High school coach’s memories of Pitt wide receiver Bub Means go beyond football
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Edgar Carson knows what Pitt wide receiver Jerrod “Bub” Means can do on a football field.
While at Lovejoy High School, which competes in Georgia’s second-highest classification, he played cornerback, safety, wide receiver and even wildcat quarterback.
“Heck of a player, great student,” said Carson, the coach at Lovejoy. “Very explosive. I’ve seen him blow right by a lot of people. Leader, worked hard. I could go on and on.
“After practice every day, they would get extra work, he and Dayton Wade (now at wide receiver at Ole Miss). Those two guys got a lot of work after practice.”
But those are just memories limited in context to football. What meant more to Carson was the day he sat in his parents’ living room after his brother had died in an accident. Looking up, he saw Means and some teammates coming to the door.
“They drove over an hour to come see me at my parents’ (house),” Carson said. “Things like that go a long way, little bit more than football, outstanding character.”
Perhaps Carson’s second-most indelible memory of Means is a game in 2018 against rival Mundys Mill, senior year.
With the score tied at halftime, Carson walked into the locker room and told his offensive coordinator he wanted to move Means to wildcat quarterback.
“Coach wanted to wait,” Carson said. “I said, ‘Coach, we’re not going to wait. We’re going to put him in right after halftime.’
“We put him at wildcat, and that blew the game (open). He broke some tackles. He was able to outrun (defenders), catch some seams and gaps. He ran all over Mundys Mill, and that was all she wrote. They had no answer for him.”
After amassing nearly 900 yards and 11 touchdown receptions in two seasons, Means had 25 scholarship offers. Carson expected either Northwestern or Rutgers to be his choice, but he chose Tennessee where he played defensive back during the 2019 season before transferring to Louisiana Tech.
Although he couldn’t lure him to Rutgers, wide receivers coach Tiquan Underwood, who now holds the same job at Pitt, developed a relationship with Means.
When Means wanted to transfer from Louisiana Tech after last season, he called Underwood, unaware he no longer was at Rutgers.
“We hit it off the first time. It didn’t work out (at Rutgers),” Means said. “God just had a plan, and we ended up being together now. He’s a player’s coach. One, he’s been where I want to be (Underwood played five seasons in the NFL). And, two, he wants what’s best for all the kids.
“He’s going to teach me to be the best. He’s going to show me how to be a pro.”
At Louisiana Tech last season, Means (6-foot-2, 215 pounds) caught 22 passes for an impressive 430 yards and two touchdowns. In games against Power 5 schools N.C. State and Mississippi State, Means totaled seven for 161 and three scores.
The 2022 plan is for Means, still only a sophomore in eligibility, to assume an important role in Pitt’s reworked passing game that’s missing Biletnikoff Award winner Jordan Addison.
“With him, we were going to be great,” Means said. “Without him, we’re going to be great. Without him, we have to still make plays. As a receiver, I’m big, fast, strong. Give me the ball. I can make plays. I’m a playmaker.”
Count Means among those Pitt players unafraid to think beyond another ACC championship.
“We want to win the ‘natty’ (national championship). That’s the goal. We’re working toward it. I want to be a part of that,” he said.
Meanwhile, he has circled the Tennessee game Sept. 10.
“That’s the real rivalry for me. I take that a little personal,” Means said. “We’re going to put on a show against them. I want to beat them bad.
“That’s going to be a big game, but I have to get to Sept. 1 (the opener against West Virginia) first.”