I know, this should be nothing but football coverage at this point. But…

In the space of his two years at Pitt, Josh Newkirk went from speedy sparkplug, to the guy some wanted to supplant James Robinson at point guard, to the guy who became lost on the court, to one of the players many expected/wanted to transfer because his play had fallen so far, to “oh, he had an injury, that explains it.”

In May, we finally learned how bad his injury really was. He needed microfracture surgery on his left knee.

Microfracture surgery is still such an emerging surgical technique for athletes after an injury. In some ways it is akin to UCL (Tommy John) surgery in the 80s. It works, but the recovery rates and level of recovery from where the player was, vary greatly.

Some players never quite recover — Joseph Uchebo should immediately spring to mind — and Newkirk was looking at at least a year of rehab.

Faced with the ongoing rehab, the almost certainty of redshirting this year, and questions of his role on the team when he came back; Newkirk is opting to transfer.

“Josh is looking to get closer to home while he recovers from knee surgery, and we are in full support of his decision,” Dixon said in a statement.

Newkirk selected Pitt over Georgia Tech, Memphis, Missouri, Arizona, Indiana, N.C. State, Oklahoma State and Tennessee. N.C. State is located in Raleigh. He appeared in all 34 games with four starts last season.

Newkirk’s transfer leaves Pitt a little thin at point guard.

Senior James Robinson, who started every game at point guard last season, had foot surgery in June. He, too, is expected to recover in time for the start of the season. However, freshman Damon Wilson is the only other true point guard on the roster.

Junior shooting guard Chris Jones and graduate transfer Sterling Smith, who plays shooting guard, also are recovering from offseason surgeries.

Heck of a summer for surgeries for Pitt.

The depth at point guard isn’t terrible — provided Damon Wilson gets his academics cleared by the NCAA. Pitt had already cleared him, but the NCAA is investigating his high school, Our Savior New American. He and his former teammate, Kansas-bound Chiek Diallo are still in limbo, while Davon Dillard has apparently been cleared to play at Oklahoma State.

ACC rules prohibit transfers within the conference, so he isn’t going to end up at one of the Tobacco Road schools. Newkirk is more likely to consider East Carolina, Charlotte or even South Carolina.