A couple stories on hiring David Walker as RB Coach. I’m sorry, I find myself drooling over a RB coach who has consistently had one of the best rushing attacks in college football the last 5-8 years. Yes, I know lines have a big deal to do with that, but Walker has taken the talent and made it better.

“I think the key is not the system you play in but rather the fundamentals and techniques you teach,” Walker.

“A lot of the things we worked on at Syracuse, I’ll bring to the running backs here. I haven’t yet evaluated the ones we have here, but I will and then I’ll have a better feel for what we need to do.”

Oh, golly. Fundamentals? Technique? Those are two of the things that generally have been lacking in Pitt’s running game. I’m definitely excited. Probably the best position coach signing Wannstedt has made. It gets better:

“The first thing I talk about to young men is I want guys to be three-dimensional. They have to run, block and receive the ball. That’s the goal. We’re going to work real hard on developing those aspects of the game.”

Furman was Pitt’s best receiving RB, Murphy the best North-South runner, and Kirkley was solid blocking. If any could just do 2 of 3 I’d be thrilled.

It’s now official (as much as any verbal can be) for some Pitt recruits. Bryan Williams has recommited to Pitt:

Buchtel coach Claude Brown said Williams’ decision to go to Minnesota didn’t have to do with Harris leaving Pitt. With the coaching change at Pitt, Williams didn’t think Panthers defensive line coach Bob Junko, who recruited Williams, or defensive coordinator Paul Rhodes would be retained.

Wannstedt kept both, though. That was all Williams needed to hear.
…
In Brown’s eight years coaching at Buchtel, he has sent numerous players to Pitt, including Ramon Walker, Deon Hayes, Brandon Hayes, Darrell McMurray, Tim Murphy and Steve Walker. Marlon Terry, a 6-foot-2, 240-pound fullback/linebacker who was Williams’ teammate this past season, committed to play at Pitt before the season.

Williams, who was a Division III first-team all-state performer, rushed for 1,831 yards and 26 touchdowns for the Griffins last season and was a first-team All-Beacon Journal defensive back after leading Buchtel with six interceptions.

And of course Shane Murray at Central Catholic has made his verbal as a QB (for the time being)

He chose the Panthers over Connecticut, Hofstra and Richmond and also was receiving from Georgia Tech, Syracuse and the U.S. Naval Academy.

“I always grew up a Pitt fan – it’s the place to be,” Murray said. “Coach Wannstedt coming in and recruiting Western Pennsylvania players first, that shows how much he’s committed to his hometown. He’s not passing up WPIAL players.”
…
“Shane isn’t just a good pocket passer; he throws well on the run and his decision-making was really spectacular,” Central coach Art Walker Jr. said. “He has the ability to run and his arm is a lot stronger than people think.”

For that reason, Murray has drawn comparisons to Palko.

“That would be great, because Tyler plays with intensity,” Murray said. “He never takes a play off. He only cares about his team and cares about winning. I feel like I’m the spitting image, but a lot skinnier.”

Like Palko, Murray also started at safety, recording 66 tackles, five interceptions and two fumble recoveries. He was named to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Terrific 25 and All-Class AAAA teams, and was an Associated Press first-team Class AAAA all-state pick at defensive back.

Pitt addressed a need by recruiting Murray as a quarterback, where the only other scholarship player besides Palko was backup Joe Flacco.

“When Pitt recruited me as a quarterback, it showed me they have confidence in me,” Murray said. “Even so, if they told me they needed me to play defensive back, I’d do that in a heartbeat. If you get on that field, that’s all that matters.”

Maybe he stays at QB, maybe he changes position like Darrelle Strong did. The kid is an athlete and a football player, and he wants to play. Seems to be worth taking a shot on developing him somewhere.

Finally, the big story, a Q&A with Head Coach Dave Wannstedt. It probably doesn’t need saying, but it is the must read of the day. I’m not even going to excerpt anything. Too much stuff each reader will want to focus on. Suffice to say, even in a Q&A the enthusiasm and excitement he is generating and bringing comes through. I guess, if anything it makes me a little nervous to find myself so easily and happily ready to drink the kool-aid (Yes, part of it is “I want to believe“). I’ll have to work on my cynicism. Tomorrow. I promise.

Plenty to write about in this game. Plenty good and plenty bad. The overriding issue, though, is that Pitt got a win they desperately needed. I’ll have more later when the full stats are out.

