A treat, even.  Arguably, one of the developments of increased parity in college sports is the decrease in depth. Few teams really go too deep in rotations. You see it in preseason rankings. After the obvious talent on a team and the coach, the two factors most commonly relied on to rank a team higher involves experience level and depth.

Pitt came into the season with some questions about the depth. Mainly, how would it be used and could it be relied. Generally it has come through this season. In his chat, Ray Fittipaldo noted that it didn’t quite come up strong against Louisville.

PrimeTime: I keep hearing you say that Pitt is not that deep, I have been paying attention to the last 3-4 games Especially Louisville and Syracuse and it seems those teams only played 6 and maybe 7 and Pitt is playing 7-8 guys, I think this gives Pitt a big advantage going into the Big East Tourney and the NCAA, what is your thoughts

Ray Fittipaldo: Pitt’s depth one through seven is a strength. Brad Wanamaker and Gilbert Brown are really good bench players. That being said, they only contributed five points in the Louisville game when they were really needed. I guess I’d like to see more consistency out of them. Also, I’d like to see Gary McGhee progress as a backup center to Blair. Gibbs is fine for three or four minutes a game as long as he doesn’t have to handle pressure. Fields had to play 39 minutes vs. Louisville because there was no one else to handle the ball. The result was he and the rest of team were worn down at the end of the game.

…

Minnesota_Pittman: I hear what you’re saying about Pitt’s bench needing to score more. However, if these guys can come in, play defense, score a couple of points, keep the other team at bay and most importantly give our starters some rest, then IMHO they’ve done a good job.

Ray Fittipaldo: I agree with you for the most part. My observation from the Louisville game was that they needed to score and did not because everyone else was in foul trouble. Wanamaker and Brown are solid players, but they did not step up in that game. If there is another scenario like that down the road, I think they’ll have to find ways to score and help out the starters. The starters scored all but five of the team’s points in that game. Sometimes you need some help from unexpected sources.

I guess. In one game the bench didn’t score and the starters were in foul trouble. I’m a bit more optimistic, since we have seen the bench come through in the scoring part in prior games this season. Rutgers immediately springs to mind.

So the first man off Pitt’s bench is almost always Gilbert Brown. Naturally that makes it easy to lead with his puff piece from his local paper.

“Usually around the five-minute mark, [Brown] is the first guy in,” the six-year head coach said. “Defense is first, along with rebounding and decision making. In some games he will score some points for us.

“Brown has a great understanding of what we do offensively and defensively. He’s a smart player who takes great pride in being a student of the game. When we recruited him his athleticism jumped out at me. He is a good student with a good family background.”

And he’s contributing significantly to one of the country’s top teams, averaging 19.6 minutes, 5.9 points and 3.9 rebounds. He also has recorded 12 steals.

Brown’s season this year, sort of reminds me of Sam Young’s sophomore year. Nagging injuries. So much potential that showed the prior year. Yet, the progress was slowed by the physical injuries. Flashes of it. Hopefully it will keep re-emerging through the season.

When Nasir Robinson was recruited and gave his verbal to Pitt, the common refrain was that he was gritty, tough but not always pretty. Especially with his offense. We’ve seen that in limited doses this year. When on the court, he plays tough defense. He’s got the athleticism and can get to the basket and be in position. His touch, however, gives new meaning to muscling the ball. Just as it seemed like he was going to get buried on the bench this year, he’s started to get more playing time.

“He’s good against the zone and that was something we were looking at,” Dixon said. “They went small. So we really felt good about it and it felt like the right thing to do at the time. He’s active and that was something he didn’t do against Louisville.”

Robinson – a two-time PIAA all-state first team selection – made his only shot, a layup off an excellent feed from DeJuan Blair. He also grabbed one rebound, had one assist and saved a ball from going out of bounds in his limited action.

Pitt, which plays at West Virginia on Sunday, saw its lead grow to 11 by the time Tyrell Biggs entered the game for Robinson with 3:32 left.

“(Nasir) came in fresh and he gave us a big boost,” guard Levance Fields said.

Robinson’s boost in playing time comes at the expense of Gary McGhee. There’s no doubt that McGhee is still struggling, but I really don’t think he’s going to get run out of Pitt or transfer. I see it as a great thing about Pitt’s depth and talent. There are a lot of programs where McGhee would be playing a lot of minutes simply because of his size and the lack of talent in front of him.

At this point he’s not looking like he’ll ever be a starter. I’m not convinced he doesn’t have an important role, though. A player that can fill the lane and provide some help inside. If he wants it, he will have every opportunity in 2009-10 with Biggs and Young are gone. Yes there is talent coming in (and redshirting) that will push him. That’s good.

I think as much as anything, the “transfer or push” talk is more from following recruiting. Pitt, like nearly every other program, is still staying involved with players even as they have their allotment of scholarships for the recruiting class filled. So, that fuels the speculation as to where another scholarship could potentially emerge. McGhee seems like the most apparent on the roster.

Time has been a lacking for the past couple weeks. I’m feeling a bit like Coach Wannstedt trying to juggle actually having practices and game planning in December with recruiting.

Let’s start with the seniors. That’s where Coach Wannstedt has a lot of love for the seniors who bought into what he was selling when he took over in January.

Now, he’s doing as much as he can to get them the opportunities to show they can play at the next level. While C.J. Davis and Conredge Collins will return to El Paso in exactly a month for the “Texas vs. the Nation” game; and Scott McKillop and long snapper Mark Estermyer will play in the Senior Bowl in Mobile. There are still other players to get in some showcase games.

“We’re working like crazy on (nose tackle) Rashaad Duncan and (receiver) Derek Kinder and (safety) Eric Thatcher and (kicker) Conor Lee,” Wannstedt said, “but the problem is there’s only three all-star games. There used to be five. Now, it’s down to three. Those things have gotten more competitive, but I’ve called the people in charge of all three of them and I do everything I can to push our guys and get our guys on them.”

Not to mention punter Dave Brytus, who as has been noted put on a show earlier in the week to the fascination of Oregon State beat writers.

He has his pro debut coming up on Feb.21 in Washington, D.C. Mixed martial arts is a career option if he doesn’t kick his way onto an NFL roster, which he has a real chance to do.

Another beat writer dug up a YouTube of a Brytus fight. Yes, I’m sure CBS will run with the Brytus-MMA stuff during the telecast.

Senior LaRod Stephens-Howling gets some more love from his hometown paper and helping to start a line to Pitt.

The four years certainly weren’t wasted for people like Scott Corson, Wayne Jones, Antwuan Reed, Mike Cruz or Marco Pecora. Those are the Johnstown-area players that are now on the Pitt roster, and Stephens-Howling takes great pride in helping to draw some attention to Flood City players.

“I think it’s just about getting the recruiters to our area,” he said. “I’m proud I can say I was one of the first guys to get them back to our area. Now they’re giving us a chance, and I’m glad, because there’s a lot of talent in our area.”

Plus another story on LSH trying to get to the NFL. Just a blitz from the Johnstown paper with stories on Marco Pecora and Antwuan Reed.

It looks like Coach Wannstedt is just having fun with reality.

He joked Tuesday during a Sun Bowl news conference that his previous two stints – as head coach of the NFL’s Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins – started well, but ended with him being fired or resigning.

“We would have liked it to have happened quicker,” he said of Pitt’s first bowl game under him. “Maybe this is a good omen. When I was in Chicago, the second year we went to the second round of the playoffs and (won) coach of the year. Everything was hee-hee, ha-ha. Five years, later, it was not hee-hee, ha-ha.”

…

“I think this might be a good omen that we started off slower in Pittsburgh, and then we kind of got it going now,” he said.

Sure. Why not.

According to the Zeise chat today, there are more Pitt fans than Oregon State fans in El Paso. I guess we’ll see how it looks on TV.

Time to review some player puffery and respecting achievements from stories of the past couple weeks.

Jabaal Sheard has done a great job starting at defensive end after Doug Fulmer went down in training camp.

Pitt defensive line coach Greg Gattuso said he never had any question about Sheard’s ability — he just didn’t think that Sheard, given what he’d be ask to do, would be able to play consistently at a high level.

