Pitt football coach Paul Chryst has shown during his couple of years on the job that he is not afraid to play young players.
Chryst turned to a bunch of freshman last season and that will be the case once again in 2014.
As the Panthers prepare to open the season on Saturday, the third-year head coach said on Monday that defensive backs Avonte Maddox and Pat Amara, along with linebacker Quintin Wirginis and running back Chris James are freshmen that will play this season.
Throw in the fact that freshman such as running back Qadree Ollison, offensive lineman Alex Bookser, wide receiver Adonis Jennings and quarterback Adam Bertke all could see the field at some point this season and the future looks bright for the Panthers with so many young contributors.
That especially is the case when you also consider the fact that their best playmaker Tyler Boyd is only a sophomore, their quarterback Chad Voytik is only a redshirt sophomore and running back James Connor is a true sophomore.
Two of Pitt’s five starting offensive linemen, Dorian Johnson and Adam Bisnowaty are also only sophomores.
That’s just on the offensive side of the ball as the defensive will also be filled with players in their first or second seasons.
Having so many young contributors isn’t necessarily a coaches’ dream as it likely won’t amount to a ton of wins, but it should help in recruiting as well.
When incoming hopefuls see that they have the chance to play early at Pitt, it should help Chryst continue to land the type of players he wants.
Chryst is finally starting to put his own fingerprints on the team.
The end result is that Pitt is very young.
That may not be such a bad thing in the long run.
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