I know many are getting antsy to see more football posts, but I’m just not there yet. This despite a steady perusal of “Phil Steele’s 2007 College Football Preview.” Hopefully the Big East Media Days next week will generate something amusing and kick me in that direction.

In the meantime, I highly recommend the 2-part series “Enter the Octonion” (Part 1 and Part 2) from Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician. It had me at “God dammit I need to stop doing whippets.”

Meanwhile, for the more nostalgic, there is a nice piece on former Pitt QB Fred Mazurek who led the 1963 9-1 Pitt team to no bowl appearance that year.

On a less proud alumni note, Bill Maas is done as a broadcaster for Fox Sports after his arrest for felony drug and weapons. Way to nail that daily double.

On the positive side, a nice puffer on Jason Pinkston looking to have a big year somewhere on the O-line.

“We’ve basically just been running and lifting and training hard with Buddy,” Pinkston said. “So, we’re just trying to get ready for camp and the season, and I think we’re all working hard to get there. I played in the spring at about 315 pounds, and I lost around 15 pounds and put a lot of muscle on since then. So, I’m about 300 even right now. And I feel real good.

“This is a very important offseason for us. We just started with Buddy a short time ago, and he expects a lot from us. So, we’re working hard to get back to the type of Pitt team that we were in the past. The guys you mentioned, I think it was good for all of us to kind of get a taste for it last year. And now we’re ready to play even more this season.”

Pinkston’s improvement has given hope to an offensive line that has been maligned in recent years for inconsistent play and depth problems due to injuries and attrition. He certainly appears to be capable of handling a starting assignment, should McGlynn move to center or anywhere else for that matter. And while nothing is set, Pitt’s coaching staff has more options on the line than it has in a while. And that can’t hurt.

The Center position is going to be the issue. If Vangas or Bachman can get their play to a level that lets them start, Pinkston helps supply depth on the O-line. If he starts, that means McGlynn is at Center and on every play, O-Line Coach Paul Dunn will be praying that no one gets hurt.

Well it seems Coach Dixon, like a slew of other coaches was shuttling from the LeBron James Nike Academy Camp in Akron and the Rbk U Camp in Philly. The Rbk U camp is the one with more Pitt commits and a key target for the class of 2008 so that’s where the focus is.

Jerry Carino, who covers the NJ/NY HS basketball scene posts a bit about what he’s seen from a couple future Pitt players.

Travon Woodall will be solid at Pitt, and Tyshawn Taylor may be a little underrated (Hurley thinks he has a whole lot of upside) and rising junior Dominic Cheek posted 15 dominant minutes before he was carried off the court with what appeared to be a badly sprained ankle. The recruitment for Cheek will be heated over the next year.

Spent a few minutes chatting with Seton Hall Prep’s Ashton Gibbs for a feature in Tuesday’s papers. Gibbs said SHU was a close No. 2 in his college choice, but Pitt felt like a better fit. I like his solid fundamentals and his rugged defense, even though I’m not sure if he’s a 1 or a 2 (he wasn’t sure either), and I think he’ll be a good player for Pitt. His younger brother Sterling, by the way, is entering The Prep in the fall.

One more name to throw out there: Lamar Patterson, a 6-5 shooting guard/wing from Lancaster, Pa., is a Seton Hall target. Didn’t see much of him, but I can tell you he’s jacked and quick (think Brian Laing’s body in high school). Keep that in your back pocket.

As an aside, Lamar Patterson will be a junior this year and seems to be a fast-rising player in Pennsylvania recruiting. He’s also the younger brother of former Syracuse QB Perry Patterson.

Woodall got consistently solid reviews. Especially for efficient shooting.

Michael Rosario (Jersey City, NJ) needed 18 shot attempts to score his team-high 16 points. Travon Woodall, a 6’0’’ PG out of Paterson, NJ was much more efficient, scoring 15 points on 5/7 shooting from the field and 3/4 from three-point range.

Rosario has gotten more attention in NJ and is a 4-star shooting guard with a Rutgers verbal.

Eloy Vargas had a bit of trouble in the opening game, going against  Renardo Sidney, the top player in the 2009 recruiting class. Not that this has caused any teams to back-off on recruiting Vargas. It just showed how good Sidney is.

By now I’m sure many of you saw the AP article that SI.com had predominantly featured in the college football section last week on Pitt and Coach Wannstedt doing an outstanding job with recruiting. I had been holding off on posting it, hoping to tie it in to another verbal. So, of course, things went dead on that front.

