Pitt assistant coach, Tom Herrion decided the Marist job wasn’t the gig he wanted. He pulled out of consideration.

“I informed Tim Murray earlier today that I was withdrawing my name as a candidate for the vacant position,” Herrion said in an e-mail to the Poughkeepsie Journal on Monday night. “I enjoyed the opportunity to meet some excellent people at Marist and I appreciate their interest and wish them the best. I am sure they will find an excellent candidate.”

Marist apparently targeted 4 assistants and St. Benedict’s Prep Coach Danny Hurley for the possibly hiring. It now looks like Memphis assistant Chuck Martin is the only guy who still has his name in the pot.
For the first time in a couple years, Pitt won’t have to replace an assistant (so far).

Last night was the night to get the taxes done. Anyone know if you can just not pay the taxes owed and let the IRS simply take the money from that “economic stimulus” check? Just asking. So, I missed the always startling news of player discipline issues.

Pitt defensive back Sherod Murdock has been suspended indefinitely for disciplinary reasons. Athletic department spokesperson E.J. Borghetti said the school has no further comment on the incident, which led to his suspension.

Murdock is a 6-foot, 170-pound redshirt freshman from Tampa, Fla. He is competing for one of the reserve safety spots.

Never like to read any player getting in some trouble. The vague reason just furthers message board/comment speculation. Of course, cynicism says this isn’t particularly problematic since Murdock would only be a back-up most likely. Plus, the suspension will only cost him the Blue-Gold Spring game. Most likely he’ll be back for training camp in August.

This is more troubling.

Pitt starting left tackle Jason Pinkston is being investigated for his role in an altercation on campus over the weekend.

It’s a relatively specific issue: on-campus “altercation” (reading as: fight). Considering Pinkston has been out of spring drills as he recovers from his shoulder injury, this is not the way to help the rehab.

UPDATE: Per the Pitt News, this bit.

Pitt defensive back Sherod Murdock was involved in an incident at Sutherland Hall Saturday night, Pitt Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs Robert Hill confirmed.

Murdock was then suspended indefinitely from the football team yesterday for disciplinary reasons.

Pitt police responded to Sutherland at about 11 p.m. Saturday for “a disturbed, potentially violent person,” their log reported.

Hill said that Murdock’s suspension was connected to the incident, but added, “I had not said [this person and Murdock] were one in the same person.”

Um, and he didn’t say that he wasn’t. Sutherland Hall holds about 739 students and they were in lock down with this matter.

The police log said Pittsburgh medics transported the person to the hospital.

A UPMC Presbyterian operator confirmed Murdock had been in the hospital over the weekend and had been discharged. The operator would not give patient details other than name confirmation, including when the patient came to the hospital or when he was discharged.

Hill said one other member of the football team was involved in the incident, although his status on the team is not in question. The action, Hill said, is no longer under review.

Still, nebulous, but not good. No wonder EDSBS is looking to give Pitt some big points in the Fulmer Cup when this finally gets hashed out.

This was on the front page of ESPN.com’s basketball page today.

Seems the ridiculous to the extreme “bracketology” puts Pitt as a #1 seed for the 2009 NCAA Tournament. That’s really useless. On the positive side, Coach Dixon continues to say the right things about the goals.

“People are always going to expect more. We deal with it every year,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “I look at it as a good thing. It’s part of our program — both in the visibility of it and the success of it.”

…

“We’re going to continue to do things that have put us in a position to be successful in the tournament,” he said. “Obviously, the health of our players is very important.”

The key phrasing, in the second part was “in a position to be successful.” There is still the issue of what Pitt does once in that position.
Apparently the Oklahoma AD made contact with Coach Jamie Dixon, but that was about it (ESPN Insider).

Oklahoma State’s call to Pitt’s Jamie Dixon wasn’t even long enough to warrant a serious discussion. Dixon wasn’t going to Oklahoma State.

The popular rumor is that Dixon — along with plenty of other coaches — is not going anywhere for at least a year.

He would be great, as he has been at Pitt. But there’s no reason for Dixon to walk away from a preseason top 10 team, particularly when he’d probably be the leading candidate at Arizona if Lute Olson was to really retire after next season.

