Pitt's Andrew Taglianetti taking backup role in stride

When it was announced that Andrew Taglianetti would be a starter for Pitt's game against Youngstown State instead of of Jarred Holley, I admitted to being a bit taken aback. By all indications, Jarred Holley was the one guy that was a lock to start and had all of the preseason recognition after a good season last year.

But we all know what happened after that. Pitt went down in flames and Holley later became the starter. Tags spoke recently about heading back to the bench:

“It’s no biggie,” Taglianetti said of his reserve role. “Coming into camp, I knew there were going to be two safeties who weren’t going to play that much.

“Do I wish I was out there? Yeah, but it’s nothing I’m going to dwell on. I am still going to try to (excel) on special teams.”

Obviously it's what you want to hear from him and as Bryan wrote about earlier this year, he just seems to be a great kid.

But that special teams thing is really true as well. He already holds the school record for blocked punts and has an outside look at the national record if Pitt decided to go all Frank Beamer and get really serious about trying for more of them.

His impact is bigger than just in the secondary and he's had more than a solid career.

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