Some more items to pass along.

If you worry/wonder/never had it cross your mind that perhaps since Birch is a Pitt commit you might be viewing his performance last night through Blue and Gold glasses, the final note at ‘Cuse blog TNIAAM on the game should be reassuring.

And as for Pitt-bound Khem Birch…yikes, you guys. One-and-done that guy…

No.

Either it was shyness, or something else, but the difference between the Khem Birch during practices and the one that showed up during the game continues to be the thing that most observers noticed.

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He is not going to be an immediate impact player at Pitt.

Khem Birch had a great performance at the McDonald’s All-American game last night. There are a lot of reasons to be really excited that he is a Pitt guy and will be on the squad. He will be a great player. But he is not a one-and-done player right now. He is not going to be a pure stud out on the court next year. He still has a ways to go.

Despite the ESPN fawning over Austin Rivers and continual cutaways to Doc Rivers watching his son, Khem Birch ended up as the leading scorer for the West squad with 15 points. He also had 10 rebounds and 6 blocks. Still, no mention in the AP write-up.

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I admit to being completely fascinated with the Missouri-Matt Painter-Purdue triangle. Not simply because it strikes me almost as eerily similar to the Arizona State pursuit of Jamie Dixon a few years back, but also because of what it reveals about how the best coaches look beyond a mere cash grab.

On its face, Matt Painter even considering the Missouri job made no sense. Painter is a Purdue alum. He played for Gene Keady. Keady hand-picked Painter to be his successor. Heck, Painter even left his successful head coaching job at Sothern Illinois to be an assistant at Purdue in Keady’s final year to get started recruiting. He’s loved by the fans and students for revitalizing the Purdue basketball program. The student section at the games are called “The Paint Crew.” Recruiting is fertile in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Kentucky — even if it is competitive. Plus it is the Big Ten. The conference awash in money and exposure.

Missouri on the other hand, is an inconsistent basketball program. It has aspirations/delusions that it is one of the big boys. Yet it keeps getting slapped. Whether it is seeing itself skipped over for Big 10/11/12 membership despite the geographic logic (dude, totally sympathize). Skipped over by bowls because of fan travel. Seeing it’s coach bolt for Arkansas. Stuck in the Big 12/10 and bending over to take it from Texas. In basketball, if Texas or Kansas aren’t playing the games rarely get much attention. How could they possibly be serious about snagging Painter?

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Zeise reports Chris Jacobson has slid over and is trying his hand at the Center position.  This is nervous making as we have now had four, no… five, players in that position.  For some indigestion with your coffee read this:

Jacobson is one of the Panthers’ most aggressive and physical linemen. Interestingly, he did not get onto the field as a starter until his fourth year in the program. One of the reasons given by the former staff was that he made too many mental mistakes.

That would seem to be contrary to what a team would want from the center, but Jacobson believes he has matured as a player and won’t have any trouble at all picking up the finer points of his new position.

Jacobson admits he could struggle with toning down his aggression when playing center. “It was fourth grade, the last time I played center,” Jacobson said.

No Lumpy, let’s not tone down the aggression one bit…you go right on ahead with that. Be yourself.  He is a senior so we can assume he’s being honest when he says he’s matured and confident. He’s a good OL, acquitted himself well last season so here’s wishing him the best in his new position.  Regardless of where he ends up he’ll be a starter on the OL somewhere.

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Take a running start from about 40 feet away from something above your head. When you get close, jump up to slap it. Now, go back and try that again with an eyepatch over one eye. See how fast you are willing to go to and how accurate you are. That’s kind of what Khem Birch was trying for Monday night’s dunk contest at the McDonald’s All-American game festivities.

Khem Birch, a 6-9 F who is originally from Canada but played his HS ball in Massachusetts and is committed to play at Pittsburgh next year, took an inadvertent shot to the eye which caused some bleeding and swelling. He was scheduled to be in the dunk contest and was thought to be a late scratch but still managed to gut it out with a bandage above his left eye.

