Pitt Panther Prowl

FOOTBALL: SPRING REVIEW; QB / RB

When The Prowler asked me to contribute to his Pitt Panther Prowl Blog earlier this year I agreed right away. Then, and as I do with every knee jerk decision I make, I had to sit back and think about what I had gotten myself into. “Not a problem” I thought, “I can do this with my eyes closed”. And in truth, some of these articles read like I wrote them that way.

But really, I was at a loss on how to approach doing this as it was mid-March and a long way from the start of the 2008 football season. Fortunately Spring Camp was just beginning so there was some fodder for discussion. The first few posts were outlooks on what I thought we’d see, and should pay attention to, during spring practices. Now that practice is over, and the Spring Game has been played, it would be interesting to take a look back at what was written.

So, let’s see if I knew what I was talking about, and what surprises weren’t on the horizon…

QB COMPARISON

The three major points I felt were most important for the QBs were if Bostick had worked on his throwing motion in addition to losing his excess weight as reported during the off season, whether Stull’s thumb injury had healed, and if Cross could pass as well as we hoped.

Stull’s thumb injury seems to be OK, he has stated he wasn’t going to worry about re-injuring it and his passing during camp was good and accurate. He showed a bit more strength on his passes then he did at this time in 2007 so all in all it appears that that concern has been minimized.

Bostick does look more like a college QB this season. He is leaner and more mobile than last season, has better zip on his passes and seems more in command of his role in the offense. However, the reports of the demise of his windup and hitch were greatly exaggerated as they say…

Cross’ passing started off slowly and for awhile it looked as if he wasn’t cut out to be a competent passer at this level of play. But, as the camp progressed, and Cross became more knowledgeable in, and comfortable with. PITT’s offensive system his passing began to improve. At one point Matt Cavanaugh told Cross that he was “thinking too much” about running the offense and that he should “just go out and have fun”. That seemed to be pretty good advice because by the time the Spring Game rolled around Cross was playing well enough for the fans to start wondering if he might be a viable candidate for the starter’s position. A fun thought, but pretty unrealistic in my opinion unless his passing game improves substantially.

Going into camp the coaching staff had said that the QB position was still wide open. Hmmm, I wonder now if it actually was. If so, it isn’t any longer. Bill Stull performed well and more importantly showed the consistent ability to make good quick decisions under center. Especially in his receiver progressions. This was Wannstedt’s prime concern for the QB position, especially after living through the nightmare of having to field inexperienced players at this position last year. Stull made his case and will be QB1 going into the summer Training Camp.

The second QB position is somewhat up for grabs and the battle for it will be fun to watch. Bostick would, on the face of it, seem to have it well in hand. However, there is a distinct possibility that DW feels comfortable enough with Stull as the starter and Kevan Smith as his short term relief (allowing for Bostick’s return should a long term relief be needed). This would allow PITT to redshirt Pat Bostick and prepare him to be second string next season and for the starter’s role in 2010. That decision is pretty far off, but I feel confident enough to say that we’ll see Bostick and Smith sharing play repetitions equally at the beginning of training camp, with Smith gradually taking more and more to prepare him as the back up going into the first game.

Cross will be getting his time during camp also but it will be as the ‘change of pace’ QB. However, I must say that if his passing keeps improving the way it did during the four weeks of Spring Camp, when he made large strides as he began to feel comfortable in the offense, then we might see a real interesting battle for that #2 spot in August.

OFFENSE - RUNNING BACKS

Prior to camp there was nothing more obvious than this; LeSean McCoy was our starting running back and he wasn’t going to get much work (read: exposure to injury) either during practices or during the Spring Game. He is and he didn’t. Good.

The competition for the second string RB position didn’t seem that important either, not with LaRod Stevens-Howling returning. After all, he ran for almost 900 yards in 2006 and did a fine job as McCoy’s relief last season. That is until Shariff Harris started to carry the football in March. It seemed like every day the beat writers and the coaching staff had something good to say about Harris. It was almost hard to believe that this young guy - a redshirt freshman who was 6′1″ tall and weighted 190 lbs according to PITT’s roster, could be the quick powerful runner everyone was talking about. That is until it was revealed that Harris had gained 35 pounds of muscle after a year of working out with Buddy Morris (PITT’s Strength Coach). It showed. Boy, did it show, especially in the Spring Game. Harris is the real thing and it’s going to be a pleasure to watch him carry the ball in the fall.

