I’m testing new, less pejorative terms than “puff,” to describe the individual pieces on players and coaches. I’ll probably end up sticking with “puff” and derivatives because it really is the most accurate descriptor.

Offensive Coordinator Matt Cavanaugh comes in for a big puff piece. I’m actually shocked it has taken this long to get to one on him.

In 1997-98, Cavanaugh served as offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears. The head coach at the time was another Pitt alum, Dave Wannstedt.

Last winter, Cavanaugh and Wannstedt connected again. After Walt Harris left for Stanford, they were among the finalists to become the Panthers’ next coach.

A few days after Wannstedt took the job, he dialed up Cavanaugh’s number.

“Even though I went out and interviewed three offensive coordinators, Matt knew all along that it was his job,” Wannstedt said.

“It was a pretty easy sell,” Cavanaugh said. “I had gotten so excited about the opportunity to be the head coach and coming back to this school, that I was already halfway sold.”

Cavanaugh said that among the other assistants Wannstedt hired were two — he won’t reveal their names — who Cavanaugh would have placed on his staff had he gotten the head-coaching job.

Even though only one of them was able to fulfill his ambition at Pitt, there is no friction in the meeting room between Wannstedt and Cavanaugh.

“No, because I was the guy who recommended him for the head coaching job,” Wannstedt said. “Matt and I are good enough friends and we have enough respect for each other that there was no ulterior motive or anything like that.”

Their shared history in the NFL makes things easier. Sometimes, as they map out schedules or strategies, Wannstedt will turn to Cavanaugh and say, “Remember how we did that in Chicago?”

Um, uh, given what happened in Chicago that year, I hope that sort of question is followed by one of them saying, “Let’s not do that again.”

Redshirt Freshman Defensive Tackle Craig Bokor gets his own minor focus article. He’s been backing up Thomas Smith at Left Defensive Tackle, but is hoping to pass Seniors Phil Tilman and Ron Idoko for the Right Defensive Tackle starting spot.

Mike Phillips gets his own piece concerning his shift to Strong Safety from Cornerback.

“Corner is my favorite position, it always has been,” he said. “But, when people told me they thought I’d be a better safety, I guess it was a compliment because I am a pretty physical player and safeties are the ones who are usually associated with hitting.

“So that’s all that is — I am a physical player and I play aggressively like most safeties, but I can play anywhere they want me to. I just love to play.”

Although Phillips began his Pitt career at cornerback and he is a corner at heart, he is now a safety. It is more than just a state of mind.

Phillips was asked by coaches in the spring to move to strong safety because the corner position is set with Darrelle Revis and Josh Lay.

The move was a natural one for Phillips, and it was a move designed to solidify the Panthers’ secondary, which, perhaps, might be the best in the Big East Conference.

Phillips and Sam Bryant create great depth at the Strong Safety position. Phillips familiarity as a CB also gives Pitt more flexibility. With a more aggressive, physical, and faster secondary; last year’s weakness should be a strength. The trade-off will be more pass interference penalties.

A puff piece on Pitt commit Dorin Dickerson and his goals for his senior year of high school. He is not only a top player in the country, but he has a very solid family nucleus to assist him along the way.

Final puff piece is on a high school junior, Steve Paskorz.

But Paskorz already is known. He has a scholarship offer from West Virginia, with offers from Pitt, Penn State and Michigan most likely coming soon.

“A lot of schools have said they’re going to offer,” Paskorz said.

“The college coaches who have come to our school and watched film on him, there hasn’t been one who’s not interested in him,” Mihalik said.

“By the time he’s a senior, he’s going to have quite a selection of colleges to choose from.”

Paskorz already has visited Michigan on his own, but said Pitt and Penn State are two schools at the top of his list.

“I don’t really want to go too far from home,” he said.
…
Mihalik, and most college coaches, project Paskorz as a defensive player. He would be on the order of Upper St. Clair’s Sean Lee, a running back-linebacker in high school who’s a freshman linebacker at Penn State.

“Steve is a kid you could probably put anywhere,” Mihalik said. “But if I had to pick a position, he would probably be an outside linebacker-type of kid.”

Still feels creepy talking about the college commit future of a high school junior.