They may never meet, but given that they essentially chose Pitt within a day of the other, they will get linked in my mind for quite some times.

Chase Adams bids farewell to Centenary. Not that the beat writer down in Louisiana can blame him.

The exodus begins.

Senior Chase Adams on Monday became the highest profile athlete to announce he is leaving Centenary College due to the board of trustee’s recent ill-conceived vote to drop the school from Division I to Division III.

Adams, a fan favorite and the team’s second leading scorer from last season, will transfer to the University of Pittsburgh and play for coach Jamie Dixon in his final season.

Also departing the men’s basketball scene is Gary Redus II, who is headed to South Alabama after finishing third on the team in scoring at 12 points a game. With Nick Stallings and Lance Hill graduating, the Gents will be without their top four scorers from last season.

Adams was also the Summit Leagues Defensive Player of the Year. The beat writer covering Centenary has to be bitter. There’s a good chance his job is done and/or he faces reassignment. It’s one thing to cover a lower mid-major. At least there are the games against really good teams as fodder. The rare rising to the NCAA Tournament points. There are the other teams and their moments. It justifies having a beat writer. Now? Pfft. It’s D-III. No one will care. If anything good happens, the copy desk will just rewrite the press release from Centenary’s SID.

Of course, that’s their problem.

Pitt is getting a solid player for a year that can help.

Adams said he thought about transferring to a bigger Division I school after his sophomore season, but was more serious about it this summer because Centenary went on NCAA probation in May and cannot play in any postseason games this season.

“I felt like it was a good decision for me to go to a small Division I school coming out of high school,” Adams said. “But I kept getting better and better. If I play with better players I felt like I would have a better opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament. Looking at Pitt, I like the team chemistry. I felt like it was a good fit for me. I saw them play on TV a lot and I liked the coaching style.”

Adams is a Baltimore native and played on an AAU team with Pitt senior shooting guard Jermaine Dixon during their high school days.

Of course, the day before it became clear that Adams was definitely coming to Pitt, there was the commitment of Cameron Wright to Pitt.

“I like everything about the program,” he said. “The coaching staff was great. They seemed to be real. I got a great vibe and so did my parents. The coaches seemed to be honest, and that’s what we were looking for.”

Considering he feels he wasn’t getting the honesty from the OSU coaches, that would become a major factor. His defensive potential is especially promising.

ESPN.com recruiting coordinator John Stovall describes Wright as a slashing wing.

“He needs to be more assertive because he has a tendency to disappear at times in games. But no one has ever doubted his talent,” Stovall said. “He can be a good rebounder for his position, with his athletic ability being a great asset. Defensively, he should be a lockdown defender with his length, size and athletic ability.”

Chris Dokish had the story on Adams before anyone else did. He expects Adams to fit right in.

Bottom line, Herrion would not go all the way to Shreveport, LA in the middle of very important summer evaluations just to bring in fodder for practice. If Adams commits, and the chances are that will happen, then he has a very legitimate chance of winning the starting job.

He also has info on Pitt looking at the Canadian prep center, Cameron Wright’s potential and Isiah Epps is still a major talent.

A bunch of stories that just need the links, in the wake of Pitt media day and the start of practice beginning today.

Pitt at NC State, 3:30 pm on ESPNU. I will be ticked if the home game next year is at noon.

Aaron Berry is on the Jim Thorpe Award watch list for best defensive back.

The Sporting News preview of Pitt has the Panthers at #28.

Hugh Green missed his ride to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Apparently they are ticked about it and won’t enshrine him now. Green apologized.

Pitt verbal commit, WR/CB Kevin Weatherspoon out of Clairton gets a story. He chose Pitt because of the closeness to home and that Pitt came the hardest after him.

Greg Romeus swears he isn’t even thinking about the NFL as he heads into his junior year. His only focus is on Pitt, this year.  What else do you expect him to say?

It’s expensive and tough trying to schedule 5 non-conference games every year.

Coach Wannstedt’s first recruiting class are seniors. My how time flies.

Still, that class produced nine starters (Byham, Berry, Romeus, Fields, Pinkston, Dickerson, Malecki, cornerback Jovani Chappel and guard/tackle Joe Thomas), and a handful of other players like Nate Nix and Tyler Tkach who have been special-teams starters and/or reserves at their respective positions.

Wannstedt said the fact that this team will not have any big-name superstars is not a negative because it has a lot of good players to complement a few players with superstar potential, like Romeus and Byham.

He said he chose Romeus (a redshirt junior), Byham and Malecki, who was one of the first players to commit to the Panthers that year, to bring to media day because they exemplify the character he believes this team will have.

And to spare Bill Stull repetitive questions about his performance in the Sun Bowl. Not that Stull isn’t aware of it.

“You can’t really help but be aware of it, whether you’re looking at (the Internet) or not,” said Stull, a Poland, Ohio, native who played at Seton-La Salle High School. “I know my hometown, the people in it. I’ve played football here since I moved here in middle school. I’m used to it. I take it. I have no problem with it. It’s not the greatest feeling in the world, but I’m mentally tough enough to put that aside and use it as fuel.

“One minute you’re on top of the world, winning football games left and right. You throw a couple picks, and people are calling for your head. It comes with the territory, the consequences that come with it. You’ve got to put those things aside mentally and worry about what does matter: it comes down to winning football games.”

You know, it wasn’t the picks so much as the arm strength and accuracy.

In case you missed it during Big East Media Days, the Quarterback is the thing.

Only three quarterbacks made the trip here for Big East media day, but you couldn’t go anywhere in the Hotel Viking without hearing talk about the position.

Lingering questions abound throughout this league when it comes to the guys under center, and that’s one reason why the conference race seems so wide open. And it’s why so few teams are being mentioned for the Top 25 this preseason.

“Quarterbacks have a tendency to sway a lot of media and fan attention, and I think rightly so,” Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt. “It’s very difficult to win a championship at the high school, college or NFL level without an outstanding performance from a quarterback.”

…

“Billy’s the guy, and it’s his job to lose,” Wannstedt said. “We have enough talent at quarterback to win, and I think Billy will have a good year. I’m very optimistic about it.”

Pitt fans are decidedly less optimistic, and Wannstedt knows he hasn’t had the greatest track record with quarterbacks.

“It’s been a thorn in my side since I’ve coached, for some reason,” he said. “On my tombstone, my wife’s going to put something about quarterbacks.”

And damned if the Wannstedt’s didn’t use that as they went to other media outlets like in NYC.

Pam always has been the one who could get her rock-jawed husband to loosen up a bit when it comes to football. So as they were discussing the upcoming season and uncertainty the Panthers have at quarterback, Pam said jokingly:

“On your tombstone they’re going to write, ‘Here Lies Dave Wannstedt, Loving Husband, Devoted Father, Never Had Any Luck With Quarterbacks.’ “

Wow. Spontaneity. Noticing a theme?

When Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt finally is planted 6 feet under 35 or 40 years from now, he’s pretty sure what they will engrave on his tombstone:

If Only He Had A Quarterback!

It was a funny line on a gorgeous August morning as Wannstedt sat outside his office overlooking the practice fields at the South Side compound Pitt shares with the Steelers and reflected on the pick of his Panthers as Big East Conference favorites this season.

Use the line this many times and in this many places, and it might become reality. Or Pitt fans might start to roll their eyes at it. Especially if he used it in the canned interviews on media day that gets replayed throughout the season on ESPN. But, he wouldn’t do that, right?