If you’re a wide receiver and you insist on running past opposing players like they’re fence posts …
If you get your kicks wrestling the football from a cornerback, turning and running into the end zone to clinch a championship …
If you must make 166 catches at more than 14 yards per pop and score 22 touchdowns over two seasons …
If all that’s true and you also won the Biletnikoff Trophy as the nation’s best wide receiver, you’ll have to accept the fact that people will notice you and, perhaps, treat you a little different.
Which is just fine with Pitt rising junior Jordan Addison, who might be the most recognizable player on the team. He’s already sealed a name, image and likeness deal with the local car dealer Power of Bowser.
excited to announce my partnership with @bowserauto this year! #powerofbowser pic.twitter.com/Za5wIhFATj
— Jordan Addison (@Espn_Jordan) January 19, 2022
“Walking on campus, a lot more people know my face now,” he said after the second day of spring drills. “That’s always a good thing.”
He also has had no trouble adjusting to seeing people wearing his No. 3 jersey around town.
“This has been my dream since I was a young kid. Seeing that amazes me sometimes that I’m living it. Personally, I see everyone in my family looking up to me a little bit. I have to keep my head on my shoulders, stay focused.”
The upcoming season will be one of transition for Addison on many levels.
• He won’t have Heisman Trophy finalist Kenny Pickett throwing him the football for the first time in his three seasons at Pitt.
• There also will be a new offensive coordinator (Frank Cignetti Jr.) finding ways to get him open, hopefully as often as Mark Whipple did. “He has a lot of knowledge,” Addison said of Cignetti. “He’s a detailed guy. I feel like it has to be that way.”
• Former wide receivers coach Brennan Marion is gone, replaced by Tiquan Underwood, Pitt’s third position coach since 2020. Underwood will be critiquing Addison’s route running and counting his drops. “I try not to really think about it in a negative way,” he said of changing coaches every year. “I got three great coaches I can learn from. I keep it with a positive mindset.”
• Perhaps defenses that were double-teaming him last season will step up that endeavor in 2022.
Addison knows only one way to overcome any hurdle placed in front of him.
“You have to put in the work,” he said. “I know God has some plan for me so I have to stay humble, make sure I’m doing everything off the field, getting my work together, taking it one step at a time and it will fall into place.”
The goal is not to score a title-clinching touchdown — such as he did by winning a contested catch with Virginia cornerback Darrius Bratton — or catch another 100 passes, his 2021 total.
The goal: “Being better than last season,” he said. “That’s really the main goal. Be better than you were yesterday.”
That sounds like a lofty aspiration after Pitt won the ACC championship and 11 games for the first time in 40 years.
“We rise to the expectations,” he said.
One of the themes of spring ball is to forget about 2021 and not lean on those laurels. It was a memorable season, but Addison said it’s not difficult to set it aside.
“I wouldn’t say it’s hard because we’re all looking forward to another season,” he said. “We’re trying to go out there and do, if not the same thing, better.”
Yet, there is one bit of unfinished business. He’ll be the guest of honor Saturday night at the 28th annual Biletnikoff Award Celebration and Presentation in Tallahassee, Fla.
The trophy is said to be heavy, but Addison is ready for that challenge, too.
“I’ll have to do my (weightlifting) curls,” he said.
Jerry DiPaola is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jerry by email at jdipaola@triblive.com or via Twitter .
"accept" - Google News
March 03, 2022 at 06:17AM
https://ift.tt/whOD3JE
Pitt's Jordan Addison eager to accept increased expectations - TribLIVE
"accept" - Google News
https://ift.tt/Y6tIBjz
https://ift.tt/kI7FlpC
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Pitt's Jordan Addison eager to accept increased expectations - TribLIVE"
Post a Comment