Were Panthers lacking in talent in 2012?

ESPN is wound down its top 25 players in the Big East for 2012. No. 1 was revealed this week and to little surprise, it was Louisville's Teddy Bridgewater. So with that said, here's the final tally of top 25 players for each team in 2012:

Louisville - 5

Syracuse - 5

Rutgers -3

Cincinnati - 3

UConn - 3

Temple - 3

Pitt - 3

South Florida - 0

I've got Pitt slotted in next to last place even though technically they tied for third with several other teams. The problem for Pitt, though, was that they ranked last among that group in terms of their highest ranked player. Pitt's Ray Graham was their highest player at No. 15 - everyone else had at least one player in the top ten.

Were the Panthers actually a bit light on talent this year? I'd say so. You could make an argument that Tino Sunseri or Mike Shanahan should have made this list, but their omissions aren't shocking. Only two quarterbacks got on the list and both of those, Teddy Bridgewater and Ryan Nassib, rightfully should have been listed above Sunseri. Another that I'd maybe make a case for is Jason Hendricks, who led the conference in interceptions. But, you just can't fit everyone in.

Pitt just didn't have a lot of playmakers this season and it's hard to argue they should have had more players listed. The good news is that Pitt has a boatload of talent ahead of them. I've said it before, but I don't think Pitt will take a significant step ahead next season. But in 2014, the Panthers should be ready to rock and roll.

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