FSU football: How Mycah Pittman differs from Andrew Parchment

FSU football received some exciting news late Sunday night when Oregon wide receiver Mycah Pittman announced intentions to transfer to the Noles.

FSU fans who follow recruiting know the Noles failed to sign a wide receiver in the Early Signing Period, and the staff would be busy in the transfer portal for the position.

The relationship between Pittman and FSU began before the Early Signing Period, with former FSU offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham personally recruiting Pittman, visiting him on the west coast a couple of times.

Pittman visited Tallahassee the first weekend in December and got to see how Mike Norvell would use him in the FSU offense.

Pittman decided to leave Oregon because the head coach, Mario Cristobal, didn’t provide many opportunities in the passing game.

Now, Pittman will get to show Cristobal what he can do since he’s the head coach at Miami, an arch-rival of the Noles who play every year.

FSU coaches took to the transfer portal last season in hopes of bolstering the wide receiver position. They signed former Kansas wide receiver Andrew Parchment, who was brought in to be the No. 1 guy.

Parchment showed a couple of flashes, none brighter than the 4th and 14 reception against Miami for the eventual game-winning touchdown. However, his season overall was a disappointment, so I wanted to discuss some differences between Parchment and Pittman. One obvious difference is Pittman was a top 100 player coming out of high school.

Physical and Strong Hands

One of the first things that stick out when I watch Mycah Pittman’s film is his build and hands. He checks in at a compact 5’10” and 205 pounds and seems to catch everything in his vicinity with strong hands.

Although he’s not the biggest guy, I rarely saw him lose 50/50 balls, and he usually got yards after the catch. It’s not a slight to Parchment, but he wasn’t the biggest receiver and was inconsistent when a play depended on him to win a one-on-one matchup.

If you watched the video on why Pittman left Oregon, you can tell he has the mindset of wanting to be the guy to make a play.

Pittman isn’t a burner, and he’s more quick than fast. However, he’s the type of player that can use his strength and quickness to win a battle off the line of scrimmage. It’s why you see him making catches over the middle in traffic or wide open because his route was fairly clean. Pittman can be effective in the screen game as well. That versatility will be something that can help keep defenses off balance.

Punt Returner

Another major difference between Pittman and Parchment is Pittman can return punts. FSU is effectively killing two birds with one stone because they have needs at wide receiver and punt returner.

The Noles were among one of the worst punt return units in the nation, averaging fewer than five yards per return. Heck, they allowed too many balls to hit the ground and lost a ton of yardage from balls rolling forever because they were afraid to catch the ball. FSU only returned 17 punts for 71 yards last season.

If they did catch the ball, they’d often fair catch the ball with no threat of a return, despite having some room to work with at times. Pittman has 15 punt returns for 151 yards(10.07 yards per return average).

The Noles have not averaged 10+ yards per punt return since the 2018 season (DJ Matthews). If Pittman isn’t the receiving threat we all hope he’ll be in 2022, he can at least become a difference-maker at punt return and help give the Noles better field position. Here’s why I believe he’ll be more of a difference-maker.

Spring Enrollee and Two Years Eligibility

I’ve written about it several times, but Andrew Parchment not enrolling in the spring was something I had concerns about last year. He also only had one year of eligibility remaining.

The difference with Pittman is he should be a spring enrollee and has two years of eligibility left. Pittman enrolling in the spring will allow him to experience FSU’s spring practice while getting some valuable reps with the team and their quarterbacks.

That rapport will continue through the summer with player-led workouts, and more reps will take place in fall camp. That’s a lot different than what Parchment experienced last year.

He was essentially learning the offense on the fly, not to mention the QB carousel the Noles had going on in the first few games.

Mycah Pittman is a good take for the coaches because he checks a lot of boxes. Pittman brings experience, is physically ready to play, is a spring enrollee, and is someone who can contribute in more than one way.

He’s the third transfer portal player for this recruiting cycle, and I’d anticipate the Noles targeting at least one more wide receiver from the portal. Despite the disadvantage of not enrolling in the spring and issues at the quarterback position early in the year, Parchment still had 24 receptions for 350 yards and two touchdowns.  Knowing that, I think it’s possible to expect Pittman to have even better numbers