I swear, I’m getting as sick as everyone else with running out of time and just having to do quick summaries.

LaRod Stephens-Howling is still the starting tailback for Pitt. Everyone else is just trying to be the 1st back-up.

That’s why Stephens-Howling isn’t threatened by McCoy. In fact, he is hoping McCoy is as good as advertised.

“I think it is great that Pitt keeps recruiting great players — that’s how we get better as a team,” Stephens-Howling said. “Why wouldn’t I want a great running back to come here — we’re trying to get better as a unit, we’re trying to become a much better team running the football, so everyone can help. I’ve enjoyed having LeSean around and Kevin Collier — the more good players we have the better.

“I’ve never thought this would be a one-man show, nor should it be. We are all one, we are all in this together and when I’m not in the game I’ll be rooting for the other guys to do a great job and I know they will and I know they’ll be rooting for me as well. We’re trying to win, that’s all we want to do.”

Walker said that the rotation of tailbacks will be determined by how they fare in camp, but there are basically five players vying for three spots. He said Stephens-Howling will be the starter while Collier, McCoy and freshmen Shariff Harris and Greg Williams will battle for the two other spots.

More love for the Johnstown Jet from his hometown paper.

Every coach loves the “tough” players. Freshman Maurice Williams got some love from Coach Wannstedt.

Williams worked with the quarterbacks Friday and has caught the coaching staff’s attention because of his athleticism and ability to bounce back from injury.

“He can do a lot of things,” Wannstedt said. “He gets hit early, his hand swells up. They go in and take an X-ray to see if it’s broken. It’s not broken. He comes back out, puts ice on it for 20 minutes and makes three plays at the end. That is very unusual for any player. What’s very encouraging about that is he’s a freshman. More than catching and athletic ability, I just like his toughness.”

Bill Stull was back at practice today, and his toughness also got praised.

Billy showed some toughness today. He has five stitches in his thumb and he was out there this morning and then in the afternoon. He has the stitches so he has a glove on and he’s a tough guy. Players that are surrounding him notice that. It was good to get him back out here and I thought we got a little better today.

Stull, it should be remembered, was also one of the first recruits Dave Wannstedt went after when he took the Pitt job at the end of 2004. Wannstedt got him to back off his verbal to Kentucky. To some degree there is a bit of loyalty to Stull for being one of the first guys — and that isn’t a bad thing.

Of course the ongoing struggles with snapping the ball to the QB is a bit of a strain.

The quarterback-center exchange has developed into such that the Panthers spent time after meetings Saturday with the offensive linemen and quarterbacks taking snaps. Those groups also were the first players on the field Sunday, trying to resolve the cause for the botches.

“We’re still not as clean as what we need to be with the quarterback-center exchanges,” Wannstedt said. “We’re going to spend the time and make the emphasis to get those little things cleaned up because they will eventually make a difference.”

Redshirt sophomore John Bachman is practicing at right tackle, but Wannstedt said Bachman can play any of the three positions on the offensive line. Bachman is one of Pitt’s top linemen, but his inability to adjust to snapping the ball made his transition to center torturous.

Meanwhile redshirt freshman Shane Corson has admitted that his academics might be more of a factor to keep him off of the O-line than a depth chart.

Now, he’s battling just to be academically eligible so that he has a chance to get on the field.

“I’m sitting on an academic thing right now,” Corson said during the team’s media day on Monday. “Depending on last semester … I’m having trouble, me and this professor (with) a lost midterm. I’m still in the dark. I don’t even know yet. When the summer grades are out, I’ll find out.”

Yeep.

Completing a troika of Johnstown articles, Wayne Jones expected to grayshirt, but is now on scholarship and trying to catch up on his conditioning to eventually contribute on the O-line.

“He’s pushing through it right now, and the most encouraging thing is that he’s not missing any runs,” Pitt defensive line coach Greg Gattuso said. “He’s working hard, and he’s dropping weight. It’s exactly what we want out of him.

“I personally believe we have the best conditioning coaches in the country, and if Wayne listens to them and keeps working hard he’s going to be a heck of football player as a 300-pounder in a year or two.

“He’s talented, and he can move pretty well,” Gattuso added. “But he was just too heavy. We don’t want big, heavy tackles in our program. We want them to be strong and quick, and you can’t move if you’re too heavy.”

I believe the term for Jones is “project.”

Another late day so time to do this quickly.

Practices are in pads from here on out. It means injuries of the season ending kind, unfortunately, can be expected at some point. It’s simply the nature of contact drills. Derek Kinder went down without contact today. It was his knee and it was X-rayed. Not much else right now.

Look, I’m very biased against Defensive Coordinator Paul Rhoads, so at this point, there isn’t much he can say in the pre-season that I won’t want to twist into something that mocks him or is just completely sarcastic. Hardly a revelation, but I was reminded of that when I read the piece on the defense today.