“We like to rotate our guys, so that was the first thing — he, and Greg [Romeus] for that matter, played way too many snaps,” Gattuso said. “I think we have some other guys who are younger and will be more ready next year, but, this year, we just didn’t have a lot of depth. So to ask those two to play that many snaps and then expect them to be as effective in the fourth quarter as they were in the first — that’s tough.

“But the great thing about Jabaal is that he not only got stronger as the game went on, he also got better every week. He made a lot of mistakes early but he learned from them and he’d even learn within games — he might get fooled once, he wouldn’t get fooled again, that’s just the kind of kid he is.”

Sheard added, “yeah, at the beginning I was getting by on my ability and trying to figure out what I was doing. But I feel like I became a much better football player by the end of the season, I understood things better, I understood the position better.”

Gattuso still seems plenty of room for growth in Sheard’s game, and expects him to be worked over by Strength and Conditioning Coach Buddy Morris this offseason.

Scott McKillop gets the full-on puff piece from Starkey.

The senior middle linebacker is so destructive that he has torn through five facemasks and two helmets this season. As a last resort, late in the year, McKillop began wearing a titanium facemask (“If I ever bent a titanium facemask,” he said, “something’s wrong.”).

What’s next, a medieval suit of armor?

Actually, it wouldn’t be a stretch to picture McKillop riding a horse and wielding a battle-axe as he bore down on an unsuspecting tailback.

McKillop has earned the praise, but it still gets a little uncomfortable to read. The piece also has praise coming from a Pitt walk-on McKillop helped get through early drills. Scott Shrake plays on the scout team while pursuing his Ph.D in engineering.

The valedictorian of his class at Ingleside (Ill.) Grant Community High — he graduated with a 4.78 grade-point average — Shrake was a three-sport athlete who burned out on football and eschewed small-college interest.

He soon realized how much he missed the game, but the demands of completing his course work in the four years of tuition covered by being a finalist for the Chancellor Scholarship prevented him from playing. In one three-semester sequence, for example, he took 23, 19 and 22 credits.

After being accepted to Pitt’s Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation Program on a Pittsburgh IGERT Sustainable Engineering Fellowship — focusing on designing communities to become green and the conservation of energy and water — Shrake decided to give football a go. His persistence paid off when he was the only candidate to survive a tryout in January.

“People told me, ‘You’re going to be a tackling dummy. You’re just going to get hit.’ If I wouldn’t have done it, I would have regretted it,” Shrake said. “At least I bring up the team GPA.”

Shrake will have his Masters by next year and a doctorate in 3.

Pitt also has a finalist for the “Rudy Award” in Dan Cafaro.

Cafaro is a past recipient of Pitt’s Demale Stanley Award, which goes to the team’s most inspirational player. He earned the admiration of his teammates last year while making the Pitt’s squad as a walk-on and persevering through the various season’s regimens while simultaneously undergoing treatment for cancer.

As a Rudy Award finalist, Cafaro will be honored at a breakfast to be held in conjunction with the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Convention on January 12, 2009, at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tenn. Rudy Ruettiger will personally present each finalist with an award and a collegiate scholarship. An overall winner will be announced during the event and presented with the top scholarship and first-place sculpture trophy.

The other two Rudy Award finalists for 2008 are Texas Christian University senior kickoff specialist Drew Combs and University of Oklahoma senior safety and linebacker Nic Harris.

Cafaro overcame Hodgkins lymphoma. Cafaro transferred to Pitt from Virginia Tech after the campus shootings that killed 33, only to have the cancer hit him. This season he’s seen action in 10 games on special teams.

A little love sent Derek Kinder’s way in El Paso as they recount his ACL injury.

Kinder finished the 2008 regular season leading the Panthers with 410 yards and three touchdowns on 35 catches.

“There have been a lot of ups and downs personally as well as with the team,” Kinder said after Pitt’s practice on Saturday. “We started off on a bad note (with a loss to Bowling Green), then we turned it around and we were able to finally get to a bowl game, the first one we’ve had in like four years. So it’s good to be here.”

Kinder enters Wednesday’s Sun Bowl with a chance to move into the top five on Pitt’s all-time receptions list. He is at No. 7 with 130 catches, while Dwight Collins and Gordon Jones are tied at No. 5 with 133.

Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt said Kinder has filled an important role as one of the team’s most solid senior leaders.

“Most skill guys, it takes them two years to get back (from a torn ACL). And Derek’s really had a great year, in my opinion,” Wannstedt said. “He hasn’t missed a game. He hasn’t missed a snap He’s done everything in practice.”

Raise your hand if you knew for certain that Kinder was the leading receiver this year.

The Oregon media got a chance to look at LeSean McCoy’s scar.

LeSean McCoy obligingly pushed down his sock to show several reporters the scar that doctors left when they put his right ankle back together.

The scar is long and ugly, but there wasn’t a pretty way to fix that injury.

McCoy’s suffered a compound fracture in the fourth game of his senior season at Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg, Pa. When the pile untangled, he could see bone sticking through his skin.

The metal plate and screws the doctors inserted are still there. But as gruesome as the injury was at the time and as devastating as it was for his national recruiting profile, it’s turned out to be a lucky break.

“Everything changes when you get hurt,” McCoy said. “I decided I wanted to stay close to home, because when I was hurt my family always was there for me. I think I made the best choice, going to Pittsburgh.”

Definitely the best choice for Pitt.

I haven’t posted much on the Sun Bowl stuff. Simply a matter of prioritizing. All the stuff in the offline world, other responsibilities and the more immediacy of basketball games actually being played. So, to breathlessly post on things relating to football and the Sun Bowl when it only now reaches a week away was difficult.

In that respect Pitt fans are lucky. We have basketball, and it is worth discussing.

But moving back to football. If you are lucky enough to be heading to El Paso, my colleague at FanHouse, Will Brinson, has a short travel guide for your visit. Plus, the Village People are the halftime entertainment.

Going back more than a week, there was the team banquet. Players getting team awards. As the team gets ready for the Sun Bowl they can get advice from Norv Turner’s son.

First-year Pitt graduate assistant Scott Turner worked at Oregon State under Riley during the 2005 season, which was his first year as a coach.

Turner had graduated from UNLV, where he was a three-year varsity letterman in football, earlier that season and Riley offered him his first opportunity to get into coaching in June of that year and Turner worked at Oregon State until the following May.

…

Turner said he doesn’t know how much scouting intelligence or insider information he can give the Panthers’ coaching staff because many of the players have changed since he worked at Oregon State. The Beavers have different stars they scheme for and rely on to make plays.

Again, more importantly was in the notes that redshirting freshman Shayne Hale was being moved from linebacker to defensive end. On its face, that is a little surprising since he was a HS All-American as a linebacker, but tempered with Coach Wannstedt’s love to create speed and mismatches and it was even cited as a good possibility in this ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. evaluation (insider subs). The one concern is that linebacker is an area where Pitt will have a lot of question marks — and need — next year.

Regarding the Beavers, Jacquizz Rodgers is still “very doubtful” so it looks like we have to get to know Ryan McCants.

After going almost the entire regular season without a starter going down, the Beavers are going bowling with a big part of their lineup in street clothes.

Freshman sensation Jacquizz Rodgers has not officially been ruled out of the Dec. 31 game, but Riley hasn’t changed his “very doubtful” prognosis. And really, all of that is just for the Sun Bowl folks to hang onto this Quizz vs. LeSean McCoy angle for a few more days.

Sophomore wide receiver James Rodgers, meanwhile, is out with a broken collarbone sustained in the Civil War game against Oregon.

Of course, Oregon State has had a lot of time to prepare for the Sun Bowl without the Rodgers boys, so there is that.

Scott McKillop gets puffed in an Oregon paper.

“This is real big for the team,” McKillop said. “I was fortunate enough to be here when we played Utah in the Fiesta Bowl (in 2004), and the next three years, we were unsuccessful in getting back to a bowl game. That left a sour taste in our mouths, and in my senior year, I want to go out with a bang.”

He’s already made a splash on the postseason awards circuit.

The one-time wrestler from Kiski Area High School east of Pittsburgh, who accepted the only football scholarship he was offered, is the 2008 Big East defensive player of the year after leading the conference in tackles for the second straight season.