I was surprised when the announcers failed to mention his injury, but really disappointed by the number of readers on the site who decided to pass judgment on Birch based on the dunk attempts and not the slightest bit aware of what happened to him during team practices earlier that day.

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Well, there has been speculation since Pitt’s recruiting class for 2011 went to five with only three open spots that at least one of the recruits would have to attend prep school. That has now happened with Jaylen Bond announcing that he will do a year of prep and something else.

“While I look forward to playing basketball at the D-I level, I feel that, as someone who is 17 years of age, an additional year of development will allow me to enter my freshman year of college better prepared to contribute at a high level from the start,” Bond said in a statement released by PW coach Jim Donofrio.

“I have great respect and appreciation for the University of Pittsburgh, the coaching staff, and the players, and thank them for their belief in me,” Bond said. “This decision was made after a lot of thought by both myself and my family, and I am confident it is the correct one.”

In announcing that he is attending prep school, Bond has de-committed from Pitt.

This can be taken to mean one of many things:

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The Southside is quickly becoming the site of PITT’s walking wounded as the injuries mount up.  Minors ones thank goodness, but still enough to keep players off the field and the depth charts in flux, especially at the inside LB position where walk-ons are rounding out the two deep.

15 players out at last count and Graham said that’s the most he’s ever had. While he says that’s OK because it gives the staff a chance to see the ‘depth’, I think it’s putting lipstick on a pig.  Hey coach, it would also be nice to see if those guys could play too, wouldn’t it? Let’s tell it like it is.

The team focused on Situation Play today; red zone offense, inside opponents 10 yards line, etc… One drill was called the “Sudden Change”; when the defense forces a TO inside the opponents 30 yard line and the offense wants a quick strike TD.

They worked on special team play today with kickoff return coverage. Harper was booming today with a 52 yarder; Graham likes him and it shows. They will practice kickoff returns on Thursday.

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I’ve been running around all day. The wife is now sick. The kids are on spring break. Somewhere in there I still have to work and do everything else. Sorry not to be on this sooner. Judging by some of the e-mails, there is a bit of concern over Gibbs’ decision.

I have no problem with it.

“We’re not sure,” Temple Gibbs said today from New Jersey regarding his son’s draft plans. “From what I know, he was thinking about it. But he wouldn’t hire an agent, without a doubt.”

Gibbs, a first-team all-Big East selection who led the Panthers in scoring each of the past two seasons, has until April 24 to officially declare for early entry into the draft.

Provided he doesn’t hire an agent, Gibbs would have until May 8 to withdraw his name without losing NCAA eligibility.

“It would be to see what it was like,” Temple Gibbs said.

I hardly see this as a panic moment. If you are a junior at a high major program, with aspirations of a pro career there should be a no-brainer. Go through the process. Get the feedback. Find out what your chances are at present. Assuming you come back, you have a better understanding of what you need to improve.

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I just want to do a quick recap of what Chas asked me to do during the spring practices.  I’m filling in for him while he takes a bit of a breather from writing so much about the PITT basketball season.  That’s over with now, and while there is still a lot to discuss about that, Chas will be back with some football articles soon – as he already has been.  I’ll follow through until the Spring Game and then periodically afterward.

One gentle reminder.  This is a sports blog.  As such it doesn’t follow the journalistic rules that the more established media sources do such as newspapers and magazines… at least that is how I envision it and how it was explained to me years ago when I accused Chas of “speculating” on an issue.  Of course, he quickly commented back that “this is what this venue is for”.

So, there is some factual stuff on here, mostly from linked sources if I can and I’ll try to cite those, but there is a whole lot of speculation and author’s opinions. I’ll try to point that out when I do so also. As to research – it’s all about scanning the internet and gleaning info from other sources.  Just wanted to make that clear.

