Definitely a light day for news.

Joe Clermond gets a piece about his rise, fall and rise again in the depth chart.

Pitt defensive end Joe Clermond was one of the most impressive players in the spring, so good that he had nailed down a starting job before spring drills wrapped up.

As the season began, however, Clermond, a 6-foot-2, 250-pound redshirt sophomore from Tampa, Fla., found himself in a spot he never imagined he would be in — looking like he would be Pitt’s best defensive lineman.

“I was on the scout team when the season began,” said Clermond, who recently has worked his way back into the Panthers’ pass rush with a bit of a spark off the bench. “I had some injuries and things, and I didn’t play as well at training camp as coaches know I can so it was sort of a setback when I fell out of the starting job then fell down to the point where I wasn’t even playing.”

Pitt defensive ends coach Charlie Partridge said that Clermond’s injuries, most of which were minor in nature, slowed his progress some but weren’t the only things holding him back. He said Clermond also never seemed to reach the same level of focus and intensity he had in the spring, and as a result he wasn’t very productive during the summer.

That changed, however, once coaches got his attention by demoting him and making him work his way back into the lineup. Partridge said the way Clermond has handled the situation and worked his way off the scout team is impressive because he could have quit along the way.

Clermond is now in the defensive end rotation, and has moved ahead of Gus Mustakas on the depth chart so he is now the back-up to Charles Sallet.

Coach Wannstedt hasn’t officially named a starting tailback for the game. In fact, he held Kirkley, Jennings and Stephens-Howling out of practice yesterday to give them more recovery from injuries that have kept them out of games at times during the season.

Punter Adam Graessle has a sore quadriceps from an injury in practice last week. He’ll still be in to punt against Louisville but Josh Cummings will handle the kickoffs.

Over on the Louisville side, their big play receiver Mario Urrutia will likely miss the game with a knee injury. He only has 25 catches but has averaged over 96 yards per game. Louisville has one of the best offenses in the country, but this will slow their ability to stretch the field. It may let Pitt play closer to the line to help try and contain tailback Michael Bush (I hope).

The sack leader in the country, Louisville DE Elvis Dumervil gets a story.

Dumervil has a Big East-record 19 sacks this season, which puts him just six shy of breaking the NCAA mark set in 2002 by Terrell Suggs of Arizona State. Dumervil is riding a nine-game sack streak, the longest in NCAA history.
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When told that Pitt has allowed more sacks this year than any other team in the Big East, Dumervil laughed again.

“I didn’t know that. Thanks.”

Pitt (4-4, 3-1) has given up 25 sacks, which is only four fewer than Louisville, Rutgers and South Florida — combined. The Panthers yield an average of 3.13 sacks per game, which ranks 97th among the 117 Division I-A teams.

Louisville (5-2, 1-2) ranks second in the country with 33 sacks, positioned between Nebraska (38) and Ohio State (31).

Eighteen of Dumervil’s meet-and-greets with opposing quarterbacks have been solo acts. It’s safe to say he will be the 2005 college sack champ; his closest competitor, Willie Evans of Mississippi State, has 8 1/2 sacks.
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Dumervil (6-feet, 251 pounds) beats linemen with his great leverage and freakishly long arms. With an uncanny knack for timing the snap, he almost always gets the first-step advantage.

“It starts with the get-off,” Dumervil said. “You’ve got to be able to come off the ball fast. When you can do that, a lot of things can happen. I just try to speed rush to the outside, and then counter (the blocker’s moves) from there.”

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said Dumervil will be the best defensive end the Panthers will face this year.

“He gets a great jump off the ball,” said Wannstedt. “Half the time, it looks like he’s offsides. But that’s what all the great pass rushers have, and I’ve been around some of the greatest ones who’ve ever played the game — Too Tall Jones, Richard Dent, Jason Taylor.”

Yeep.

Hopefully a copy of this article has been placed in every Pitt offensive lineman’s locker.