Some quick thoughts:

1. Ramon made his case not just for more minutes, but starter’s minutes.
2. Demetris might have played himself out of starting by falling down against Shields on the final shot of the second half. He’s in there for defense and being a smart player. If he can’t do that, he brings nothing else.
3. Rutgers had a disciplined game plan to deal with Krauser. The RU announcers said that the Scarlet Knights had practiced all week on taking charges when Krauser would drive. And it showed. Krauser got called for 3 of his 4 fouls on the offensive side. Took Krauser completely out of his game.
4. Troutman and Taft asserted themselves much more in this game. A clear effort to make sure the ball got inside was part of the game plan.

More on the b-ball later.

Lot to do this morning to get the time-block necessary to listen to the game on the internet (I just missed being able to order the game on TV, at a store with my wife if she had taken 5 more minutes it would have allowed me to get the game as a reward). Anyways, quick summary of stories today:

Pitt has been getting off to bad starts. Digging holes they have to climb out of, just to get to a tie game. The last time Pitt lost 3 games in a row was February 2001.

The perimeter defense has to be a priority:

An area of concern has been the Panthers’ perimeter defense, which is nowhere close to what it was when Julius Page and Jaron Brown were still with the team. The Panthers – led by Carl Krauser, Yuri Demetris, Ronald Ramon and Graves on the perimeter — watched Georgetown go 6 for 6 on 3-pointers at the outset of Wednesday night’s game, and allowed Bucknell to go 7 of 18 from beyond the arc last Sunday. Rutgers is hitting at a 36 percent clip from long range.

Moreover, Pitt’s past three opponents have shot better than 50 percent from the field. That happened only once last season, when Miami connected on 50.8 percent of its shots in a double-overtime victory for the Panthers.

“I just think we’re being overly aggressive on defense right now, not staying with our man as long as we should,” Graves said. “It’s something we’ll correct. It’s going to start in this game. We know how to play defense, we just have to get it together.”

At least they know they need this game:

There has been no chest-thumping for these Panthers of late, no in-your-face domination, no nothing during an uncharacteristic two-game swoon, which hasn’t happened in three years.

“We need to get it together,” sophomore center Chris Taft said.
…
“This game is big,” sophomore guard Antonio Graves said. “We need to get this win on the road, then come back home and keep it going. We know how important this game is.”

As for Rutgers, some are looking at home losses by Pitt and UConn to open BE play and wondering if Rutgers might not be able to make some noise. Of course, as much as Pitt has had a stellar homecourt advantage, so as Rutgers at the RAC, except where Pitt is concerned.

Rutgers, 6-4 overall and freshened by a week off, has generally held its own against Big East teams at home, however.

All except Pittsburgh. The Panthers are the only Big East team that Waters, now in his fourth season, has yet to beat.

Keep it going. It will be a wild crowd as the new semester begins for the students. And the players seem to be talking a little:

The Rutgers forward listened to the rave over Chevon Troutman and Chris Taft’s size. He heard the admiration of their muscles and the speculation that Pitt’s two big men could be tougher than any other pair in the league. But the blather that the two would even look frightening on the Panthers’ football field? That, Joynes said, was enough.

“Hey, we lift weights, too,” the 6-foot-9, 265-pound [Rutgers Forward Byron] Joynes said, showing no signs of the merry smile he usually wears. “We may not look as good, but we’re big. We’re strong.”

He was insulted by the suggestion that injured Adrian Hill was Rutgers’ best elbow-thrower (“I throw tough elbows,” he said). And he was even more affronted by the proposal that the thickly built, tightly wound 6-7 Troutman and 6-10 Taft would go straight at Rutgers’ inexperienced interior.

The sophomore Joynes sure picked a prime time to be peeved. No. 16 Pittsburgh’s in town today, coming off two straight losses for the first time in three years, its big men surely looking to dish out some punishment – as they do anyway.

“They try to punk you,” Joynes said, nodding his head. “They’re very physical and very tough and so they try to out-tough you.”

Playing tough themselves, and laying the first hit, is all Rutgers (6-4) coach Gary Waters has talked about to his own big men this week. Keep Pitt (10-2) out of the lane and off the boards. Put a body on every big man. Go at the basket every time a shot goes up. When there, attack the rim.

“We have to make them go over our backs,” Joynes said, stressing first the “them” and then the “our.” He’s being particular there for good cause – that’s the type of foul Waters calls “cheap” and the type Joynes has an exasperating penchant for getting tagged with.

Just a few minutes now.