The second is tinkering with the defensive scheme and putting the Panthers’ best players in the best position to make plays.

To that end, the Panthers are using more five-man fronts and also bringing a safety into the box to have eight men committed to stopping the run.

“You change schemes and you tweak schemes and do things like that to address needs, but the No. 1 priority is the ability of the players,” Rhoads said.

“And the ability to stop the run starts with the front guys, and you can see that group looks like a Division I defensive line and we’ll stop the run just because of that. But we’re also trying to do some things to make sure we’re shored up in order to stop the run.”

Last year, the Panthers experimented with safety blitzes and bringing some safeties up into run support.

I suppose I should just be relieved that the idea of eight men in the box is actually being considered. My first reaction after the way the defense has been since 2003, though, was an eyeroll and something to the effect of, “Oh, now you think of that?”

Again, the defense (and especially the defensive coordinator) doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt from me that they will be that much better merely in training camp.
Speaking of not getting the benefit of the doubt, the offensive line also falls into that category.

Q: Every year we’re told the offensive line is improved and every year they struggle. Is that where we are again?

Zeise: Well, the line did improve some last year from the year before and now, with basically the same group back, you’d think it would improve again. But that’s just it — I’ve now covered this team for six seasons and the line has never been anywhere close to as good as it was my first season — 2002 — so I have learned to take a wait and see approach. Again, I think Jeff Otah will be good, I think C.J. Davis is solid and it looks like Joe Thomas is starting to live up to his pre-college hype. The center spot is struggling, but Chris Vangas is working hard to become more consistent. Jason Pinkston had a great spring and is talented, but he is still basically a first-year starter, so he could have some growing pains. The wild card to it all is Mike McGlynn — he must get healthy and prove he can play either guard or center at a high level. If he does, it really solidifies some things.

In Kevin Gorman’s blog notes from practice today (and there’s plenty of goodies), he is of the opinion that John Bachman at Center appears to be a “failed experiment,” and it will be Chris Vangas or Mike McGlynn when he’s healthy. Bachman has just showed no connection with any of the QBs as fumbled snaps was a big problem again today.

LaRod Stephens-Howling gets a piece today, and I like the goal RB Coach David Walker sets versus the 1,000 yards rushing.

Walker, however, would prefer if Stephens-Howling used a minimum average of 5.0 yards per carry as a benchmark, instead of a 1,000-yard season.

Bill Stull’s hurt thumb (banged it off of a helmet in practice) kept him out of practice today. Not broken, but with a couple stiches on the top. Stull not being out there contributed to the QB-Center exchange problems with Kevan Smith as the only scholarship QB out there. Well Maurice Williams went under center but he was recruited to be a WR.

Freshman RB Shariff Harris has continued to impress in practice, and Coach Wannstedt admitted that he won’t be going be moving Harris to the defense.

“I really thought that Shariff Harris did some good things today,” Wannstedt said. “He got a lot more opportunities today in practice and I really thought he did a heck of a job. He’s got more explosion, and he’s strong. He’s a big back who can run. The big thing is, as with most of these freshmen, he just needs to learn what to do.”

He had more praise for Harris after today’s practice.

On The Battle at Running Back:

Shariff Harris is more explosive and might be the strongest of all the backs we have. I thought Conredge Collins did some nice things. He can come out and make some plays. He is off to a good start. He is more mature, in better shape and he is hungrier.

On Depth at Tailback:

For the first time, we have a few guys back there. We are going to have to run the ball so that is a good thing. We have to go through the offensive line. It will take a couple days. Skill spots, you can form somewhat of an opinion before they put the pads on, but with the offensive line, it takes a couple days.

Of course, that still requires an offensive line to block and open up some holes for the running game to really matter.

Dorin Dickerson continues saying all the right things in this AP story about his move from WR/RB to Linebacker.

“I told my friends, if I could do it all over again, I’d like to play middle linebacker (in high school) and have like 200 tackles,” Dickerson said. “It’s better than scoring touchdowns, it’s the same thing. As long as we win, that supersedes everything.”

Tackles preferable to touchdowns? Dickerson insists he’s sincere in saying he would rather play defense than offense.

“I had a lot of time to think about it before they even asked me,” Dickerson said. “I said, “You know what, linebacker might not be that bad a position.’ I was kind of excited, actually, that he (Wannstedt) asked me. I said, “You know whatever works for the team, I’ll do it.’ I guess that’s the best position for me to play on this team and I’ll do to the best of my ability.”

Dickerson and the linebackers have stood out so far, though, as Wannstedt said Thursday, the defense is traditionally ahead of the offense in the early stages of preseason camp.

He’s also smart enough to admit he still has a lot to learn.

Over on the offense, T.J. Porter is also having a great start to camp. He’s probably a player of extra interest these days since he had a bit of a struggle adjusting to the team. Leaving briefly and having some flare-ups in practice.

