Some more offseason prediction stuff is continuing to make its way out there. This week, Phil Steele released his All-conference teams for next year.
As expected, several Pitt players made the teams. Wide receiver Tyler Boyd, as you might expect, was slotted the highest, and was the only Panther to make the All-Conference's Second Team. James Conner and Matt Rotheram both made the Third Team. Linebacker Anthony Gonzalez made the Fourth Team.
Yes, there are really four teams.
You can make a decent argument that Boyd got snubbed from the first team since it included three wide receivers and he is the second leading receiver in terms of yardage from last year. Louisville's DeVante Parker ate up a spot as the Cardinals come into the ACC next season, but Boyd still could have been included there. Other than that, not too many surprises on offense.
The other interesting thing here, too, is that Gonzalez is the lone defense representative. ESPN recently projected Pitt's defense to be ahead of their offense and at the time, I said that was pretty hard to believe. Steele's picks are a lot of speculation, but it just goes to show that I'm not the only one to think the defense could be lackluster. I think there will turn out to be some players there, but the unit as a whole just looks down with all of the losses of guys like Aaron Donald, K'Waun Williams, Jason Hendricks, and Shane Gordon.
The biggest snub just may actually be Todd Thomas. He's had some ups and downs over his career, but he just makes plays. If I'm picking a top defensive player for next year, it might be him.
Kicker Chris Blewitt may have been another snub. Blewitt wasn't named to any of the four teams despite a solid year as a true freshman and making the fourth team was Syracuse's Ross Krautman, who missed most of last year with an injury and was wildly inconsistent as a junior, making only 15-23 attempts.
So we're talking about kickers making the All-Conference Fourth Team. Yep, time to go.
Before we do, what snubs do you see?
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