It’s finally returning. ESPN College GameDay returns to the Pete.

ESPN has announced it’s Saturday night/College GameDay schedule for the 2012 season.

The second College GameDay of the season will be Louisville at Pitt on January 21.

It is one of two Big East College GameDay sites this year. The other will be Syracuse at UConn on February 25. Last year, Pitt was at ‘Nova’s College GameDay. This will be Pitt’s fifth time playing at a GameDay site. Pitt is 3-1 on these nights. Pitt hasn’t hosted a College GameDay since the Georgetown game in 2007 — that Pitt won.

Bostick wrote a short article on the fact that PITT has four state championship QBs on the roster.  Does that make anyone more comfortable about the QBs and the new offense?  It’s a neat fact though but all we need is to have one who is a true BE champion QB this season.

From a blog in the Trib-Review we have another new recruit from the 2011 class – Juan Price.  He replaces Ejuan Price.  Like another PITT player who wanted his name…Dorsett… pronounced differently Price has asked for the change.  Apparently he’s quicker and bigger also:

“Let me tell you, if you’re a quarterback, that ball better get out quick. He is lightning.”  Plus, Price weighs 250 pounds, according to Patterson, even though he is listed at 235 in the Pitt media guide.  “People don’t realize that,” Patterson said. “He is packed together.

Graham met with the team for 15 minutes after practice and then addressed the media.  Referencing his already high expectations he says this: “Today we were somewhere around that 80% mark, which will get you about eight wins. The most important thing is what you get done on a daily basis.”

For the Tino Sunseri crowd Graham notices a difference:  “The one thing that I have been very impressed with is just how much stronger Coach Griswold has gotten Tino Sunseri. Tino has actually done work but he has been getting stronger and has put a lot more velocity on his ball. The walk-on, Trey Anderson, has also been sticking out with me and I have been very impressed with him. He can make some throws and does a really good job.”  Remember Trey Anderson was being recruited by Tulsa, and Todd Graham, last year so the staff is very familiar with him.

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Brief step away from football to see what is happening with Ashton Gibbs and the USA squad playing in the World University Games.

Not much yet. After a claimed 30 hours of traveling to China, they had a thirty minute exhibition with Japan — who they pounded 96-56 in that brief space. The opening ceremonies for the WUG are Friday.

ESPN.com’s Andy Katz got Purdue and WUG Coach Matt Painter to give a brief quote on every player on the squad.

Ashton Gibbs, Sr., G, Pitt: “He’s a tough, hard-nosed player that simply gets the job done. He comes early and stays late. He’s a very good shooter, can make 3s and will knock down the shots for us. He’s our point like he was for us on the U-19 team.”

USA has another exhibition today before starting real games on Saturday. They are heavy favorites to win their group which includes Israel, Finland, Hungary, Mexico and South Korea.

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That oft-mocked Wannstedt comment from the halftime of the 2005 edition of the Backyard Brawl was not actually incorrect. Pitt needed more speed. They needed faster players. Better athletes. The speed was needed to make plays on both sides of the ball.

Now, with just a few weeks to the debut of the High Octane era, “get faster” has a different meaning. National writers have noticed: it’s about the pace.

The way he figures it, if Pitt gets 80 offensive snaps a game, it should have no trouble scoring 35 points, a number the team only occasionally hit under Wannstedt.

It’s a style of play that’s a marked departure from the pro-style offense the Panthers used with effectiveness under Wannstedt. It will require Sunseri to make good decisions, and Ray Graham to follow in the footsteps of predecessors like Dion Lewis and LeSean McCoy.

“We’ve got to play fast,” Ray Graham said. “That’s what he wants. He wants us to play fast, fast, fast. Those are his three things.”

That means all the time.

“We run everywhere,” he said. “There’s no walking. We run to every drill. No breaks.”

It’s part of a relentless ethos the coach is preaching. Caragein points out it’s not just the offense that will be no-huddle this fall, but the defense, too.

The expectations of 80+ plays on offense each game would be — and this is a very obvious understatement — something of an increase.

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It could have been easy for Coach Graham, Anthony Gonzalez and Pitt to bury this. To put the whole negative story out of sight.

We all know the drill. Player under suspension is declared off-limits to the media for the duration. It’s couched in a way to argue that he should not be a distraction to the team and what they are trying to do. To make it into an example of the team coming first. Then after Gonzalez serves his two game suspension, lift the restriction. By then, however, the season is underway. So is the Steelers season. So how much interest is there in talking to the 2nd or 3d string QB about an arrest from back in June that will eventually be expunged? Even if the story does happen, it is such old-news that it is mostly ignored. It’s a time-honored PR tactic to delay and bury a negative story.