The Panthers’ class of 2008 could be the best yet. The talent in Western Pennsylvania this year is as good as it has ever been. A big season on the field could help Wannstedt change the minds of a few Pittsburgh-area standouts that are looking to go out of state.

That big season doesn’t seem likely, but it’s not like any of the Pitt coaches were talking about that. Right now it wouldn’t be hard for a cynic to wonder from afar about the difference between Ron Zook and Dave Wannstedt.
Really, it’s a nice recap piece, but nothing special. The best feature was probably the fact that SI.com had it up on their CFB page in a dead period along with the 4th of July holiday period to make it an extended feature/ad for Pitt.

I love the artificial style of college basketball recruiting. July has two “evaluation periods” where coaches can watch recruits in action at camps and AAU tournaments but cannot communicate directly with them. The time when every coach is wearing their brightest and most vibrant sweatshirts and track suits with the school’s name on it. Let them know you are there for them.

The most important 2008 recruiting class target for Pitt is still Eloy Vargas, who has just been given his 5th star by Rivals.com and moved up to #23 in their overall rankings for the Rivals.com 150. Miami still has hope of getting him, as does Louisville and others.

Eloy Vargas and Angel Garcia are also coveted by Louisville. Both players visited the U of L campus recently. Vargas, a 6-foot-10 skilled forward from American Heritage (Fla.), is also high on Pittsburgh, Ohio State, Indiana and Florida.

The shoe camps have changed this year, but they are still the big showcase.

In a potentially significant move, Nike, Adidas and Reebok have replaced their all-American camps, which often celebrated individual accomplishments, with events they say will promote teamwork, fundamentals and life skills.

The changes largely were made to improve the image of summer basketball, which has been criticized, both by sports commentators and the NCAA, for a lack of oversight and a perceived failure to teach fundamentals, which has been cited as one of the reasons for the United States’ recent struggles in international competition.

What’s more, Sonny Vaccaro, the influential and controversial figure who helped make the summer basketball scene a multimillion-dollar industry, has left the shoe company business, a move that further altered the landscape.

“It’s up to us to reinvent ourselves,” said Reebok’s Chris Rivers, who took over the shoe company’s grass-roots operations from Vaccaro. “We want to change the image of ourselves.”

Vargas, along with Pitt commits Travon Woodall and Ashton Gibbs will be at Rbk U in Philly for the camp. I have to imagine that Orlando Antigua and Jamie Dixon will definitely be in Philly. Brandin Knight is not allowed to go to the camps in his position. Tom Herrion is likely to be checking out the Nike LeBron James Skills Academy in Akron.

Couple of stories on former Pitt football players.

Troy Benson, a former linebacker, who played for Pitt in the early 80s gets a “where are they now” piece. He still seems a bit frustrated about the 1982 season.

“That was our most underachieving team,” he said. “We didn’t play to the best of our abilities.”

Pitt started that ’82 season ranked first in the nation. Benson said it was difficult with the transition from one head coach to another.

“There’s no doubt we should have gone undefeated, and if Jackie (Sherrill) had stayed, I think we would have won the national championship,” Benson said.

Yeah, not the best feeling to know that team goes down in college football as one of the most talented and disappointing teams.

Meanwhile, former Pitt CB and present Tampa Bay Buccaneer, Torrie Cox has been suspended by the NFL for four games for violating the substance abuse policy. The, uh, good news. It probably wasn’t for illegal drugs or steroids.

The substance that landed Cox in the league’s substance-abuse program to begin with apparently is not an illegal drug, but likely alcohol, something that has long been an issue with Cox.

“I can assure you that this has nothing to do with illegal narcotics, ” his agent, Peter Schaffer, said from Denver. “I love him. He’s a great kid.”

Schaffer declined to elaborate, citing the league’s stance that specifics about those in the program remain confidential. The league and the franchise will not comment on the matter. But Schaffer suggested that a look at Cox’s history would help answer some questions. Cox, 26, has twice been charged with DUI since 2004, the second time earning him a one-game suspension handed down by the Bucs in 2005. It also was a violation of probation. Adjudication was withheld on all charges.

Cox mainly plays special teams, but was expected to compete for the starting nickleback job. The suspension costs him about a quarter of his salary. Roughly $140,000. That’s an expensive bar tab.

Mainly because it amuses me at this point.

The day after the introductory press conference for the new Bulls players they headed out to that other Reinsdorf property — the Chicago White Sox.