Will Harris’ success preclude LSH from being the second string RB? I don’t think so, at least not going into the start of the season. Running Backs at this level, and in the West Coast offense have a multitude of responsibilities; blocking assignments, pass catching out of the backfield, etc…and those aspects of the game are equally as important as rushing the ball. A missed blocking assignment can result in your QB going out for the season - Wannstedt’s second worst fear.

So, I think LSH is pretty secure for now based on his experience in the offense, his skill in rushing and the fact that DW plays upperclassmen as much as possible. But he needs to look over his shoulder because that sound he hears is Shariff Harris gaining on him.

So where does that leave Kevin Collier, our returning third string and very promising running back? Unfortunately, on the outside looking in at this point. It’s tough to battle back from missing a whole season due to an injury and find that you have been replaced on the depth chart, but that might be the case here. There is a lot of time until our opening game, and Collier might do very well until then. But as it stands now he may be the odd man out.

At Fullback we didn’t see any surprises, and the depth chart as it stands is the same as last year; Collins, Brooks and now, Hynoski. Hynoski did some good things during camp and the last scrimmage, but not enough to supplant Shane Brooks as second string going into training camp.

Posted in Bill Stull, Dave Wannstedt, Football, Greg Cross, Henry Hynoski, Kevan Smith, Kevin Collier, LaRod Stevens-Howling, LeSean McCoy, Matt Cavanaugh, Pat Bostick, Shane Brooks, Shariff Harris, Spring Camp | 4 Comments »

PITT FOOTBALL: SPRING GAME RECAP

Pitt had its annual Blue -Gold Game yesterday and with the exception of some strange mysterious scoring system, it was pretty much fun to watch.

As I was driving up from Maryland on Saturday morning - a beautiful day and a lovely drive through the central and western part of Pennsylvania - I was reflecting on what us PITT fans can expect from this sort of preseason scrimmage. My conclusion was not too much actually, but that won’t stop every PITT fan from having an opinion on what they see during the game.

Once I got down to the stadium I had a chance to meet with some new friends I’ve made through the PITT Message Boards and then sitting together, with their families (I went stag), was a real pleasure. Apparently there is a strong movement afoot to raise these young boys and girls up as Panther fans from young age. It reminded me very much of going to Pitt Stadium in the 1960’s to watch the games with my family, except a lot less booze. We all agreed on some subjects, agreed to disagree on others and basically came away somewhat happy about what we saw.

On a side note - I was impressed with the effort Steve Pederson and his staff put into the pregame activities. Walking through the parking lot was almost like game day, groups of fans tailgating and tossing footballs around, lots of laughter and just a good atmosphere. One interesting note about this: while walking through the parking lot I noticed a young man taking gulps of water out of a bottle and spitting it on the tarmac, over and over. I thought that was rude. As I walked by I was just about to say something when he turned and - LUCAS NIX! - I saw my life pass before my eyes. Actually he’s huge, and probably doesn’t know how lucky he is that I was in a good mood right then. So, I asked one of the guys I was with - Seamus Regan, a scrappy Irishman who is a Tae Kwon Do expert (I figured he’d be up for anything) - to go up and “tell that big guy to quit spitting”, but even at six years old Seamus was too smart to fall for it.

Back to football. Basically, we saw just what the coaches wanted us to see. But that’s fine, any live PITT football at this point is welcome. You can talk a subject to death over the off season, but discussing what we actually saw makes it so much more interesting.

The Prowler did a pretty comprehensive article on his impressions of the squad on Saturday - not a bad overview for someone who says he’s not a big football follower…but a good article, to which I’ll disagree on some points.

Regarding the subject most fans are concerned with, especially after the debacle of 2007, the QB play was pretty good all around. Each got some time under center with Stull being pulled early to keep injury free.

To me the key stat that jumped out regarding our QBs on Saturday was Bill Stull hitting six different receivers with his first six passes - you don’t think Cavanaugh was ecstatic about that? Plus Stull had the most intriguing post game quote…:

“My thumb’s not hurting anymore. I’m not going to get injured. I’m done thinking about all that stuff. It’s time to get some work done.”

…and shows that he’s doing just that - thinking about it.

All the QBs showed some good playmaking the other night, but nothing was so dramatic that, again IMO, changed the staff’s minds about the depth chart for training camp….

