A week of website redesigns in Pittsburgh; first the Post-Gazette decided that they wanted to be NOW, and today the PittsburghPanthers.com redesign was revealed.

Most noticeably, the redesigned PittsburghPanthers.com features a larger lead photo for fans to appreciate the great photography and great moments in Pitt Athletics. The site also features a media player to provide users with free samples of Panthers All-Access as well as listings of upcoming events on Panthers All-Access.

Aspects of the website that remain but have been slightly refined is the Store/Tickets/Auctions tabs, Fan Poll and easy access to purchase tickets, merchandise and links to the Panther Club.

The navigation has changed from the left-hand side navigation to a horizontal navigation system with drop-down menus. The new masthead continues to feature Pitt student-athletes and select team shots; it also features Pitt facilities and monuments such as the Cathedral of Learning and Petersen Events Center. Also with this feature, users can click on picture in the masthead and be linked back to the main page.

Also available near the top of the page is the Gametracker scoreboard that provides direct links to audio, video and gametracker for upcoming Pitt athletic events. Farther down the page is an Events, Results and Photos section, this section provides up to date information along with photo galleries to coinciding events when applicable.

It doesn’t look all that bad to me although I’ve found a few problems (although it might be just my computer).

Just got back from Fan Fest — words and pictures to follow tomorrow.

EDIT: If anyone took pictures at Fan Fest and wouldn’t mind them being used in a post (with credit given to you of course), please e-mail them to dennis.pittblather@gmail.com.

No change, just the full stories that appeared in the newspapers. [Idle thought with no real connection to the football team, other than thinking about the pride the Stull family has today. Does anyone bother buying copies of the whole newspaper to save clippings or the whole paper of a story or do they just print out the article from the website?]

Bill Stull is happy to have reached a goal and a dream.

“It feels good, finally,” Stull said. “I guess once I signed and came to Pitt, I’ve always dreamed of being the starting quarterback in my hometown. I played football here in high school (Seton LaSalle), and what better way to progress than to be the starting quarterback for the University of Pittsburgh.”

At the same time, he knows that this only means things are just getting started.

“Now all the hard work has paid off, and I’ve reached my goal of finally becoming the starter, but it doesn’t stop here. I just need to keep working and getting better individually and as a team, we need to get better. Always a little something in the back of your head, but you have to put that on the back burner and go out and play your butt off, so it feels good. I feel like all the hard work has paid off.”

His teammates seem confident enough in him.

If Stull hadn’t won over his teammates during spring drills, when he ran exclusively with the first-team offense, he did by returning to full-contact drills wearing the glove and battling discomfort on every pass.

“He handled himself like a real leader,” redshirt junior receiver Marcel Pestano said. “He didn’t show pain. He was still trying to do everything, even with his hand injury.

“Everybody thought he was going to sit out, but I know Bill. He’s one of the toughest guys I’ve met since I’ve been here. He always wants to do something extra.”

A little more than a week until opening night.