I’m not going to stress on the Arizona thing. I think Olson has already shown he will be pulling a Paterno, so he’s going to hang around for some time.

I do expect that Pitt will announce a new extension for Dixon anytime in the next couple of weeks. On a somewhat related note, I recommend this article about Kansas and their AD dealing with the “costs” of winning. It’s something Pitt, in its history has struggled to handle.

The team banquet was on Sunday night (and yet another year passes without an invite coming my way). 12 players managed to take home awards including Mike Cook. It is easier to list the players who came away with nothing — Austin Wallace, Cassin Diggs and Tim Frye.

Lamar Patterson is Pitt’s first verbal for the class of 2009. It looks increasingly likely that Pitt snagged him early and before he really started showing what he can do.

Pittsburgh quietly landed Lamar Patterson during the high school season and the commitment probably didn’t generate the kind of buzz that it deserved. Patterson is the real deal. He has been the most consistent player for Team Final this weekend and showed off all the facets of his game. His passing ability was on showcase on Saturday.

Amusing complaint from some minor Philly paper about Pitt recruiting talented players from Philly these days.

But it bothers me that Pitt was able to land Nasir Robinson from Chester and Lamar Patterson from the Lancaster area. Add them to current Panthers Bradley Wanamaker and Mike Cook and you have a veritable Philadelphia pipeline heading to the other side of the state. There’s nothing that Pitt has that Villanova doesn’t, and the Cats should take it personally that schools like Pittsburgh and Virginia have multiple Philadelphia players on their roster.

Ah, provincialism. It’s everywhere.

I really thought Pitt basketball would get through this off-season without having to replace another assistant coach. Heck, it now may be that Pitt may not have Assistant Coach Tom Herrion by the opening of the late signing period (Wednesday, April 16).

Either way, there are still other positions to be filled, even if they aren’t getting national headlines. One of them is in MAAC, where Marist continues to search for Matt Brady’s replacement.

According to sources, the leading candidate is Pittsburgh assistant Tom Herrion.

If so, Marist would be wise to close the deal ASAP.

Just remember, Clyde Vaughan would be eager to join.

How do we know we’re heading for the final week of spring practice and there just isn’t much to talk about? When the player puff pieces hit re-runs? Last week, the Trib had a piece on Doug Fulmer, this week it’s the P-G.

“Doug is fine, the mental part is not a concern,” Pitt defensive line coach Greg Gattuso said. “If you watch him, sometimes the thing we have to be most concerned about is that he is a little too excited to get out there. We need to slow him down. He’s missed a lot of games, but he has been outstanding this spring.

“He is one of the hardest-working, blue-collar guys on the team. And a lot of times when you say that, you are talking about a guy who lacks some athleticism or speed — with Doug, that’s not at all the case, which is why he is where he is.”

Fulmer will be one of three players, the other two being sophomore Jabaal Sheard and redshirt sophomore Greg Romeus, who will play the majority of the snaps at the two end spots. He has been one of the more dominating defensive players throughout most of spring.

Reed over at PPP, explains why he’s pulling even harder this season for Dorin Dickerson to have a break-out season.

In an O-line still struggling with injuries, question marks and high anxiety (at least for the fans), John Malecki is an apparent bright spot as he has transitioned from the D-line to the O-line at Right Guard.

Malecki had to adjust from striking with his hands on defense to learning to block with his chest and shoulders under the direction of offensive line coach Tony Wise, who’s encouraged with Malecki’s progress.

“John is learning every day. But he’s got very good footwork, and he can move,” Wise said. “If he makes a mistake, he can make up for it, no matter what it is. That kind of quickness he has is a real positive.”

Malecki already possessed the traits Wannstedt wants in an offensive lineman — from his attitude and aggression to his technique and toughness — so Wannstedt considers this spring a “refresher course” for Malecki.

“Most of those guys have enough athletic ability, and most of those guys are tough enough,” Wannstedt said. “In John’s case, he’s one of the smarter players on our team. The learning part is coming quicker than most.”

In the 2008 recruiting class, early verbal commits are often forgotten. Especially when they were relatively unknown or undervalued at the time. Take the case of Ronald Hobby. Hobby gave a verbal to Pitt back in July 2007. He had speed, but his “star” value was only 1-2 star “athlete” with speed. By the time of signing day, he was a 3-star for both recruiting sites.