McKillop also earned All-America recognition from The Associated Press and the Football Writers Association of America.

But it hasn’t been a meteoric rise for McKillop.

Sam Young gets a puff piece from SNY.tv. It covers the usual things — poetry, gymnastics, piano, his brother — but adds a new addition.

One day last summer, Young was just messing around in the school pool when he caught the eye of Julian Krug, Pitt’s assistant head coach for diving.

“Totally unbeknownst to me, he went right up to 7 1/2 meters, went out to the end and stood there for a second,” Krug recalled. “I made sure there was nobody below him. I thought he was going to do a plain old jump.

“But he raised his arms and ended up doing a straight two-and-a half,” Krug said, referring to two flips and a dive. I’m thinking in midair, ‘Oh my God, I just killed a basketball player.’ It only lasted a second, but he went straight up and down in the water. His body was too big, but he could’ve been a diver.

“He got two thumbs up. It’s mind boggling to see somebody that big go up there to 7 1/2 meters. We all clapped like the dickens. It was amazing.”

I think I’m beginning to hate Sam Young.

Worst loss of the weekend? Gonzaga losing to Arizona. Now the AZ folks are seeing flaws in Mark Few, and making Coach Dixon more attractive.

Few’s on-court presence is, shall we say, minimal. He just doesn’t have The Look. Yes, his record speaks louder than his presence, but he doesn’t have a commanding presence. He comes off as a Mystery Guest more than a Court General.

In a face-off, he is a distant third behind Pitt’s Jamie Dixon and anyone else you choose to name.

I try not to think or worry about it, because I don’t want it to ruin what could be a great season and so many other things could happen. Still, it’s hard not to cast an eye that way periodically.

The good thing about the time off for exams, the early injuries are not too much of a problem now.

“It’s good that everyone is getting healthier,” senior forward Sam Young said. “DeJuan [Blair] is getting in shape. Levance is getting in better shape. It’s about that time that we’re getting closer as a unit. We’re starting to get that chemistry that everyone looks for at the end of the year.

“We’re definitely coming to that hill, and we’re moving up at the right time. We’re going to play Siena. After that it will be some really tough teams. We’ll be getting into Big East play and it’ll be a tough matchup every night. We’re progressing as a team.”

Fields and Brown especially looked to benefit from the time between games. Fields, who had been struggling to find his 3-point shot, was 3 for 3 from behind the 3-point line against UMBC. He appeared quicker and had more jump in his legs than previous games.

Jermaine Dixon’s groin is the only thing still hurting (insert cheap joke, here).

Not that it was much of a concern in the decimation of UMBC. If you watched the game, the second half had a small parade of guests including Football Coach Dave Wannstedt. Half-jokingly, the discussion turned to which of the players could be on the football team. DeJuan Blair was mentioned. Looks like someone else listening decided to ask Fittipaldo.

Q: I think DeJuan Blair’s size leaves him a tad too short to be drafted for a power position in the NBA whether playing power forward or especially center, but perhaps ideal for the NFL. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him as a tight end instead, ala Antonio Gates, who played hoops for Kent State. Your thoughts? Does he ever talk about the NFL? Did he play football in high school?

Fittipaldo: Blair did not play football in high school and I can tell you he is 100 percent committed to a basketball career. I asked him once about football and he said he never had the desire to play. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen down the road, but it’s not in his thoughts now. People get excited about the thoughts of basketball players playing in the NFL because of the success of Gates and Sam Clancy, the former Pitt hoops star who went on to a successful career as a defensive end in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts. But those guys are the exceptions. People seemed to think Chevon Troutman, who actually did play a little high school football, had a chance to play in the NFL because of his size and athleticism. The Washington Redskins had him come down for an open tryout, but Troutman did not perform very well and was sent home. For every success story like Gates and Clancy there are probably 10 failures.

Troutman was just trying to get paid somewhere in the states. Rather than focus on basketball first or  get ready for football tryouts, he tried to do both right after the season ended. Antonio Gates took a couple years of trying to play basketball before deciding to give football a chance.

It’s very interesting. I think a lot of the media really like Pitt’s team and do see them going to the Final Four this year.

The reason Pittsburgh is a serious Final Four threat is that the Panthers have three All-American-caliber players who excel in different ways. For proof, check out Saturday’s 80-51 victory over Vermont and realize that Pitt had one player score 28 points, another player grab 16 rebounds, and another player get eight assists. The points belonged to Sam Young, the rebounds to DeJuan Blair and assists to Levance Fields. And as long as that trio is operating at that level you can bet whatever you own that the Panthers are about to improve to 10-0 under Jamie Dixon for the sixth consecutive season.

At the same time, the reliance on the trio is why some are nervous along with another reason.

Pittsburgh has as much toughness out of its top three players — Levance Fields, Sam Young and DeJuan Blair — as anyone in the country. But this season is still reliant on Fields working his way back into shape — and staying injury-free. The Panthers also need to find someone who can make shots from the perimeter, even if it’s done by committee.

The perimeter. I’m not so concerned about it. I don’t expect Pitt will be a particularly strong or consistent team from the perimeter. I’m hopeful that Gibbs and/or Woodall might become a consistent threat from outside, but I doubt the coaching staff is relying on that.

Jermaine Dixon is not a 3-point threat. He wasn’t at the JUCO level and that hasn’t changed. Dixon has been getting a lot of praise for his defensive intensity — and deservedly so. I think he should also get praise for mostly playing within the system and being a real team player. As a shooting guard up until he got to Pitt, he has always been the best player on his team and the one hoisting a ton of shots. He has mostly kept it in check so far and been all about the team.

…As for Jermaine Dixon, he does have a tendency to take some shots early in the shot clock and I have noticed that coach Jamie Dixon has been somewhat frustrated by that. However, Jermaine is taking only about seven shots a game, which is fourth on the team behind Sam Young, DeJuan Blair and Levance Fields. Jermaine is the starting shooting guard, so he is going to ample opportunity to shoot. I’m sure every Pitt fan would like to see him a better percentage of his 3-pointers, but other than that he has played pretty well. His worth to the team cannot be measured in his 3-point percentage. He is probably the team’s best on-ball defender and he has the ability to pentrate and get in the lane, which is important because Fields has not demonstrated the same penetrating ability since his foot injury last season.

He is also 5th on the team in average minutes played (30 seconds per behind Tyrell Biggs) and has only taken 5 more shots in the season than Biggs. So considering the amount of time he is seeing, he may occasionally shoot a bit early, but he is not taking shots from other players on the court.

Ray Fittipaldo sees only minimal growth in McGhee’s game this year. I  don’t disagree, but I wasn’t expecting a leap this year. McGhee’s a project and anyone who expected a lot from him from freshman to sophomore was being very optimistic. What I have seen is that his physique is definitely improving from conditioning and diet from last year to this year — strongly indicating how much he is willing to work. He’s still learning about being more than just being 6-11. Like Aaron Gray, you can see the wheels turning as he tries to remember his lessons in positioning and footwork. It’s not instinctive for him at this point. He will have a very up-and-down year. Some games it will almost look like it is clicking, and then others he will just be a stiff out there.

A nice piece lauding Sam Young.

He’s the smoothest operator since Big Daddy Kane (youtube it young bucks) and quite possibly the most overlooked/under-appreciated superstar in college basketball. Young is giving Pitt a guaranteed 20-plus a night while almost never getting 30 minutes of playing time, playing with the skill and production of a first team All American (Young was first team all Big East last year).

Even better, like Bernard King circa 1984-85, Young is starting to impose his will on opponents. He started showing signs of this trait in the aforementioned Big East tournament at the end of last season. He seemed to be a man possessed and that’s carried over to this season. It’s as if Young surveys the pulse of games before deciding the perfect time to dominate. He might go about it quietly, in a business-like fashion, but at some point he insists that everyone on the floor recognize he’s the man in charge. He did it last weekend against Texas Tech when the Red Raiders seemed to be making a statement that they weren’t going to go away quietly. Young hit a three from the corner, absorbed some contact while finishing at the rim with a violent banger, and hit a pair of free throws. Texas Tech went away.

And Coach Dixon is recognizing what Young can do, and taking advantage of it.