Stull

Bostick

Smith

Cross

…is what it looks like at this point. Smith will get more repetitions in summer camp due to his probably being the short term backup over the season, Bostick will be readied for a redshirt and Cross will get more opportunity to show what he can accomplish with his arm in the passing game. If Cross makes progress in the cerebral part of the QB position he might slide up to #2 behind Stull. Cross throws better than we were led to believe by the earlier media reports, but there is no way he’s capable of meeting the passing requirements as a QB in our Pro Set right now. And IMO not by September either, so I’ll look at him as out of the starter’s race.

However, I can see Cross coming in for both the Pro Set and the Wildcat as a change up and doing very well, especially if defenses will think he will only run…he was really fun to watch. That’s how I see us going into camp in a few months.

Bostick needs the year to work on being a better QB. He appeared to lock onto his primary receiver and that extended windup is almost as pronounced as last season from what I could see. Other QBs may have some tools which could compensate for that motion, I don’t think Bostick does right now. He looked leaner and moved a bit better, his passes seemed to have a bit more zip then as before, but four months of off season work just isn’t enough to overcome what I think needs to be done with his training. It looks more likely he’ll redshirt and that’s a good thing. A fine tuned Pat Bostick playing QB for us in his junior and senior years might be very productive.

At running back DW started McCoy to whet the fans appetite (and the NFL Channel’s who broadcast the game live) and then pulled him to safeguard our breadwinner from injury. McCoy looked every bit as good in his first and only series as we remember from last season. He made one run where it looked like he made a 90 degree course change with no loss of speed. He is pretty amazing to watch carrying the ball.

Shariff Harris is the rising stud RB and his efforts and production this spring will give Cavanaugh lots to think about over the summer. At first I was prepared to write that he’ll be our #2 RB in 2008, then had to rein my thinking in as I overlooked the fact that, in a west coast offense particularly, a RB has many more responsibilities then just carrying the ball. Blocking, outlet passes, etc…are all part of it. LaRod Stevens-Howling has shown he can handle that part of the game very well, and be productive carrying the ball. However, if the past holds the keys to the future, we’ll see LSH get banged up at some point. If that happens I think Harris comes into play rather then Kevin Collier.

So, this will be an very interesting battle in training camp - and one that might mean more than we realize right now if the unthinkable happens with our starting RB (you know what I mean, I’m not even going to put the words on paper).

Maurice “Mo” Williams played well at WR, caught seven passes, but had a couple missed balls also. Apparently DW wasn’t real happy with Mo’s play and when asked about his good production let it be known that catching the ball was just part of the WR’s job - Williams missed some down-field blocks.

“Dorin Dickerson”. Say it again. “Dorin Dickerson”. Pretty soon we PITT fans are going to have a nickname for him and be wondering why he’s not getting the ball more often. He played very well and showed the hand and body control of a much more experienced WR. He moved well after the catch also. More on him in later articles, but I’ll say right now that even though he’s gotten bigger over the last two years, there is no way is he sporting a tight end’s body. We’ll see him at H-Back and WR in the summer camp. This is good as the last thing we want Cavanaugh to think about is whether or not both Dickerson and Nate Byham play at the same time. Past examples have shown Cav tended to pull Byham on third downs - maybe he won’t be tempted so much this season. Boy, thinking about those two guys in the same offense, along with our other talent, makes thing look pretty bright.

As to the defense. Not much to report as we didn’t see it. Fields didn’t make a big impact, DeCicco did. Greg Williams is as fast as any other PITT defender and Romeus is still very good. The DL didn’t get to play any stunts so we couldn’t gauge how well the O line could handle it.

Really, it was hard to get any feel for the defense when it was so obviously held back from doing anything.

One last note:

I had a chance to spend some time prior to the game with Ron Byham - Nate Byham’s grandfather. It was a real pleasure and I came away from our meeting and conversation not surprised a bit that Nate has turned into the type of young man he is. Ron raised Nate from birth practically, and the pride Ron shows when discussing his grandson is just so evident. Plus, Ron’s a remarkable guy in his own right and I’ll just say it was my pleasure to make his acquaintance.