Hobby got an early start at Pitt by doing the early enrollment. He may not be winning a starting corner spot, but he is learning and will have a head start.

“I’m very pleased with Ronnie,” Wannstedt said. “Where being here early will benefit Ron Hobby will be in August. Right now, he’s lost. He’s trying to feel his way. But come August, when the other freshmen show up and don’t know where to line up, he’s going to know the drills, know the defense.”

After starring at Gwynn Park, where he averaged 26.1 yards per catch and had 51 tackles, three interceptions and two fumble recoveries last fall, Hobby is splitting time with Buddy Jackson as the second-team boundary corner. Hobby hopes to get a jump on other incoming freshmen, especially corners Jarred Holley and Antwuan Reed.

“What motivated me was the early start,” Hobby said. “I wanted to get adapted to the college life early, using time management and practicing and competing. I think I definitely have a head’s up on everybody.”

The biggest adjustment?

“Half the time, I want to sleep,” Hobby said, “but I can’t sleep because I have so much work to do.”

Have to say, that last part just doesn’t seem to go away for the rest of your life.

I don’t take these projections seriously. Really, they can’t even be anything more than pure guesswork until the end of June. After players have stayed in or pulled out of the NBA draft. Even then, there’s a plenty of guesswork, but there is some time and spacing. Predicting right now has the element of looking too closely at how the team played at the end of the season (WVU) and not giving enough respect to the teams that were strong all season but stumbled in the post-season (ND).

I was collecting the various links, but NBE Basketball Report did a great job of collecting all the links in a couple of posts here and here.

Only one list completely excluded Pitt — a guy for the San Jose Mercury News. The highest ranking Pitt received was #2 (likes the coach and returning talent). The lowest, #16 (questions about perimeter shooters).

Really, the issue of who will be the primary SG (read, perimeter threat) seems to be the biggest question about Pitt.

There’s still no word on whether Mike Cook will get a 6th year. According to a blog by a Pitt News Assistant Sports Editor, he is hearing it is 90-10 that Sam Young comes back to Pitt for next season.

I chatted with a Pitt spokesman close to Pitt basketball earlier today. He told me that Pitt’s junior forward Sam Young, the winner of the Big East’s Most Improved Player award for this past season, is “90-percent sure” that he’ll stay at Pitt for his senior season.

I still expect Young to go through the draft camps. That just makes sense as a junior. He loses nothing by finding out what scouts think when they see him up close amidst similar competition.

The NFL Draft is a couple weeks away. Jeff Otah had his re-do of pro-day at Pitt. He had been battling an ankle injury, that has hobbled him for the last couple months.

Although the workout was closed and those in attendance declined comment, Otah was pleased with his performance in one-on-one drills against another former Pitt offensive tackle, Mike McGlynn, who likely will be drafted.

“I feel like I moved well today,” Otah said. “My ankle felt way better than it did. My change of direction was better. I was good with my hands and I finished (blocks).

“Hopefully, the coaches were impressed.”

One team that made a strong impression by its interest was the Carolina Panthers, which sent general manager Marty Hurney and head coach John Fox to see Otah. The Panthers own the 13th overall pick, and NFL.com analyst Vic Carucci projects them to take Otah in his latest mock draft.

Carolina was the only team to send top management — rather than scouts — to his workout. Well, the Steelers showed up as well, but “sent” isn’t quite the right word when they already work in the same South Side facilities.

According to a Carolina beat writer for the Charlotte Observer, Otah is one of a few Offensive Linemen those Panthers are considering.

The other candidates are Boise State’s Ryan Clady, Boston College’s Gosder Cherilus and Vanderbilt’s Chris Williams. Of the tackles, Williams is probably least likely to be picked by Carolina.

It looks more and more likely that Otah will be picked in the 12-20 range of the 1st round.

The Stanford job is open, but seriously, that’s not a job Dixon would take at this point. Aside from, at best being a lateral move, Stanford AD Bowlsby was an idiot. He put off Trent Johnson’s contract talk all season — then wasted two weeks after the season without making an offer (Johnson was in the last year of his contract). What? He thought no one would be interested in a classy, clean coach who won at Nevada and Stanford?

