ESPN College Football

Only two true freshmen made a significant impact on Pittsburgh's nine-win, Sun Bowl team last season.

One was Jonathan Baldwin, the superstar receiver and former can't-miss stud high school prospect. The other was Andrew Taglianetti, whom almost nobody thought was anywhere near ready to play FBS-level football.

Taglianetti proved to be a special-teams demon who blocked three punts and recovered another muffed kick. This season, he'll compete for playing time at safety along with his stellar work on the return and coverage units.

"He's a throwback kind of player," Pitt assistant coach Greg Gattuso said.

In high school, though, most recruiters thought Taglianetti needed to be thrown back into the pile. Despite an outstanding career at Pittsburgh's Central Catholic as a running back, receiver and defensive back, Taglianetti only had offers from Towson State, VMI and Toledo late in his senior year.

The reason? Size matters. Pitt generously lists him at 5-foot-11, and Taglianetti weighed just 168 pounds last summer.

"I can honestly see why some schools weren't recruiting me," he says. "I was smaller. But I've always had the mindset that I could play with anyone. Not in a cocky sense, but just as a personal thing. I feel like I always play with a chip on my shoulder because I played against kids in high school who went to big schools and I just think, 'Hey, what about me?'"

Gattuso readily admits that if Taglianetti had been from another city, Pitt wouldn't have even bothered making a phone call. But Gattuso kept hearing from his good friend Terry Totten, who happened to be Taglianetti's high school coach. Totten pressed Gattuso not to overlook his player.

Then Gattuso put on Taglianetti's highlight tape.

"He was not the prototype of what we're looking for in a defensive back," Gattuso said. "But his highlight film, to this day, is one of the best I've ever seen."

Not only was Taglianetti making huge plays on offense and defense, he was the first one down the field on every kickoff, ready to knock the snot out of somebody. That's the part that caught Dave Wannstedt's eye and finally convinced him to offer a scholarship. On one condition: Taglianetti would have to gray shirt, meaning he'd delay his enrollment to the following January while he put some meat on his bones.

When a couple of recruits failed to make it to campus, though, Taglianetti was told in June that he could come aboard. He still didn't think he would play as a freshman. But he made enough of an impression in the team's first August scrimmage that Wannstedt put him on special teams.

He blocked punts against Iowa, Cincinnati and Notre Dame and was a holy terror on kickoffs against Louisville, spooking Cardinal returners with his big hits.

"I take a lot of pride in it," he said. "Some people are like, 'I just want to play offense or defense.' But if I get to the point where I can start at safety, I don't want to come off special teams. I think it's fun, and you can change the game on special teams a much as you can on defense."

Taglianetti is especially proud of his blocked punt at Notre Dame that set up a Panthers field goal. Pitt went on to win 36-33 in four overtimes. He said the play was designed for him to act as bait for another defender, but a seam opened up and he blocked the kick with his face mask.

Gattuso recalls another play from that game, when Taglianetti got some rare work on defense in the dime package. Notre Dame had thrown a third-down screen pass that looked destined for big yardage, but Taglianetti flew into the picture to knock the receiver out of bounds right in front of a chagrined Charlie Weis. The Irish had to punt.

It's that kind of effort that makes Gattuso think Taglianetti can challenge for playing time at safety, even though the Panthers have talented players there in Dom DeCicco and Elijah Fields.

"He's got great instincts and he hits like a truck," Gattuso said. "I don't even think of him as an overachiever any more because he's running 4.5s and high 4.4s (in the 40-yard dash). No one outworks him and no one outthinks him. He's got all the tools. He's just not 6-1 and 200 pounds."

Taglianetti says he's up to 186 pounds now. And there's no questioning his toughness, because it was passed along in his genes.

His father, Peter, played in the NHL and was a defenseman for the Pittsburgh Penguins' Stanley Cup champion teams in 1991 and 1992. Andrew and his twin brother, Jon, who's a freshman linebacker at Pitt, played hockey growing up before settling on football. They're still big puck-heads; Jon was photographed on the ice with the Penguins when they won the Stanley Cup again in June.

It didn't even seem likely that Andrew Taglianetti would be in the Pittsburgh team photo last year. But no matter his size, the kid stays in the picture.