Yesterday I promised words and pictures for this post. That’s before I found out that my camera was not going to work with me in uploading the pictures I took onto the computer — so we’ll move along without pictures until a) someone sends some to my e-mail address, or b) I am able to get my own pictures to upload. Anyways…

Thursday night was the first time I had been to a Pitt Football Fan Fest, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. We walked in Gate A (by the river, under the scoreboard) and were handed a roster by some cheerleaders, which turned out to be a handy tool during both the autograph sessions and the practice.

The seniors were sitting at tables on the south plaza (or what I call the “giant patio”) facing the scoreboard so that they could meet the fans and sign autographs. The combination of me not being big on autographs as well as long lines kept me from talking/taking pictures with any of the seniors. Over to the far left, near the tunnel the team comes out of, Stan Savran was doing his show, interviewing Dave Wannstedt and a handful of players.

Onwards to the Great Hall where the rest of the players were broken up by positions to sign whatever fans brought to them. Once again, I didn’t get in line but I was happy enough to just see some of the players up close in street clothes (read: game jerseys and jeans).

The autograph session that was supposed to last from 6:30 to 7:30 was ended ten minutes short. One of the security guys said, “The coach wants ’em down there” — not sure if he was serious or not. As he walked from his table to get down onto the field, I was able to shake Oderick Turner’s hand (my personal favorite player), and he thanked us for our support.

Between the autographs and the practice, we headed over to the team store. We were greeted by a display of about 8 shirts — every single one of them plastered with the new logo. I might be able to live if it was 2×2 inches but the thing was HUGE. I’m also wondering why they are selling replica jerseys that look nothing like the game jerseys.

The block PITT is nowhere even close to being the same size and the shades of gold are different on the replica compared to the real deal. I realize that’s exactly what it is, a replica, but a replica of what? Certainly not the jersey the players wear.

After grumbling to myself about not liking anything I saw over at the clothing tent, we moved to some seats a few rows off the field near the corner where the visiting fans usually sit.

The practice was basically a big joke; players going at 50%, no fun drills or anything. The first thing the skill players did was field punts/kicks, with one of the groups catching kicks from who I believe was Henry Hynoski. One thing that will stick in my mind was that the first time everyone got to see LeSean McCoy in action, he dropped his punt return. I didn’t really watch the practice too closely (and do any sort of real reporting like I could have), but instead chose to take in the whole thing and talk about the upcoming year with two friends: one being very cynical, one very optimistic — which leads to some interesting chats.

Fan Fest was something that I needed to attend simply because I was going through some serious college football withdrawal — thankfully the real games start in only a week.

Heck of a human interest story on Nate Byham’s upbringing.

In mid-July of that year, Byham’s wife died of a sudden illness. A few months later, he had to decide whether to take custody of his 6-month-old grandson, Nate, whose mother — Ron’s daughter — was only 16.

“She was just a child herself,” Ron says.

The baby’s father was out of the picture, which left Ron, a 45-year-old grieving widower and grocery store produce manager in Greenville, with a hard choice: Should he step in and raise the child himself?

Ron didn’t see it as a choice. He saw it as an obligation. He went to court, signed the papers and began a new life riddled with uncertainty. He was a single grandfather.

How’d he do it?

He just did.

“I changed a hell of a lot of diapers,” Ron recalls with a laugh. “And when I was working, I had neighbors who would take him in the afternoon. I didn’t do it myself. There were a lot of coaches, parents, friends, his aunt (Kim Baptiste), so many people who helped.”

Whether by design, necessity or just because it was the best situation at any point, he also was shuttling about where he was living for periods. Unbelievable how well he has turned out to this point.

Moving to football and the always unnerving offensive line

Jason Pinkston and Jeff Otah are the starting tackles at this point and right now there isn’t a lot on the depth chart directly behind them. That is, I guess, as good a reason as any to keep them out of the final scrimmages.

Both players were healthy enough to play but are dealing with minor aches, so the coaches were not going to risk losing either of them.

“We thought it would be wiser at this point to let them rest and try and get them back healthy because we can’t afford to be without them,” said Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt.