Besides, how eager would Stanford be to hire a Pitt coach after what happened with Walt Harris?

That said, expect rumors and reports that Jamie Dixon is in California. Because he is.

Pittsburgh basketball Coach Jamie Dixon is returning to the Southland Saturday to be honored by his alma mater, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, at the school’s annual Knights of Honor dinner-auction gala at the Universal Sheraton.

…

UCLA Coach Ben Howland, a close family friend, will introduce Dixon. Jimmy Kimmel is the master of ceremonies at the event.

Yes, Jimmy Kimmel is the MC of a HS alumni event.

Bob Smizik puts himself into an interesting little corner in his chat.

SDWC: Hi Bob, I noticed in your column this morning a line stating “It’s nice to see a coach with his eye on the real target “. Was that meant to be a quiet dig at Jamie Dixon and the Pitt BB philosophy?

Bob Smizik: Yes, it was a reflection on how Pitt proceeds in the post-season. It was refreshing to see Therrien have his eye on the big prize and not the conference title.

There’s a few other Pitt basketball questions after that, and then this.

Baxter: Who has had the more successful basketball program over the past several years? WVU with two sweet 16 appearances and one elite 8 appearance with an NIT title in between or Pitt and its early exits from the NCAA tourney.

Bob Smizik: Pitt, with its Big East TOURNAMENT championship, probably feels it has been more successful. I also think it has the better record, although I don’t have those numbers in front of me. But based on NCAA play, the big prize, I’d say West Virginia has the more successful program.

By recent years, that is then limited to just the past 4 because WVU hadn’t been in the NCAA Tournament since 1998, prior to 2005. Then by that logic, John Brady and LSU is a more successful program in recent years. A lot of good that did the new coach at Arkansas -Little Rock State.

Sorry, I can’t buy into that. There’s no question that the NCAA Tournament matters. That it is the big prize. But to be outright dismissive of the regular season and the Big East regular season and the Big East Tournament is beyond moronic. No, I take that back. It speaks of someone who just doesn’t care about college basketball beyond the NCAA Tournament at best. Arguably, it is one of the worst things about being a college team in a pro town. The mindset.

It’s that reasoning which allows the BCS to survive, as proponents point to the claim that at least with the BCS, the regular season matters. That every game counts and it isn’t just to get to the playoffs.

A big Pitt/Wannstedt puff piece from Yahoo!/Rivals.com to start off the day.

The upset of West Virginia may not have been a fluke, but Wannstedt – ever the cautious coach – warns that it won’t matter when the Panthers open the 2008 season against Bowling Green on August 30.

“That will be the focal point, but it won’t have a darn thing to do with us beating Bowling Green,” he said. “Beating West Virginia reinforced that we could be good and reaffirmed to the kids we were recruiting that you could win at Pitt.”

There are a lot of reasons to anticipate a successful season for Pitt this fall. Seven starters return from a defense that ranked fifth in the nation last season. The return of Stull and Kinder should boost the passing game, which will benefit McCoy.

…

You also need a reliable quarterback. Stull, who has thrown only 30 college passes, doesn’t figure to challenge for All-American honors, but he should be an upgrade at quarterback. His presence is another reason many Pitt fans can’t wait for the season to start.

But Wannstedt can. “I can wait,” he said. “We need to work. The season will get here soon enough.”

When it arrives, Wannstedt will have a team with eight offensive starters returning. He’ll have a dynamic tailback, an All-American linebacker, a junior quarterback and an all-conference receiver returning from injury. He’ll have a team with one of the best defensive lines in America. He’ll have emerging stars, like strong safety Elijah Fields or defensive end Greg Romeus.

He has a team that lost three games by a touchdown or less last season and is seeking redemption. He has a team coming off that win over West Virginia. There are a lot reasons to like Wannstedt’s team in 2008. And he does, although not for the reasons listed above.

Looks like Pitt is set to be the trendy media favorite “darkhorse” team to “suddenly” jump from losing record to top-25 team at least. This always begs that deep philosophical question of whether a team can truly be considered a sleeper or darkhorse when everyone is picking them to be that team?

Paul Zeise has had a week to watch practices and the P-G beat writer has had daily Q&As. The first one, to the shock of no one was all questions on the O-line. The now annual concerns for the O-line.