Through the first nine games, Young is averaging 20.8 points per game. No one at Pitt has averaged more than 20 points in a season since Brian Shorter (20.6) in 1989-90, and only five players have averaged more points in a season.

“We’re running a lot more plays for him than we’ve ever run for a guy,” Dixon said. “That’s fairly obvious. It’s by design.”

…

Having a prolific scorer at his disposal has triggered a change in philosophy for Dixon, who won a school-record 31 games in his first season as head coach without a player who averaged 16 points per game. Carl Krauser averaged 15.4 points per game that season and took 19.6 percent of the team’s shots.

Young is taking 25 percent of Pitt’s shots this season. He took 23 percent of the team’s shot last season.

“It fits what we’re doing,” Dixon said. “We play him in different spots. We run a lot of different plays for him. It’s something that works for us. It’s the best way it works for us this year. And it worked last year. You could see it coming. I anticipated that before the injuries last year.”

And for those who believe Young’s scoring average will dip once the competition gets tougher in Big East play, that won’t necessarily be the case. Young raised his game in Big East play last season, averaging 18.3 points per game in conference contests.

It’s one of the things you can see in Coach Dixon as the still improving coach. He has the principles of his game and how he wants things to run, but he is more willing to be more flexible based on the talent and ability of the players. Showcasing and utilizing Young can only help in recruiting. Coming to Pitt and playing for Dixon won’t mean sacrificing numbers and just playing defense. It will get you lots of attention and to the NBA.

Really, they are D-II. Of course Pitt beat the crud out of them. That’s part of why it took until today to even get to mentioning the game from Saturday.

The nice story, of course, was Maurice Polen playing at IUP with his last year of eligibility.

Polen wasn’t just any walk-on at Pitt. He made an impact on everyone in the program, including coach Jamie Dixon, who said awarding Polen a scholarship last year was one of the most rewarding moments of his coaching career.

Polen, who hails from Philadelphia, almost didn’t go to Pitt. Had it not been for a $5,000 donation from a woman at his father’s church he probably wouldn’t have had enough money to go to school across the state.

“Maurice is one of the best human beings I’ve ever been around,” Dixon said. “It’s been a pleasure and honor to coach him. [IUP coach] Joe Lombardi needed a big guy and a great person and great kid. It would be selfish of me if I was the only one who got to coach him. Everyone should get the opportunity to coach Maurice Polen because he is a great individual.”

Polen, a few credits shy from graduating from Pitt in the spring, is finishing up his undergraduate work at IUP this semester. Dixon and associate athletic director Donna Sanft worked it out so Polen will have a degree from Pitt when it’s all said and done.

This year’s walk-on, Sean Brown, got his own piece from his local area paper.

“I’m real good friends with Tyrell Biggs and some of the other guys on the team. I’ve been playing pick-up games with them for years,” said Brown, whose father, Darrell Brown, was part of Maryland’s 1972 NIT championship team alongside Len Elmore. “Everything just sort of fell into place.”

…

As Greg Hotchkiss, Pitt’s director of media relations for men’s basketball, puts it, every one knows Brown because he’s been around the team for years.

That and he shares an apartment off-campus with Biggs, so that probably didn’t hurt. Along with being around the players and the program for a couple years.

With Levance Fields forceful return to the lineup after an offseason of wondering whether he’d be ready for the season, it’s been noticed.

4. Levance Fields, Sr., G, Pitt: Fields’ play has been exceptional at the point. He dished out 12 assists in the win over Akron earlier in the week. He’s showing no signs that he missed most of the preseason with an injured left foot.

Fields also got a great story from Mike DeCourcy at the Sporting News.

With his thick torso and short appendages, Fields does not look like many, or any, of the great point guards, but he has added a different element to Pitt’s astounding run of success at the position this decade. Brandin Knight, the school’s career assists leader, was coolly cerebral. Carl Krauser was unpredictably, sometimes wildly creative. Fields provides a contagious brand of leadership derived from sheer force of will.

In a sense, Fields is the personification of the Pitt basketball renaissance. As generally has been the case with the Panthers since coaches Ben Howland and Jamie Dixon began rescuing the program in 1999, Fields is not blessed with the sort of aesthetically pleasing athleticism that appeals to the most prestigious college programs or NBA teams. As the Panthers generally have been, he is committed to team goals and blessed with astonishing competitive drive.

Finally, there is a chance Gilbert Brown might be cleared to play tonight.

Jerry Carino sums up my feelings.

It hurts to say this, especially as a certified hoop-head, but college basketball season starts to early. For decades the schedule tipped off Dec. 1, after college football’s regular season. Then it was Thanksgiving week for special tournaments, like the Preseason NIT and the Great Alaska Shootout. Now, for the last couple of years, it’s been mid-November. Does any major sport start its season with so little fanfare? You can’t put the genie back in the bottle, but hopefully it won’t spill over into October.

It really seems that starting the season this week is incredibly stupid. It’s hard enough for college basketball to get any attention at the start of the season with the sheer volume of meaningless games, the NFL, NBA and NHL seasons underway. But to start now, as college football has all the college fans attention in most places? It makes it near impossible to be promoted.

ESPN is the 800-pound gorilla in this, but it has college football games right now that still get far better ratings — even a MAC battle. So any college basketball game gets relegated to ESPN-U and mostly ignored on SportsCenter. I can’t blame them for it.

On the one positive, by getting a slew of warm-up/patsy games that no one really cares about cleared now, by the time the beginning of December rolls around some actual good games are available and can be promoted when there’s an opening.

Still, the haphazard way the season is launched really prevents a lot of initial excitement over the season.

This week is also the early signing period that concludes on November 19. While not announced by the school yet, Chris Dokish says all four of the verbals to Pitt have signed and it’s just a matter of finishing the paperwork.

Dante Taylor, 6’9″ forward from National Christian Academy in Fort Washington, MD, 6’4 wing Lamar Patterson of St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, NJ, 6’7″ forward J.J. Richardson of Hightower HS in Missouri City, TX, and 6’9″ Talib Zanna of Bishop McNamara HS in Forestville, MD have all signed their National Letter of Intent, but only Richardson also has the required signature of his parents. The other three prospects will become official tomorrow when their parents sign the document.

What stands out is that none of these players are actually from the NY/NJ area. Patterson is from Central PA and is attending St. Benedict’s for this season — after he had already verballed to Pitt. Pitt has built on its success and continued to expand its recruiting region.

Mike DeCourcy has some lists as this weeks action starts the season. There’s certain team categories. Pitt didn’t rank at the top in offense or defense, but he does like this about Pitt.

Best chemistry

1. Pitt. No program does a better job of keeping agendas out of the locker room.

Which plays right into the Tyrell Biggs puff piece as the senior gets ready to start the season as a starter.

The unselfish, do-it-all reserve power forward is assuming a bigger piece of the action for his senior season at nationally ranked Pitt.

“I feel like my role is the same,” Biggs said, “it’s just a lot more time on the floor.”

Biggs will join small forward Sam Young and center DeJuan Blair in what is considered one of the top five frontcourts in the nation by multiple preseason publications.

For at least the first few games, there is no reason not to start Biggs. As the article notes, it would continue the trend of a somewhat maligned reserve player (Keith Benjamin and Antonio Graves) stepping up in his senior year to be a reliable and occasional sparkplug player.

The primary senior in the frontcourt — Sam Young — had the first of what will hopefully many puff pieces for this season.

He also made DeCourcy’s list of top small forwards.

A half-century has passed since Pitt produced a consensus first-team All-America selection: guard Don Hennon, who averaged 26 points a game. Panthers basketball hasn’t been empty since. There’ve been some exceptional players — Billy Knight, Charles Smith, Brandin Knight among them — and, lately, some extraordinary teams that were based more on mutual commitment than individual skill.

What if the Panthers have both this season? What if they’ve got the best small forward in the country and still the same devotion to team play?

This could become the year the Sweet 16 is not a destination, but a checkpoint.