Posted in Bill Stull, Dave Wannstedt, Dorin Dickerson, Football, Greg Cross, Kevan Smith, Kevin Collier, LaRod Stevens-Howling, LeSean McCoy, Matt Cavanaugh, Mo Williams, Pat Bostick, Shariff Harris, Spring Camp | 7 Comments »

Blue/Gold Game Thoughts

It can be hard to get a good feel for how well people are playing in a scrimmage where the defense isn’t allowed to blitz. Our top two QBs were sacked a total of 5 times, which is somewhat of a concern. That said, I was fairly impressed with Pitt’s offense today. If their defense is really their strong point, and of course taking into account that the defense was playing pretty soft pass coverage and wasn’t blitzing, then based on what the offense did today we should be satisfied that this will be a pretty good team this year.

I am not going to say at this point where Pitt will finish in the Big East or nationally. It would be impossible to determine that from this scrimmage. Without ranking where they will be compared to other teams, I can say that we have reason to be excited about the upcoming football season.

First, Bill Stull looked pretty solid at QB, as did Pat Bostick. I have heard a lot about Bostick’s “big wind up” and I have to say that I only noticed it because I have read so many comments about it. It is true that he takes a half-second longer, maybe, to get the ball out of his hands. I am not sure it is even that much. But I can only imagine it really being a factor if he is under pressure and needs to get the ball away quickly. That said, it is unclear as of yet how well the offensive line will be, so the quarterback could be under pressure a lot.

Other than that observation, Stull and Bostick both seemed confident and accurate. Each of them had trouble with deeper passes. Both threw long balls that should have been caught (Bostick’s for a td). In both cases, though, better passes would have helped the receiver. This is especially true for Stull. His deep pass ended up out of the hands of Oderrick Turner mainly because it was under thrown, which gave the defender time to catch up on the play. This is somewhat of a minor point because it was only one pass for each of them. It is just an observation though.

On the subject of QBs, Kevan Smith and Greg Cross looked fairly good as well. Neither looks like they should be a starter, but they both played well enough that if they had to be in a game, I would have confidence that Pitt could still win. That said, lets hope that Stull and Bostick stay healthy. Smith has a strong arm, threw a TD pass, and was the only QB not sacked today. But his accuracy was a bit questionable. Cross showed that he is a great athlete who can create with his legs, including a 29 yard run when he should have been sacked. Like most running type QBs Cross also showed that he holds on to the ball way too long, mainly because he knows he can create with his legs. If he could learn to get rid of the ball when there is nothing there, he would be much more of a threat.

The running game looked great. Larod Stephens-Howling and Shariff Harris looked solid. They each had big runs and showed that they are starting quality RBs. It is nice to have LeSean McCoy. It is even nicer to have Stephens-Howling and Harris backing him up. Stephens-Howling had a nice run in the first half where he completely changed course and ran the opposite way of the play and just out ran everyone. He is fast. If our o-line holds up, Pitt should have a pretty awesome running attack.

The WRs and TEs looked solid as well, but other than a very nice play by Dorin Dickerson, there wasn’t anything that really jumped out at me. The team is deep with WRs, but I am not sure we currently have an Antonio Bryant or Larry Fitzgerald on the team. Mo Williams looked solid with 7 catches for 107 yards and a TD. Oderrick Turner dropped a pass from Stull that would have probably been a TD if the ball wasn’t under thrown. In Turner’s defense, the ball being under thrown made it a tough catch. At the same time, if you want to be the #1 receiver, you have to make tough catches; and tough catches are what he struggled with last year. Lets hope his hands sure up a little more, or that another #1 receiver emerges.

It is really hard to comment on the defense at all because they weren’t really playing the defense they will during the season. They weren’t blitzing. They were in soft pass coverages. Blitzes, pressure packages, hard hits, laying the wood to the QB… these are the things that cause turnovers. Since they weren’t able to do any of that, we didn’t really get to see what they could do. Also, since they weren’t doing any of that we had a hard time seeing just what the offensive line can do. I am sure we will hear a lot more about both units long before the regular season starts.

One final thought. Connor Lee got to kick two field goals that are basically gimme kicks for him. Between the other two kickers, two of three attempts were 52+ yards. I know they are back ups and it is worth giving them game situation type kicks. But everyone knows that kicking is mental. A kicker can lose a whole season from one bad kick early in the season. I am not sure I would have wanted to put those guys in that situation to have to kick 50+ yarders. Since they won’t be kicking in the regular season, barring injury to Lee, both of those kickers just have to live with missing kicks on national tv.

