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April 6, 2008

Dorsett and McCoy

Filed under: Alumni,Football,Good,Puff Pieces — Chas @ 10:56 pm

I haven’t written about the press conference/PR thing with Tony Dorsett and LeSean McCoy to this point, simply because I hadn’t had time to watch the video.

A couple thoughts before I get to the news write-ups.

Watching the interspliced clips of Dorsett and McCoy really makes me miss the old Pitt colors. But then anytime I see old clips I probably think that.

I got a kick out seeing how they dressed McCoy for the event. I have to imagine he was thinking something like: They put me in a collared shirt, pulled the logo sweater over my head and put me in khakis — make me dress like I’m Bobby friggin’ Knight — for this. And Dorsett shows up in jeans and sweatshirt???

There are times when it seems like it’s too much, too soon. That it is all but setting things up for something to go horribly wrong and then to read one of those “what happened to..” articles 5 to 10 years later. But then to hear Dorsett talk about how nothing is assured and how much work is still needed. That was reassuring. As much as this was PR and singing the praises of McCoy — which Dorsett was happy to do — there was an element of reminding that there is plenty still ahead.

That element was caught in part in this story.

“He’s got to pass the test of time,” Dorsett said. “He’s go to prove himself all over again, starting again (this coming) season.

“But if he’s here for three more years, which we’re all hoping he is, he has a darn good chance of doing it. There are a lot more records that I hold here, but I hope he breaks them all. He’s going to bring back a lot of focus to this university.”

The prominent theme, though was the similarity of the two on the field.

Greatness is greatness, and we can see right now he’s a diamond in the rough,” Dorsett said. “I admire what this young man has been able to do. He can be one of the more exciting running backs in college football.”

“I say this is a special time because this is a special young man,” Dorsett said. “I’ve watched him play. Comparisons are just comparisons, and I hate to compare someone to myself … but this is the first guy that I’ve seen that reminds me of Tony Dorsett.”

McCoy rushed for 1,328 yards on 276 carries last season, averaging 4.8 yards per carry. Dorsett saw slightly more action as a freshman, when he rushed for 1,686 yards on 318 attempts while averaging 5.3 yards per carry.

“I don’t know where he gets it from,” Dorsett said. “I don’t know where I got it from, but I saw him jump through a hole one time in one of the games and he just threw a stutter and he took off like a blur and I said, ‘That’s Tony Dorsett.'”

McCoy was well composed throughout. As is typical, he handled the media with smiles. He spoke a lot of respect and seemed quite humbled by the comparisons. He was also very careful in his answers, definitely hesitant to say too much about how he sees the comparisons.

Asked how he would compare himself to Dorsett, McCoy’s face contorted in obviously deep thought.

He struggled twice to begin a sentence.

That was when Dorsett swooped in, saying, “Let me answer that for him, LeSean is LeSean. He is his own player. … We can see that his upside is so very large. He has a lot of things that he can accomplish. Comparing him to me, no, he is LeSean, let him be LeSean.”

And McCoy looked very relieved for the save.

Dorsett also mentioned the hope that McCoy would be at Pitt 3 more years. Something that seems highly unlikely if McCoy keeps doing what he’s been doing.





Why is Dorsett talking about himself in the third person? Dave in Orlando doesn’t like that.

Comment by Dave in Orlando 04.07.08 @ 8:15 am

Howland taking heat in LA. Dream j0b aye.

Comment by alcofan 04.07.08 @ 8:57 am

I love the fact the McCoy (more than once) referred to Tony as “Mr. Dorsett”…what were all those early rumblings about this kid being a problem and didn’t have much class, was cocky & arrogant???

I didn’t see any of that during this presser!!
Hail to Pitt!

Comment by T.P. 04.07.08 @ 9:01 am

The D looks absolutely great but our OL is a mess, hopefully the injuries heal and they gel in the fall, otherwise it is going to be hard to run and throw the ball.

Comment by Janitor in the south side complex 04.07.08 @ 9:35 am

We all know McCoy could leave early at some point and I’d be fine with that but I’d hate for it to be right on the verge of a season where the Panthers could win a BCS bowl or compete for a national title. Let’s hope he sees the chance to win big at PITT if it presents itself.

Comment by DW for Prez 04.07.08 @ 12:25 pm

I’ve seen McCoy on campus a few times – he seems like a good guy. Same with DeJuan Blair. Anyway, there are attractive girls pushing football season tickets on Pitt students at the Pete now, which I’ve never seen before in my 3 years here. No reason should the student section be half-empty this year – or ever.

