Of course the story in the papers is the return of Josh Lay to team practice. He appeared to look good in scrimmages and was hitting hard. Lay is Pitt’s most experienced cornerback, so he is very important to Pitt’s defense.

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of optimism about WR Princell Brockenbrough playing this season. Brockenbrough undergoes exploratory surgery today to discover the extent of the damage to his knee.

Shorter versions of those stories are in Zeise’s notebook column, along with a list of who didn’t practice with what ailment and NCAA eligibility issues.

A focus piece on picking a starting running back. Zeise seems to like Murphy for the position because of his speed, but says the job is probably Kirkley’s to lose. Pitt has only had one 1,000 yard rusher in the last 7 years. I don’t think that will change this year, because I think Kirkley and Murphy (along with Marcus Furman and possibly freshman Brandon Mason) will split the load. Unlike the QB position, it isn’t so bad to split time.

Some quick hits from Bendel’s notebook column. Freshman CB, Darelle Revis, has opened eyes with his play so far. He looks to at least get some playing time at corner and do some kick returning. Charles Spencer, the subject of a glowing story on his conversion to the offensive line, is not going nearly as well as the earlier piece suggested. “Charles is swimming right now.” Bendel has written off RB Jawan Walker as rejoining the team this year.