Bulls 2007 draft picks Joakim Noah, JamesOn Curry and Aaron Gray were honored before Tuesday’s game, with Gray throwing the ceremonial first pitch. Noah wore a jersey that read “Booozynski,” in reference to Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski, a rabid University of Florida supporter.

I’m guessing that Noah wasn’t able to throw out the pitch because of his rotator cuff. Since there was no mention of it and nothing I noticed on SportsCenter, I assume Gray got it over the plate.
Gray was also thrown into the local gossip/sightings page.

The Bulls’ GM John Paxon entertained new draft picks Joakim Noah, Aaron Gray and JamesOn Curry at Morton’s the Steakhouse in Northbrook.

Finally just to note that article on Aaron Gray and Darren Morningstar. The only thing that had “parallels” with them beyond being centers at Pitt was their place in the NBA draft. Hardly parallel careers to this point.

Interesting to note that recent Pitt commit, Ashton Gibbs has a younger brother who is already getting noticed.

Sterling Gibbs, 5-9 point guard, Seton Hall Prep (NJ), 2011: The younger brother of recent Pitt commit Ashton Gibbs played with the experience and basketball IQ of a much older player. A true point guard who looked to pass first, Gibbs often used his quickness to put pressure on the defense and finish strong or drop floaters over the tall trees in the paint.

That means Gibbs is heading into the 9th grade. This is where the eeewww factor in recruiting comes in, when you have to address and accept that we are talking about a 15-year old at the RBK Breakout Underclass Camp (obviously sponsored by Reebok).

Of course it also means wondering whether Pitt will be a leader to land the kid in a couple of years if he continues to develop his game.

Everyone likes Power Rankings, yet never before have we seen them completely dedicated to our Pittsburgh Panthers. Every week or so we’ll take a look at the biggest news makers related to Pitt sports — all in Power Ranking form.

5. ROC the Panther, Pitt mascot, Member of the Octonion
Some background: “Every June, a secret society of the eight wealthiest mascots in the Northeast convenes at a secret estate in Providence, RI, known as Mike Tranghese’s basement, where chips and mango-peach salsa are served. They control the Northeastern bank money supplies, Fort Dix, ESPN and the Weslyan College student newspaper. They are known as The Octonion.”

One such discussion about bowl games…

Cinci: Well we’ve got a new coach too but we’re hoping to improve on our finish last year and do even better than the International Bowl.

Pitt: The what bowl?

International.

Did you get together with you friends and play a game in your backyard and call it a bowl? Cause there’s no such thing.

Yes there is!

Oh yeah? Where is it played?

Toronto, Canada.

Sure it is. Who did you play?

Western Michigan.

Aha! No such school!

Fine. Who did you play in your bowl game last year?

………f@#& you.

Read it all here and here.

4. Torrie Cox, CB, Tampa Bay Bucs, former Pitt football player
He’s been suspended for 4 games by the NFL for a repeat violation of the substance abuse policy. In this year’s training camp he was expected to compete for a starting job.

3. “Greatest Show Ever” on 92.1 WPTS
Hosted by Pat Mitsch and Jeff Greer on 92.1 and www.wpts.org/live, they cover all kinds of topics from around the sporting world including your Pitt football and basketball teams. A good way to waste time from 10-noon on Tuesday mornings.

2. New Hats on the PittPanthers.com Shop
Ugly now comes in two colors: white and blue.

Wouldn’t mind this hat though.

1. Chicago Bulls, NBA team
If Aaron Gray makes the team, the Bulls have a chance to become my favorite NBA team. They will replace my current favorite: the Pittsburgh Pisces. I’ll always have a strong dislike for Joakim Noah though, and that’ll never change.

Happy Fourth of July!

Hey, everyone. I know I’ve actually gone a few days without posting. Weird, I know.

The family thing has been a little intense going into the weekend. My 11-week son had to have an aortic angio valvularplasty to open up a constricted pathway to the aortic valve in the heart today. Things went very well, thankfully, but he is spending the night at the hospital. The wife is staying with him. I get to try to reign in the 5-year old while on minimal sleep.

Things should be returning to normal once they come home tomorrow.

Happy 4th everyone.

Via Chas at the FanHouse, we get a solid interview of Dave Wannstedt. He talks about last year’s horrible finish to the season and then addresses the possible carryover to this year.

We’ve had a very good offseason. You know, we’re such a young team – I think we only had six seniors starting for us total last season. We’ll probably have five this year. We’re a sophomore/junior team, and we’ve made some changes on the staff.