Comment by mjb 04.07.08 @ 8:26 pm

T.P., after Letter of Intent Day and McCoy signed i ran into an insane State Pen fan (yes, redundant) and he told me to have fun with McCoy and his parole officer. Seems kind of funny now.

Comment by Z 04.07.08 @ 9:36 pm

If he needed a parole officer at State College, he’d have to wait in line quite a while. Then again, none of them actually ever get tried or convicted, so no need for a parole officer.

The story about Howland is ironic. Before the Memphis game I was just telling a friend (jokingly) that if Howland keeps losing in the final four, dumba*s UCLA fans may run him out. It doesn’t seem so outlandish now. More irony … should Dixon eventually leave for his “dream job” (somewhere out west, but definitely more $$$) … and Howland should happen to get run out or disgusted at UCLA … does anyone smell another “Back To The Future?”

Comment by geeman2001 04.07.08 @ 10:38 pm

If by another Back to the Future, are you suggesting that Steve Pederson has to take Ben Howland to the “Enchantment Under the Sea Dance” at the PAA?

Or are you suggesting that in order to power the scoreboard at the Pete that we will need 1.21 gigawatts?

Comment by johnny 04.07.08 @ 11:49 pm

another state penn football player arrested last night…
link to pittsburghlive.com
Hail to Pitt…

Comment by mike 04.08.08 @ 10:52 am

Joe Paterno hasn’t lost control of his team… that happened in about 1999.

It’s a good thing that Penn State fans are blind with PSU bias – otherwise JoePa would actually have to answer for his team’s disgusting behavior. But just forget about that… the team now has to clean up the stadium, wash off all the library study carrels and mop the cafeteria. I hope detention isn’t too big of an distraction for PSU spring ball.

Penn State can go to hell.

Comment by ChrisA 04.08.08 @ 11:39 am

Thank God most of “our” kids are NOT State Pen material……

Comment by Z 04.08.08 @ 11:41 am

Anybody been on Black Shoe Diaries recently? The last 500 or so posts have been about State Penn playing Pitt again. Morons.

Comment by Crackbaldo 04.08.08 @ 12:03 pm

Check out
link to post-gazette.com

GREAT, very encouraging stuff out of spring practice.

Comment by Kevin 04.08.08 @ 12:14 pm

This is hilarious…JoePa is doing a great job up there with discipline. Nothing like one of your players pulling a knife on another player…link to post-gazette.com

Comment by Justin 04.08.08 @ 1:07 pm

This Dorsett-Shady thing is classic Pederson. He knows this market pretty well. Nothing newsworthy whatsoever, but they did it up pretty well nonetheless.

Comment by Sara 04.08.08 @ 11:00 pm

Nothing newsworthy whatsoever?

I think you’re really missing the point on this here, Sara. Really missing the mark entirely

Comment by Neil 04.08.08 @ 11:48 pm

This site has been more-or-less stagnant for weeks. I realize the hoops season is over but there’s football to be discussed. It seems like this site has become an afterthought for Chas.

Comment by frankinchicago 04.09.08 @ 8:08 am

Relax Frank, there’s not much going on. This isn’t his full-time job

Comment by Jamie H 04.09.08 @ 8:55 am

I was about to commend Chas’ choice to leave the Shady/Dorsett piece up while PSU gets slaughtered in the press what with their fights and knife weildings rape cases and all their other jerking around.

The way I read it, it’s Lord of the Flies in PSU and back in Oakland Tony Dorsett and Lesean McCoy are best friends.

The point, as Neil was pointing out, is that sometimes it’s a good thing to have “nothing newsworthy” going on.

Comment by ChrisA 04.09.08 @ 9:33 am

The point of my post is that Pederson is really good at manufacturing items that the sheep in this market will flock to, which is exactly what the TD-Shady “news conference” was. It was Steve spinning, and that’s all it was.

But good for him for knowing this market so well and taking advantage of it — his basketball teams had just finished their seasons, the hockey team is gearing up for what fans hope is a long playoff run, the baseball team is just opening its season, and the Steelers are the Steelers. Steve wanted a slice of his, so he manufactured it.

Hopefully, the football team will be able to manufacture its own news this fall, and not have to rely spin.

Comment by Sara 04.10.08 @ 5:03 pm

[…] puff piece, but I found it odd that the AP essentially re-ran the Dorsett-McCoy story that dates back to April. It looks like some new quotes added from Dorsett, but it’s the same […]


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