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Maybe it’s just the fact that none of the jobs out there this year look that great. Maybe it is the money that Coach Jamie Dixon already earns at Pitt, makes it harder for other schools to even tempt him. Maybe it’s geographic fit. Maybe the disappointing ending in the NCAA Tournament with high expectations, have dampened the energy other ADs are putting to pursuing Dixon. Or the fact that Dixon hasn’t taken big offers from any other school in this time.

Whatever the reason, there isn’t a lot of buzz for teams pursuing Coach Dixon as in other years. Last week a wish list floated out there about who Tennessee wanted to get to replace Bruce Pearl:

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I know that I’ve been barely missed with Reed taking the spring football coverage to an area never seen on this site before.

It’s been one of those weeks. Kids sick all week, and then my sister and brother-in-law came for a visit over the weekend. My sister, by the way and with all the irony it entails, lives in Houston. No not at all painful to think about that. At least it was an excuse to avoid watching any game involving Butler.

I have been able to watch the NCAA Tournament this week, except for Butler games. The pain is somewhat numb at this point, but I may never be able to look at Matt Howard without muttering expletives.

Last week — after Pitt lost, but before the NCAA Tourney restarted — I answered some questions from Pittsburgh Sports Daily. You can take a look here.

I didn’t have a chance over the weekend to watch any post-scrimmage videos so I held off on commenting on them until now.  Saturday was ½ practice and ½ scrimmage. So in essence it was 1/2 of a scrimmage.  Graham said the 1^st string ran 56 plays, the 2^nd string ran 26 and the 3^rd string ran 9. Hmm, looks like he’s expecting PITT to run 181 plays on offense per game… obviously something was off there.

One thing to note: There has been a lot of discussion regarding Todd Grahams ‘hucksterism’ in his talking about PITT football so far.  In a sense he is a salesman and his product is PITT football.  However, it seems as time passes and the practices get more intense his style in these interviews is starting to become more casual and informative.  It’s a welcome change because when Graham talks actual football, with the refreshing honesty that he does, it is pretty interesting.  In any event we are getting more ‘face time’ with this staff then we ever did with the old.

He held two interviews on Saturday afternoon, a solo one which was an actual reporters interview directly after practice ended in the Southside facility indoor practice field (10:53 long) which was very candid and another staged one from the clubhouse accompanied by the DC Coach Patterson and the OC Calvin Magee (7:21 long).  Both these videos had some substance and I’ll combine the info imparted for ease of writing.

A main point Graham made was that the defense ‘dominated’ but that the offense still made strides in what the staff wants them to do.  TOs were a part of that as was the ability to get the ‘no-huddle- timing down.  Now the O is getting plays off in 15 seconds – the target goal is five seconds between plays.  He also said “I have to turn my back when the 2^nd and 3^rd string is out there (jokingly) because of how slow they are.  That is to be expected I think.

Paul Zeise of the Post-Gazette has this in his article:

“The goal today was not to plan, it was to run the base offense,” Magee said, “and we will grade really hard on the execution part of it. I want to see how we execute the offense [on film], not necessarily scheme, but the base stuff. And it picked up at the end. “We’ve got to get a little faster, they understand it, but they have to give us the pace that we want.”

At one point in the scrimmage, the Panthers were getting snaps off in about 15 seconds (from whistle to snap), but, as the day wore on, they slowed down. None of it was fast enough to please coach Todd Graham. “It went like I thought it would, I think we made a lot of progress,” Graham said. “We were at a turtle’s pace right now, I know you don’t think it is, but it is, we’re slow right now.”

The technical aspect of signaling in plays needs work but that was expected also.  Today was the first day they practiced it. They made the point that the ‘High Octane” offense still begins with the basic premises of communication and execution that you see in any offense and that will always be emphasized.

In that solo video, after being asked about what PITT was doing compared to the first program the coach had run the offense, Graham spent some time talking about how they are interacting with the team regarding the instituting of the new offense.  He stated that the staff has told the players “Trust us (the staff), we’ve done this before and it will get better with every practice”.  I’m sure this must be frustrating for the kids out there who have been so used to, and did well in, the DW pro-style offense over the last years.

