Gene Collier worries that while Pitt has an offensive philosophy, the team isn’t actually ready to do what it says it wants to do.

A run-the-ball philosophy is to be applauded, it says here, but you can’t beat Notre Dame with philosophy majors. You need a top-grade stud to tote the bladder, just as you need an accomplished, cohesive offensive line to clear some stud space.

For the moment, Pitt has neither.

“The bad situation,” Wannstedt was saying the other day, “is that I don’t know who the starter is. We’ll give [senior fullback Tim] Murphy a shot to be the tailback, and as for [freshman Conredge] Collins, is he a tailback or is he a fullback? Miami and Florida were recruiting him as a fullback.”

Wannstedt’s looking for a featured tailback and already has said he’s pretty much “a one-back guy,” so the next three weeks ought to be fairly manic on the South Side. Collins is the freshman out of Florida Wannstedt had to promise a shot at tailback just to win the feverish recruiting war, and it wouldn’t surprise anyone if the son of former New England running back Tony Collins becomes the focus of Wannstedt’s first Pitt star search.
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Not that things are a whole lot more stable up front.

“On the o-line, I think Simo [redshirt junior John Simonitis] is the one guy who’ll be at the same spot,” Wannstedt said. “Dominic Williams is at guard and Spence [senior Charles Spencer] has been moved out to tackle. We’re juggling people, trying to put players in the position to give us the best chance to win and to give them the best chance to be successful.”

What I find interesting/amusing about the column is the way Collier’s own favorites for tailback are in the piece. He likes Marcus Furman and LaRod Stephens. Rashad Jennings isn’t mentioned, despite being at the top of the pre-season depth chart after spring practices. Mason gets nary a mention (and he was something of a favorite of Paul Zeise last season). I have my bias towards Murphy.

I guess that’s the fun when the job is so wide open. Everyone gets to project their own favorite in the position, and then second guess the coach if he doesn’t make the “right” choice.

Strength and Conditioning Coach Mike Kent gets a piece today about the work he’s done to get the players leaner and faster.

Kent said he and Wannstedt agreed that many of the offensive linemen and some of the defensive linemen were too heavy. But it wasn’t just linemen — every player on the team was asked to either lose weight or decrease their body fat.

So far, the offseason program seems to have been a success as the Panthers have a number of players who are already performing at a higher level than in the past. A prime example is defensive tackle Corey Davis, who has lost about 40 pounds and dropped his body fat by nearly 5 percent since January. In the meantime, he has actually increased his strength and the results have been easy to see by his play in training camp.
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“But we had receivers who may have gained weight but actually dropped their percentage of body fat. All of it is with the idea of putting a quicker, speedier team on the field.

“I think the one thing that seems to get lost is that the kids are making it happen. The kids should be commended for their commitment and for buying into the program and for taking responsibility and doing their part during the offseason.

“The thing I tell them now is ‘let’s make sure we put all that hard work to good use on Saturday’s.

“Let’s make sure that you get rewarded for all of that hard work.’ “

Kent, along with his assistant Darren Honeycutt, have earned rave reviews from the rest of the coaching staff. They emphasized that all of the weight loss and body fat reduction was done in a safe, structured way over a period of eight months. Players who lost 30 pounds, did so gradually and did so while they were maintaining or increasing their strength in the weight training program.

The other part of the equation, though, will be how healthy the players stay over the course of the season. Pitt actually got through last year with a minimum number of injuries. Considering the overall lack of depth, this remains a concern.

Coach Wannstedt likes to make everyone suffer.

Before the start of yesterday’s practice, coach Dave Wannstedt noticed the two exercise bikes were parked in the shade under a tarp. He ordered them moved onto the fields — under the sun, in the 93-degree heat.

“Nice day to do some bikin’. Blue skies,” Wannstedt said, grinning.

The bikes are there for use by players who are too nicked up to practice. Defensive tackle Thomas Smith spent most of yesterday with his feet on the pedals. Midway through the workout, he was joined by tight end Darrell Strong .

Nothing about why they went to the bikes was disclosed.

Final story on Pitt commit Greg Webster‘s upcoming high school season.