The other stuff I hadn’t had a chance to post on this week.

Assistant Head Coach Bob Junko is taking a leave of absence from the team as his recovery from heart surgery in February has gone much slower than hoped. Junko is an underrated recruiter for Pitt, and has been Pitt’s recruiting coordinator this season. Not sure if the perceived slowness in the Pitt recruiting this summer is actually related considering how hands-on and active Coach Wannstedt is.

Taking over on the field for Junko is Charlie Taafe.

“We were fortunate to be able to gain the services of a highly knowledgeable coach in Charlie Taaffe on such short notice,” Wannstedt said.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to contribute to the University of Pittsburgh’s football program and help Coach Wannstedt build Pitt to the level of prominence it is accustomed to,” Taaffe said. “There is a real excitement and anticipation here and I’m glad to be part of it.”

Taaffe was Maryland’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2001-05. Prior to Maryland, he served as the head coach of the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League (1999-2000) and The Citadel (1987-96). Taaffe additionally held collegiate assistant coaching positions at Army (1981-86), Virginia (1976-80) and Albany (1973). He was a graduate assistant at NC State (1975) and Georgia Tech (1974).

Taaffe was something of the scapegoat at Maryland for the team’s struggles. After leaving Maryland unexpectedly to “pursue other options” Maryland HC Ralph Friedgen announced he would serve as his own OC. Can you say scapegoat? I knew you could.
Alan Robinson is the longtime AP sportswriter for Pittsburgh. He has a piece noting some similarities to what Coach Wannstedt has done with recruiting in his first year to what his old boss and mentor Johnny Majors did back when he started at Pitt.

Maybe there’s not a Tony Dorsett or a Bill Fralic in the bunch, both players who were known nationally before enrolling at Pitt and went on to great college careers.

Less than a week into summer camp, though, it seems evident Pitt’s 27 freshmen have the potential to be the best such group at Pittsburgh since Dorsett’s in 1973. That class was greatly responsible from transforming the Panthers from one-game winners in 1972 to unbeaten national champions in 1976.

Maybe the names aren’t well known yet outside of recruiting circles, Pitt’s fan base and opposing Big East teams, but coach Dave Wannstedt didn’t bring them to campus to let them sit. That means the Pitt team that takes the field Sept. 2 against Virginia may not closely resemble the one that ended last season with an embarrassing 45-13 loss at West Virginia.

There probably hasn’t been a bigger changeover in the roster from one Pitt season to another since first-year coach Johnny Majors, during the days when there were no real scholarship limits, brought in scores of new players in 1973.

That’s one to save from the memory hole to review in a couple years.

Shane Corson is learning to play Center. Viewing it as the shortest route to playing time. It’s gone as smoothly as expected as a Guard moves to a position never played before.

Scott Corson’s training camp practice debut for the University of Pittsburgh was rather inauspicious, but at least he left a lot of room for improvement.

A former GreaterJohnstown Trojan lineman, the 6-foot-5, 280-pound Corson was moved from guard to center with the freshman group and mishandled consecutive snaps to the quarterback in the opening team drill.

“That was a tough start for Scott, but he’s learning a new position,” Pitt offensive line coach Paul Dunn said. “So, he’s going to make some mistakes, but he’s gotten better already. And he’ll continue to improve.”

Corson didn’t think it could get any worse.

“I was real nervous that first day because I never took a snap before in my life,” Corson said. “Then, we had two fumbled snaps right off the bat, so I had to make sure it didn’t happen again. I needed to be confident and approach the next practice with a better frame of mind.”

Interesting to note that in the story, Chris Vangas, who was challenging Villani for the starting Center position in the spring before an injury shut him down is now been moved to Guard. I would presume because he is good enough to be playing somewhere on the line, and Pitt needs depth and the best players out there.

Finally, Tom Dienhart at the Sporting News doesn’t think much about Pitt this season in his Big East quickies.

He does the least with the most: Dave Wannstedt, Pitt

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Offensive coordinator on the spot: Matt Cavanaugh, Pitt
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Watch him now, because he’s turning pro: Darrelle Revis, CB, Pitt

If this guy gets hurt, his team is toast: Tyler Palko, QB, Pitt

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They’ll be worse than advertised: Pitt

Safe to call this the conventional wisdom of national sportswriters heading into this season.