1. Sam Young, Pitt. It’s possible Young is the most underrated player in the country, and it is time for that to change. How much more quietly can a guy average 18.1 points? On a championship team, no less. Young carried the Panthers to the Big East Tournament title with a 20-point average in four victories over four days. This is a slight positional move for Young, from power forward on an undersized team to small forward in a bigger frontcourt. He has built for three years toward this, however. He has grown in his understanding of the game and his confidence level. He shoots well from 3-point range and uses his extraordinary athleticism to finish plays at the rim. It’s time the basketball world remembers his name.

Speaking of optimism, Smizik gives some of his own.

Dixon is proud of what the Pitt program has accomplished the past seven years. He was an assistant for the first two and head coach for the past five. During that span, Pitt has the fourth-best winning percentage in college basketball, behind only Memphis, Kansas and Duke.

Dixon’s winning percentage of .767 is fourth among active coaches. He’s behind Roy Williams, Mark Few and Bo Ryan and ahead of Mike Krzyzewski and Rick Pitino.

But he understands major success in the NCAA tournament, the ultimate test, is missing.

“I don’t feel we’ve accomplished all we can,” he said.

This is the season they can do it.

Injuries, have been a big storyline all preseason. So, the issue is adaptability.

But for the Pitt Panthers, the traditional roles on the team are less clearly defined. Coach Jamie Dixon has compiled a team of players who have the potential to create mismatch problems for opponents because of the variety of positions they can play.

Almost every player on Pitt’s team can handle two positions and a few can manage three. Pitt has had versatile teams under Dixon before, but this team has so much flexibility that it stands apart.

“Now we have guys who can play different positions because of their versatility, their height, their size, things like that,” senior Sam Young said. “Once we are comfortable with each position that we can play we’ll be a much better team than in the past.”

Playing multiple positions has been something Coach Dixon has been working towards since being the head coach. Remember that a couple years prior, Pitt was already trying to get Sam Young at small forward. He’s (hopefully) reached that point now. But, other players are in that spot as well. Blair will play the 4 or the 5. Gilbert Brown can play in the front or backcourt and as a versatile wing player. Just a lot more flexibility.

Of course, talking about players everyone has seen is old hat. The big obsession is with all the freshmen and a JUCO.

“If we do start,” freshman point guard Ashton Gibbs said, “it’s a tremendous honor.”

Gibbs, out of Seton Hall (N.J.) Prep, is listed as the probable starter at point guard, and junior college transfer Jermaine Dixon is the likely shooting guard in a backcourt possibly still without Levance Fields.

“I’m definitely excited,” said Dixon, who played the past two seasons at Tallahassee (Fla.) Junior College. “I’ve been waiting for this my whole career. I’m definitely ready.”

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said he probably won’t know Fields’ status until Friday’s shootaround. The senior point guard, rehabbing after foot surgery, practiced Tuesday and Wednesday and will sit out today’s workout, as scheduled.

And indeed, Gibbs will get the start tonight.

Finally freshman forward Nasir Robinson gets his first puff piece.

“I watched Pitt games for a long time,” Robinson said. “When they recruited me, I liked the style of play. Coming out of Chester I was used to playing in front of big crowds every night, the competition. I’m used to the atmosphere. The difference is the physical play. There are bigger and better players.”

Dixon is not counting on Robinson to be a major contributor this season because he has a number of veteran forwards on his depth chart, but Robinson will get more of an opportunity in the short-term because Gilbert Brown is out of the lineup for another week with a stress fracture in his left foot.

With seniors Sam Young and Tyrell Biggs holding down the starting small forward and power forward positions, Robinson will be the first forward off the bench in place of Brown when the Panthers play La Roche today in the final exhibition game before Friday’s season opener against Fairleigh Dickinson.

Dixon said he will use Robinson mostly at power forward this season, but he sees him developing into a small forward as his skill level rises.

The game tonight will feature a banner raising of Pitt’s Big East Tournament Championship.

It’s Jonathan Baldwin week. His first 100 yard game came against Navy. In the past two games, he has become the player to stretch the field — as everyone was expecting back in training camp.

That means it is time to make him available to the media for puff pieces.

Pitt’s coaches, clearly, are concerned about heaping too much on Baldwin too early, be it playing time or praise. He’s still a backup and, according to Bossard, played only 21 snaps against Navy.

They shouldn’t worry so much.

Every so often, an athlete with a different skill set and mindset comes along, and normal rules don’t apply.

Johnson started right away at Georgia Tech and became only the second true freshman in school history to be named All-Atlantic Coast Conference.

No stage is too big for such athletes. No time is too soon.

Ohio State coach Jim Tressel has thrust Pryor into about as high-pressure a situation as any freshman could face.

The soft-spoken Baldwin isn’t the type to lobby for playing time, but he’s quick to reject the notion that going from Aliquippa to the Big East was a major adjustment.

“That transition wasn’t really anything,” he said.

So, he’s ready for full-time duty if called upon?

“Yes.”

The piece makes it seem that Wannstedt is all but conceding he can/should be playing a lot more.

Which is funny, because another piece has the WR Coach Bryan Bossard still playing the “he’s still learning and not quite ready yet” approach.

“The sky is the limit,” Pitt receivers coach Bryan Bossard said. “We’re barely scratching the surface on what he can do.”

At the moment, Baldwin is almost strictly a one-dimensional player. He is most effective at running deep routes and making instinctive plays against smaller defensive backs. Bossard said Baldwin must develop his route-running skills in order to be a more complete player.

“He’s had success on the deep balls, but there’s more to the game than running deep balls,” Bossard said. “He has to learn how to work his intermediate cuts and get on the same page with the quarterbacks. By far he is our best vertical threat, but there is more to the game than throwing the ball down the field.”

Bossard said if Pitt wasn’t so deep at receiver, Baldwin might be in a position to earn more playing time. But, with a veteran corps of receivers, there is no rush on the part of the coaching staff to play Baldwin more.

Yes. Just a vertical threat. Those short, vital catches over the middle in the Syracuse game were just lucky.

Yes, Baldwin has to work on his blocking and no doubt his route running skills could certainly be refined. The fact is, Pitt needs his presence on the field a good deal because he is a deep threat teams can’t ignore. His presence, automatically helps to spread the field because of that.

Well, I hope FanFest was fun for those that attended. I really hope the attendance was solid. Unfortunately, there was no way I was getting down this year. The glare I got from the wife for even suggesting it, well…

Let’s just catch up on pieces about individual players.

Chris Burns showed up at training camp and is making a push to actually get time at tailback as a freshman, despite McCoy, Stephens-Howling and Harris. He’s apparently been impressive.

Q: With Shariff Harris doing well and Chris Burns being as goods as advertised will there really be a place in future line ups for Kevin Collier?

ZEISE: It is going to be tough for Kevin. Heck, the more I see of Burns the more I think it is going to be tough for Shariff Harris as well! Seriously, Chris Burns is so much better than I — and most everyone else, including the coaches — could have imagined that he has been one of the real exciting surprises at camp. So Collier, who has also been slowed by injuries and has fallen behind, has to get back into the mix quickly this year in order to at least stay relevant and then have an incredible spring. I would think that with LaRod Stephens-Howling graduating and LeSean McCoy likely headed for the NFL after this year, the tailback spot will be one of the most exciting position battles of the spring, so it isn’t like Collier won’t have a chance – he just has to stay healthy and continue to improve.

Burns has the coaches and players talking about him.

Burns, a former PIAA long-jump champion, has adjusted to the speed at the new level. Along the way, he has earned Wannstedt’s trust.

“I did not think he would be as far along,” Wannstedt said. “I knew he was a fast guy, a tough guy, but he’s got a good grasp of the offense. He’s going to be a heck of a player for us. He’s having a great camp.

“Hopefully, we don’t have to play him much or at all, but I wouldn’t have any reservations of handing him the football.”

I’m still betting he redshirts, but it looks like Pitt has built up a lot of depth at tailback. The key down the road will be taking advantage of it.

And lest we forget, Pitt has some excellent fullbacks to further provide depth in the backfield. Conredge Collins is biding his time.

The 6-foot, 230-pound bruiser is considered one of the best fullbacks in the nation and, according to ESPN’s Mel Kiper, could be the first player at his position picked in the 2009 NFL Draft.

“I definitely have intentions on being a running back at the next level,” Collins said. “I’m playing my part. Hopefully, at the next level, I can finally start be able to live my dreams a little bit more. But for the time being I will suck it up and keep a good, positive attitude and do my job.”

