Steven Walker turned himself in last night (photo on the page). He had apparently been on the run since Friday night. The initial reports said Walker was a member of the Pitt team.

Walker, a three-year starting quarterback at Buchtel, is listed as a defensive back on the 2005 roster at the University of Pittsburgh, according to the athletics department’s Web site.

University officials could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Obviously, it was later corrected that Walker was not on the 2005 roster, and had, in fact been dismissed from the team in December 2004. Presumably, this page was where they pulled that info. It’s a sloppy page. It says 2004 roster (a dumb error by the reporter, especially when the 2005 football media guide doesn’t list him(PDF)), but lists the new coaching staff. If you look now, you will see that Steven Walker is not listed.

That was a rather sloppy scrub job this morning by the Pitt Athletic Department on a couple counts. First, there is the good old, reliable Google Cache to show Walker was listed even yesterday. Second, each player has a weblinked bio. The pages are arranged alphabetically by class. So, on the 2004 roster, Freshman Tyler Tipton was before Walker and Dave Weber was after. If you look at the end portion of the URL for each, you will see a “PLAYER_ID=” and a 4 digit number. For Tipton it is 2447 and Weber is 2449. These numbers had been in simple order, butsuddenlyy 2448 is gone. A check of #2448 now shows an empty bio page (not to mention the cached page confirms the same link). That individual bio page, was where the photo of Walker in his Pitt uni was pulled. Finally, there is still the PDF version of the 2004 roster page.

Maybe now might be a good time to update the roster pages on the top of the football section to reflect 2005.

Still, the damage was done. The TV Reports, like this one from Sunday evening (Windows Media) led with identifying him as a present day Panther.

Walker’s arraignment was this morning, but I haven’t found a report on how he pled or anything else at this point.

More when I can and there is more.

Okay, today’s preview is “Phil Steele’s College Football Preview 2005.” This is part of the Cleveland-based North Coast Sports company. We are talking handicapping, so arguably these people have a better idea of what’s going on. They have money riding on being accurate.

Before I get into the actual review, this developing database on games and teams looks very interesting and promising. Moving further astray, another useful site for those who have a gambling jones or are curious about the claims of handicappers that you hear on advertising on sports talk all the time. Check out Sports-Watch to see how the claims match up with reality.

Actually, this is a rather good preview. Lots of information, details and rankings. Still there are some big question marks in some parts.

He puts Pitt at #27. Aside from the Sporting News preview, this is the lowest pre-season ranking Pitt has received. Pitt is still picked 2nd in the BE, which should tell you what he thinks of the overall strength of the conference. That would also explain why he ranks Pitt’s schedule strength at 82nd.

At the same time, he hedges on their potential because he includes Pitt as one of the potential “surprise teams” (page 22). Interestingly, he repeatedly mentions in his preview that Walt Harris didn’t really want to leave Pitt and that there is a lot of talent on the squad. He even states that a 10-1 record could be very probable (losing to Louisville).

In ranking individual positions he went to varying lengths. There was no set number:

QB — Palko, #9
WR — Lee, #16
TE — Eric Gill, #25
Offensive Guards — John Simonitis, #27
Offensive Tackles — Charles Spencer, #60
Defensive Tackles — Thomas Smith, #59
OLB — Blades, #14
CB — Josh Lay, #19; Darrelle Revis, #34

I was very surprised that Josh Cummings and Adam Graessle didn’t make his lists for kicker and punter, respectively.

In ranking the teams key units he puts the QB position at #12; the WR Corps come in at #17; Defensive Backs are #21; and in a stunner, puts the Special Teams at #27 (Did he not see our kickoff returns, punt returns and coverage last year?).

On the All-Big East teams, he goes 4 squads deep. In a stunner he puts QB Brian Brohm from Louisville on the 1st team and Palko on the 2nd. Most publications have it the other way. Here’s where Pitt players showed up:

1st Team — Lee, WR; Spencer, OT; Smith, DL; Blades, LB; Lay, CB; Cummings, K
2nd Team — Palko, QB; Gill, TE; Simonitis, OG; Revis, CB
3rd Team — Tez Morris, FS; Graessle, P; Furman, KR
4th Team — Corey Davis and Azzie Beagnyam, DL

Obviously, Beagnyam is no longer with the team. I’m still puzzling over having Furman even at 3rd team for Kick Returner.

In the Big East, he considers Pitt to have the second best offense in the BE (Louisville is 1st) and the best defense.

I got nothing right now. Just throwing out an excessively cute photo of my daughter on the campus from a couple weeks ago.

It was either this or more cap-blogging.

I’m glad I don’t believe in omens or portents. There is nothing good about this.

A former University of Pittsburgh football player has been charged with killing a teenager outside a gas station, authorities said.

Steven J. Walker, 19, of Canton, is charged with shooting Michael Cheek, 17, to death on Friday night. A warrant charging Walker with murder was issued Saturday, according to court documents.

Walker had not been arrested Sunday, authorities said. Municipal Judge John A. Poulos set Walker’s bond at $2 million.

Lt. James Cole said Walker and Cheek started arguing inside the station, and a witness said Cheek was trying to get to his car when he was shot. He was unconscious when taken to a hospital and died shortly afterward, authorities said.

Walker was dismissed from the Pittsburgh football program in early December 2004 and has not been a student at the school since then, Panthers spokesman E.J. Borghetti said Sunday. Borghetti would not say why Walker was dismissed from the program.

Before he was dismissed, Walker, a defensive back, was on the team for just over four months and did not play in any games, Borghetti said.

Walker started at quarterback for three seasons at Buchtel High School in Akron.

You hate to be cynical and wondering how it hurts Pitt when a life has been taken.

Still, when the headline screams that it was a Pitt player — Ex-player or not — the thoughts have to turn to it. It doesn’t matter if he was with the team for only one season, never played and most of us have never even heard of him (let alone realized he had been kicked off the team and left school).

I mean when the bright side is: at least he wasn’t associated with Pitt currently, things aren’t good. I’m sure there will be more later.