All in all, I thought the game went well. It was fun to watch. I was a bit disappointed with how empty the stadium looked on tv. Then again, I didn’t go (kind of a long trip from Kansas) so I am part of that problem I guess. The offense showed us some good things and I am excited to see and hear more as we get closer to playing a real game.

One final note; did anyone else get tired of hearing about Pitt beating WVU? On one hand, I can never get tired of it. On the other hand, it came up so many times that it seems like they are trying to convince us that beating WVU turned around an abysmal season and/or that it is the first step to really turning things around. I am thrilled with that win. Now stop telling us about that win, and get ready to beat them again this year.

Posted in Bill Stull, Dorin Dickerson, Football, Greg Cross, Kevan Smith, LaRod Stevens-Howling, LeSean McCoy, Mo Williams, Oderrick Turner, Pat Bostick, Shariff Harris | 5 Comments »

PITT FOOTBALL: SPRING GAME PREVIEW II

One day until we fans get to see the 2008 version of the PITT Panthers in action. I’m looking forward to the trip over from Maryland, meeting new friends from the message boards and getting a feel of what we can expect going into training camp.

All this, of course, is tempered by the fact that the annual Blue & Gold Game as it’s formally called is nothing but an exhibition in its broadest terms. The coaching staff will use it to try to winnow down the roster names into a workable two-deep lineup so that they can spend the three months over the break formulating strategy and game plans based on the expected personnel.

Early next week I’ll post what I think our best two deep will be, and then later in the summer we can see just how much I don’t know. This much I do know – we won’t be seeing much of McCoy or Stull tomorrow. Wannstedt has publicly stated that he’ll play them for a series or two and pull them for protection. It is a good decision and personally, I wouldn’t be disappointed at all if they sit on the bench all evening. Stull will wear the red jersey as a signal not to be hit as Wannstedt has named him the starting QB for 2008, but the other three QBs will be at the mercy of the defense – literally it seems due to the way our offensive line has played lately.

Actually, reports out of camp are less critical now of the OL than they have been the first three weeks of camp. Whether that is the case of an improvement in play or the reporters getting sick of saying the same things over and over I’m not sure. I think it’s a little of both.

Two of the more interesting position battles have be split between offense and defense. On the O side Shariff Harris has been impressive, running with both power and speed. A kind of amazing note here is that Harris has gone from 190 pounds when recruited to 225 pounds under Buddy Morris’ workout program. Huh. I did the same thing, gained 35 pounds, in the course of a year back in 1981. That was due to getting married and eating actual food instead of bar snacks, not as much fun as working out I suppose, but just as healthy for me in the long run. Now I spend all my time wondering how I can get rid of 35 pounds. Anyway, I digress. Harris is quickly overtaking Kevin Collier as the third string RB behind McCoy and Stevens-Howling. I think it’s less due to Collier’s play as it is the coaching staff wanting a big power runner to insert when needed. Collier is built as a smaller speed back and the two players in the lineup ahead of him are that style of runner also. Too bad really, as Kevin Collier worked hard to come back from the wrist injury that kept him out last season and deserves some playing time.

Also on the offense we’ll have a chance to watch Mo Williams get lots of work. He has emerged as a playmaker and quickly is becoming a lead candidate to start at WR. Dorin Dickerson has been impressive also; every day brings an article about his consistent play in his new TE position. Since both Nate Byham (whose Grandfather says Nate’s knee is doing well) and John Pelusi are coming of surgeries we’ll see DD lined up as a TE. I hope we see just a glimpse of this new H-Back set, but I don’t think so. But just seeing Dickerson involved and carrying the ball will be satisfying for this fan.

On defense, Dom DeCicco and Elijah Fields have played well enough to allay the fears we have at the Safety. The problem is (and it might be a good problem in the long run) that neither has really moved ahead of the other to assume the starter’s role across from senior Eric Thatcher. Fans call for both to play, but in my opinion we won’t see that until mid-season if at all. Coach Bennett’s defense has the Safety position calling the defensive sets and DW wants an experienced upperclassman doing it. Makes sense to me, and I’m confident in Thatcher’s abilities to do so. And, let’s not forget that Thatcher can lay wood on the opposing receivers also – some of the hardest hits we have seen out of PITT defenders in the past few years came from him. I can envision all three safeties in an informal competition to see who gets the most knockdowns during the season. We do need to keep our eyes on the Sherod Murdock situation as his absence – which might be a long or possibly a permanent one – leaves a void at the backup position at Safety.

