Two seniors to miss Pitt's game at FSU
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Two Pitt seniors will not be available for today’s game at Florida State due to various reasons, sources told Panther-Lair.com.
Senior cornerback Jason Pinnock is suspended for the game, while redshirt senior receiver Taysir Mack did not make the trip to Tallahassee due to health reasons.
Pinnock, a senior from Connecticut, has started every game this season and made nine starts over the previous two seasons. Through seven games in 2020, he has recorded 14 tackles, two pass breakups and one interception.
According to Pro Football Focus, Pinnock has allowed just 11 receptions on 33 targets this season, but those 11 catches have produced a team-high five touchdowns.
In Pinnock’s play, sophomore A.J. Woods is likely to draw a starting assignment opposite redshirt sophomore Marquis Williams. Woods started the season opener against Austin Peay and logged 33 snaps that day, but he played just five snaps over the next four games.
As the coaching staff looked to get more rotation at cornerback, Woods found his way back to the field and has played 102 snaps at corner in the last two games, including 62 against Notre Dame. In coverage over those two games, he has been targeted once and did not allow a reception.
Pinnock’s suspension is the second blow to Pitt’s secondary this week following Monday’s news that redshirt junior safety Paris Ford had decided to leave the team. Ford will be replaced at boundary safety by redshirt freshman Brandon Hill, leaving Pitt’s previously-veteran defensive backfield with two second-year players projected to start this week.
Mack missed the first two games of the season due to injury but has been targeted 40 times in the five games since then. He has caught 17 of those 40 passes for 248 yards and two touchdowns, and Pro Football Focus has him charged with four dropped passes.
On the season, Mack is Pitt’s fourth-leading receiver in catches and yards behind freshman Jordan Addison, grad transfer DJ Turner and junior Shocky Jacques-Louis.