I’ll be making my Pittsburgh radio debut tomorrow on the Dave Dameshek Sports Contraption on 93.7 The Zone. Yes, that’s right. Despite doing this for 3 and 3/4 years, this will be the first time a radio show will be speaking to me. That sure keeps the old ego in check.

You can listen on the internet, but you have to do a free, short registration (so do that early). The only thing that might cancel the appearance will be if his wife finally goes into labor. She is apparently due any time, so…

The show is new (as is the whole program format) and Dameshek has been active in reaching out to the Pittsburgh sports bloggers. On Monday he had the guy behind Mondesishouse.com on for a couple segments. It’s a smart approach in that it gets some different people on the radio who pay close attention to Pittsburgh sports giving some different views. Not to mention create some positive vibes with the online community and more promotion for the show (such as this post).

As you can expect the discussion will be on Pitt, though I’m sure other things may creep into it.

Looks like Mike Rice, Jr. will be taking the RMU job (hat tip to JoeyT as well). Dokish at Pittsburgh Sports Report also is reporting this in the e-mail updates (no direct link yet). He notes, as I did yesterday, that this is the 3d Pitt assistant to get a head coaching job in the last 2 years and it could put Nasir Robinson and Travon Woodall back into play.

Now to stay positive on the two recruits. In earlier stories, Robinson had been into Pitt for a year prior, but Rice helped clinch it. As for Woodall, his HS Coach is Bob Hurley and he has never had one of his kids back out of a verbal. Still, you don’t know until they sign. Pitt will have to pay them some extra love, attention and hand-holding to play it safe.

Still, congrats to Mike Rice for getting the job. I wish he could have stayed a little longer, but it just points that Pitt is a good place for ambitious assistants.

Final amusing media note. Andy Katz in his ESPN.com blog (Insider subs) had noted yesterday that Rice was going to get the job and then backed off of it a bit today.

There were false rumors Tuesday that Pitt assistant Mike Rice had the Robert Morris job. He’s the likely frontrunner, but as of early Wednesday, nothing was done yet.

Whoops.

Sure, sure Darrelle Revis will be going in the 1st round, maybe somewhere in the teens. That’s a given. What is unknown is where H.B. Blades and Tyler Palko will go in the draft — beyond being second day picks.

Based on the draft guides (ESPN, Pro Football Weekly and Sporting News), Blades has remained consistently projected to go in the 4th round, + or – 1 round. The knock on his size, is actually a common theme for many of the linebackers in the draft.

• Jon Abbate, Wake Forest, 245, 5′ 10+”
• Buster Davis, FSU, 244, 5′ 9+”
• Sam Olajubutu, Arkansas, 227, 5′ 8+”
• H.B. Blades, Pitt, 247, 5′ 10+”

And of course, they all cite NFL linebackers like Zach Thomas, London Fletcher and Sam Mills as undersized linebackers who succeeded.

The common theme for the successful undersized players, is that they are energy guys or “high motor” players. Not necessarily the fastest, the strongest or such. Instead, they are the most tenacious and hard working. In that way, I like both Abbate and Blades to have success in the NFL.

Blades can’t wait to find out where he is going, and is ready.  Blades has the added advantage of having played special teams at Pitt. The versatility is important, especially since it is the most likely place he will see action with a team as a rookie.

As for Palko, he’s been projected as a 6th or 7th rounder. He is appealing as a late grab since he has played in both the pro sets the past two years and the West Coast offense before that.

Plus, it would seem his agent, Ralph Cindrich, has been coaching him to play up being the son of a high school coach and that he’s been around football his whole life. Not a bad approach, as he’s trying to sell himself to coaches and GMs who are essentially football lifers themselves.
With the Rams, he grabs the Marc Bulger link — late draft pick, Western PA, not too big, Big East school. Palko has also had visits to the Ravens.

Looks like the Football Schedule Poster is released. Or at least available for downloading as wallpaper (640×480).

There’s also 800×600 and 1024×768.

That’s Joe Clermond, LaRod Stephens-Howling and Derek Kinder.