The “Inside Zone” running game did well today with Ray Graham breaking of some big runs.  Again, Coach Magee singled out Des Brown for his play. The inside zone game will ‘define us’ as the offense will be predicated on a strong running game.  OC Magee said that the O had eight ‘explosive’ plays yesterday – which I believe means plays over 25 yards.

With that Graham said the OL was playing well and mentioned Nix, Jacobson and Gibbs.  Lippert moved into the 2^nd string center position for a bit and played well according to Patterson.

Graham mentioned one play which didn’t go so well.  It was a mental error in a scripted a 3^rd and 2 scenario where they were positioning for a FG.  Sunseri held the ball too long and took a sack.  He also singled out Sunseri and Ray Graham for praise in how they are practicing this spring.

DC Patterson was happy with the defense’s work, all except for creating TOs which didn’t happen (both good and bad I suppose).  Graham mentioned that they specifically put some ‘young bucks’ (Donald, KK Smith and Ezell) up into the 1^st string DL to motivate Alecxih and Caragein and it worked. The defense had 9 TFLs by the 1^st team defense and 10 by the 2^nd

He said that while there are differences in this defense than last year that would be mostly the 3-4-4 alignment and how aggressive they are in putting pressure on the QB with blitzes. The point that the LBs are still learning the new defense was made and one can’t help but think we won’t see any real difference in that until G. Williams and Todd Thomas gets on board either.  It sounds like Thomas is being considered for that Spur position when he can get back on the field.

Paul Zeise has a bit on the defensive goals:

Patterson said Pitt’s defense will have three goals every game: Nine tackles for losses (which it accomplished Saturday), seven three-and-outs (they had four) and three turnovers (they had one).  The goal is simple: If Pitt forces seven three-and-outs and gets three turnovers that will be 10 possessions where the defense will have completely shut down the opposing offense.

So those are the main points from Saturday’s videos and articles,  I advise taking 11 minutes and watching the interview Graham did from the indoor practice facility after the scrimmage.  It’s a good look at “Graham unscripted” and gives a real view of his actual thoughts about how the program is going.

BTW, Graham’s Mom is jazzed about the season.  Hear that, Vegas?

Odds and Ends”

The Pitt News has an article on the QBs:

“The quarterback position is a lot like the head coach position. You will either get praised or critiqued pretty hard. You are the face of the program. For our system, the best players in the end will be on the field.” Graham keeps saying that and we’ve yet to see anyone but Sunseri take a 1^st string snap though.

Pat Bostick is getting a lot of air time and having his writing published as the newest member of PITT’s Sports Information Dept. (an internship I believe).  He did a nice long interview with Chris Peak of Rivals.com on 93.7 The Fan radio yesterday morning.  It has pretty interesting stuff about the differences between the old and the new offenses.  He also talks about the “Play Entry” (signaling) communication system for getting the play from the sideline to the QB and then to the O players.

Next practice: Tuesday, March 29^th.

The scenarios to win are the following:

1. Connecticut beats Kentucky, then loses to the Butler-VCU winner-BBallBob1953 wins.

2. Connecticut wins the National Championship-coolpawduke wins.

3. Kentucky beats Connecticut-PITTWD132333 wins.

The prizes for the winner can be found here

OFFENSIVE LINE

I’ve been trying to hold off in writing anything on the Offensive Lineman and the Tight Ends because there just doesn’t seem to be too much to actually say at this point in the preseason.

