Well, it seems that Pitt missed on a couple recruits. Both “hurt” for different reasons. Tight End, Andrew Devlin chose UVa this weekend. It always sucks to lose a local recruit, but I’m not too bothered to lose him, as he seems intent on playing TE and that isn’t exactly Pitt’s biggest need position. Pitt has Strong through next season. Sophomore John Pelusi (who will likely be redshirting this season due to injury) and Nate Byham is only a freshman.
The more annoying loss was Kevin Rouse, who chose Iowa. Rouse plays Inside Linebacker, and while it was arguably more of a reach to get a kid from Illinois not to go somewhere in the Big 11 he seemed like a bigger need get.

I can’t help but wonder if some of the disappointment in recruiting to this point in the year isn’t based on the raised expectations. Last year, it was almost complete wonderment after a couple years of bland — at best — recruiting efforts. Here was Pitt cleaning up on recruiting and there was amazement. This year, it’s not quite so seemingly easy. The new coach smell is not there, and the team and coach needs to show something on the field.

Winning is always the best recruiting tool.

Far be it from me to mock another school for having a decrepit football program, but…

Here’s how bad it is for Kentucky? Jim Beam, a personal favorite choice of mine, doesn’t even bother providing a “football” screen saver for the state in which the bourbon lives. Even more insulting, they provide one for Tennessee (no, they don’t have one for Pitt, but then they don’t have any for PSU, ND, and a host of others). Limited choices really — Florida, Texas, Ohio (St.), Michigan, and Georgia.
Just seems sad. Very sad.

A couple stories on a few Pitt players in the NFL.

Larry Fitzgerald wants to get better on and off the field.

What’s really important to him, Fitzgerald said, is to remain low key and humble. He said he doesn’t go out much, and instead, he devotes time to some eclectic interests.

Last year, for instance, he hired someone to come to his home and teach him how to cook. He’s dabbling in real estate, and he intends to take some Spanish classes this year.

“It’s important to be well-rounded,” he said. “Football players get this stereotype that we’re just dumb jocks and that all we can do is run and stuff like that. I just try to change the mold up. There are a lot of things that interest me besides football, but this is what I love to do, and, hopefully, I can do it for a long time.”

Fitzgerald’s parents, Carol and Larry Sr., emphasized the importance of education and developing varied interests, he said. Fitzgerald’s grandfather called him recently to remind Fitzgerald that his younger brother, Marcus, is due to graduate from Marshall this year, and that a cousin also is graduating from college.

“He (his grandfather) is like, ‘You know, you’re the only one in the family who hasn’t gotten a degree,’ ” said Fitzgerald, who plans to tackle that in the coming years.

Fitzgerald has grown up on the field, too. Coaches said his practice habits are improved. He constantly asks receivers coach Mike Wilson, a former San Francisco 49er, how future Hall of Famer Jerry Rice did certain things.

Hopefully Pitt will make sure to do what it can to maintain ties to Fitzgerald.

Another great Pitt receiver is taking it out on a former Pitt cornerback in training camp practices.

Bryant had the cart flying Friday morning. He took off down the right sideline and was well covered by left cornerback Shawntae Spencer. In a sucker move by the more experienced wideout, Bryant slowed to a jog to dupe Spencer into thinking the ball was coming, then sped up to catch it in a laid-out position.

“Coming off the field, me and Antonio were talking about the deep ball,” Spencer said of the first highlight pass. “I had him covered and he slowed down and started jogging. I looked for the ball. He took off and the quarterback threw it. He said ‘You had me covered. All I could do is make you think it was thrown.’ ”

Darned if Smith and Bryant didn’t do it again in the afternoon practice. This time, Smith found Bryant down the middle for what turned out to be an 85-yard touchdown romp in which the ball was in the air about 45 yards. Spencer was again the victim in coverage.

While developing chemistry with Smith is important — vital, even — Bryant said he is also trying to make his teammates in the secondary better, in this case by schooling one of them. Spencer should have known better, since both men were college teammates at Pitt for a time.

“He’s a scrappy guy,” Bryant said of Spencer. “I like going up against him. He gives it 100 percent. He never gives up on a play. Shawntae is going to face a lot of talented receivers this year. I’m doing my best to be there for Alex and help our DBs look good. It’s all about team.”

Spencer is being moved to left corner this year.

While Pitt won’t release it’s non-con b-ball schedule until all the contracts are signed and the dates are assured, other schools keep doing so. Dayton released its non-con schedule and confirms they play at the Pete on Saturday, December 23.

Pitt’s decision to play a much more challenging non-con continues to be noticed and praised — even as the past cupcake schedules are reviled.

The non-league schedules assembled by many BCS programs tend to include more creampuffs than carnivores.

Among the more egregious offenders in this department over the past several seasons has been Pittsburgh. Since ascending to national prominence under Ben Howland during the early 2000s, the Panthers have played a vast majority of their non-conference contests within the friendly confines of the Petersen Events Center, where they have enjoyed a considerable home-court advantage against largely inferior competition. (Before a memorable upset at the hands of Bucknell in Jan. 2005, the Panthers had won 48 consecutive OOC games on their home court.)

Last year’s team was no exception. The Panthers didn’t lose a game until Jan. 21, starting the season with 15 consecutive wins. But an out-of-conference strength of schedule that ranked No. 227 out of 334 elicited questions from a number of pundits — and not until the Panthers started recording scalps against Big East competition were the naysayers silenced.

If early reports are any indicaton, this kind of scheduling could be history in Pittsburgh. Though the non-league slate has yet to be finalized, it appears Jamie Dixon will test his club with one of the tougher OOC schedules in Division I.

The Panthers have a signed an agreement to play a home-and-home with Washington. The Huskies will travel to the Steel City on Feb. 17 and Dixon’s side will return the trip during the 2007-08 season.

Pitt will not confirm its non-conference opponents until all of the individual contracts are signed, but the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has reported a number of the other opponents the Panthers appear to have secured. The list includes perennial dancer Wisconsin and back-to-back NIT champion South Carolina, along with NCAA hopefuls Dayton, Florida State and Massachusetts.

Is it the same kind of uncompromising baptism-by-fire undergone by schools like Gonzaga or Temple? Maybe not. But it’s a welcome change in philosophy for a program whose confection-laced schedules had become the target of perennial criticism.

It will probably take Pitt a few years before they live down the sheer badness of their recent non-cons.