Dickerson has looked great at TE by all reports, and that was another major topic for a Q&A. It was also the topic of this story.

“It feels good catching the ball again,” Dickerson said. “I worked real hard in the offseason. I knew this is what I wanted to do, and me and Bill went in there and started throwing every day.”

What has caught Wannstedt’s attention is Dickerson’s willingness and effort to take on defenders with blocks, even though Dickerson likened the difficulty of blocking linebackers to hitting a moving target.

“I was impressed with how he made an attempt to block. That’s usually the biggest transition for these kids,” Wannstedt said. “Catching the ball and running is an easy thing. Everybody wants to do that. Very few guys want to get in there and get their nose bloodied up. Dorin showed that he’s not afraid to do that. If he can keep that attitude, I think he’ll be an asset for us at tight end.”

At least he is willing and working on the blocking. If he can, then he has huge potential to be a key player in the offense.

The latest Q&A addresses Bostick’s wind-up motion –like everyone and their mother, Zeise believes Bostick will be redshirted — and then questions about the linebackers. Especially the young ones: Brandon Lindsey, Tristan Roberts and Greg Williams. And what do you know? A story on the linebacker corps to tie-in to this.

Now, the coaches seem to have found linebackers capable of delivering that speed. That group includes four redshirt freshmen in Max Gruder (middle), Greg Williams, Tristan Roberts and Brandon Lindsey, as well as redshirt sophomore Nate Nix.

Williams, who is 6 feet 3, 220 pounds and runs the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds, is the most intriguing prospect, mostly because he is physically gifted. He is a converted running back who seems to have picked up his new position well and continues to make plays in every practice.

“The competition we have at linebacker, I really like our young linebackers,” head coach Dave Wannstedt said. “I am really impressed with the progress all of them have made in two weeks. It looks like that will be a good competition and they’ll only continue to improve.”

Of the group, Gruder is the one who likely won’t see the field much this fall, because he is behind McKillop at middle linebacker and also is battling Steve Dell for the backup spot. But Gruder has been a surprise and looks like he might be a fixture at the position when McKillop graduates.

At this point, Shane Murray and Adam Gunn look to remain the starters at the WIL and SAM spots. The rotation, though, should be a little more frequent which means a lot more speed and energy regardless of who is out there.
Finally, there was recap article from Zeise at the start of the week on key obsrvations from spring practices so far. Most of them have already been mentioned in this and previous posts — Dickerson at TE, Stull will be the QB, WR is deep, Defense is strong, O-line [sigh] — but this stood out to me.

Buddy Morris is worth whatever they pay him — Morris was brought in last year as the strength and conditioning coach and he has transformed the program. His grueling schedule has instilled a mental toughness the team seemed to lack in recent years, and more importantly, they are stronger and in better shape this spring then they have been. The Panthers seemed to get stronger as the season wore on last year and played some of their best football down the stretch. That has carried over into the spring, and it is clear his contributions are making a difference.

This is a radical shift from his view on the whole matter in February 2007.

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.

I agreed with his viewpoint back then, and I think there is something to be said for the change in players. The majority of the players now, are recruits Wannstedt has brought in. If we agree that the players are better physical, athletic talents, then it stands to reason that they will respond to most strength and conditioning better and probably faster.

Still, that he would change positions like this suggests that what Morris is doing has had a significant and noticeable impact on the players.

I’m going to share (one of) the dark thoughts in my mind. That little voice of doom and despair that goes against all this optimism and expectations for this coming season. The puff pieces and encouraging news of how the team is developing. Everything. And then that little voice whispers:

Remember 2005?

That first spring of the Wannstedt era. When everything looked so promising. All the national attention. The darkhorse talk of what that team might do? How good it could be?

I know, on a micro- level this is no where near the same. Players have changed, style, the departure of Rhoads. All that. Then that little voice gets louder when I read pieces foreshadowing in national mags.

I’m here in Pittsburgh and just finished a nice chat with Panthers’ coach Dave Wannstedt. As I got on the elevator at my hotel — a Roberto Clemente long ball from PNC Park — a few Pirates fans hopped on and were grousing about losing to the Cubs in the home opener.