This was what Pitt expected from Porter when he arrived last summer. Not the petulant player who left the team for a day the first weekend of training camp. Or the one who later stormed off the field after a tussle with Darrelle Revis.

Not the one who, in his own words, was “acting up.”

Now, Porter is battling to become the starting split end opposite All-Big East flanker Derek Kinder. Of the six candidates, Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said Porter “might be the most dangerous guy with the ball in his hands.”

…

The 6-foot-1, 185-pound sophomore adds a different dimension to a diverse receiving corps, with an explosive burst and the ability to shake defenders out of their shoes. It’s why he will again return kickoffs and is in contention, along with cornerback Aaron Berry, to return punts.

The Pahokee, Fla., native understands that earning a starting job will depend not so much on athletic ability, but his maturity level.

“It’s all about maturing,” Porter said. “Last year, I didn’t realize the importance this had to do with my life and my future. I just realized that this is it. This is something you can’t play around with.

“They can’t sit there and wait on one player to get his act together. It’s about the team. It was either get with the program or get left (behind). I got set back a couple days and was behind the eight-ball from there on.”

It’s always great to see kids start to get it, before blowing their chance.

The potential at WR and TE is so big. Pitt just needs to be able to get it to them. That has a lot to do with both getting Bill Stull ready and having an O-line give Stull enough time. It won’t do any good if they can’t get the ball.

Chris Vangas gets a little coverage. The senior center is of course hoping to win the starting job.

After three seasons as the primary backup at the University of Pittsburgh, however, Chris Vangas is eyeing the starting center spot this fall. But before he even took a snap during training camp, the Panthers fans had Vangas as a bridesmaid once again with classmate Mike McGlynn or junior C.J. Davis moving to starting center.

“I’ve got all the confidence in the world in Chris,” offensive line coach Paul Dunn said. “He’s done everything that he can to prepare himself for this season. So, I feel very strong about the way he prepared in the summertime. Buddy Morris describes him as a warrior, and I would have to concur.

“He’s going to give you everything that he has, and that’s anything a coach could ever want. And Chris has played some football here. He just hasn’t been a starter, so that’s probably why he’s being overlooked. But that’s not by us. We think very highly of Chris, and his work ethic can’t be overlooked.”

Okay. Um, it wasn’t the fans moving him down the depth chart at Center. It was Coach Wannstedt saying that McGlynn might be moving to center to get the best  starting 5 O-linemen on the field. With McGlynn out of the practices still, it’s not like Vangas (or Bachman) have exactly done anything to seize the job according to what the beat writers are writing.

I think most fans would like to see Vangas step it up and win the job. That would mean the chance for some actual depth with the O-line rather than living in complete fear after every snap.

Not having McGlynn in practice means the O-Line looks as shaky as ever, and it seems the center position hasn’t exactly been looking good so far.

But center exchange problems have been frequent, which highlights the Panthers’ biggest need — finding a center. And, with fifth-year senior Mike McGlynn recovering from shoulder surgery, the coaches have not had a full group. That’s made it tough to shuffle players around and find the five best linemen.

Left tackle Jeff Otah, who did not have a good day but is expected to have a big year, is the one player who is set in his spot. Right guard Joe Thomas, who started most of last season, also is expected to step forward.

That leaves unsettled spots at left guard, center and right tackle until McGlynn, clearly one of the five best linemen, returns. C.J. Davis also seems to be one of the five best players, so he’ll either be the left guard or center and Jason Pinkston is likely going to be a starter. That all could change if senior Chris Vangas, penciled in as the starting center, proves he can handle the job.

Please do.

Just one of those days where there was little time to get to the computer. So, covering all that was quickly.

The starting safeties have want to prove they are healthy, an asset and won’t be a liability to the team. Between the safeties and the linebackers, no wonder everyone says the d-line looks good. At least the d-line seems like a known quantity at this point. Throw in replacing Revis at one of the corner spot, and I guess it’s a good thing the run defense was so bad last year. Statistically it will be hard to be worse so improvement can be claimed.

John Malecki is now playing with a healthy shoulder, and looks good too.

LaRod Stephens-Howling’s local paper notes he has competition as the starting tailback from LeSean McCoy, Shariff Harris and Kevin Collier.

Confirmed, the Pirates September 8 game against the Chicago Cubs will remain at 7:05 pm and not be moved to a 3:35 start. No conflict with the Grambling game.

While we keep hearing about the 3 tight ends for Pitt, there is a fourth who walked-on initially as a linebacker and has earned a scholarship. Dustin Walters gets some love from his local paper in Maryland. As does TE Coach Brian Angelichio — also a Maryland native.

Paul Zeise observes that the O-line looks bad.

