Football Preview: Several incoming Panthers may get playing time this season

Head coach Paul Chryst’s first recruiting class was a mix of players who were recruited by…

Running back Rushel Shell was the highest rated freshman in last season’s recruiting class.

Luv Purohit, Assistant Visual Editor

Head coach Paul Chryst’s first recruiting class was a mix of players who were recruited by Todd Graham and several players that Chryst identified as needs for his team.

Now that they’re all in Pittsburgh, several freshmen have stood out to Chryst as valuable enough to see the field early in their careers.

Chryst believes in redshirting a majority of his freshmen, so expect to see plenty of Panthers in that position this year. Former coaches Dave Wannstedt and Graham both frustrated fans by redshirting only a few players.

While Chryst would like to fill his entire roster two-deep with upperclassmen, these six players have proven valuable at training camp, and will likely be influential on the field for the Panthers this season.

J.P. Holtz, tight end

Holtz, once a Penn State commit, performed well at camp and positioned himself as the third tight end behind senior Hubie Graham and sophomore Drew Carswell.

Chryst successfully coached several tight ends at Wisconsin and likes to use three tight ends in some formations. Holtz, a graduate of nearby Shaler High School, should see significant playing time in run situations, replacing Carswell because of his superior blocking skills.

Don’t be surprised if the 6-foot-4, 245-pound freshman catches a few touchdown passes this year.

Darryl Render, defensive tackle

Render has been getting the majority of the second-team reps at defensive tackle in training camp, working behind the talented upperclassmen.

Although Render has very little chance of breaking the starting lineup of the “War Daddies,” a nickname members of the defensive line have given themselves, he should provide quality depth to a defensive line needing just that. Render, who can learn a lot from star junior defensive tackle Aaron Donald, will give the starters a breather during games and could get significant playing time if one of the interior linemen goes down with an injury.

Bam Bradley, linebacker

Bradley has a problem similar to Render’s: the upperclassmen ahead of him are extremely talented. In his case, there are four safeties who all would be starters for a lot of schools across the country.

The freshman has stood out in training camp as a hard hitter. Due to a stacked secondary and Bradley’s good playing, the coaches moved him to linebacker.

At 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds, he was an oversized safety. The linebacking corps has several injuries, and Bradley has seen plenty of second-team reps since making the move. With Todd Thomas and Eric Williams out with injuries, the job as one of the starting outside linebackers is wide open.

If he keeps up his hard-hitting style and continues playing with a nose for the ball, Bradley will find himself useful to Chryst on special teams. He could even see some playing time with the defense.

Adam Bisnowaty and Gabe Roberts, offensive linemen

The two freshmen have been getting the majority of second-team reps at left tackle and guard, respectively, since camp began in early August.

Many thought it was a move to light a fire under some of last year’s underperforming linemen, but Bisnowaty and Roberts seem to have earned their spots in the two-deep depth chart.

Not many offensive linemen are ready to start as freshmen, but an injury could force one of these two into action. The future of the offensive line looks bright with these freshmen stepping in and getting valuable experience early in their careers.

Chad Voytik, quarterback

When Voytik signed with the Panthers, he became the highest-rated quarterback to commit to Pitt since Rivals.com started ranking high school seniors in 2002. As the top player in Tennessee, the fourth-best pro-style quarterback and the 109th best player in the nation in his recruiting class, many Pitt fans have put a huge burden on the freshman to be great from day one.

But for much of training camp, Voytik has done what most freshman quarterbacks do: struggle. The change of speed from the high school game to the college game has led to many interceptions and is forcing him into throws he’s uncomfortable with. He’s learning as quickly as he can, but Chryst’s playbook is much more complex than a high school playbook.Pitt’s quarterback depth chart isn’t too competitive. Redshirt senior Tino Sunseri will be the starter, transfer Tom Savage won’t be eligible until next season, four-star recruit Mark Myers chose to transfer out of Pitt before camp started and former walk-on Trey Anderson — Voytik’s only competition for the backup job — has been inconsistent during much of training camp, where he also sustained an injury.

It would probably be beneficial for Voytik to sit out this year to learn and adapt to college football, but it appears that he will be the backup quarterback — ready or not.

Voytik’s high school career has already gained him a following of Pitt fans hoping to see the freshman replace Sunseri, but they should probably hope instead that Sunseri has a solid, healthy year so that the freshman isn’t thrown into the fire too early in his career.

Status of other highly ranked freshmen

The only player ranked higher than Voytik is running back Rushel Shell, who concluded his prep career as Pennsylvania’s all-time high school leader in rushing yards and had offers from elite football schools across the country, including Alabama, Oregon and Ohio State.

Although he is still expected to become a star player down the road for the Panthers, it doesn’t appear that Shell will see much of the field in 2012 due to Pitt’s depth at running back. With potential All-American Ray Graham coming back from injury and sophomore Isaac Bennett stepping up, Shell is locked in a battle with redshirt freshman Malcolm Crockett and sophomore Corey Davis for third string, and he seems to be losing that race.

So don’t be surprised if Shell redshirts this year.

The Panthers’ most exciting defense recruit in 2012, Deaysean Rippy, committed to Pitt on National Letter of Intent Day as a four-star rated player, according to Rivals.com. Despite being a highly recruited linebacker, Rippy started training camp at safety. Recently, he has been working at linebacker again, where he received some second-team reps in camp.

But until Rippy finds a permanent position, it’s likely that he won’t see the field much.

For various reasons, these two highly anticipated players probably won’t make a significant impact in 2012, but the other six freshmen could play huge roles in the Panthers’ season.