W.P.I.A.L. legend, and now former Pitt running back Rushel Shell is transferring from the University of Pittsburgh. He is leaving his hometown team, and reports are saying he is looking to move out west to a school in either Arizona or California. A move that just doesn’t make sense with him having two children that he would have to leave to go out there, and not to mention the fact that he was basically the guaranteed starter coming into the 2013 season. Shell had a good campaign as a freshman behind Ray Graham, rushing for 641 yards and tallying four scores. With his departure you have to wonder where Pitt is going to go from here.
They still have plenty of options to fill the hole left by Shell’s departure, but the quality of those options is really unknown. There is redshirt senior, Desmond Brown, who has more tackles than rushing yards. Brown has been a special-teamer for the most part and has recorded 4 tackles in his career. He is also the brother of Steelers star receiver Antonio Brown so maybe there is some raw talent there.
Another option that Pitt could go in would be redshirt sophomore Malcom Crockett. Crockett hasn’t seen much playing time only being able to play for one year and all, but he could potentially produce for this team. In high school he ran for almost 2,000 yards and 20 scores in his last two years. He was rated as one the top 30 players in the area by SuperPrep. You recruit guys like him to give them a chance and hopefully find a steal, and the Panthers have that exact opportunity with an opening at running back.
Isaac Bennett is a junior from Tulsa, Oklahoma who has played sparingly for the Panthers in his first two seasons. In those first two seasons at Pitt he has rushed the ball 87 times for 378 yards and five touchdowns. With him having already gotten more playing time than the other candidates you have to believe that he is the favorite heading into the fall.
Another intriguing option could be letting stud recruit Tyler Boyd from Clairton try and earn the chance to be the starter. I know that that isn’t the position that he was originally recruited to play, but in high school that’s where he played. His stats speak for themselves as a running back where he tore up every opponent he faced. I witnessed it first hand as he played against my high school team, the Brentwood Spartans. It was easy to see that he was just at a completely different level than everyone else on the field. He was just faster, stronger, and had more football smarts that anyone else too. So he might be worth the shot for Head Coach Paul Chryst.
No matter what happens they are going to have to replace a player in Shell who performed pretty well for a freshman at Pitt let alone any school. He seemed to be head and shoulders above anyone else they had on the roster, but he’s decided that transferring is the best option for him and his career. So now it is someone else’s turn to step up and earn that starting spot in what you’d have to think is an open competition for the spot.