Collins has played in 29 games with the Panthers and rushed for more than 15 yards only twice. He averages about two carries for eight yards – per game. In his past 19 games, he has one rushing touchdown.

“The coaches try to get me the ball,” he said. “But I’ve come to the understanding. I’m a fullback. Accept the facts. Under my name, it doesn’t say ‘running back.’ It says, ‘Conredge Collins, fullback.’ You’ve got to just do your job.”

I do wonder if, in a few years, he’ll be like Nick Goings. Someone who never got much of a chance and really was thought of as just a blocking back in college. Then in the NFL, turns out to have a lot more versatility and everyone wonders how that was missed back at Pitt.

Even back-ups should get love, and redshirt freshman OL Dan Matha gets a piece in his local paper as they check on his progress.

“He is extremely aggressive, he’s a tough guy and he likes to hit people,” Pitt offensive line coach Tony Wise said. “So the only thing that’s really holding him back is the experience factor.

“He’ll make three or four really good blocks and he may be poor on one or two. He’s giving effort, but there is something for being consistent.”

After redshirting last year and having surgery on both shoulders, Matha is healthy and learning as much as possible to seize the moment when it presents itself to him.

“My opportunity will come; (Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt) says it all the time,” Matha said. “You’ll get your opportunity, you just don’t know when.”
…
Fortunately for him, strength and conditioning coach Buddy Morris pushed Matha back into shape in rehab.

It wasn’t always fun, though.

“Buddy is not a big fan of freshmen,” Matha said. “Everybody knows that. So I was injured and was a freshman so it was a little rough, but behind everything he does, there is a reason for it. He mentally and physically trains us.”

Nate Byham also did a Q&A with the same paper.

Q: OK. Looking at this team this year, one of the first things we talked about when I met you and you (were) in your first year there was you wanted to help Pitt get this turned around. I’m looking at preseason polls and you guys are ranked. For you personally, what has it meant for you to see the program start making its way back up to where you guys want it to be?

A: Personally, it gives me great joy knowing that I’m one of the members of the team who starting to turn this around and get this team back on track where it should be. It makes me happy knowing I can help bring this to the university and the city of Pittsburgh and all the people surrounding it.

Q: OK. As far looking at you individually, obviously you’re always improving. What do you feel like you’ve improved the most over the summer?

A: Definitely my route running and my run blocking. I feel like last year I was a pretty good run blocker. I got a lot of practice at it (laughs). I definitely got strong. Last year, I was more covering up guys. Now I’m knocking them back. Pushing them back. I’ve put on some weight and worked on my releases and everything on my route running my route running has become a whole lot better this year, too.

According to Byham, he’s put on about 13 pounds (all muscle, of course) since last year. He also mentions how quickly his time has been flying by at Pitt and he’s right. It’s hard to believe he is already a junior. Some players it seems like they have been at the school forever. Not with Byham. It really feels like a year has been skipped.

Staying with local papers covering local players, the Buffalo News checks in on Albion, NY native, Derek Kinder (hat tip to Chris R).

Back at full strength, Kinder is ready to reclaim not only his go-to role on an upstart Pitt team, but his place as one of the nation’s top receivers.

“I just want to go back out there and put together a season like my junior year and hopefully everything falls into place,” Kinder said. “It’s been a long time coming, but I feel tremendous.”

And so does a Panthers team that’s created a rare buzz in the Steel City, adding a former All-Big East wideout to an experienced group that memorably shattered West Virginia’s title hopes in last year’s Backyard Brawl.

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said he anticipates Kinder being a “major, major player in our offense.”

Kinder has been rounding into form by most accounts. A slow start, with a tweak to the knee during the first week, will do that. Still, he’s coming on, and he’s one of the players the coaches, teammates and fans can believe will be ready on gameday.

The other veteran WR who has been overshadowed in training camp stories by Jonathan Baldwin is Oderick Turner. Turner, though, has been having a very good camp.

Turner also has become a much bigger factor as a downfield blocker while becoming, perhaps, the most consistent receiver on the team.

Such developments are what Pitt receivers coach Bryan Bossard terms the “maturation of a top-flight receiver.” Bossard believes Turner is ready to be the Panthers’ top receiver, a designation that he has had in the past but hasn’t always lived up to.

“Oderick has had a very good camp,” Bossard said. “He dropped two balls that were very critical in a team setting, but came back the next practice and made the plays he was supposed to make.

“That’s what we need from him — that consistency, and he’s shown it and he’s added the ability to run after the catch, and that’s just a recognition of where the defense is and playing with great speed. He’s also become a much more physical blocker.

“We’ve known all along he has the big-play ability, but, to be a great one, you have to be locked in and focused on every snap and make every catch. He has also worked hard on playing stronger and playing against press coverage. The bottom line is he’s got to play well for us to be successful.”

Bossard said Turner’s ability to make big plays is critical to the offense’s success because teams likely will try to stop LeSean McCoy and the Panthers’ running attack — leaving receivers with many one-on-one opportunities.

In the article, Turner spoke with some pride about improving his route-running and blocking and doing everything. To some degree, I read it as him wanting to be more like Derek Kinder.

Well, Kevin Gorman noted nearly a week ago that Stewart Mandel from SI.com was at a training camp practice, so you knew a story was coming from him. The focal point, of course, has to do with LeSean McCoy.

When the backups came in, No. 25 morphed into the team’s loudest, most exuberant cheerleader, waving a towel, letting out a whoop and demonstratively signaling every first down.

No. 25 is LeSean “Shady” McCoy, a preseason All-America tailback whose path to prominence closely mirrors that of the Pitt program for which he’s quickly become the indisputable face.

…

Fast forward a year and you can see the pieces starting to fall in place around McCoy and McKillop.

The return of a healthy Stull and Kinder, the presence of talented tight end Nate Byham and veteran receiver Oderick Turner, and, in particular, the arrival of highly touted receiver Jonathan Baldwin should provide for a more balanced offense. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound Baldwin, from longtime Pitt pipeline Aliquippa High, is an incredibly gifted athlete who, in a red-zone drill last week, twice leapt over defenders and artfully kept his body inbounds on touchdown catches in the corner of the end zone. Physically, he resembles former USC standout Dwayne Jarrett. While he’s still learning the intricacies of a college offense, he will undoubtedly become Pitt’s go-to receiver sooner than later.

Defensively, the Panthers’ most important recruit may be their new coordinator, former SMU head coach Phil Bennett, whom Wannstedt lured after Harris holdover Paul Rhoads left for Auburn. Prior to his six-year tenure at SMU, Bennett served as Bill Snyder‘s defensive coordinator at Kansas State from 1999-2001, when the Wildcats never finished lower than fourth nationally in total defense.

Seven starters return from last year’s surprisingly successful unit, and Bennett said he recently told Snyder in a phone conversation that “I think we have the same type of players here that we had [at K-State].” They include not only McKillop but also freshman All-America defensive end Greg Romeus, versatile safety Eric Thatcher, lockdown corner Aaron Berry and physical defensive tackle Mick Williams.

Health and the offensive line. The two question marks.

Bruce Feldman at ESPN.com listed his top-10 impact defensive players. At #6…

Scott McKillop, Pittsburgh, LB: He’s been called a huge overachiever, but that actually takes some credit away from just how instinctive and tough the Panther middle linebacker really is. He led the nation in tackles in 2007, averaging 12.6 tackles per game and sparked the Panthers to be the country’s fifth-ranked defense. The latter point is pretty amazing when you consider the injury-ravaged Panthers (5-7) were the only team among the nation’s top 14 defense to win fewer than nine games in 2007.

This seems like a good time to note that McKillop and McCoy were both put on the watchlist Walter Camp Player of the Year Award. The award goes to the best player in college football. Past Pitt winners include Tony Dorsett, Hugh Green and Larry Fitzgerald.

Here’s the list of the all 35 candidates. Florida, Clemson and Wisconsin also have 2 candidates on the list. Ohio State has 3. From the Big East, George Selvie of USF and Pat White from WVU are also on the list.