It is only the first day in pads and, as most coaches say “the defense is always going to be ahead of the offense early” (a line used by Dave Wannstedt today, but the defensive line absolutely dominated the offensive line in this morning session. And it wasn’t even a close battle.) That’s not a good sign, but it is early. And as if watching the defensive line run past the offensive line and blow up just about every play the offense tried to run wasn’t bad enough, the offense’s problems were compounded by the fact they had far too many fumbled snaps.

…

There is far too much skill on this offense for it to be wasted because the Panthers can’t block anyone — which is an old story with this team. I think the pieces are in place for the offensive line to be fairly good, but that remains to be seen.

On the bright side, the D-line looks good. Of course if the O-line is doing nothing then it still remains a question about how good the D-line really is. It can be a vicious circle that will drive me crazy for the next several weeks until they actually play a meaningful game against a team with some legit talent. I’m thinking, maybe the September 15 game against Michigan State.

Plenty from Kevin Gorman’s blog. He agrees that the defense dominated the offense in the 1st team practices.

LeSean McCoy gave everyone a scare when he went down while making a move. Kevan Smith continues to struggle to get a handle on the ball on the snaps. Almost want to see him get some time with the 1st team just to determine how much is him and how much is the guys snapping it to him.

Aundre Wright has looked good, and might make a push to break into the deep and talented WR rotation.

Someone has definitely been coaching-up LeSean McCoy on his cliches to the media.

“Coach Wannstedt, he wants a lot of things from me, as far as catching the ball and running between the tackles. I’m just going to do everything I can. Hopefully, I’ll do it the best I can,” McCoy said.

…

“It’s different. It’s special,” McCoy said. “We’ve got a lot of great guys on the team. Guys are bigger and faster, and everything is so much quicker. You’ve got to make that right decision at the right time. If you don’t, you’ll be stuck.”

…

“They’re some great guys, talented,” McCoy said. “To say I can compete with them is too far ahead of me. I’m just a freshman trying to do my job and help my team out.”

That’s just plain impressive from one interview. I’m (sniff) so proud.

And back with the highlights of the Q&A. Or at least what I felt mattered.

On the subject of QBs, Coach Wannstedt zigged and zagged a bit on the matter. He declared that Bill Stull was the starter if they had to decide coming out of spring practice. Then backtracked to say that all 3 QBs would have the opportunity and play with the first team in training camp. Then came back to say that Stull was still the leader. Honestly, watching the way he delivered the answer made it seem a lot less clear than the press conference transcript.

Is it fair to characterize the quarterback competition as wide open or is Bill Stull the leader?I think that you come out of spring practice (with) Bill being the starter but these next four days will be great for that because Pat Bostick will get an equal amount of reps as will Kevan Smith too. It is open right now but Billy is the guy that they’re trying to unseat.

What do you like about Bill Stull and what are his strengths?

He’s a gamer. The players believe in him. There’s no question about that. He knows our offense. You could go out right now and Billy will run the offense. I think he’s one of those guys who seems to perform better when the lights come on as compared to just in practice. If you go out and just watch Billy in practice, he may not be the most impressive guy but he’s kind of a gamer. He’s thrown a lot of touchdowns in his career. He’s also had a very good off-season and he’s not taking anything for granted. He wants to win the starting job.

Trust me, Coach Wannstedt was not nearly that clear in the press conference. I think it is Stull’s job to lose, and Wannstedt is not ready to make that formal a statement.

Coach Wannstedt ended up going off an interesting tangent when asked about the fact that this team is now mostly his recruits.

…You go into the homes of these kids and talk with their parents and tell them that we’re going to do everything we can to get your son a degree and everything we can to take his football skills to the next level and we’re going to do everything we can to make him a better person four years from now then he is today. You want those things to happen and every situation is not going to work out that way but it’s my responsibility and our responsibility because these are our kids. We’re going to have some kids get off on the wrong path but we’re going to do everything we can to help these kids and try and fulfill that commitment we made to them.

As for what one of the emphasis the coaches say they will be putting on the team: Finishing.

You know, `finish’ is going to be a big word that you’re going to hear me talk about a lot because even in those situations, the players came out of the gate ready to go. I mean the West Virginia game at halftime. The Louisville game at halftime, they’re all winnable games at that point and then we have to find a way to make plays and we have to find a way to finish those games. Even the Rutgers game, it was there to be had. We had to make a play. They made a play and we didn’t. This year, that’s going to be a real focus for our football team.

“Finish” sounds like a fine thing. As in, “finish the tackle,” “finish the block,” “finish the play.”

When asked about the biggest “hurdles” the team has to overcome, he started with the cliche for about half-a-second then got to reality.

I just think a consistency thing. If you want to get right to the point we have to run the ball and stop the run. That’s the two biggest hurdles we have really.

And that of course, brings it back to the lines, depth and players.

