Barnes: Shell’s performance has earned him a starting role

Last Saturday, the Pitt football team produced likely the best game the University’s current…

Rushel Shell (4) made Virginia Tech’s defenders look foolish.

Jihoon Baek, Staff Photographer

Last Saturday, the Pitt football team produced likely the best game the University’s current student body has seen during its time at the school.

A number of great team qualities emerged from the Panthers when they stunned No. 13 Virginia Tech. The offense moved down the field at will, churning out long touchdown drives and controlling the tempo of the game. And defensively, it looked like Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau was finally working for Pitt as the unit shut down the Hokies’ behemoth of a quarterback — intercepting the 6-foot-6 Logan Thomas three times — and prevented Virginia Tech from ever establishing a running game.

Needless to say, a lot of great things happened for a Pitt football program yearning to reassert national prominence under new coach Paul Chryst, who has already demonstrated a greater ability to win big games than the school’s other recent coaches.

But the best development from Saturday’s game? The 157-yard performance delivered by true freshman phenom running back Rushel Shell.

The rise of Rushel came rather unexpectedly, even to me. But now, after stiff-arming, trucking and running his way all over and through a nationally ranked Hokie defense, Shell is here to stay.

Much has been said about his incredible feats in high school, playing at Hopewell — where Pitt legend and Heisman Trophy-winner Tony Dorsett played before his days at Pitt Stadium — and his state-record 9,078 rushing yards.

But it’s time to turn the page on that.

Because now, Pitt fans could be watching a new legend in the making.

With that being said, I found myself at a loss for words when, after looking at Pitt’s depth chart for this Saturday’s game against Gardner-Webb, I discovered that Shell is still the third running back.

He’s behind Ray Graham, who might be playing well in his own right, but is only 5-foot-9, 190 pounds and still rounding back into form after his knee injury. Through three games, Graham registered 268 yards on 57 attempts and two touchdowns.

Those numbers are solid, but they’re not what we expected coming into the year after “RG1” — as I like to call him — led the nation in rushing prior to losing the rest of his season to the knee injury. Don’t get me wrong: Graham is good, but he still isn’t the star Pitt fans expected and hoped to see.

Shell also finds himself behind sophomore Isaac Bennett and his 17 total carries for 74 yards and one touchdow so far this yearn. A little larger than Graham at 5-foot-11 and 205 pounds, Bennett is a viable goal-line back, as fans saw when he punched in a touchdown run against Youngstown State in the opener.

But I believe that Shell should not sit behind anyone.

At 6-foot and 215 pounds, he is just about the same size as NFL star Adrian Peterson.

But it’s not just about how big he is, even though Shell is stronger and larger than most linebackers. Just look at his runs last Saturday.

Shell broke through the defensive front seven more often than not — a testament to the much-maligned offensive line as well — and consistently broke tackles to turn three-yard gains into eight- or nine-yard gains.

And those gains will likely go for more yardage against a lot of Big East opponents who won’t be as talented as Virginia Tech.

Sure, Shell did not score any touchdowns. But he was the primary back on the drive that clinched the game for Pitt in the fourth quarter — a drive that ate almost eight minutes off the game clock and tore up 88 yards over 15 plays, ending with a six-yard touchdown toss from quarterback Tino Sunseri to wide receiver Mike Shanahan.

Of the 88 yards, Shell ran for 51 and caught a pass from Sunseri that resulted in a 10-yard gain, making him the driving force of a series that put the nail in the proverbial Hokie coffin.

Among the 51 rushing yards was an awe-inspiring 29-yard exhibition of what every coach wants in a running back: the near-perfect melding of speed and power. Shell ran over and through multiple defenders until he was forced out of bounds.

Shell was a man among boys on Saturday. More often than not, it took four or more Hokie defenders to bring him to the turf.

So for the rest of this season, I want more Shell. And I want it to start against Gardner-Webb.

Chryst said himself that the Virginia Tech game was not a test for the future, but a test for now. If that’s the case, play for now.

Start Rushel Shell.