It’s a win / win situation, if we take him and it works out, we have solved one of this teams pressing needs, linebacker.

If he washes out of the program, it’s still a win for Pitt, because coach Graham can make an example out of him and kick him off of the team. Which in turn would enhance Graham’s reputation as an authoritarian.

…I say welcome home Mr. Bell

I agree with Marco. Yes he’s had brushes with the law, but if Todd Graham sets a hard line then it won’t be a mad move. By that I mean he has to come out, acknowledge Mr. Bell’s history and say that behavior will not be tolerated at Pitt. Then, if even the slightest thing goes wrong in the public eye, Bell HAS to be gone to show that Graham was willing to try, but not going to be a pushover like Tressel. We either get a really talented linebacker willing to reform, or, as Marco said, it helps Graham’s reputation.

It’s odd that the same infractions, if they’d happened at Pitt under Graham, would have most likely have gotten him kicked off the team. But the same stuff happening at OSU potentially gets him a landing spot at Pitt for another chance. I dunno. I hope it works out.

Sorry, but I just can’t resist offering the following comment about Panther gridiron fortunes over the decades. And I’ve been around the Pitt gridiron in one way or another since 1942, That’s a heck of a lot of decades. With all due RESPECT(???) I submit that the Pitt grid journalists aspire to be pychologists or possibly moralists. They seem to delight un postulating the alleged or real problems of the young men who have worn or wear or EVEN MIGHT WEAR the Blue and Gold. Yes, Pitt is receiving some transfers from gridders who wish to return home. So be it!! But, to label them”MALCONTENTS” is presumptous/ Perhaps one or two might torn out to be a mistake. However, it seems to me that kind of labeling us a bigger mistake. Welcome home lads and if you make the team congratulations! It may well be the “Big Eleven” arrogance is beneficial to the Steel City’s fortunes. Rev. George from Columbus

I dunno … this sounds like Elijah Fields all over again. A million dollar body and a two dollar head. I think that if Pitt is intent on raising its image (although I never considered it to be a trend), it doesn’t accept someone who has continually been in trouble elsewhere .. especially at OSU.

major announcement??

link to post-gazette.com

how about a Missouri QB transferring to Pitt also

link to blogs.sites.post-gazette.com

Graham has yet to get a verbal 2012 HS commit .. but that class seems to be coming around

Take them all!!!

Pederson made such a big stink about all the discipline problems when he canned wannstedt, it’d look pretty hypocritical if six months later he signed off on a scholarship for a guy who couldn’t even stay in Easy-Cheez Jim Tressel’s good graces. Maybe he doesn’t care if he looks like a hypocrite, though.

I make no judgements one way or the other. I can see the argument both for and against taking a chance on the kid.

Apparently Dorian Bell was a good HS player. What are/were his accomplishments at Ohio State? Why does he appear to be a valuable commodity? Is he another HS phenom who has failed to live up to his billing?

Make no mistake, he was canned because of severe underperforming!!! 6 yrs, mediocrity at best. The discipline thing, allthough Nordy I’m sure was peeved, was a convenient excuse. Believe me, if they went 11-1, won some games on national tv instead of getting embarrassed, and went to the Sugar Bowl, he’d still be here.

I wouldn’t mind him coming, a second chance, knowing that he would be on a short leash, one mess up, no matter how little, you’re gone.

If they talk too him, and he still seems to be in a fog and doesn’t get it, don’t bother.

How many times over the years I’ve heard people say, or intend their point to be, “no one ever transfers to Pitt, all you ever hear is of guys transferring here or there, but, never Pitt”.

Let’s give him a chance…

looks like Bell is not coming

link to blogs.sites.post-gazette.com

Dan 05, I couldn’t agree more. You don’t can a guy for one bad off-the-field year out of six, and there was never evidence of this past year being a trend. If Wanny meets expectations and Pitt wins the BE these past 2 years, then he is still here … no dooubt.

When the NCAA levied the charges against Tressel 2 weeks ago, OSU grad Kirk Herbstreet was interviewed and he said (paraphrased) ‘Face it, if this was John Cooper, he would have been long fired by now. But since Tressel has taken OSU to 6 straight BCS bowls and is 8 and 1 vs Michigan, he has a great chance of staying as OSU HC’

That just about says it all

I’m glad that Bell is not coming. They don’t need to make this a haven for suspended castoffs from other programs. Bell was over hyped when he came out of Gateway and the Pitt program certainly doesn’t need to take chances with another Elijah Fields type of character.

Bell would’ve been a good addition, he’s a guy who went with the crowd to get his major violation, and then violated an unspecified but apparently minor team rule. It looks to me like he really needs a change of scenery, and as someone who ended up at Pitt for the same reason I would’ve liked to see a guy like that get one last chance.

I get that we don’t want d-bag players and I get that character is important, but at the same time forgiveness and giving guys a second chance and then changing them is what I want in our coach. Not someone who treats people like pariahs and makes an example out of them.

[…] minor stir caused yesterday by reports that Dorian Bell would be transferring to Pitt has quickly fizzled out. All last evening, Chris Peak of PantherLair had tweeted that any reports of […]

Still waiting for Russell Wilson to announce that he is transferring to Pitt…