Even assuming Mike McGlynn will be medically cleared and ready for the opening game, it seems to be obvious at this point that he will be under center. There is just no room, it feels, for any injuries to the line.

I realize, he wasn’t going to be the starting back and may have been #3 on the depth chart behind LaRod Stephens-Howling and LeSean McCoy, but the news that Kevin Collier broke his wrist and is done for the season is barely mentioned. Did this happen during the FanFest open practice?

That stinks for Collier. He has the medical redshirt available, but on the last day of camp. Jeez.

“What this does is puts [backup fullback] Shane Brooks back in the tailback position and I would think that the possibility of redshirting [freshman] Henry Hynoski is not going to happen because he’ll move up a spot on the depth chart and become the No. 2 fullback,” Wannstedt said.

I have to admit, I’m not totally following why Coach Wannstedt believes that Hynoski will not be redshirted now. He seems to be insisting on having a 3 backs in the tailback depth chart and 2 in the FB.  Exactly why, when Coach Wannstedt has insisted that it won’t be a tailback by committee. It seems unnecessary to decide (or at least declare)  the likelihood of Hynoski’s redshirt status immediately with 2 tailbacks and 2 fullbacks presently set on the depth chart.

What am I missing?

Sadly I couldn’t make it out to Pittsburgh for FanFest or any of the practices this time. Hard to believe that the first college football games are in less than a week. The Big East will kick off on Thursday with 3 games as official ESPN programming filler — games on regional, ESPN360 (expect more of it) and ESPNU.

Add another Pittsburgh columnist to the conventional wisdom pile of wait until 2008 just before the start of 2007.

None of that will add up to a breakthrough campaign, but we should finally get a glimpse of how Wannstedt intends to win big in 2008 and beyond.

This year will be about taking the formula from the chalkboard to the trenches.

In doing so, Pitt will turn a significant corner.

That’s reason enough to be encouraged, if not overly optimistic.

If that wasn’t enough, there was this gem.

If the front four can generate consistent pressure, it’ll allow defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads to blitz when he wants to rather than when he feels he has to.

Oh, god no. If Rhoads is allowed to only blitz when he wants to, then we’ll never see it. Really, that’s just an indictment of how little Prisuta knows about Pitt and Rhoads’ tenure/philosophy. He doesn’t blitz. He doesn’t like it. It has never been his thing.

The scrimmage on Wednesday was quite limited contact and a lot of players resting, so it didn’t reveal much.

The scrimmage wasn’t much of a workout for many starters, as a handful were rested due to various bumps and bruises. Starting tailback LaRod Stephens-Howling had just one carry, but it went for 44 yards.

Not to mention banged up lines — and it’s still a week until the first game.

Still, Pitt needs some of its starting linemen such as tackles Jeff Otah (hamstring) and Jason Pinkston (shoulder) and guard Joe Thomas (shoulder) to get healthy in a hurry. The same goes for senior defensive end Chris McKillop (elbow, hamstring).

“Our line is at a disadvantage right now,” Wannstedt said.

From the Zeise Q&A today.

Q: Will Pitt get a marquee victory against Louisville, West Virginia or Rutgers this year?

ZEISE: If I knew answers to questions like that, I’d retire tomorrow and move to Las Vegas and become the next Ace Rothstein. I will say one thing that has been disappointing about the first two years of this new regime is that the Panthers have failed to beat a team they weren’t supposed to beat. They haven’t pulled any upsets, so that would be a great sign of progress if they could knock off one of those teams, or even Virginia or Michigan State. This team needs to beat a team it isn’t supposed to beat this year.

[Emphasis added.]

To follow that up, what only makes it worse is that Pitt has lost 2 games in those first two years that it shouldn’t have (Ohio in 2005 and UConn in 2006). You can argue that but for a play here, a stop there and they would have been wins — and Pitt would have gone to a minor bowl each year — but its still hard to excuse letting it come to that in the first place in those games. It feeds the feeling that the team has underachieved so far.

Part of a sign of progress will be at least beating all the teams Pitt should this season –EMU, Grambling, UConn, Navy, Cinci, Syracuse and either Virginia or Michigan St. on the road. Pitt needs to show something tangible in the wins and losses this year. There has to be more.