Guy No. 1: “I’m done with the Pirates. Fifteen straight years of losing home openers.”

Me: “You guys know there are 150-something games left, right?”

Guy No. 2: “I can see the end from here.”

And I can see the beginning for the Pitt Panthers. It’s all starting to fall into place for this team, and I’ll address that more next week in SN Magazine.

I really get nervous when the other darkhorse teams Matt Hayes likes include: NC St., Mississippi St., Stanford and Michigan St.

Unsurprisingly, the defense looked great in the first scrimmage. Everyone healthy, more depth, cohesion and not a lot of losses from the starting D-line. That versus an offense that was a mess last year except for McCoy. That still has lots of key players out with injuries and a 1st round O-lineman gone. So nothing too shocking to this point. Still waiting on an O-line to show up.
Everyone’s probably read the stories and the way individual players like Safety Dom DeCicco has done to this point. Dorin Dickerson has looked good at TE, but then no one is asking him to block a this point. Every bit of good news, should come with some dark caveat. Or at least a “but…”
I can’t help but be optimistic, but then I’m always optimistic about the football team in April.

I swear I will get to spring practice stuff. Really. But before I can, I have to make a plea to Pitt basketball. Get Penn State back on the schedule. I don’t care how. Just for a couple years. Even if Pitt has to go to State College twice for one trip to the Pete for next season.

This just has to happen. At least as long as Stanley Pringle remains with the Nittany Lions. He has his defense.

Pringle told police he has “a bad habit of putting his hand down his pants,” and demonstrated for the officer by placing his hand down the front of his sweatpants, according to the complaint.

“Why would I need to masturbate?” he told police. “This is how I chill, ma’am.”

Disturbingly, Pringle could, uh, get off. The woman didn’t actually see him actually see any shaking.

According to the criminal complaint, a woman said Pringle sat down on top of a desk behind her and asked if she wanted to purchase some hand lotion he was selling for the basketball team.

Sports Information Director Brian Siegrist declined to comment.

The woman told police that after 15 minutes of conversation with Pringle, she heard the sound of adjusting clothing followed by a “smacking sound, like Pringle’s hand was smacking against the skin of his body.”

The victim said she did not turn around because she was afraid, adding that she believed this to be the sound of masturbation and could see a reflection of Pringle’s hand moving back and forth, according to the criminal complaint.

…

The victim told police that after walking through the bookshelves while answering her phone, she saw Pringle rubbing his hands together, “as if he had just put lotion on them,” and when she returned to her seat, she said she saw Pringle tying the drawstring on his sweatpants.

Oh, please, please, please, please put Penn State on the home schedule for 2008-09.

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.

There was a scrimmage today. The View From the Zoo has the all important rundown on 2009 recruits that attended. Nice work on the actual information gathered, guys.

Glad to know that I’m not the only one who isn’t sure what year Doug Fulmer actually is.

Doug Fulmer isn’t sure what to make of his class designation — officially, he is a redshirt junior — but after missing the majority of the past two seasons with injuries, the Pitt defensive end isn’t worrying about it.

“I consider myself a ballplayer,” said Fulmer, in the process of appealing for a sixth year of eligibility. “I don’t even pay attention to it. I couldn’t wait to get back out here. It’s been too long.”

Fulmer recovered from a broken left ankle suffered against The Citadel in September 2006 only to tear the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during spring drills last March 22. Now, a year later, he’s finally back on the football field and trying to reclaim his spot in the starting lineup.

He is fighting for the starting left DE position with sophomore Jabaal Sheard. Sheard has the raw athleticism (and a much healthier body), but Fulmer still has more experience and at this point a more physically mature player.

Moving to the receiving corps. Walt Harris made this a prestige position and spot of strength at Pitt. It’s been something of a surprise that despite Coach Wannstedt’s well known preference for running the ball, that the receiver position is still a big position of strength and depth.

The backbone of the group is formed by returning junior starters Oderick Turner and T.J. Porter and key reserves Cedric McGee, a junior, and Maurice Williams, a sophomore. Those four would constitute an excellent receiving corps, but the addition of two talented redshirt freshmen, Aaron Smith and Aundre Wright, pushes it into a higher category.