The ESPN.com Big East blog (now manned by ex-Louisville beat writer from the Courier Journal, Brian Bennett) has a fairly entertaining Q&A with kicker Conor Lee.

How did you become a kicker?

CL: I played soccer my whole life and just started kicking on my grade school team. I actually quit football, and my freshman year of high school, the kicker for our team tore his ACL. That was the second game of the season and they asked me to come out, and I was playing varsity the third game of the season. It was almost meant to be.

Then I went to Fork Union Military Academy to try to get recruited more. But the recruiting didn’t go like I had hoped and I kind of got sick of it, so I walked on here in January of 2004. I just wanted to go somewhere and try to get the job.

…

Do people ever ask you how one brother [Penn State’s Sean Lee] became a linebacker while the other is a kicker?

CL: Yeah, and I would switch sides and be a linebacker if I could, to be honest with you. (Laughs). I was a pretty good football player when I was younger but I was pretty the much same size back then as I am now. The growth stopped for me and kept going for him.

You had two big field goals, including a 48-yarder at the end of the first half, in Pitt’s 13-9 win at West Virginia to end last season. How big was that moment for you?

CL: After that win, a couple days later it kind of sank in how important it was. I used to go to Pitt games when I was a kid, and I remember the game against West Virginia that went to four overtimes and Pitt won, and when we upset Miami at home. But that was quite possibly the biggest win in university history. I mean, I realize there was a national championship here, but what went down that night, how we were 28-point underdogs in their place, they’d never lost a night game under coach Rich Rodriguez and they were going to go to the national championship game and we just ruined it. Being a part of that was amazing.

…

You’ve already graduated and are currently working on your MBA. Is that tough to balance with football?

CL: The materials are similar to my undergrad — I was a business and economics major — but the amount of work is doubled. But I have a lot of time. I’m only taking three classes and also, being a kicker, it’s not like I really need to study the opponent as much as a quarterback would.

They’re just starting to clog my tabs. Time to clear them out. The profiles, the puff pieces and press releases.

Dorin Dickerson continues to get attention at tight end.

Dickerson and Wannstedt sat down in the offseason and decided that the best place to get him on the field, and utilize his enormous potential, was tight end.

Dickerson said the fact Wannstedt never lost faith in him helped make the transition to another position much easier. And he said that playing the tight end position the way he is being asked — he’ll also line up sometimes as an H-back or even a fullback — means he’ll have plenty of opportunities to make plays.

“Coach stuck with me, he didn’t forget about me, that means a lot to me,” Dickerson said. “Some people say they’ll believe in you and they don’t mean it, but coach proved when he says something he means it and so I knew he was being genuine when he said he wanted to help me get on the field.

“The more I have learned about this position, the more fun it has become. People ask me what I am, I proudly say now ‘I am a tight end.'”

There’s bit about wondering why some tagged him as not a physical player. His injury just before starting at Pitt slowed him down and cost him the 2006 season. In 2007 he was learning a new position on the other side of the ball, and despite training camp predictions of him cracking the rotation never got too high on the linebacker depth chart.

With his talent and the accomplishments coming out of high school, questions will arise when the expectations did not appear to be met. As legitimate as the reasons for the first two years are, they can be perceived as excuse-making. Whether Dickerson was actually tough enough for D-1A or injury prone. Whether he was just a player without a position. Not quite fast enough to be a receiver and not durable enough as a running back. An athlete stuck somewhere.

A player who has all the physical tools and there was never any question about his position, just his head, is Elijah Fields. He’s finally on the verge of putting it all together.

He sat out last season while serving a suspension for disciplinary reasons.

“It was real frustrating, but the decisions I made were my fault,” Fields said. “I’m not going to blame it on anybody else. I want to put that behind me and move forward and play this year and help my team out.

“I’ve matured a lot, sitting out and looking back on things and the decisions I could have made.”

Fields credited secondary coach Jeff Hafley for helping guide him through the tough times. Hafley, in turn, said Fields has shown better maturity by owning up to his mistakes and correcting them.

“He learned how important football was to him by sitting out last year,” Hafley said. “He now understands how his teammates and his coaches are counting on him. He wants to contribute — not just for himself but for the team, as well.”

The article also noted the struggles he had early at learning to play defense versus doing what he wanted because he was a superior athlete in high school. You just hope that the light has truly gone on for Fields and that it isn’t just something to say that sounds good.

The safety, who many are eager to see moved down the two-deep behind Fields and DeCicco, Eric Thatcher has his own story.

Thatcher is unheralded, but his role cannot be underestimated. As the free safety and most-experienced defensive back, Thatcher is responsible for aligning the defense on every play.

“You talk about him being under the radar,” Hafley said. “He’s under the radar until there’s a deep crossing route and he makes a big hit. People who play us know who Eric Thatcher is. I know [the media] likes to talk about some of our other guys, but he’s a leader back there.

“At that position, there is so much that goes into it from a mental standpoint. He’s the quarterback of the defense. He makes the calls, get us lined up. We need a guy like that back there, and we’re very fortunate to have him.”

Being the quarterback of the defense is especially important in a year when experience at the other secondary positions is almost non-existent. The only other returning starter is junior Aaron Berry at cornerback. The two players battling for playing time beside Thatcher at strong safety are Dom DeCicco and Elijah Fields, neither of whom has made a college start.

“It’s a position where you don’t always get the accolades because you’re not going to have 120 tackles or 15 sacks,” Hafley said. “You’re going to be the guy who lines us up and gets us in the right position. Because of that, we make the right play. Someone else might get the tackle or get the pick. But it wouldn’t happen without him.”

We’ve seen in Wannstedt’s first three years that he places a high value on players who know the schemes.

Derek Kinder has been recovering from his torn ACL, and while he has been a slowed getting on the field he has taken care of the other things.

Kinder is a recent graduate with a degree in economics, one of eight members of the 2008 Panthers to have already earned an undergraduate diploma. He’ll be attending fall semester classes with his eye on another degree, perhaps in communications. Regardless, he enters his final season of collegiate football with a better appreciation for his talent and the opportunity it’s given him.

“Before, I probably did take my health a little bit for granted,” he admits. “I’m a lot more determined now to do all the little things that the coaches are always emphasizing. The need to warm up properly, because that helps prevent injuries. I definitely take that to heart, and get my full stretching in.”

On the field, he seems to be getting more confidence in his knee and moving better.

Most years, seeing articles on a walk-on and a near greyshirt looking like they will be earning playing time for the season would suggest that the talent is thin or there were a lot of injuries. Obviously, an injury played a role in one of them, but both actually have some talent. They just had choices and really wanted to come to Pitt.

But Peter Charles Alecxih III is not your average walk-on, and the redshirt freshman from Lancaster known as “Chas” is in the thick of the competition.

“Keep an eye on him,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said Tuesday after Pitt’s first scrimmage of training camp. “He’s probably had as good a camp as any of the backup defensive linemen. … We’ve got probably four guys competing but if I was honest … and said who’s probably made the most plays, it’s probably been Chas.”

Alecxih is among the contenders for a backup spot behind starters Greg Romeus and Jabaal Sheard, a list that includes redshirt sophomore Ty Tkach and redshirt freshmen Justin Hargrove and Tony Tucker. At 6-foot-5, 275 pounds, Alecxih is 65 pounds above his playing weight at Penn Manor High School, where he was a teammate of offensive tackle Jordan Gibbs and turned down a scholarship offer from Connecticut to play for the Panthers.

“Coming in as a walk-on, the other guys were awesome but you felt like you had something to prove,” said Alecxih, whose father owns a company that builds luxury homes in Lancaster County and occasionally flies here in a twin-engine turbo Cessna airplane. “Most people look at walk-ons as if they’re not on (the same) caliber, so that was definitely motivation to come in and prove myself and say, ‘Hey, I can play on this level.’ I want to get a scholarship. It’s a respect thing, but until they’re able to, I don’t need one.

“Give it to someone who needs it.”

Finding the open scholarship a little early was how Andrew Taglieanetti was in Pitt training camp this year, rather than enrolling in January. He is poised to be a special teams player right away.

“He’s about as quick as any player we have on the team, and he uses it in the right ways,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “Right now, I’ve got him starting on possibly two special teams on opening day.