Jovani Chappel, we’ve been grooming him to possibly move to safety. He’s a good tackler, one of our better tacklers on the defense, smart kid. He’s kind of our nickel-dime back. So he’ll start working some at safety. Jemeel Brady will be at linebacker. Lowell Robinson will be at corner. We have a couple of these young running backs who I’m not sure are going to stay at running back. We may move them to linebacker or safety. Greg Williams, we’re going to see him carry the ball. Shariff Harris, we’re going to see him run the ball. We know McCoy will be a back, we know Hynoski will be a back but there could be a few more changes. Right now we have 16 defensive linemen on scholarship so there will be a few of those defensive linemen that probably move over to offense.

…

When McGlynn comes back, we’re going play the best five guys and from that standpoint, every guy needs to know that they need to go out and prove themselves. By not zeroing in at one position with McGlynn…hey, if Vangas is doing a great job or Bachman comes on and he’s our center, we’ll move McGlynn to left tackle. I like that mentality and not locking guys in, particularly when they have a lot to improve. I’m really excited about Jeff Otah.

I realize I don’t see them practice, so I don’t know for sure. I’m just a little confused about Lowell Robinson playing corner, when the need is at safety and Robinson was a standout safety in Junior College, they bounced about in a couple positions last year. I’ll defer to the coaches on this, but I don’t even pretend to understand. When you bring in a JUCO player, it just seems that their time is too short to fool around with their position this much.

I had it planned. I would tune in to the live stream of the Wannstedt opening press conference this morning. (Yes, I broke down at the end of spring practice and paid for the discounted All-Access, but I could rationalize it as a business related expense I can deduct from my taxes when I eventually use something from the All-Access in FanHouse.) Naturally, my kids had other ideas about me being able to listen and take notes. Missed huge gaps, and by the time I had finished listening to the archived version, the transcript was available.

Still, the transcripts aren’t perfect reproductions and I did get to hear the tone of some of the answers to try and divine some of the deeper meanings and how emphatic or not Coach Wannstedt felt in his response.

In the opening remarks from Associate AD E.J. Borghetti it was noted that after the press conference and Q&A it was across the street to the complex to do interviews with the full coaching staff, AD Jeff Long and all the players — except for the 2007 recruiting class as NCAA rules don’t allow them to do interviews until after their first practice which is tomorrow. So, the articles in the coming days will be reflecting that additional interviewing resource for the media.

The personal amusement highlight to watching the video was the scene of Wannstedt taking the podium and saying he was ready to start. Then it was a swarm of media masses rushing the podium to place their digital recorders on the podium.

Some of the things I thought were worth highlighting from Coach Wannstedt’s opening statement about the team and program:

We want to graduate as many players as we can from Pitt and we want to get as many players from our football team into the National Football League. That’s a great reflection on our University. We have 11 seniors going into this year and eight of the 11 seniors will have their degree before we complete the football season.

On a related note, how many noted seeing Rob Pettiti playing for the Saints last night? Hope he sticks. Never quite figured out why the Cowboys cut him last season when he started for them as a rookie the year before.

We came out of spring feeling really satisfied. We felt like we made strides in the areas we need to make strides. Did we solidify a lot of positions? No, but that’s what training camp is all about.

…

With that being said, we do have spots that will have good competition in training camp and that’s exciting. If we didn’t have players that could play and were capable of stepping up, then I think that is when you stand here as a head coach and you feel concerned. I’m not concerned about that because we have players ready to step up.

Whoever our three starting linebackers are, I promise you this, our number four, five and six guys are going to be very close to those starters and that’s encouraging. That’s encouraging from a standpoint of talent and from a standpoint of depth.

Umm, or terrifying.

…but I do know that we’ve had a great off-season. Our kids have done a great job. Some guys have gotten bigger and the guys that needed to get smaller did just that. I do believe that our football team is in great shape. We’re ready to go physically and because of some of the training techniques and some of the things that we demanded from our players through our off-season program, I believe that our football team is mentally tougher.

Hands in the air if you thought a football coach would declare that his team has gotten mentally soft before the first training camp practice. Not to mention declaring that the offseason conditioning was a complete bust. I’m not saying that Wannstedt isn’t correct or that it isn’t true, it’s just, what do you expect a coach to say about those things?

The first week of practice will be the same procedure as last year. Dividing the kids into two groups to practice. The older, more veteran and starting players in the morning will be on these squads and the younger or deeper down the full depth chart players will be in the afternoons. The coaches pull double duty, but all the kids get more opportunity and chances when the first week only allows 1 practice per day.

Coach Wannstedt ended his opening remarks with this:

With that said, this is where we’re at — everybody is here, everybody is accountable and we’re looking forward to getting started.

I think this is where I’m supposed to make a snide comment about DC Paul Rhoads and accountability.

Back later with some of what I thought was interesting from the Q&A.

It’s almost upon us. The opening press conference will be streamed on Pitt’s site for those with All-Access, starting around 9:15-ish.

The players really want to get back to a bowl game. At this point for them, any bowl game would do.