While we are at it, defense has another battle going on at defensive back with Buddy Jackson and Jovanni Chappel vying to play opposite Aaron Berry. Both will get lots of snaps I think and it’ll be fun to watch.

So, off to Pittsburgh early tomorrow. Hope to see you at the game and let’s all wish for some exciting plays and no injuries.

Posted in Bill Stull, Dave Wannstedt, Football, Kevin Collier, LaRod Stevens-Howling, LeSean McCoy, Shariff Harris, Spring Camp | 4 Comments »

‘08-09 Hoops Expectations

I am not the first Pitt blogger to notice and comment on the high expectations that many in the media have heaped on our Pitt Panthers basketball team for next year. After reading on Oakland Zoo and Pitt Blather about the brackets that Joe Lunardi had put out for next year, I was rather dumbfounded. It isn’t surprising to me that Pitt is being picked as the Big East favorite. It wasn’t so shocking to see Andy Katz have them in his preseason top 5. Katz has consistently been friendly to the Pitt program. Lunardi, on the other hand, is a wet blanket who tries to avoid giving any love to the Big East. So when he had Pitt as a 1 seed I was somewhat shocked.

I don’t know if it is a good or a bad thing. On the one hand, to put this much pressure on a team that was running the risk of making the NIT with a few weeks left in the season seems ridiculous. Then again I don’t ever want to over sell the team because I realize I can’t be objective as a fan and alumnus. On the other hand, if Joe Lunardi is saying that Pitt will be this good there must be something to it. Since he doesn’t seem to like the Big East (and I am aware that probably every fan in every conference feels that way come bracket time), if he is giving Pitt this much preseason props then maybe it is actually a legitimate prediction.

ESPN analysts aside, Pitt does have a promising team coming back next year. Many of us were saying that even during this season. I for one wasn’t saying it to make myself feel better as Pitt struggled to close the regular season. I honestly thought back then, and do now, that Pitt has a pretty solid team next year. Levance Fields is a great point guard. His assist to turnover ratio is ridiculous and he is a leader on the floor. He is fearless, but he backs it up with skill.

Sam Young was a completely different player from his sophomore to his junior season. Assuming he comes back as a senior, there is no reason to expect that he won’t be even better. Actually, there is one reason. Pitt’s stars in recent years have seemed to fall off in their senior seasons, when expectations were highest on them. But that fact doesn’t condemn Young to the same fate. He is a hard worker. He wants to be good. And unlike some of our other stars, he is willing to be a go to guy. I think guys like Aaron Gray struggled as seniors because there were expectations that they would shine when they didn’t want to be the go to guy. Young wants to score 25 a game. I don’t see any reason why he can’t be that player next year. If he works half as hard this off season as he did last, he will be Big East Player of the Year.

DeJuan Blair was a stud as a freshman, though he did hit some bumps along the way. At times he struggled with confidence and I think it was hard for him to be in a position where he wasn’t the most dominant player on the floor. In high school that certainly never happened to him. Aside from his skill and his quick hands, Blair played his best games against Pitt’s best competition. I like the sounds of having a stud like Blair who actually rises to the level of competition. As a freshman he had his share of struggles. I expect that much of them will be worked on intensely in the off season. Part of the problem with working on a lot of his problems this year involved the injuries and not being able to do full five on five walkthroughs in practice. Blair will be a monster next year and won’t have to face the likes of Hibbert. Possibly he won’t have to face Thabeet either. He could end up being the dominant big man in the conference.

Gilbert Brown showed a lot of athleticism this season. He struggled with confidence and played with a torn labrum, but he showed, especially at the end of the season, that he can really play. Brown has the skill set to be a Brandon Rush type of player. If he can keep his confidence up and heal his shoulder, he will be a force. I could handle watching Fields throw ally-oops to Brown all day, just like he did against Oral Roberts.

Brad Wanamaker is a talented athlete who has a passing ability that I can’t even comprehend. He is a question mark for the team because he didn’t seem to develop the way we would have hoped throughout this past season. As a true freshman he didn’t handle pressure well. The big if with Wanamaker is whether he will mature between this year and next. He has the talent. He needs to get his game under control a bit and get his shot to fall regularly. He doesn’t need to be a 15 point per game guy as a sophomore. If he can get 8-10 points, but use his athleticism to create off the dribble and feed the ball to Blair and Young then he will be a huge asset.