That didn’t happen. On the very first day of practice. With all the local media on-hand, Anthony Gonzalez did interviews and talked about his mistake.

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Sorry for the lack of writing but family circumstances are taking up almost all my time.  When I can I’ll try to get something out every few days…

In addressing of the more glaring weaknesses of the 2011 PITT squad Zeise of the P-G interviews Tony Gibson regarding the stable of cornerbacks we have.  The coach is happy with K’Wuan Williams, Antwuan Reed and, perhaps surprisingly, Buddy Jackson…

He said Jackson has made the most improvement, but that is mostly because he took most of the snaps in the spring while Reed recovered from a concussion.

Gibson said. “I think, looking back, the fact that Antwuan was out in the spring is the best thing that happened for us, because it gave Buddy a real opportunity to take all of the reps and to gain some confidence and really get himself to the point where he is ready to play.  “We know what Antwuan can do, there is plenty of film on him, but Buddy needed to have a spring like he did to really get on his way.”   And from Jackson himself we hear a pretty standard response:  “This is my redshirt senior year, this is it. I’m going to take it all in, be coachable and try to compete every single day.”

Well, his laughing in the Head Coach’s face on the sideline when getting yelled at for blowing a play may lead to this next quote…

Gibson said he had heard — and read — a lot about Jackson’s work-ethic and toughness issues. He also said did not know what to expect from Jackson but has been pleasantly surprised and does not expect that to change.

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Well, I won’t bury the lead in this. In a story that gushes over Steven Adams is this big, big nugget.

Adams is set to graduate High School in New Zealand at the end of this year and will then transfer to Notre Dame Prep for the 2011-12 season to gain some American high school experience. He becomes eligible to play for Pittsburgh in 2012-13.

This is very big. This is primarily about getting his eligibility in order. Make sure he gets the tutoring and help needed to prepare and get the qualifying score he needs for an SAT. And to make sure his grades are proper.

There will be additional excitement since he will be getting some top competition playing at ND Prep. If you obsess over the ratings for recruiting, his further exposure in the US should push him to 4 or 5-star ratings.

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If you want to review, parse and examine the words, mannerisms and comments of Coach Todd Graham yourself, feel free to watch the press conference here (Maybe. I can’t get the damn things to play. Except for the blooper reel — which has a black bar going across it to obscure the picture and prevent me from grabbing a direct link on the splash page. Rieur1114 had a good point.).

I think I found my way to find it and sadly it seems the main issue is simply mistakes in the links. While there are lots of problems with the Pitt site, credit should go to getting a load of video interviews up from the first day.

The start with Paul Randolph trying to read off his full title really does sum up the ridiculous number of titles so many of the coaches have.

Here’s a transcript of the remarks of Coach Graham from the opening presser (PDF). This link should work for the video.

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In anticipation of the Panther’s summer training camp Paul Zeise of the Post Gazette has written a long article about the team and its expectations for the season.  No real earthshaking news here but he touches on the cost of the new program direction which for a school like PITT is a big step forward:

University administrators hope Graham can deliver the kind of exciting football he is selling because they have made a huge financial investment in him. Graham is making about $2 million per year and was given a pool of $2 million for his staff. The school has made him the focal point of its marketing campaign, going so far as to create a glitzy website called highoctanefootball.com.

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I’ve been inspired by Coach Todd Graham’s non-stop reference to High Octane for Pitt this year. He can’t stop using it — just listen to his interview from Friday. As such, I have decided I too need to raise my octane. As such, I’m changing my tailgate choice from Maker’s Mark to Bulleit Rye.

I’ll be getting to some very late, belated thoughts from Big East Media Day. Not to mention more Pitt recruits, the start of camp and plenty other football things. First, I’m clearing some tabs in basketball.

To the surprise of no one, Ashton Gibbs was named to the USA team competing in the  World University Games. Versatility is a key word for the squad.

“We do have some interchangeable parts, some guys at the three and four positions that can swing either way. We can play smaller and we can play bigger. It will depend on who we are playing against. I do think we can play a couple of different ways, and that’s always a positive.”

The one true point guard on the roster is Detroit’s Ray McCallum, who averaged 13.5 points and 4.9 assists playing the position for his father, Ray, as a freshman. Pitt’s Ashton Gibbs is nominally the Panthers’ point guard but operates primarily as a scorer; he did play the point for the U.S. squad that won the FIBA U-19 World Championships in 2009.

