The guy considered one of the more consistent, reliable and willing to do all the little things looks to be the cover-boy for Pitt football this year. It speaks to the lack of “star power” among the older players on the team. It definitely leaves the publicity door wide-open for any of the younger players to make their presence known. Still, you can expect WR Derek Kinder to be the face of the team on the media guide and generally for Pitt going into the fall.

Kinder is also spending time performing in a number of public relations capacities for the athletic department.On June 30, he will be honored by the Pittsburgh Pirates for his 2006 first-team All-Big East citation. Kinder will throw out an honorary first pitch at PNC Park before the Pirates’ game with the Washington Nationals.

Kinder is no stranger to the baseball diamond. In fact, he was an All-Western New York baseball player at Albion High.

“I’m going to make sure I’m ready to put it right over the plate,” Kinder said. “I was playing catch with my brother when I was home.”

Many Pitt fans recently received a surprise phone call from Kinder. He’s not working part-time as a telemarketer. Rather, he taped a message that was sent electronically to fans, thanking them for renewing their football season tickets.

He’s naturally, been enthusiastic about the off-season workouts and about the whole receiving corps.

“That’s why all the receivers are working real hard this year to improve on what they accomplished last year. So, I have no doubt that the receiving corps is an area of strength on our offense, and our depth at that position is going to be a tremendous benefit for the team.”

Kinder and Turner were the starters last season, but the emergence of Porter as a deep threat gives Pitt more options in the passing game. And the quarterbacks have continued to work on spreading out the ball in workouts so far this summer.

“I think we’re on the right page right now,” Kinder said. “We ended off spring ball on a good note, and things are going really well so far this summer. Buddy definitely has done a great job with us, and I see improvements happening. So, we’re definitely going to be ready for camp this August.

“Buddy and James have done a great job with the speed training aspect of our program, and I definitely feel a couple steps faster already. I hope to improve on that, too, but I’m just trying to keep my conditioning at a high level and getting bigger and stronger, just like everybody else.”

He says he is trying to be a little more vocal as a senior and with Palko and Blades gone. Kind of standard stuff on that front.