But that never stopped any PITT fan from speculating, has it?  So, let’s look at who we have returning and who we may see on the field for 2011.  Here’s how our OL two deep looked at the end of the season last year:

LEFT TACKLE

77 JASON PINKSTON (SR, 6-4, 305)

68 Jordan Gibbs (JR, 6-7, 305)

LEFT GUARD

54 CHRIS JACOBSON (JR, 6-3, 290)

75 Ryan Turnley (SO, 6-6, 305)

CENTER

61 ALEX KARABIN (SR, 6-1, 290)

72 Jack Lippert (FR, 6-4, 275)

RIGHT GUARD

52 LUCAS NIX (JR, 6-6, 305)

60 Greg Gaskins (JR, 6-4, 285)

RIGHT TACKLE

68 JORDAN GIBBS (JR, 6-7, 305)

78 Cory King (FR, 6-6, 315)

So, we lose Pinkston and Karabin to graduation – with Pinkston being a key loss for sure, he was that good.   This spring we have this shaping up so far – and please remember this will be in flux for quite some time probably.

LEFT TACKLE

68 JORDAN GIBBS (JR, 6-7, 305)

Juantez Hollins (rsSO, 6-5, 290)

LEFT GUARD

54 CHRIS JACOBSON (JR*, 6-3, 290)

Ryan Schlieper (SO, 6-5, 300)

CENTER

ZENEL DEMHASAJ (rsR, 6-7, 322)

Brandon Sacco (rsFR, 6-3, 255)

RIGHT GUARD

CORY KING (rsSO, 6-6, 315)

Matt Rotheram (rsFR, 6-6, 300)

RIGHT TACKLE

52 LUCAS NIX (SR, 6-6, 305)

60 Greg Gaskins (SR, 6-4, 285)

Our returning OL are Gibbs, who acquitted himself very well last year after coming in to replace Greg Gaskins; Lucas Nix and Chris “Lumpy” Jacobson, both of whom have played good football for us.  These three kids should only get better with a year’s experience under their belts.

Nix has apparently moved out from right guard to the tackle spot on that side.  He’s quick enough on his feet to do that I think and if the lefty QB Myers gets playing time that position becomes more important.

The remaining two positions will be where we see the competition this year.  As of now the junior college transfer Demhasaj has been getting the 1^st team snaps at center as he’s been the most consistent shotgun snapper so far.  He may end up the tallest football center playing Div I this year if he starts. Brandon Sacco has been backing him up and, at this point, Jack Lippert is getting a bit of 2^nd team play but seems to be fading in the competition.

One note about Lippert:  Last spring I predicted that he’d be our starting center.  I also predicted Todd Thomas would be getting a lot of playing time at WR and that Mike Shanahan would get more catches that Baldwin.  My predicting sucks.  I’m surprised these kid’s parents aren’t offering me cash to not mention their kids at all.  Although back in the preseason of 2008 I also predicted that PITT wouldn’t miss a beat in the running game with McCoy leaving – so I’m not always wrong. Thanks Dion!

I have scoured the internet trying to find some official word from the staff on the OL and how it is progressing so far… basically zilch except for this on 3/26:

Chris Jacobson and Lucas Nix really stood out to me this spring and are really solid up front.

Thanks coach, firm grasp of the obvious there. Would it kill you to let us fans know that whoever is the starting QB may not get killed back there?

TIGHT ENDS

They are dropping like flies on the Southside.  Andrew Devlin’s football career is over due to a recurrent medical problem; he’s been offered a scholarship to be able to finish his degree so let’s wish him the best for the future.  I appreciate any kid that transfers in and wants to play at PITT, so thanks to him also.

Mike Cruz has left the building.  Either he was suspended then quit or he quit and then was suspended depending on who you believe.  It’s kind of like “You can’t fire me I quit!” or “No, I’m breaking up with you, you can’t break up with me.” Either way he’s gone, supposedly he tired of football and is to pursue a career in Law Enforcement.   I’ll bet a dollar we see him on some school’s roster in the future though.

Justin Virbitsky has been moved over to the OL to provide depth so that leaves PITT with three scholarship TEs on the roster; Brock DeCicco, Hubie Graham (no relation to the HC) and rsFR Dan Schneider.  Wait! I forgot about Brendan Carozzoni a rsFR who is listed as a TE also, so that gives us four scholarship TEs without a position to play.