Painter was one of the assistants to Coach Dixon on the 2009 U-19 squad, so he and Gibbs have a bit of familiarity.

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It starts tomorrow so here’s some info on the projected lineups going into camp.

First off, here is the 2011 Media Guide.  On page 20 it list the lineups going into camp.  It doesn’t seem to hold many surprises, except for the fact there are kids on it I’ve never heard of.  Does the name Brett Zuck ring a bell with anyone?

On offense Myers is listed as QB2 and that will be an interesting aspect of camp to watch.   Hard to tell with a two game suspension hanging over the other competitor for that spot.

With a perfect name to go with the position, Kris Wildman is listed as the starting fullback – if there is such a thing in this offense.  Jacobson is listed at center but there have been reports the staff will try Ryan Turnley there.   The revolving door at center is still moving.  Desmond Brown is listed as second string RB but I think that is because Zach Brown hasn’t suited up yet.  Guess who the starter is?

On defense one eyebrow lifter is that Todd Thomas is listed as the third string Spur… again he was injured and the staff hasn’t seen what he can do.  I’d expect that he’ll move up rather quickly.  Lindsey is listed at defensive end rather than at the Panther position; Greg Williams is there.  I expect some of this to change after camp gets going.  I really can’t see Brian Muphy as a second stringer this season.

On special teams we see Devin Street as the 2^nd string kickoff returner.  I don’t like it personally. I’ve always thought it is kind of ridiculous to have a star player back there and exposed to injury.  Others disagree. I think Street is going to blow up this season and would prefer another speedy WR in his place.  Cameron Saddler is also listed as punt returner but I expect that position will get a good look from the staff.

We also have a third string boundary cornerback named Joseph Lopez…who knew?

All of this is predicated on the fact that the 2011 recruits haven’t been seen in action yet.  I’m not sure any could break into the starting lineup but some may rise up into the two deep.

The schedule of camp will be different this season also.  Media Day will be tomorrow and the last practice that the media can attend is on Friday August 19^th.  After that the practices are closed for the duration.  I’ll try to get to one or two practices to see things first hand.  Let’s hope the media outlets generate some detailed articles about the practices but that would be a change.

First Practice: Tomorrow evening, August 8^th.

It hasn’t started yet.

(There, is that factual and short enough?)

First Practice: August 8th.

It’s just been a week. It isn’t how I anticipated this week going.

Not with this week being the 9-year anniversary of the blog actually marking the 9 year anniversary of this blog (apparently that is supposed to be pottery, so I guess it’s time for a new Pitt mug for the morning coffee). Not with the Big East Media Day and all the hullabaloo that surrounds it. Not with yet another transfer to Pitt football in Tom Ricketts. Not with erstwhile Pitt basketball commit Jaylen Bond rediscovering his desire to go to college this year and committing to Texas. Now Fear the Stache is joining the Pitt Script Blog — which is a very good thing for Bryan and Brian. So much that is going on, and next week starts Pitt training camp. And I’ve been MIA.

It’s just been a confluence of things. I’ve been covering for some people on vacation at work. My parents came out to stay with us for the week. I’ve been spending all the spare time working on home projects with my dad during this week, because he isn’t content just playing with his grandkids. He has to keep busy with other things, and I have to help so he doesn’t fall over from a stroke. Plus, getting all other things out of the way so I can enjoy a trip to the ‘Burgh this weekend for a buddy’s bachelor party.

I appreciate the e-mails that were concerned for my well being. Worried that something bad had happened to me. I’m sorry to not have posted something about it sooner. I honestly thought I was going to get some time to post. Instead it has been a very, very crazy week.

Normalcy will return shortly — as soon as we can figure out what is normal.

Training Camp Preview

First off, I am glad to be asked to continue to contribute some articles on the 2011 version of PITT Football.  It is going to be different and, I believe, much more exciting, than we have seen for the past six years.  If anything it will give PITT fans a whole new issue set to bitch about.  Let’s hope there is a lot more praise than criticism but we’ll see how that turns out after the end of PITT’s first possession in our first game.

One note: I again remind everyone that these are my thoughts and opinions and if I state facts I’ll try to reference them somehow.

OK, we’ll get into players, positions, etc. in another article, that takes research, but today I’ll show how you can start getting your head ready for the onslaught that will be coming out of the SID department beginning next week.

So, how will we follow what is happening in training camp aside from the news papers and radio (with the new color commentator)?  Well, from PITT itself.  Borghetti and staff did an excellent job revamping the electronic media and social networking site during the spring and have continued to do so during the off season and going into the meat of the practices.

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