Two things. 1) I’m a bit behind in some articles I’ve been wanting to link and comment because of lingering disgust from the Navy game and lots of family that was in town from Thursday through the weekend; and 2) with all the bad stuff in the football, I’m going to try and link to some of the good stuff about the football team in separate posts. Here are a couple of players who get some love.

Redshirt junior Mark Estermyer is the long snapper and was once a walk-on who got his scholarship last year. He was also one of the players named team captain before the Navy game.

Then he so impressed coaches in training camp with his snaps on field goals and extra point attempts that his duties now include all kicks.And, on Monday, Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt announced to the team that Estermyer, a redshirt junior, would be the special teams captain for tonight’s game against Navy at Heinz Field.

It’s an honor not often bestowed on an underclassmen.

“I was stunned,” Estermyer said. “I said to myself, ‘Did he just say my name?’ I didn’t expect it, but I’m excited about it.”

Special teams (at least in kicking and punting) have been solid, and Estermyer has been a part of that.

Tyler Tkach wasn’t a blue-chip recruit, but he was one of Pitt’s first recruits under Coach Wannstedt for the 2006 class and the first from Eastern Pennsylvania. The redshirt freshman has steadily worked his way into the rotation at DE.

He also lost his older brother this past July.

Tyler’s coaches call him a ”gamer,” one who plays better than he practices.

”When he gets in there and the lights come on, he makes plays,” Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt said of Tyler, who wears No. 45 and has seven tackles (21/2 for losses), one sack and a fumble recovery.

Bo was a gamer, too. Though undersized (the high school quarterback/college receiver barely got above 170 pounds), he played with an intensity his younger brother admired. Tyler developed his love of football from Bo.

Which is why Tyler had no doubt he would play again this season, not even after he buried Bo in July. In fact, the day after Bo’s funeral, the entire Tkach family drove to Pittsburgh so Tyler could make a team workout the following day.

”I’m doing something my brother loved to do,” Tyler said recently at Pitt’s football complex. ”It’s what he really had a passion for.”

That’s why, before practice and games, Tyler makes a small gesture to acknowledge Bo.

”I write his name on my gloves so I’ll always remember,” Tyler said. ”He’ll always be there with me.”

Bo Tkach was diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Eventually, he couldn’t take the strain of it and committed suicide. He was 25. Read the whole thing.