Pitt Panther Prowl

FOOTBALL: SPRING REVIEW; QB / RB

When The Prowler asked me to contribute to his Pitt Panther Prowl Blog earlier this year I agreed right away. Then, and as I do with every knee jerk decision I make, I had to sit back and think about what I had gotten myself into. “Not a problem” I thought, “I can do this with my eyes closed”. And in truth, some of these articles read like I wrote them that way.

But really, I was at a loss on how to approach doing this as it was mid-March and a long way from the start of the 2008 football season. Fortunately Spring Camp was just beginning so there was some fodder for discussion. The first few posts were outlooks on what I thought we’d see, and should pay attention to, during spring practices. Now that practice is over, and the Spring Game has been played, it would be interesting to take a look back at what was written.

So, let’s see if I knew what I was talking about, and what surprises weren’t on the horizon…

QB COMPARISON

The three major points I felt were most important for the QBs were if Bostick had worked on his throwing motion in addition to losing his excess weight as reported during the off season, whether Stull’s thumb injury had healed, and if Cross could pass as well as we hoped.

Stull’s thumb injury seems to be OK, he has stated he wasn’t going to worry about re-injuring it and his passing during camp was good and accurate. He showed a bit more strength on his passes then he did at this time in 2007 so all in all it appears that that concern has been minimized.

Bostick does look more like a college QB this season. He is leaner and more mobile than last season, has better zip on his passes and seems more in command of his role in the offense. However, the reports of the demise of his windup and hitch were greatly exaggerated as they say…

Cross’ passing started off slowly and for awhile it looked as if he wasn’t cut out to be a competent passer at this level of play. But, as the camp progressed, and Cross became more knowledgeable in, and comfortable with. PITT’s offensive system his passing began to improve. At one point Matt Cavanaugh told Cross that he was “thinking too much” about running the offense and that he should “just go out and have fun”. That seemed to be pretty good advice because by the time the Spring Game rolled around Cross was playing well enough for the fans to start wondering if he might be a viable candidate for the starter’s position. A fun thought, but pretty unrealistic in my opinion unless his passing game improves substantially.

Going into camp the coaching staff had said that the QB position was still wide open. Hmmm, I wonder now if it actually was. If so, it isn’t any longer. Bill Stull performed well and more importantly showed the consistent ability to make good quick decisions under center. Especially in his receiver progressions. This was Wannstedt’s prime concern for the QB position, especially after living through the nightmare of having to field inexperienced players at this position last year. Stull made his case and will be QB1 going into the summer Training Camp.

The second QB position is somewhat up for grabs and the battle for it will be fun to watch. Bostick would, on the face of it, seem to have it well in hand. However, there is a distinct possibility that DW feels comfortable enough with Stull as the starter and Kevan Smith as his short term relief (allowing for Bostick’s return should a long term relief be needed). This would allow PITT to redshirt Pat Bostick and prepare him to be second string next season and for the starter’s role in 2010. That decision is pretty far off, but I feel confident enough to say that we’ll see Bostick and Smith sharing play repetitions equally at the beginning of training camp, with Smith gradually taking more and more to prepare him as the back up going into the first game.

Cross will be getting his time during camp also but it will be as the ‘change of pace’ QB. However, I must say that if his passing keeps improving the way it did during the four weeks of Spring Camp, when he made large strides as he began to feel comfortable in the offense, then we might see a real interesting battle for that #2 spot in August.

OFFENSE - RUNNING BACKS

Prior to camp there was nothing more obvious than this; LeSean McCoy was our starting running back and he wasn’t going to get much work (read: exposure to injury) either during practices or during the Spring Game. He is and he didn’t. Good.

The competition for the second string RB position didn’t seem that important either, not with LaRod Stevens-Howling returning. After all, he ran for almost 900 yards in 2006 and did a fine job as McCoy’s relief last season. That is until Shariff Harris started to carry the football in March. It seemed like every day the beat writers and the coaching staff had something good to say about Harris. It was almost hard to believe that this young guy - a redshirt freshman who was 6′1″ tall and weighted 190 lbs according to PITT’s roster, could be the quick powerful runner everyone was talking about. That is until it was revealed that Harris had gained 35 pounds of muscle after a year of working out with Buddy Morris (PITT’s Strength Coach). It showed. Boy, did it show, especially in the Spring Game. Harris is the real thing and it’s going to be a pleasure to watch him carry the ball in the fall.

Will Harris’ success preclude LSH from being the second string RB? I don’t think so, at least not going into the start of the season. Running Backs at this level, and in the West Coast offense have a multitude of responsibilities; blocking assignments, pass catching out of the backfield, etc…and those aspects of the game are equally as important as rushing the ball. A missed blocking assignment can result in your QB going out for the season - Wannstedt’s second worst fear.

So, I think LSH is pretty secure for now based on his experience in the offense, his skill in rushing and the fact that DW plays upperclassmen as much as possible. But he needs to look over his shoulder because that sound he hears is Shariff Harris gaining on him.

So where does that leave Kevin Collier, our returning third string and very promising running back? Unfortunately, on the outside looking in at this point. It’s tough to battle back from missing a whole season due to an injury and find that you have been replaced on the depth chart, but that might be the case here. There is a lot of time until our opening game, and Collier might do very well until then. But as it stands now he may be the odd man out.

At Fullback we didn’t see any surprises, and the depth chart as it stands is the same as last year; Collins, Brooks and now, Hynoski. Hynoski did some good things during camp and the last scrimmage, but not enough to supplant Shane Brooks as second string going into training camp.