Having written for this many years, you do get a feeling for certain things. Recognizing certain signs of the coming season. The media coverage goes from reviewing last season, to focusing on the coaches, to recruiting, to the big picture previews of the coming season. Then in the final month you have the player pieces and watch lists for awards followed by local media previewing the local teams.

I’ve taken to skipping watch list stuff in the last few years simply because they are little more than lines in bios for players and that’s about it. The Rimington Award for best Center — for instance — features a Syracuse player who never started. Alex Officer is on the list and he might not even play center on the O-line for Pitt. You get the idea.

Last week, with more than a month or so from the start of training camp, the player profiles have been increasing.

Reed has been touching on the ones in the past week or so — Wirginis, Ford, Voytik and Peterman.

Today we can add a couple more for James Conner (and we all know there will be more coming). And grad transfer Mark Scarpinato who had the best (and certainly will be oft-quoted) explanation why he took a couple years off from med school to return to football.

“You can’t hit people in med school,” he joked.

It is still unclear what role Scarpinato will play on the D-line. Certainly he adds some much needed depth. He worked his way up at Michigan State to playing every game in the 2013 season. Obviously, he will be more familiar with the system and expectations from head coach Pat Narduzzi. Plus, the grit and toughness that we all want from the scrappy players.

“That’s really the one thing that stood out to you was how tough he was, how he’d jump in line in the 1-on-1s and how he’d take over 1-on-1s,” Narduzzi said. “He was impressive there. We came out of there going, ‘We can’t lose on a big, tough guy.’ ”

For Connor, the first from Bleacher Report (hey, I’m as shocked as you to link to something from the sight; but Adam Kramer is one of their few paid guys — and the writing quality shows).

Finally comfortable in his new digs, [Pitt Running Backs Coach, Andre] Powell oftentimes has company in his work space. It is not unusual for him to swing open his office door and find Conner already cemented in the enclosed room, deeply entrenched in game film.

The two have worked hard not just on watching tape, but studying specific plays and moments. Powell wants Conner to be more of a factor in the passing game, both as a blocker and as a wideout. This offseason has been all about taking that next step.

“In years past, he wasn’t in the game on some passing downs,” Powell said. “We want to change that. He’s got tremendous ball skills out of the backfield, and that was not something they asked him to do a lot last year. But he can do it.”

Conner has embraced the art of consuming film. The allure of the NFL has him.

It’s his ultimate goal to play at the next level, right alongside playing in the championship game he never got to experience in high school. Winning the ACC comes first, then the rest can fall into place.

Big article, and well worth the time. Conner, from the beginning of his ascent at Pitt has been almost preternaturally aware and prepared to deal with more and more media attention and fame. Whether it be simply knowing to say the right things in public, to displaying confidence in his abilities while somehow coming across as humble.

His ability to navigate with seeming ease as one of the primary faces of Pitt football as he started emerging as a freshman. All with a certain openness that shows an ability to laugh at the absurdity of fame that he also embraces.

Fifteen-year-old Luke Haas saw Conner play in that bowl game in Detroit and got a photo with the freshman. He wanted Conner’s signature to go with it, so his stepfather reached out to Mike Gallagher, a friend whom Conner considers a father figure after a lifetime of playing football with Gallagher’s son Sean.

So Conner sat down at the Gallaghers’ kitchen table in Erie, Pennsylvania, and started scribbling. And scribbling. And scribbling some more.

He showed signature after signature to two of Gallagher’s six kids, itching to make this first autograph count. When his cursive finally came together a half-hour later, Conner put pen to picture, punctuating his John Hancock with a “229!” to commemorate his rushing total in the 30-27 win.

Gallagher decided to attach the scrap paper and a note when passing along the finished product.

“‘This will be special: You’ve got the first real one and you’ve got all the practice signatures,'” Gallagher recalled writing. “His signature has actually changed since then; it’s much quicker and it’s more of a ‘JC 24’ than it is his whole name.

“When he first signed [autographs] he was real meticulous and wrote out the name. He gets it now, that there’s not time to do that.”

The reason being in no small part that he has people around him to keep perspective.

With it, of course, comes a certain responsibility to the public — something Bibbs and Gallagher remind Conner of regularly.

After Conner’s rookie season with the Panthers, Gallagher took him to a charity signing to meet former Pitt and pro quarterback Dan Marino, with whom Gallagher went to high school.

Conner and Gallagher watched as the living legend autographed hundreds of items for hometown fans.

The mentor’s words proved prescient for the soon-to-be overnight celebrity: “Take a look,” Gallagher told Conner. “If this happens to you, you better handle it like he does. Don’t show frustration.

“If you’re lucky enough, this becomes your life.”

So far it looks like he is well on his way.