has a verbal commitment from Ricky Gary and is recruiting Tamarcus Porter[/B]. Coach Foster said that his linebacker Vincent Cheves loves Pitt but the coaching staff has lost interest. Pitt has verbals from linebackers Nate Nix, Dan Loheyde[/B] and Greg Webster[/B]. Scholarships limitation simply means there is no room for Cheves.
Last Friday night a defensive lineman from Florida tried to commit to Harry. We urged him to get a hold of the coaches. You cannot commit to the Pantherlair. You must commit to the University of Pittsburgh. This player insisted he had an offer from Pitt, as did his father and his high school coach. Now we think he did not have a written offer. All I can say there are at least two players from Florida that would love to play for Pitt. In the days prior to scholarship limitations maybe you could gamble. Not today.
There was a post on the free football board indicating that David Harvey had committed to Pitt. Harvey was a four-star prospect a year ago from Penn Hills but failed to clear the NCAA Clearinghouse. Most of his interest a year ago seemed to come from West Virginia and Penn State. It is our understanding that he his taking night school courses try to get eligible. Our sources say Pitt has not offered him a scholarship and we do not believe they are currently recruiting him. Who knows depending on how recruiting goes for the balance of the year maybe there will be some interest at some point if he makes grades.
Harry and I both spoke to Baldwin’s Justin Hargrove this week. He told us that his head injury puts him out for the rest of the year but the doctors think he will make a full recovery. There is a slight chance it could end his football career. Pitt was already recruiting another defensive end after Tommie Duhart failed to qualify. The injury to Hargrove makes recruiting another defensive end a must. Eric Latimore, Audie Augustine, McKenzie Matthews[/B] and Geno Atkins[/B] are all possibilities.
One thing we can say for sure is that Dave Wannstedt knows how to recruit. He is a born salesman and also understands the importance of recruiting. Schools are constantly going to be making runs at Pitt’s top recruits until the Panthers put a string of wins together on the football field. Joe Thomas, Dorin Dickerson and Kevin Collier are all being recruited by other schools. We think Pitt will hold on if they just win a few games.
Jamie Dixon had Jamel McLean (6’ 8”) in for an official visit this past weekend. He is supposed to have press conference on Monday to choose between Tulsa and Pitt. You have to like Pitt’s chances on this one. It is hard to believe a guy from Virginia will chose to play in Oklahoma. Geography usually is the decider in this type of recruiting battle.
Pitt already has a commitment from 4-star swingman Gilbert Brown (6’ 6”) for the Class of 2007. Guard Mike Cook (6’ 2”) has also transferred in from East Carolina. He is a proven player that played in a conference with Louisville, DePaul, Cincinnati and Memphis. McLean would help give them some size.
Pitt vs. Rutgers
It is hard to believe that Pitt has beaten Rutgers six years in a row and now is a 1-point underdog in tonight’s game. Last year Pitt blasted Rutgers and led 38-3 at the half. Pitt has virtually everyone back from that team but Rob Petitti who is now with the Dallas Cowboys.
Last year Palko completed 27 of 43 passes for 351 yards and three touchdowns against Rutgers. All the guys that caught every single pass for Pitt are back and yet here we are worried about throwing the ball effectively. Go figure.
I like Pitt by a score of 24-21.
After watching Cincinnati on Wednesday Pitt has a chance to put together a little winning streak if they can find a way to get past Rutgers. The Bearcats were just awful. It will take them a couple of years to rebuild. Pitt’s next three football games are at home.
The War Room is targeted towards our premium customers. We ask that all information reported in the War Room MUST stay right here! That’s the way this deal works. When this information is repeated outside of the Between Fifth and Forbes forum it only cheapens the price of yours and every other die-hard who have purchased premium services. The War Room is one of our more popular features...thank you all for keeping the information on this board.
This post was edited on 9/30 8:12 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