I really don’t know what to say about this position at all as I’ve no idea what role the TE is going to play in the High Octane offense.  Tony Greco of the Panther Digest wrote a good article about our TEs a while ago.  He quotes Todd Graham as saying this about the position:

Another thing Graham likes about this tight end position, or three-back as it’s referred to, is that it’s a multitude of positions all into one, but he’s still able to use all the abilities he has as a tight end.  “It’s just a hybrid; it’s a fullback, it’s a wide receiver, it’s a tight end all into one,” Graham said. “It’s not really too different if you look at it as a position. Yeah, we’re motioning around and coming out of the backfield, but that’s football and I definitely think that myself and the guys at my position are definitely capable of doing a good job.”

Both DeCicco (whose father looks like he could suit up and play tomorrow BTW) and Graham have the reputation as being good receivers but the jury is out on their blocking skills – in their defense Graham couldn’t play last season and DeCicco really saw limited playing time when he was used as a receiver when he got in the game.  One point about Brock DeCicco – he has a 100% Reception to TD ratio so far in his career.  I suggest throwing to him every play.

Walk-on rsJR Chris Mike was moved from FB over to TE so that makes me think we will see that hybrid H-Back/TE position out there.  Mike ripped off a very nice 16 yard run last season so it looks like he can carry the ball.

The bottom line is that I don’t think we’ll see another Nate Byham or Dorin Dickerson in the TE position this year.

The first scrimmage of the “Grand Graham” era was held today. The earth did not shake nor did fire rain down from the heavens, but the 1^st team offensive players had very few turnovers (two by the 1^st & 2^nd string combined) so that is a good thing.

The defense won the day so it’s 3-3 coming into the backstretch.  I was going to say coming into the November elections but any political references on here elicit pretty strong comments so I’ll try to refrain. It’s a Tea Party thing I’m sure.

I get the feeling that because Graham is so bland about what he’s using as a progress benchmark that all that he’ll comment on in these first few weeks is that it’s still about the basic “Three-Ts” fundamentals in this new offense;  tempo, terminology and turnovers, at least so far.

There is another issue of the “Graham-O-Grams” which are his quotes, posted on the Spring Insider website. Todays are pretty honest and revealing with some interesting points that he offered, albeit somewhat depressing from the outside looking in:

“We didn’t exactly move the ball like we usually do and we had a lot of negative yardage and assignment issues during practice, but overall I thought the guys responded well.  We had a good first scrimmage and I am impressed with the guy’s attitudes I think they are buying into the way we are doing things and our different teaching techniques. We are moving at turtle’s pace right now so things are still slow but we will continue to focus on increasing the tempo.”

The ‘take-away’ here is that the kids are still in the learning phase.  And here is something that raises either expectations or goose bumps depending on your outlook when you read it:

“Coach Magee and I have seen where these players need to be and the end result that needs to be reached.  The players are way ahead of where we expected them to be at this time. This system is hard to implement because it is so technical and difficult, which is why a lot of coaches abandon the idea of it. This system is difficult to teach and that is why it is so hard for players to execute”.

Reading this I advise against taking the points in PITT’s first two games. Just kidding!  The world could look pretty rosy come August.

Where you can really see the staff’s baby step approach is in the juggling of the two-deep lineup which changes from practice to practice.  What is obvious is that the position coaches are getting just about every kid they have into the two deep so they can at least get eyeballs on them in a semi-formal setting.  Really, the listed two-deeps so far are just unbelievable as far as any indications of what we’ll see come September.  Case in point: Jake Delmonico ran with the first string today at WR.  Granted, his grandfather had the best restaurant in Manhattan for the last 150 years, but still…

There were a couple other walk-ons there that you just know are going to fade away as time goes on.  I think it’s a way of letting the kids get a feel for what they will be working for over the next months.  Maybe a kind of way to say thanks also.