And that doesn’t take into account the return of fifth-year senior Derek Kinder, a first-team all-Big East as a junior in 2006 who missed the 2007 season with a torn ACL. Kinder is limited as to what he can do in the spring, but he will be pushing for a starting job in preseason camp.

Kinder said he is taking his rehabilitation slowly, but admits it is tough to watch the younger players make big plays because he knows it means he’ll have a much more difficult time breaking into the lineup.

“I get stronger every day, it feels better every day, but I’m not going to rush it,” Kinder said. “You have to be smart but the competitor in me wants to be out there because I know nothing is going to be handed to me.”

Which is yet another reason why the QB position is of such vital importance and the focus of every Pitt fan. We know that there are a bunch of talented receivers — especially some speedy deep threats. It does little good, though, if there is no chance to hook up with them.

So, that’s when observations come into play. Kevin Gorman’s observations from yesterday’s practice suggest that Bill Stull is still the leading guy to get the starting job. I hesitate to say reclaim the spot, since he was injured in the first game and the whole situation at QB is so different from last spring or even last summer.

The Panthers went without pads Friday for the third time during spring drills, fulfilling NCAA rules that mandate three of the 15 practices are without contact. Tomorrow, they will have a live – or full-contact – scrimmage with Big East Conference officials.

Ever the defensive-minded coach, Wannstedt said the quarterbacks will not wear green jerseys, which protect them from contact. But …

“They’ll be live on my whistle, and I’ll have a quick whistle” Wannstedt said, noting that it will be mostly for the benefit of Pitt’s “bread-and-butter,” the defensive line. “They’ll all get hit a little bit. … When they get a hold of them, I’ll control the whistle.”

Such tactics will put to the test the pocket presence of quarterbacks Pat Bostick, Greg Cross, Kevan Smith and Bill Stull, who are playing behind an inexperienced defensive line but are surrounded by talented skill players.

Stull showed some ability to escape pressure (and gets a high mark for creativity) during the two-minute drill. Flushed to his right, he wheeled back left and used Wannstedt as a screen before throwing a touchdown pass to Dorin Dickerson in the end zone.

I am hoping Wannstedt and Cavanaugh are not so wedded to only one QB type system. It just seems that Pitt has two pairs of QBs that can help change things up. The opportunity to mix things up with Stull and/or Bostick sharing time with Cross and/or Smith doesn’t mean going to a straight spread. It does mean keeping teams off-guard and allowing more variety and dictate things from the offense.

A couple other things from Gorman’s post that I feel like commenting. He notes that Dorin Dickerson looks tremendous at the TE position.

Now, I’m starting to think he’s a natural at H-back. He made a few catches today that raised eyebrows.

Two came during red-zone drills. On the first, he beat corner Aaron Berry and safety Dom DeCicco in the upper right corner of the end zone to catch a Stull pass for a touchdown. Then he got a step on safety Elijah Fields on a crossing pattern and leapt to pull down a Bostick pass in front of McKillop for another score.

Later, in 11-on-11 drills, Dickerson made a spectacular one-handed grab with safety Eric Thatcher in coverage. Not only does Dickerson bring size and speed to the tight end position, but he’s a legitimate downfield threat.

If it was all about catching the ball, Darrell Strong would have never had a battle. The issue — especially in the Cavanaugh/Wannstedt offense — will be his blocking skills. That’s something that remains to be seen with scrimmages and especially come summer practices. I’m optimistic, though.

The other is his observations on Wannstedt being effusive in his praise of Dom DeCicco’s performance at safety.

“Dom’s doing a heck of a job,” Wannstedt said. “We’ve got some good players – you’ve got (Eric) Thatcher with the experience and Elijah (Fields), as talented a player as we have on the team – but Dom DeCicco has probably made as many plays this past week as any defender we have. You trust him back there. It’s a good situation for our football team right now. I wish we had that kind of talent and depth at a few other spots.”

I’m not disputing any of that. I also think that Wannstedt is going to do everything he can to keep Fields from thinking he’s earned anything at this point. It’s probably safest to make sure Fields believes that he needs to keep working — on and more importantly, off the field — to see significant playing time.

Belated congrats to Sam Young for making the AP All-American Honorable Mention list. Reminder that the declaration date for declaring for the draft is April 27.