“It’s a big chip on our shoulder. When I came here, Pitt was on the rise. We pretty much figured every year we were going to go to a bowl game,” said fifth-year senior safety Mike Phillips, noting that Pitt played in six bowl games between 1997 and 2004. “For us to not even go to a bowl game is pretty ridiculous.”

The Panthers are coming off a season in which they became bowl-eligible after a 6-1 start but lost their final five games and didn’t receive a postseason invitation. Pitt hasn’t gone three years without a bowl since the mid-1990s, when a seven-year drought ended with a Liberty Bowl berth in ’97.

Does that make this a bowl-or-bust season?

“I think so,” senior receiver Derek Kinder said. “I think we have so much potential. We’ve been working so hard. We’ve got to get to a bowl game and get this program where it should be.”

And there are so many questions about this team. Just Five Questions going into camp hardly seems enough.

3) Who will snap the ball?

Coaches were uneasy with the way the centers struggled in the spring but believe if this position is shored up the offensive line could be a team strength. The emergence of sophomore Jason Pinkston at right tackle means coaches have the luxury of moving fifth-year senior and three-year starter Mike McGlynn to center or to right guard if junior C.J. Davis proves to be the best option at center. Fifth-year senior Chris Vangas and redshirt sophomore John Bachman will also battle for the center spot and both are capable of playing other positions if necessary.

The whole O-line just scares me as it seems so thin. The idea of McGlynn having to play Center is not something I like to consider.

Some blog-related basketball stuff that I’m going to do at once, because in it’s own way it ties together. Or, at least I’m going to force the effin’ mess to somehow go one after the other.

Earlier in the week I mentioned that I helped put together the FanHouse way too early BlogPoll, there seems to be a case that Georgetown is being underrated by being placed at #6 by the Unsilent Majority — a welcome addition to the FanHouse, Pitt loyalist and part of the outstanding Kissing Suzy Kolber Blog. Considering the preseason poll will be revisited, there is plenty of time for revision.

What does that have to do with Pitt other than getting a plug in for my other work and another blog? Not much but it does bring up the subject of basketball and a new Pittsburgh-centric blog wonders about the ‘Burgh and basketball. Naturally, Pitt is very important to the matter.

In fact, the fan base is strong enough to honestly say that aside from Super Bowl victories and motorcycle crashes, I have likely heard as much talk show debate concerning Aaron Gray and Carl Krauser in the past five years as I have heard on any other topic. Outside of Ben Roethlisberger, I think it is safe to say that the most controversial figure in Pittsburgh this past year has been Aaron Gray. Endless sports columns and radio call-ins implored him to assert his large frame and stop missing three-foot put-backs. Similarly, Krauser appeared to be holding the team and the city hostage with his break-neck pace of play and streaky shooting – a polarizing figure, to say the least. With Sidney Crosby and David Littlefield, there is only so much room for debate on their performances. With Pitt basketball, there seems to always be a debate that the city grapples with every winter.

The discussion is more about the lack of support/passion for basketball, but with a hopeful eye to the future. Especially as high school basketball and the players seems to be improving in Western PA. I would at least posit that with Pitt basketball doing so well right now, it increases the appeal and the willingness of athletes in the area to play more. That the talent is beginning to shine 5-7 years after Pitt basketball became relevant once more reminds me of the fact that the last time there was any crop of quality HS basketball players in the ‘Burgh — like Danny Fortson — came around lag after Pitt basketball had hit a major national upswing. Correlation does not mean causation, but it’s worth considering.

That brings things to another factor that will only improve and increase the interest in basketball in Western Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Pro-Am Summer League. Last year there was a bit of stuff about it and I noted it because of the role Coach Dixon played in helping to make it happen. That isn’t to diminish the job of the real guy who has put it together and has it thriving, John Giammarco. The Big East Basketball Blog has an interview with Mr. Giammarco. Read the whole article, but I’ll excerpt this.

NBE Blogger: Both Pittsburgh and West Virginia red-shirted multiple players last season, after seeing these players in your league this year or last, who should the Big East fans keep an eye on for next year?

JG: All the red-shirts have played well this summer from the action I have watched. Gilbert Brown is an exciting athlete who really gets in the air and plays above the rim.

NBE Blogger: Pittsburgh has a large incoming class of newcomers, regarded as their best new class in the Howland/Dixon tenure, who do you feel looks to be the most ‘Big East ready’ and who looks to be the someone down the road to emerge in time in typical Pitt fashion?

JG: From what I see, Gary McGhee has held his own in the league and will continue to get better and better. Brad Wannamaker looks like he can be a contributor in 2007 as well. Jamie Dixon has built such a good program at Pitt.

Pitt has put itself in a position to help build basketball back in the area and benefit directly right now. I mention this every time with the summer basketball, and I’ll keep doing it. Coach Dixon deserves a lot of credit for helping this happen. Yes it will help him right now and hopefully for a long time at Pitt, but no other coach before him at Pitt ever did it and lent his support (to the extent that the NCAA lets him).

