Well, no. Not really. It’s been in my browser tabs all day. Just hadn’t had a chance to get around to it. The Zeise Q&A was the last for probably a month or so. Wonder what the main topic was?

Well of course there was a lot about recruiting. There was also a long little rant about people needing to chill about the script Pitt. This was worth noting to me.

Q: In light of Buddy Morris’s less than favorable assessment of the shape Pitt’s players are in — Do you think that the team’s sluggish look near the end of the season had more to do with conditioning than talent?

ZEISE: Here is another one of my pet peeves — any time something has gone wrong with Pitt it is automatically their conditioning and the strength coach who is the culprit and the next guy will save the day and make Pitt stronger and tougher. Look, I’m not saying Buddy Morris won’t turn this offensive line into the Redskins Hogs, but I’ve become worn down with this whole strength and conditioning coach thing. First it was Dave Kennedy that was going to save the Panthers, then when Pitt began to fall it was his fault and Mike Kent was brought in and his program was much better for Pitt and they even went to a Fiesta Bowl with him. Then Pitt began to fall again and now it is Buddy Morris to the rescue.

At some point, you have to ask yourself — how much of a difference does a strength and conditioning coach really make? I’m sure there are great ones and their are awful ones, but I bet like any position coach — the great ones have a lot better athletes to work with. My point is this: Perhaps a new voice in the weight room is a good thing but you don’t give up 641 yards in a game or let D.J. Hernandez do a Michael Vick impression against you simply because you aren’t in shape. You do that because you aren’t very good, period.

Case in point? Buddy Morris is considered a great strength and conditioning coach and is given credit for doing some great things at Pitt during some of their best seasons. But don’t forget, he was also the strength and conditioning coach in 1984, 85, 86, 90, 98 and 99 — and those years were pretty lean. He also was the Browns strength coach under Butch Davis, who, if I’m not mistaken, is now at North Carolina because he didn’t win in Cleveland.

My point? Strength and conditioning is an easy target when things go bad, but I’d be willing to bet most strength and conditioning coaches are roughly the same and their success or failure is almost always commensurate with the talent they have to work with.

Given the little debate last week over the puff piece on Buddy Morris (where I was able to dig up nice laudatory praise for Mike Kent from another Zeise Q&A), I find myself bemused. Not even saying I disagree with what Zeise just wrote (I really don’t). But I am bemused.

Ron Cooks asks, but when will Pitt win? What a shock, the answer again –2008.

Let’s see some recruiting euphoria — really, it’s so much like the couple days after the NFL draft. Recruiting grades in the Big East (Insider subs).

Pittsburgh: B
While everyone fell in love with coach Dave Wannstedt’s class in 2006, this class is every bit as good — if not better — but hasn’t received the same attention. The Panthers addressed just about every position, and QB Pat Bostick (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) and OG Chris Jacobson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Keystone Oaks) are excellent additions. S Maurice Williams (Erie, Pa./Strong Vincent) is the surprise athlete of the group.

That was the highest grade given to a Big East school. WVU and Rutgers, B-; USF, C; L-ville, C-; Syracuse, D+; UConn and Cinci, D. Scouts, Inc./ESPN.com in the final rankings put Pitt’s class at #19.

Tom Lemming at CSTV ranked Pitt’s class at #20.

Rivals.com put the class at #25.

Scout.com clocked Pitt at #9.

Tom Deinhart at the Sporting News on the class.

Dave Wannstedt once told me he wouldn’t sign a kid unless he thought he was an NFL player. And, by the looks of this class and his first one, Wanny is getting his word. The Panthers’ future pros look like QB Pat Bostick, DT Tommie Duhart, OL Chris Jacobson, DE Tony Tucker and WR Aundre Wright. The real horse could be RB LeSean McCoy, an uber talent who was forced to a prep school last year.

There’s always questions about which one didn’t the team get that was most disappointing. Personally I’m torn between 2 misses for the O-line. Either Gino Gradkowski who chose West Virginia (you just know another Gradkowski will haunt Pitt) or Josh Marks who went to PSU.

Finally, LeSean McCoy Highlights (hat tip to Jon K).