Tyreke Evans is one of the top HS guards in the country. He’s the top unsigned guard. He’s not considering Pitt (unfortunately) but the Philly kid did another interview and this was worth noting.

Evans has played with a number of great players at American Christian, so I asked the star who he felt was the best of all, and he told me it was “Nasir [Robinson].” Although Robinson is currently at Chester (PA), he did spend some time at ACA with Evans. I asked Evans if he knew why Nasir left the school, and he simply said “no.”

Some of the players he’s played with at ACA included Martez Walker (decommitted from Louisville), Jerimiah Kelly (signed with DePaul), Kennan Ellis (UAB), Oscar Griffin (undecided SG for 2009), Lamont Jones (decommitted from Louisville).

The ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. profile of 2009 Pitt commit Lamar Patterson is most encouraging.

A strong and athletic wing scorer with a solid handle. Patterson has three-point range and a nice mid-range pull-up. Given the slightest bit of daylight, Lamar will attack the rim with his long arms and explosiveness. He also has fine court vision to find open teammates.

Lamar is a strong and skilled wing. He is a good shooter and rebounder for his size. He is very talented and a better than average athlete. Lamar is also a very good passer with a decent handle. Rebounded and scored inside here. Talented with a great upside. Lamar is a top 75 talent in the 2009 class nationally.

There are days when I really despise the absolute prohibition by the Big East on recruiting any player who has even so much as signed a letter of intent with another Big East school. The BE has the harshest rule in all the conferences. Even in the Big 11, if a player wants to transfer to another member school he can as long as he pays his way.

This is a rule that dates back to the Conference’s earliest days. When recruiting was even more local and just as vicious. The fear was that teams would actually seek to raid each other to get players. The BE rejected even a minor tweak last year to allow players who had only signed the LOI, but was released following a coaching change.

PG Tyshawn Taylor wants to at least explore options now that Crean left Marquette. I have to believe that if the rule wasn’t there, ND would never been able to get McAlarney to come back after they kicked him out of school for a semester for Pot possession. They had to re-recruit the Long Island native, but no BE team could even approach him.

More attractive, though, would be the now former Villanova SG Malcolm Grant. He’s the one who torched Pitt from outside in January, and shot 46.6% from outside on the season. For whatever reason, he got buried on the bench by Jay Wright later into the season, and with it looking likely that he would stay there has asked for and received permission to transfer.

Antonio Bryant is still around. He’s signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jon Gruden needed WRs badly.

“Hopefully, one of our young receivers can step up. We’re going to need somebody to start hitting the ball out of the park consistently. We’ve added Antonio Bryant. Garcia played with him, McCown played with him and I did a lot of research on him. He’s got a lot of talent. He had a 1,000-yard year in Cleveland and he averaged 20 yards a catch with the 49ers in 2006. He’s had his problems sticking around, but he’s a talented, big player. He could be a really good player if he gets confidence and he trusts us. I’m excited to have him.”

Gruden doesn’t seem worried about his past — at least not publicly.

“I know some guys who have coached him,” Gruden said. “Walt Harris coached him at Pitt but (defensive line coach) Larry Coyer was on that staff. Jeff Garcia played with him in Cleveland. So did Luke McCown. So, we have an environment for him to take off. Whether he does or not will depend on him.”

Really, at this point it’s probably a low risk, high reward signing for Tampa. His other problems mean he wasn’t signed for a lot. He doesn’t have the contract or pull to be a real problem. If he doesn’t work or does disrupt, he’s gone. I’m hoping he gets it together, though.

As for Larry Fitzgerald, well, he’s a daddy according to the results of the paternity suit.

“My beautiful grandson is not a secret,” Mary Lou Nazario told me via telephone Tuesday. Reminded that it was April Fools’ Day, Nazario laughed and said she was dead serious that a Coconino County judge has issued an order confirming that Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald Jr. is father of Angela Nazario‘s baby, Devin Nazario Fitzgerald, who was born Jan. 1, weighing 7 pounds, 6 ounces.

On Wednesday, a court official confirmed to me the authenticity of a paternity document that came into my possession.

Angela filed a paternity suit against Junior last year.

Good thing he just signed that new contract with Arizona. The mother is a former Raiderette (recent and older photos on that link) in her late 30s.