“From a special teams standpoint, he’s been the most exciting guy of the freshmen. He just wants to play.”

His twin brother Jon is also on Pitt’s team as a preferred walk-on at linebacker.

Finally, Johnstown loves the local connections.

Senior LaRod Stephens-Howling, redshirt sophomore Scott Corson and redshirt freshman Wayne Jones can provide some comfort and stability for Bishop McCort graduate Mike Cruz, Greater Johnstown alumnus Antwuan Reed and Richland grad Marco Pecora as each goes through his first season with the Panthers, who are ranked 25th in The Associated Press preseason poll released Saturday.

“It’s definitely fun to have someone you know here,” said Jones, who is in his first season as a mentor. “I was excited to hear that they were all coming down to Pitt. We’re all working hard toward the same goal.”

That would be getting the Panthers back on track – none of the local players has experienced a winning season at Pitt – and developing individually.

“When you come in, you have a lot of questions about camp and school,” said Jones, who is going through a transition of his own, switching to center this season.

Corson is in a similar situation, as he is playing defense for the first time at the collegiate level, but he still has time to help the newest members of the program learn the ropes.

“That’s exciting,” he said of having three more local players on the roster. “More guys keep coming. (I try to help out) with all of them. When I got myself ineligible, that’s a hard hole to get out of. I got my grades together and I’m trying to show them the importance of that.”

Every news outlet loves to cite the local connections.

I always enjoy a good puff piece, but I found it odd that the AP essentially re-ran the Dorsett-McCoy story that dates back to April. It looks like some new quotes added from Dorsett, but it’s the same story.

Tony DeFazio of Pittsburgh Sports Report had a longish piece about Pitt and rising to meet expectations this year.

Does he feel any pressure to win in his fourth season at Pitt?

“There’s a sense of urgency, yeah, but I wouldn’t say pressure,” he says. “Pressure is something you feel when you don’t know what the heck you’re doing. We know what we’ve got to do in order to win. There’s a sense of urgency, though, to get it done.”

Cavanaugh is more direct.

“There better be,” he said. “We’ve been a .500 football team for three years and that’s not anywhere near acceptable. Every player, every coach, everybody in the equipment room, training room and weight room better feel a hunger to win, and an urgency to win.”

“We had five wins last year. We weren’t good enough,” said Wannstedt. “I think we’ve got enough talent to win, but we have to go out and get it done. We’ve got to prove it.”

That’s the issue. No one is doubting the talent on the team almost anywhere. The doubts are about the guy who gathered them.

I was surprised that someone would go back to the well on punter Dave Brytus’ involvement with MMA. Even with it getting mainstreamed in 2008. Even more surprised that Gene Collier at the P-G would be the guy to do it.

“UFC is like the NFL of MMA,” Brytus said acronymically. “The top guys in UFC are getting six-figure salaries, but, obviously, you could do better in the NFL.”

In the NFL, you can casually wander the sidelines most of the week, learning stupid punter tricks such as throwing the ball to the grass and making it bounce back into your throwing hand (no known application), then actually kicking a few times on Sundays and occasionally being called on to make a tackle, which Brytus would love.

In UCF, you train exhaustively and more or less constantly for the opportunity to enter a caged octagon against a single opponent carrying payloads of excess testosterone and who knows what else.

“Football’s better for a career, I guess,” Brytus said. “It’d certainly be better as far as my parents are concerned. My mom’s not a big fan of MMA, but you know, if I have to take a couple of punches to the head to make some money, so be it.”

The only problem with that plan is if you take too many blows to the head, you forget whether you got paid or not.

SI.com has their photo gallery countdown of the top-10 players in the Big East. Scott McKillop is #7 and LeSean McCoy #2.

I have to do a little more on this for FanHouse at some point soon, but I am amused by the new replay rule with the Big East.

There is a new “clause” in the officiating manuals about the types of plays that are reviewable through instant replay. It states that while only certain plays are reviewable, the replay official has the discretion to “correct egregious errors,” including plays involving fouls that are not specifically reviewable.

I’m taking that to mean, like when they really screw it up on the field and ESPN commentators are hammering them for it (like the fair catch signal the refs missed in the UConn-Louisville game).

Please don’t turn this into gratuitous Walt Harris bashing, but it looks like he is doing some work with Ohio State.

The rumor mill has former Pittsburgh and Stanford coach Walt Harris, a former Ohio State quarterbacks coach, hanging around Buckeyes practices, presumably as a precursor to him joining the coaching staff or serving as a consultant.

An OSU spokeswoman said Harris was in town in July for an alumni golf tournament, but she said she regularly attends practice and hasn’t seen Harris since.

It’s been rumored for some time that Harris was looking to get back into coaching.

I think the attention Jonathan Baldwin has gotten along with Dorin DIckerson playing at tight end has led to something of a fascination in the media with Pitt’s receiving corps. For an offense that at best will have a slight tilt to the running game as far as play-calling, the WRs and TEs seem to be getting a lot of pixels.

[Wide Receivers Coach Bryan] Bossard isn’t worried yet because there are still three weeks before the season and he believes Kinder and Porter will be healthy by then. And he also has some talented freshmen — Aundre Wright and Jonathan Baldwin in particular — who are making a strong case for playing time as they take advantage of their increased reps.

“I feel very good with the older four guys,” Bossard said. “They’ve been in battles and played in games. Right now I am trying to get Derek back into it, he is getting smoother and we’re just trying to be smart with him. But beyond that — Aundre has stepped his game up. He’s playing faster now and he’s been impressive. And Jonathan Baldwin is a talent. He is big, fast and strong, he’s got great upside, but he has a lot to learn and that’s my job, to teach him.”

..

With those two in the group and a healthy Porter and Kinder, the Panthers would have a six-man rotation with a good mix of speed (Wright), physical toughness (Kinder, McGee), size (Baldwin, Turner) and athleticism.

Plus the tight ends are looking for the ball.

“Dorin is becoming a good blocker,” Angelichio said. “He’s in there, battling. He can definitely do it. He works as hard as anybody.”

Angelichio said the Panthers probably won’t run a lot of two-tight ends sets this season – there are too many other talented skill players in the offense.

But the group gives quarterback Bill Stull a reliable target over the middle. Last season, Pitt tight ends combined to catch 49 passes for 584 yards and four touchdowns.

“I think we are going to be a major role in this offense,” Byham said. “We are having the tight ends do a lot of things. A lot of moving around. They are really putting us into the offense. We’re really getting some love this year.”

And Byham got a little love this week in a Pitt press puffing release.

Over the weekend was the big feature on defensive coordinator Phil Bennett. Not about his defensive philosophies or the standard fare of players talking about new attitude and how much they like playing for the guy. This was the personal side with how he lost his 1st wife to being struck by lightening and the importance of work (coaching) and family kept him going.

In a rare move of actual promotions, Pitt actually sent out an e-mail yesterday promoting the story. Even more, they had links to a video of DC Bennett talking about getting the defense ready. If they actually embraced the last couple years of internet video, they’d have links to allow the embedding rather than having to launch it separately. That’s more on the CSTV system that operates the Pitt website and this stuff, though. They are still using Windows Media Player.

There’s also a video montage of the practice from Saturday. Not much to really take from it other than seeing Jonathan Baldwin make a spectacular one-handed leaping grab. He’s wearing #82, but trust me, there is no confusing his presence.

Another weekend feature was on the drudgery of players going through training camp.

It’s one that is based on precision, as every minute is accounted for during camp from the time the players awake by 6 a.m. until their 10:30 p.m. curfew. Sleep becomes a precious commodity, and the sound of the whistle an annoying way to wake up.

“I set my alarm clock one minute before and one minute after they blow the whistle,” said senior left guard C.J. Davis, in his fourth training camp. “I hate the whistle. Sometimes, it’s hard because you get out of practice and feel like you just laid down and then you hear that whistle at the crack of dawn.

“The days are long, but the nights go fast. It always feels like we don’t get enough rest. Our strength coaches say that too much of anything is not good for you, so I’ll have to take their word for it.”

…

Before they know it, they will put in a 15-hour day at Duratz Athletic Building filled with meetings, practice and more meetings.

I’m assuming there’s food.