I guess it’s the same for every coach at every level. There is never enough time to practice. Always something more to teach, repeat and learn. So Pitt’s annual Passing Camp for high schools is not just a way for Pitt Coaches to schmooze area HS Coaches and get more prospective recruits in the UPMC Practice Facility; it gives the HS coaches another chance to get an early practice with part of the team and see where they are against the competition.

“This is the 11th year that I’m aware of that Pitt has done this passing camp,” Pitt assistant athletic director for football operations, Chris LaSala said. “I don’t know if anything was done before Walt Harris got here, but I believe he started it. I started working here back then. My first day, when I arrived at work, they were involved already with the passing camp.

“And this is as big as it’s been. It’s huge. We have 40 teams, and that’s our max. That allows the teams that attend to get a quality amount of work. We could take more teams, but then the teams wouldn’t get as many games and they wouldn’t get the same amount of quality work. So, we can take up to 40 teams, and we happen to be at our maximum this year.”

So while Pitt fans don’t necessarily care about who wins in these things, it’s about what players were there and if they are committing to Pitt.

Pitt offer Mike Yancich from Trinity High School in Washington, Pa. was also in attendance with his team, which won two games Saturday but lost to Central Catholic twice. Before he left, however, the Pitt coaches made a last-ditch effort to secure a commitment from him to play for the Panthers this season. It is between Pitt and Penn State, reportedly vying for Yancich’s linebacking talents. He is expected to announce a decision Tuesday.

Pitt’s entire freshman class is expected to report for orientation Sunday. Talented DB Jarred Holley will visit the campus and practice facilities.

Yesterday, his local paper kept the number of teams he was still considering at 5, and thought Michigan State might be near the top.

Michigan State and Penn State are finalists along with three Big East schools – Connecticut, Pitt and West Virginia.

Yancich plans to announce his decision Tuesday.

“Michigan State is in the Big Ten and I love Big Ten football,” Yancich said Friday after wrapping up the first day of activity at Pitt passing camp. “The coaches are real cool and I felt comfortable there.”

He seemed equally impressed with Penn State.

“The coaches are awesome,” Yancich said. “I’m a linebacker and Penn State is the place they call “Linebacker U.” They’ve had Paul Posluszny, Sean Lee and everybody else.”

Many expect Yancich to select Penn State, however, his profile on MySpace.com sports Michigan State decorations.

Everyone is looking for tea leaves to read.

As for Jared Holley, he’s a 4-star CB out of Easton, PA with offers from Florida and Stanford as well as Pitt, PSU, Syracuse and Virginia.

I mentioned in passing that you can expect to read plenty more about the Pitt players training with Strength and Conditioning Coach Buddy Morris. He is after all the only coach the players can really do much physical interaction. Add in the factors of Morris being something of a larger than life character, a Pittsburgh native and Pitt alum. Well, then you’ve got a guy ready-made to have stories written as he comes back to Pitt for a 3d time.

Joe Starkey pens his ode to Buddy Morris today.

Their fiery general, a small but cartoonishly muscular man named Buddy Morris, hurls insults as the players stagger past.

Morris wears a T-shirt with the sleeves ripped off. Chewed off, for all we know. His Popeye arms are plastered with tattoos.

“Every day, you (expletives) show me why you were 6-6 last year!” he shouts. “No heart, no (fill-in-the-blank), no fight.”

God help the last person to reach the summit.

“You were not designed to play this game!” Morris screams at the lagger. “God did not give you a heart or a set of (questionable word, plural).”

The idea here is to introduce the players to “chaotic situations,” and they are not responding as the general would like. He turns to an assistant and says, “That’s why they get (bad word) in the last two quarters. Chaos sets in, and they break down.”

Okay. I love the underlying themes and message to the training regimens. It’s not about getting bigger, stronger faster. It’s not about improved conditioning. It’s about managing the chaos when they are wearing down.

Last year it was the random runs and “Fridays with the coach” to build team camaraderie and public puking.

Expect more of this and then to hear about it on the broadcasts this season as part of the “color” filler.

One of the things Coach Dave Wannstedt also hit on while doing interviews last week, was that several of the incoming first year players were already taking classes.

Quarterback Pat Bostick from Manheim Township (Pa.) High School, linebacker Max Gruder from Charlotte (N.C.) Country Day School, wideout-kick returner Aundre Wright from Perry Traditional Academy High School in Pittsburgh and Milford Academy prep school in New York, defensive tackle Tommy Duhart from Glades Central (Fla.) High School and Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College, and running back LeSean McCoy from Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg, Pa. and Milford Academy prep school on their classwork and working out with the Panthers.

