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

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

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

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

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

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

More love for the Johnstown Jet from his hometown paper.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yeep.

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

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

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

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

I believe the term for Jones is “project.”