Changes in staff have been made, sure, but not the change that everyone wants to see involving a certain defensive coordinator.

Which freshmen does he think will come in and make a quick impact?

I think LeSean McCoy has to make an impact on our team, the running back. I think that Tommie Duhart, the top defensive lineman, may make an impact. And then the rest of the team may get a little bit of special teams work.

Then we finally get some insight on the mustache.

SB: When did you decide you were going to adopt the mustache as your signature look?

DW: Well, I always thought the Charles Bronson look was the way to go, and I didn’t realize it would take off. The biggest problem I have is that I don’t have much skill with a razor in my hand. I’ve butchered that thing up more times than not. I had never really given it any thought until someone told me I was on the 10 most viewed mustaches on some Internet service, up there with Charles Bronson and Tom Selleck and myself. So it’s crazy. I’ve been at games in stadiums with students who have pictures drawn up, and that’s all they talk about. It’s hilarious. I don’t plan on shaving it off, that’s for sure.

SB: So is your mustache the source of all your power?

DW: I don’t know. You’d have to ask my wife.

If they want to attract fans they should give away “Wannstedt Mustaches”. Just ask Scott McKillop if it works; the Pirates give away all kinds of garbage, put a horrible team on the field, and still draw plenty of fans.

Pitt linebacker Scott McKillop, a marketing major, is getting plenty of valuable experience this summer. Having to market and promote such a bad team, he gets plenty of work in as a Pirates intern. At least it sounds like he does a good job.

He heard about the internship from someone in the Pitt athletic department who knew someone who worked for the Pirates. But he landed the internship through good interviews, not because he was an athlete.

“He doesn’t have that aura about him at all,” said Chris Serkoch, who is the Pirates’ manager of special events and McKillop’s boss.

“He takes initiative. I didn’t know he was a football player at first.”

For home games, McKillop arrives several hours before game time to help with various office duties, pregame activities and in-game promotional functions.

One night he found that only three of the four costumes were filled for the Pittsburgh Pierogi Race, so at 6-2, 245 pounds, he managed to fit himself in the Cheese Chester Costume.

Secondly, I went to the walkout (or lack thereof) on Saturday night. I got up and walked, and my recap of it all is here. I got to the park right when the gates opened and was there to see the ceremonial first pitches that weren’t the real first pitch done right before game time. One of those was thrown out by wide receiver Derek Kinder.

More photographic evidence after the jump.

(more…)

Got an this in the inbox tonight, thought I’d pass it along.

Happy Fourth of July from PantherDigest.com.

Beginning today through July 4th, premium content is free at PantherDigest.com.

This means you can check out all our past and current player feature stories, hot news,and the entire Scout Player Database, and there’s absolutely no cost to you. You will have access to the entire PantherDigest.com site (with the exception of premium message boards, audio and video) as well as the entire Scout.com Network!

No credit card is required. Some areas may require you to register, but it’s fast, easy, and costs you nothing!

Visit the following link to get started:

http://pittsburgh.scout.com/?refid=7148

Thank you,
PantherDigest.com and Scout.com Staff

Enjoy!

The Chicago Bulls introductory press conference won’t be until Monday — apparently Noah didn’t make it to Chicago on Friday.

By most accounts, Gray’s drafting by the Bulls means there will be no effort to retain 7′ Center Martynas Andriuskevicius and Michael Sweetney — he will be cheaper and at a minimum no different than the two but only occupying one roster spot. There also isn’t much in the free agent market to entice the Bulls for centers — Chris Mihm, Vitaly Potapenko (he’s still in the NBA?), Dale Davis or Melvin Ely. Hell, just looking at the names of big slow centers still playing in the NBA further suggests that Aaron Gray may not be a big name in the league, but he will be able to earn a paycheck for quite some time.

That’s why the Bulls continued to go big with the first of their two second-round picks by grabbing Aaron Gray of Pittsburgh, a solid defender and rebounder with excellent size (7-feet, 270 pounds).”Here’s the thing about Aaron Gray: He is a big, thick 7-footer,” Paxson said. ”He played at a great program at Pittsburgh. He’s not going to knock you out with athleticism or anything like that, but the kid knows how to play.”

This is why Hawes was smart to come out this year and Patrick O’Bryant (15th pick) last year. Hibbert may have made a mistake coming back to be picked apart, and Josh McRoberts of Duke definitely stayed too long. Big men, are either potential or maxed out.