Tyrell Biggs gave Pitt solid play and even if he only averages 15-20 minutes a game next year, there is no reason to believe they won’t be 15-20 solid minutes. Gary McGhee is in the same boat. He progressed very well this season. If he can give 10-15 minutes a game or can fill in when Pitt’s bigs have foul trouble, that should be enough, if he is playing at the level he was by seasons end. There is no reason to think that he won’t improve. Ultimately, all that is really needed is for him to be a large presence and to not give away fouls. Other than that, he will accomplish his task just by giving Blair a breather.

Of course there is also the question of whether or not Mike Cook will be granted a sixth year. I don’t honestly know what the chances are, but I suspect it isn’t terribly likely. There is also the issue of what the incoming freshmen will do. Pitt has some solid recruits for next season. However, we saw what happened this year when we had to count on true freshmen. It would be best if the new guys could come in and mature a bit behind some of our veterans. Giving the freshmen time off the bench would be great.

Then there is the x factor of the whole situation: Jamie Dixon. Dixon is a solid coach who knows how to get the most out of his players. If anyone can make sure that Brown and Wanamaker are game ready for next season it is Jamie Dixon. Not only is he a good coach, but he is a good Big East coach. He knows physical basketball and isn’t afraid to let his players brawl it out.

It is hard for me to be terribly objective about next season. I don’t honestly know if top 5 is too high or not. I do know that Pitt has a solid core of players who aren’t afraid to leave it all on the floor. Number 1 seed or not, it isn’t unreasonable to believe that this team will be the one to finally get past the Sweet 16 hump.

Posted in Basketball, Brad Wanamaker, DeJuan Blair, Gary McGhee, Gilbert Brown, Jamie Dixon, Levance Fields, Mike Cook, Sam Young, Tyrell Biggs | No Comments »

New Layout

I don’t really need to write a post stating that I have a new layout for this blog in order for you to notice, but I figured I’d write one anyway. I really liked my old theme for the site because it allowed me to use blue and gold without having my site look like all the other Pitt blogs out there. I worked and worked with tinkering and tweaking to try to make that other theme work, but ultimately I was unsuccessful. I am not dense, stubborn, or unreasonable. It only takes about 3 months of people telling me something in order for me to listen.

So after enough comments about the posts being too hard to read and enough attempts on my part to fix it, I switched to a plain theme that should be easier to read, even if it lacks the flair and style of the old theme. In all likelihood I will work on a theme with a bit more character in the coming weeks/months and this theme will change again. But for now, I figured it was best to get something new up so that people can stop having to get the prescription for their glasses upped just so they can read my blog.

Feel free to give any constructive feedback or offer any ideas on a new theme.

Thanks,

The Prowler

Update (4-18-08): I have a new theme being designed right now. It will be Pitt specific and look great. It will probably be a week or so before it is ready.

Posted in Off Topic | No Comments »

PITT FOOTBALL: WEEKLY NOTES & SPRING GAME PREVIEW

A lot has happened since I last posted on the progress of Spring Camp. Some good; mostly bad. First things first…

We have all read about the weekend adventures of Sherod Murdock (rsFR), our apparently overly emotional defensive back. The whole story hasn’t been told yet, and without speculating too much I can say that something very weird happened in a PITT dorm room (supposedly his own) that resulted in the dormitory being locked down. The more believable aspects of the circumstances that I’ve read say this; it entailed a blade of some sort, the Pittsburgh Police SWAT team responding, Coach Wannstedt having to be called to the scene at 3:00 AM to reason with the kid and Murdock being hospitalized for 48 hours after the incident. The hospitalization is totally believable as that is the average length of time it takes for a hospital staff to remove a Head Coach’s foot from a player’s ass.

I do wonder that if DW had to be called in to talk Murdock out of whatever he was doing, hopefully Wannstedt waited until Sherod put the knife down before he kicked Murdock off the team. One would think that our Head Coach would be smart enough to realize that on occasion timing is everything.

Furthermore, and at a position we can least afford losses in, Jason Pinkston wailed on a fraternity kid. That incident is under investigation at this point, and no charges have been filed. But, if we believe what we read on the Internet, I would expect them at some point. This Pinkston situation is so much like the lead in for a comedy routine I can’t even start… “An offensive lineman and a FIJI walk into a bar…” Without debating whether a fraternity member deserves to be punched just on the strength of his social associations, this isn’t proper behavior. Seducing his Tri Delta girlfriend would have been simpler and much more effective - and probably taken less time.