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt noted that all the incoming recruits, except for possibly one that already had a family vacation planned, should be enrolled for the second summer session that begins in mid-June.

The common theme for all is that they are all in the mix for starting job or at a minimum #2 on the depth chart. It’s also worth noting that 3 of the players have been itching to get to a D-1A campus for at least a year. Wright and McCoy had a year of prep school and Duhart was at community college. That the NCAA legislation that is about to go into effect to shunt any kid, who goes to a prep school for a year after high school, to community college would have been brutal for Pitt.

Of course getting all the players on campus as early as possible means they can at least begin the strength and conditioning program and bond with their teammates.

On the injury side, it  seems MLB Greg Webster is still trying to find the physical balance as he copes with Crohn’s Disease. He’s taking classes and can do normal things, but getting the physical conditioning and medical clearance for football just has not happened at this point. As much as LB is a concern and depth issue, Webster shouldn’t be rushed.

DE Doug Fulmer is still recovering from surgery on a torn ACL suffered in spring practices. He likely won’t be cleared to practice until at least September. Mike McGlynn, surgery on a torn labrum went very well and might actually be in for August training camp. Where on the O-line he will be playing is a different question.

Former Pitt Fullback Lousaka Polite was back in the ‘Burgh recently to visit his old alma mater. No, not Pitt. He was back at his old high school along with some other players like Jason Taylor. Woodland Hills High is renovating and getting help from a lot of its former players.

“I got a look at the new turf when I was here in February, but this is the first time I’ve seen the new renovations,” said Lousaka Polite, a Woodland Hills graduate who played at Pitt and now carries the football for the Dallas Cowboys.

“It’s great to come back home. Friendships and memories made in high school will last forever. I have a lot of pride for Woodland Hills football.”

Not to be outdone by a high school, Pitt is having a new practice surface being installed in its South Side facility.

One of the two grass fields at the South Side outdoor facility was replaced by a Sportexe surface, the installation of which is expected to be completed Monday.

“That was something I felt we needed and (Pitt) athletic director) Jeff Long did a great job of making it happen,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “Because we don’t go away to training camp, I don’t know how you practice on two fields from August until January and then use them in the offseason – when the kids are out there running and working out on their own – and then spring practice. There’s got to be some time when you only have two fields to grow new grass. It really, really will help us.”

So there is that.

Both beat writers have similar stories, post-Blue and Gold Game, about some of the positions on Pitt’s depth chart. Gorman at the Trib, looks at the positives on the defense with Scott McKillop and Aaron Berry coming in to replace H.B. Blades and Darrelle Revis.

“I hope that answers a lot of questions that anybody had with Aaron and me replacing Darrelle and H.B.,” McKillop said. “So, for me and Aaron stepping up this spring, I think that showed everyone that we could play, too.”

Um, not to be too hard on the kid, but all the two have proven is that they are at the top of the Pitt depth chart at their positions. Not exactly unexpected. Most of the story is on Aaron Berry and his competitive attitude.

“I feel I can cover anybody in the country,” Berry said. “That’s the attitude you have to have as a DB. As long as you don’t get beat deep, you should be fine.”

Although Berry is generously listed at 5-foot-11, 175 pounds, he hasn’t shied away from contact in run support, either. That is occasionally worrisome for secondary coach Chris Ball, who wants to see Berry concentrate on his strengths and not try to emulate the 200-pound Revis.

“With Revis leaving and that spot open, he was the best candidate ability-wise,” Ball said. “He’s got great quickness and athletic ability. He’s not a real big kid, so we’ve talked about how his game has to be a little different than Revis’ because Revis had good size. He’s got to get stronger and learn to play big. He’s got to learn to cover people more with his speed than his body.”

It’s a certainty that he will see a lot more balls thrown his way than Revis did. I don’t think Pitt fans are going to have any problem with his attitude or desire.

The Zeise article for the P-G looks more at the areas that are still wide-open. QB, the other linebacker spots and center are all unknowns.

The center position also is wide open and could require some juggling of positions.

Senior Chris Vangas and sophomore John Bachman were expected to battle for the spot, but Vangas hasn’t advanced as fast as the coaches would like and Bachman has been slow to recover from various injuries. Wannstedt hinted Saturday that senior tackle Mike McGlynn might be moved to help that position.

Yeah, that doesn’t make anyone nervous at all.

Even before the Spring Game, OC Matt Cavanaugh said that the QB spot would be unsettled and that both Smith and Stull had plenty of work to do.

“We need one of them to step up and have a great summer camp,” Cavanaugh said. “The goal is for one of them to make it an easy decision. Kevan is really getting his first look at some things because this is really just his first spring, but if he keeps progressing like he is progressing, there will definitely be some competition.

“The bottom line is one of them in the course of the next few months is going to have to really separate himself and show he can consistently make the right throws and right reads before we’re ready to make a decision.”

Barring a bad injury, it will be about 4+ months before we know.