Sunseri was with the first team and Myers with the second, sharing snaps with Gonzalez.  It looks like Sunseri may hold trump here through the spring camp at least.  If so, that’s OK, but I wonder if that means he’ll be a lock come summer training sessions.  From all the reports coming out of camp he’s doing well, as hard as that is for me to type.

One point to note is that Graham doesn’t have an actual Offensive Coordinator.  Is this an oversight or budgetary concerns? There are a couple of co-coordinators (say that three times quickly).   Regardless, whoever is calling the offensive plays during the practices isn’t dialing up the deep ball very much.  Only one shot was taken downfield today and it was Sunseri missing on a deep overthrow… who would have guessed?  It is a bit surprising that Myers, who has been the QB2 and who has impressed with his arm throughout most of the drills, hasn’t been tasked to air it out much.

This cements the idea that Graham is still in the embryo stage when it come to the offense he wants to install.  If indeed he’s going with Sunseri at this point, and that may be, he’s concentrating on practicing the things that Sunseri does well.  Not a bad thing to do as the onus on this offense isn’t the deep ball but the short, quick passing game.

The offensive line is still a work in progress but it looks like our JC transfer, Zenel Demhasaj, is looking good at the center position. Not the prototypical size for a college center at 6’7” and 322 lbs but who’s counting. If he can get the ball back to the QB in the shotgun on a consistent basis he’ll win the job. Other than that it’s too early to tell who will fill in for the departed Jason Pinkston.  Gaskins, Cory King and Rotheram have been swapping time on the OL and we’re sure that will play out at a later date.

The inside LB corps is still the Walking Wounded.  It looks as though we’ll see Todd Thomas at either the Spur position or dropping back to a defensive back spot.  Whatever.  I just want to see this kid on the football field.  Having Greg Williams and Dan Mason practicing would make us feel a lot better about the LBs.

Odds and Ends:

Pat Bostick wrote another installment of Inside the Huddle (his 3^rd).  This one does a nice job of explaining Coach Graham and Coach Patterson’s defense. It is surprisingly easy to read and not overly esoteric as some writers are when describing the intricate details of football formations and systems.  Usually my eyes glaze over in about three paragraphs with these things but this is a fine read.  In it he says what we all hope comes true:

Creating confusion before the snap is one thing, but once that ball is snapped, you must cash in on the opponent’s vulnerability.  From the sound of it, Pitt plans on being aggressive defensively. This defense lends itself to exotic blitzes (think Dick LeBeau), and an aggressive style of play, from the defensive line on back to the secondary.  I expect to see some big plays from the Pitt defense this year.

Good… so do we, but we’ll also be satisfied in a lack of big plays against the defense.

PITT’s SID was gracious enough to offer me a Media Pass for the Spring Game and an additional practice before April 16^th.  I’ll try to get up to PGH so that you readers can have a bit more detailed and actual facts to read and maybe some background also.  It was a nice gesture on the SID’s part and I appreciate it.  I asked him if he could arrange a porta-pottie on the sidelines for me as I’ll have drunk about ten beers before the Spring Game starts but I don’t think his offer goes that far.

By the way, if you like spirited discussion on PITT football Tony Greco over at The Ironhead Lounge message board has been doing a great job writing about PITT football for the last year.  It a subscription site but well worth the few dollars per month to get the skinny on what is happening with the program.

I am thinking of doing the next few articles in established author’s voices.  Kind of like this:

Ernest Hemingway;

There was a practice today. It was on the Southside. It was fast and bloody.  There would have been dust in the air if the turf wasn’t fake. The coach yelled and screamed. No one looked at the coach. Sunseri was nervous and it showed. His guts won the day but it cost him.  He played ball again. Why can’t he throw over 25 yards?

Or ee cummings;

pitt held a practice today that stunk it was sloppy and glorious at the same time but the coaches yelled and screamed Sunseri was nervous but his guts won the day but it cost him he played ball again and told the coaches he didn’t want to throw deep again and please don’t ask a second time.

What do you guys think?

Next practice: Tuesday, March 29^th;