None of this is anything good, but really, it’s to be expected at some point. I am proud that PITT seems to have less of these highly publicized incidents then other local teams -but disheartened that we read about it at all. But on another note: If any publicity is good publicity, we have made the list for the “Fulmer Cup” which is awarded to the school which ends up with the majority of these incidents each year. PSU is very “relevant” in that competition on a continuing basis.

The fallout from all this for the rest of the team was an early morning workout that, from the sounds of it, was pretty intense. At one point during the disciplinary application Wannstedt was being interview by a radio station and had to give the phone to Matt Cavanaugh to finish the radio piece while he got back to punishing the kids who had nothing to do with the two incidents. It probably was for the best though - leadership takes all forms and we have some senior personnel that need to be reminded that, while they can’t hope to halt every transgression by others, they can apply peer pressure in the hopes of avoiding untoward situations. One player who benefited from the workout was Nate Byham, who after running the required early morning ‘gassers’ (One gasser equals the width of the football field times four), reported to his Grandfather that his knee feels fine. OK!

The Blue & Gold Spring Game is just around the corner. I’ll be driving up for it and have made arrangements to meet up before the scrimmage with some other PITT fans who discuss PITT football and every other subject imaginable on Scouts.com’s Inside the Huddle message board. Of course, everyone posts anonymously and no one knows anyone else or what they look like so there is an excellent chance we’ll just walk on by who we are supposed to meet.

I’m looking forward to the whole day, and Steve Pederson has done a great job in getting both the word out about PITT football to the national media, and to the fans. There are a lot of activities scheduled and the scrimmage itself will be broadcast nationally on the NFL Channel. That is a major accomplishment on our AD’s part, and shows a real proactive stance that he’s taking in regards to the 2008 season. I believe that other than the U of Florida Spring Game no other schools are having their scrimmage shown like we are.

I’m of two minds about this actually. If our team holds to the type of offensive play they have shown in the first two spring scrimmages - it could get ugly. If I were Pederson or Wannstedt I’d generously bribe the announcers to continually harp on how great our defense is going to be so the people who are watching don’t turn the TV off in disgust due to our O line’s Keystone Kops imitation.

One last point about the preseason efforts to attract fans…Pederson has offered what I think is an amazing deal - even better than the general season tickets at $70 for seven home games. If one is a Graduate student or a Professional Student (and that doesn’t mean remaining an undergrad for 10 years to avoid the workplace) then there is this offer:

GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL STUDENTS SPECIAL OFFER!

Season Tickets for some of the Best Seats in the House for only $99

Dear Pitt Graduate and Professional Students:

Thank you for making the University of Pittsburgh a special place. While you may not have experienced Pitt football as an undergraduate, we want you to be a part of the excitement at Heinz Field this fall.

We have reserved some of the best seats in the house at Heinz Field, the spectacular Club Lounge, for graduate and professional students at a special price only available to graduate and professional students. We hope you enjoy all six (6) home football games this season in the Club Lounge at Heinz Field. We have an exciting team and great home schedule in 2008.

We look forward to seeing you at Heinz Field in the fall!

Click below to learn more about the Special Graduate and Professional Student Season Ticket Option or call the Panthers Ticket Office at 1-800-643-PITT

pittsburghpanthers.cstv.com/ti…d-fb-email.html

Posted in Football, Matt Cavanaugh, Spring Camp | No Comments »

PITT FOOTBALL AND THE POPE

I’m taking the day off of work to celebrate the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Washington, D.C. - not because I’m going to RFK Stadium to hear his Mass, but because I, along with thousands of other Federal workers, know just how crappy the commute is going to be today.

Last week a co-worker of mine was telling me he had some extra tickets to see the Pope on his visit here - apparently only selected Catholic Churches got ticket blocks and he, being of some import in his Church, had an extra. I told him I might be interested and he asked why I wanted to attend (like it was some kind of a test to be worthy). I told him I wanted to ask the Pope how he thought the PITT Football team would do this season.

He thought I was joking, and said “No, really, why?” I said that if His Holiness is serious about using his position in helping those most in need, he didn’t have to look much past the PITT Offensive Line.

I didn’t get the ticket.

Posted in Football, Spring Camp, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »