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RB Antonio Pittman (Official Thread)

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from The-Ozone:
Taking Hits is the Pits: Sophomore tailback Antonio Pittman had a breakout game against Iowa last weekend, rushing for 171 yards on 28 carries. Pittman has now gained 404 yards in four games on 77 rushes. Pittman is averaging 5.25 yards per carry and an even 101 yards per game.

Pittman's success is due in part to experience, in part to improved offensive line play, and in part Pittman's ability to stay healthy this season. In his freshman season, Pittman got banged around pretty good and missed considerable playing time.

"Last year I took a pounding. A lot of people won't admit to it. I have to say I wasn't ready last year, but now I'm ready. I'm ready for 30 carries," Pittman said.

Pittman said that one of the things that has kept him in games this season, and has allowed him to be more productive, is his understanding that avoiding hits is not an entirely bad things.

"Last year I just tried to run it up in there and make people miss, deliver a hit first," said Pittman.

Making people miss was a good idea, but it was the "deliver a hit first" part that got Pittman in trouble. He says he has learned his lesson.

"After a while you get tired of getting hit. You start thinking 'I have to make this dude miss or I'm going to end up getting carried off this field eventually,"' said Pittman.

"When you get tired of getting hit, that's when you realize that you have to get your shoulder down or step out of bounds," Pittman said.

"You don't want to get hurt taking too many hits. You don't want to try to be a superman out there. It's a long game. You try to fight to the last play, but you don't want to get hurt."

That might sound wimpy to some football purists, but the fact is that there is very little in the way of proven ball carrier as a backup to Pittman. Pittman's discretion, and his ability to stay healthy this season, might be a real key for the Buckeye offense this season.
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i feel that Pittman's understanding of when to drop the shoulder and when to try to make the guy miss is the key... we all know that Warrick Dunn is a very good running back... we all know that he is pretty small at 5'9" 180... the key to Dunn's career, by his own admission has been to aviod the big hits... Dunn said that the reason that he has stayed healthy is that he gets what he can, and then he gets down... trying to make something out of nothing when two or three guys are tackling you doesn't really work too well (unless you're Barry Sanders, but then again he LOST the most yards in history) but avoiding the big hits and getting down when you've gotten what you can is really important to maintain your health... heck, we can pretty much assume that MoC's bad shoulder came from him always using it to deliver the hit... now, we all love to see a running back drop his shoulder and plow the LB over, but it makes no sense to try to go through when you can just as easily go around...
 
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Pittman is NOT lacking; there is no reason to believe he won't be a first day NFL draftee. I think he WILL be an all time great, the Numbers that Milli threw out there should convince some of the non-believers. So many of you seem to be giving him far too little credit.

And if one of the Wells gang takes carries away from him, so what? Look how well Raymont Harris did with Robert Smith taking carries away from him. And even more so: Look how well Robert Smith did with Raymont Harris taking carries away from him. Yep. they were of the same era. And they both became NFL players (both in the NFC Central.)

And look how well Eddie George did. He didn't really become the starter until well after the time Pittman did. And Eddie couldn't start much sooner, because he would have been taking carries away from Harris and Smith lol.

I think the only thing possibly keeping Pittman from being "great" is, as someone else pointed out, a lack of a great o-line.
 
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MililaniBuckeye said:
We have a speed back...Maurice Wells. In fact, with Haw, we have two...
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i was thinking the same thing. and if we want to run reverses from the wr position, name a tb in the nation faster than ginn... how about holmes or gonzo? personally i think we should have a wr run through the backfield after the ball has been snapped every 15 plays atleast. put him in a pattern in the flat on the opposite side of where he lined up. maybe even send the tb into the flat the wr vacated just in case the d bit on the fake reverse. anytime you have the kind of speed we do, if you can make the d freeze in their tracks just for a second... your going to be successful. more than anything, that is what we fail to do the most.

as far as pittman putting more emphasis on his decisions to drop the shoulder or not. ive yet to see pittman hesitate to go head up with anyone. can't imagine anyone thinking he was afraid to hit...
 
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I think Pittman is perfect for this offense. He hits the hole when it's there and has the vision to make the cut back when needed. He has a slight tendency to try and cutback when the hole is there but he's young. I don't think he'll be a superstar at running back, but I think he is an extremely solid running back. I don't see alot in Wells when he gets in, but of course he's even younger and is probably just running the play how it's drawn up instead of using his instincts at this point.
 
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Pittman went 15 for 58 against PSU, and they stopped using him! I'm not at all sure why? If one extrapolates those numbers out it would look something like , 30 for 116. He did take a beating , too! :biggrin:
 
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AP is a very good RB. He put up solid numbers against a very good defense. What more can you ask? When the defense knows you're coming and keys you, anything beyond your height from falling forward is good progress.
 
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Antonio Pittman is going to be remembered like Pepe Pearson. A solid (not great) back who's productivity will be defined by the play of the offensive line moreso than his own ability. Buckeye fans will remember him fondly, but will never be a big name outside of the state.

He has talent and has already outperformed my early expectations, but he's just not going to be type of Buckeye running back that the school is known for producing. A real solid back, but LJB nailed it when he said Pittman lacks "IT".
 
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RB Antonio Pittman (official thread)

well... maybe not the century, but pretty bad.

With all that Pittman has done for us this year,nearly 700 yards on 136 attempts, and 8 receptions for 67 yards, he does not have a single TD the entire season. I'm a pretty big believer in rewarding your productive players with the TD, without being unreasonable. And I would think that giving Pittman some carries on the goal line would be very much in line, considering that T. Smith and Schnittker have been known to fumble. I say give him some TDs to pay off the hard work he puts in with driving us down the field and being a reliable back.
 
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couldn't agree more. i could see where jt might not think he is big enough to run inside the 10. he has had a rough go at it thus far. but i still think you need to give him a shot inside the 5 a few times and see what he can do with it.
 
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He has been given carries on the goalline while not very many he has not punched them in.

Also early in the season Schnit was our guy and then he began to fumble so they put Pitt in the game, but usually we let Smith get the td if we are close enough. I guess it is playing the percentages, b/c if you hand the ball off then there is a chance you could lose yardage, but by just sneaking it the ball stays where it is at with a very good chance of advancing it.
 
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