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Paul Chryst had his weekly press conference on Monday (we'll have the top ten tomorrow) and in it, he identified some freshmen he intends to use.
I know everyone has been asking about the freshmen. Avonte Maddox is going to play, Patrick Amara is going to play, Quintin Wirginis is going to play and Chris James will play. We have a handful of guys we are going to make sure are ready that’ll have a little bit of a wait-and-see. That is Qadree Ollison, Alex Bookser, Adam Bertke and Adonis Jennings.
I'm a little surprised that Chryst was this candid here, naming names so early on. Maddox, Wirginis, James, and even Blair, playing weren't huge surprises. Still, to see Chryst sort out his freshmen (the ones that will play vs. the ones that will have a chance to play) this clearly isn't something I was expecting.
The big news here, obviously, is that Jennings is on the 'wait and see' list. Jennings, a four-star recruit, was a guy that I thought could even challenge for a starting spot this year when he committed. Manasseh Garner moving from tight end to wide receiver is something that ended that pretty quickly, though. Jennings also missed some time in training camp due to injury and that put him behind as well.
Even with the injury, however, I still fully expected him to get onto the field this year. Pitt has some depth at wide receiver, but as a four-star recruit, Jennings adds potential star power to a group of lower-mid rated guys with the exception of Boyd.
Chryst didn't say that Jennings won't play, but the fact that it's up in the air wasn't something I thought would happen.
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