Pitt’s Boyd a complete terror at WR

IOWA CITY - Lost amid Iowa's double-digit comeback last fall at Pitt, Panthers wide receiver Tyler Boyd put up numbers that deserve a double-take.

Boyd, now a junior, caught 10 passes for 153 yards that day at Heinz Field. With Iowa's C.J. Beathard coming off the bench to lead the Hawkeyes from a 10-point deficit to a 24-20 win, Boyd became a footnote. But entering Saturday's game, Iowa's secondary and coaching staff already has studied the fine print and used a highlighter.

'He's a complete receiver,” Iowa cornerback Greg Mabin said. 'He's big, he's physical, he's fast, he's quick, he runs good routes. He's complete. There's not too many flaws in his game.”

In Pitt receiving annals, there's Larry Fitzgerald, Antonio Bryant and Tyler Boyd. By the end of this season - at least statistically - it should be Boyd, then the others.

Boyd already has ascended up the Pitt career charts in most receiving categories. He's third in career receptions (174), sixth in career receiving yards (2,530) and eighth in all-purpose yards (3,787). He ranks second and third in single-season receptions behind Fitzgerald, and has the fourth- and fifth-best seasons for receiving yards. Boyd scored 15 touchdowns in his first two seasons.

'Just off the top of my head, I thought last year he was as good of a receiver as we've seen since the two guys we saw in the LSU game (Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry), and those guys are pretty good,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. 'To me, he had that kind of talent, ability and smoothness and grace.”

Boyd and Fitzgerald are the only receivers in Pitt history to generate more than 1,000 yards as both a freshman and sophomore. In ACC history, Boyd is the only receiver to do it. For context, Iowa has only four 1,000-yard single-season receivers regardless of class.

But statistics tell only part of the story. Boyd guided small-town Clairton, Pa., to four consecutive state titles and scored 117 touchdowns. At the Big 33 high school all-star game, which pits Pennsylvania against Maryland, Boyd scored four touchdowns and threw for another. In his first three games at Pittsburgh he scored five touchdowns.

Boyd, an all-ACC receiver last year, combines great size (6-foot-2, 200 pounds) with speed, acceleration, leaping ability and toughness. He creates space in traffic with body position and has great hands. At times it appears he's open even when he's covered.

'I just believe I'm the most prepared receiver, the most dominating receiver,” Boyd said. 'I can make a lot of spectacular catches; those other catches to me are to me pretty much normal. I can win on pretty much any route. My routes are smooth, crisp and precise.

'The small things matter the most, the small things will open up separation and space and create a lot of room to make plays and definitely help make me one of the best receivers in the country.”

Boyd has 11 100-yard career receiving games and just missed another last week at Akron with 11 catches for 95 yards in a driving rainstorm. He sat out the season opener after an off-season drunken driving arrest.

'He just was a really gifted player when we played them last year,” Ferentz said. 'He played one game last week, and he looks like the same guy. He's just a really talented player, knows how to get open. He caught, what, 11 balls the other day and they look to him for a good reason. If you have a good player, you get the ball to him. On top of that, he's a good returner. They have got two very dangerous returners and he's one of them.”

Last week before facing Iowa State, Ferentz told reporters rerouting the Cyclones' large, athletic wide receivers was crucial in pass defense. This week, it may be even more vital.

'It's going to take every guy in the secondary, all the linebackers, the D-line, containing the quarterback so he can't scramble and give him that extra time,” Mabin said. 'It's going to take us communicating and helping each other out to contain him as well as the other guys on the team as well.”

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