A morning spent prepping tailgate food for tomorrow. Chicken drumstick wings, spicy pulled pork, and the stuffing for Jalepeno poppers. If my friends aren’t befouling port-a-johns by 5pm, then I did something wrong. Luke has signed on to man the liveblog tomorrow night. I’ll be tweeting all game.
In case you missed it, Ray Graham had what is (of course) being termed successful surgery to replace the ACL in his right knee. Given the minimum six months recovery, it would appear that Graham will now return for his senior season. How quickly he can return to anywhere near his old style is unknown, but it is hard to bet against it.
It can be fun to speculate on the idea of a Pitt backfield of Graham and Rushel Shell — who was just named Sports Illustrated High School Player of the Week. But, that is a year away and the immediate concern is finishing out this season.
The primary duties now fall to Zach Brown. As much bad luck as Pitt has had with injuries this season, Brown has been a bit of good luck for Pitt. He was a good running back buried in the depth chart at Wisconsin. Luckily he is also a very good student (2-time Academic All-Big Ten player), who had already completed his undergraduate degree with one year of eligibility remaining.
Pitt had a desperate need at the position, so he came here expecting to back-up Graham. Get some action as the change of pace back, and simply have one more opportunity.
Brown said that his relationship with Ray Graham has made this opportunity bittersweet but it has been eased by the fact that Graham has been his biggest supporter and has encouraged him and the team every day since he got hurt.
“I think a big thing for us is we want to go out there and play for him because that can happen to anybody,” Brown said “But for a great player like him, we just want to go out there and show that nothing is going to be lost. We are just going to go out and play and just win.”
Brown has excelled at catching the ball out of the backfield and making yards after the catch. I expect that to be unchanged, if not more of those type of plays. Afterall, we have to expect Cinci will attempt to bring more of a pass rush to disrupt Sunseri.
He already has 16 catches for the Panthers this season. Brown went into the year with 20 career receptions.
“I would say it’s something I always had in me, but we have worked on that in practice,” Brown said. “It’s just another way we can help the offense.”
Todd Graham said what really has been special about Brown coming in is the way he has become a leader, even though he has only been on campus for a relatively short period of time.
“Most times you get a guy transfer for one year like that, it’s very difficult for them to be embraced by the team and develop relationships,” Graham said. “He has been great at teaching our young freshmen. He and Ray are very close. He’s a special kid.”
The other question, though, is which of the freshmen running backs will see action. Corey Davis has gotten some action, but Coach Todd Graham has stated that either Malcolm Crockett or Isaac Bennett will have their redshirt status removed as well.
Chris Peak has a review of the three freshmen with their primary styles. Here’s the quickie summary:
If Davis is the speed back and Bennett is the power back, Crockett is a mix of the two.
Given the present state of the Pitt line, limited practice access for the media, and everything else. I would say with complete certainty that I have no idea whether it will be Crockett or Bennett. To help with quick identification on the field: Bennett is #9, Crockett is #7 (as is Brandon Lindsey) and Davis is #2 (but so is K’wuan Williams so pay attention).
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