And sprains, and twists and now tears.

Pitt redshirt junior defensive end Doug Fulmer is out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

It is another in a run of tough breaks for Fulmer, who missed all of last season with a torn ACL in his right knee and missed the final eight games of the 2006 season with a broken left ankle.

Fulmer had barely seen any action for most of training camp as the coaches were being cautions with getting him out in drills. He almost immediately gets hurt again.

“He has a tear in a ligament in his other knee – the good knee – and he will have surgery,” Wannstedt said. “It’s just a matter of when. They’re working out the details of all that. It’s just so unfortunate because the guy just hasn’t had a chance the last couple years because of the variety of all the injuries that he’s had. The plan right now is he will have the surgery, we’ll see how the rehab goes and go from there.”

Fulmer’s career is not over — though, if he wanted to quit after this setback I would not begrudge him. He still has next season. He had a regular redshirt in 2005. He missed all of last season without a medical redshirt. The NCAA has on occasion granted an extra redshirt for some who have had this kind of bad luck, so there is a chance that Fulmer may be that rare 6-year player — hey, with a broken ankle and ACL tears in both knees the least he should have is a chance to earn a Masters on scholarship.

From a team standpoint and depth, it is not nearly as big a blow as it was not having him last year. Jabaal Sheard, Greg Romeus, Tony Tucker are definitely in the two deep. Tyler Tkach can be a solid contributor there. To say nothing of Craig Bokor and Justin Hargrove might be able to get a chance.

Still, here’s hoping for another full recovery for Fulmer.

I’m a little tied up with some things. Working on some Big East preview posts at FanHouse for the week.

Meanwhile, the Rocky Top (Tennessee) blog went with a series of lists to kill time related to mascots and logos. Clearly you have to question his judgment when his color scheme uses creamsickle. So, I guess it shouldn’t be too stunning that he actually chose the dino-cat as the 10th coolest college logo.

I once saw a house cat with its ears pinned back like that topple, tie, gut, and quarter a black angus bull in under 45 seconds. Add 100 pounds and call it a panther, and you have Pittsburgh.

The secondary logo that is not exactly revered by Pitt fans themselves somehow makes the list. I’m stunned.

I was somewhat bemused that Trib columnist Joe Starkey — who spent such effort into defending ex-DC Paul Rhoads by saying wait until 2008 to judge him, Wannstedt and PItt — is now seeking to limit expectations for the goal year.

Eight is enough.

Check that. An 8-4 regular-season record won’t be nearly enough to satisfy those who expect the Pitt football team to double its win total from a year ago and go 10-2 or better.

But it should be enough to satisfy the realists among us.

Seriously, how could anyone have a problem with Pitt going 4-1 in non-conference games, 4-3 in the Big East and maybe winning a bowl game to pump that total to nine?

Now, I’m not saying that 8 wins is a bad season. I am a little amused to see a fake argument — that realists should be satisfied with 8 wins and only those who are out of touch with things would expect more.

At this rate, I assume Starkey thinks Pitt should challenge for a BCS bid in maybe 2012.

Bruce Feldman lists his 10 most indispensable players to a team (Insider subs), and LeSean McCoy is on the list.

With all due respect to little LaRod Stephens-Howling, McCoy turned a dismal offense into a force late last season and the shifty 210-pound sophomore looks good enough to make Pitt into a Big East title threat. McCoy’s showed his worth in the Panthers’ huge upset at WVU when he ran for 148 yards against a defense keyed on containing him. McCoy also is a very underrated receiver, and as Dave Wannstedt likes to remind people, he’s a believer in hitching his wagon to a team’s star as was the case when he was with the Miami Dolphins and Ricky Williams led the NFL in touches and when he worked with the Cowboys and Emmitt Smith led the league in touches as well. Look for Wannstedt to try and let McCoy led this program back into the top 25. Without him, though, it could be another sad season.

Pat White (WVU), Jake Locker (Washington), Brian Hoyer (MSU), Jevan Snead (Ole Miss), Chase Daniel (Mizzou) and Tim Tebow were on the list as QBs naturally dominated. The only other running back was Chris Wells (OSU). Macho Harris (VT) and Alex Mack (Cal) were also on the list.

I’m not going to disagree with the inclusion of McCoy on the list. Given expectations and how bad Washington will likely be, I’d sooner put Matt Grothe of USF on there. I mean, what happens to the Bulls if Grothe goes down?

Finally, this article cites a need for the Big East to have a coach to step up and be the face of the football conference. I find it kind of silly.

Who is the face of Big East football?

It’s probably outgoing commissioner Mike Tranghese. The league is taking applications for Kingpin Coach.

I imagine the first interview goes to Bill Stewart, the former assistant who took over for Rodriguez at West Virginia before the Fiesta Bowl, then beat Stoops and Oklahoma.

Jim Leavitt of South Florida is poised to cut the line. He’s the only coach to direct the Bulls’ program, giving him gallons of sweat equity.

Bozich notes that there is no Big East coach that has even won the conference (technically UConn was co-Big East champ last year so Edsall could count).  Here’s the short answer why the league lacks one. Money.

The Big East as a conference spends the least on coaches — especially assistants. That means, coaches are moving on, more often than not.

It was just a shot to the ribs. It was just a shot to the ribs.

The play Stull got hurt on, however, was exhibit A of what continues to be the Panthers top area of concern – right tackle as junior Joe Thomas was pushed back into Stull by defensive end Jabaal Sheard. Thomas needs to play more consistently than he has and he needs to improve in a hurry or else he could find himself sitting behind either redshirt freshman Jordan Gibbs or freshman Lucas Nix.

Wannstedt said after practice that the right tackle spot is “wide open” which is not where you want to be with such a critical spot less than three weeks from your opener.

At the start of camp, Thomas said all the right things and looked better conditioned. It’s telling, though, when Pinkston was moved to left tackle despite being out of shape and never playing on the left side — admitting that he is struggling with the footwork — seems to have things settled. Thomas is probably more comfortable and has trained on the right most of his HS and college time, but is struggling.

Just about everyone — including me — believes Pat Bostick will be redshirted this year if Stull does not get hurt. It just makes too much sense based on the eligibility of the players at the position and what Bostick needs in terms of development.

That said, while I’m bothered that Greg Cross is not making as much progress, it is very positive to read that Bostick has really come along in camp.

On Pat Bostick possibly getting a redshirt:

“I’m sure that could be an option but our biggest concern right now is what gives this football team the best chance to win. It’s a long season and we’re only in the first week of camp so I haven’t given it much serious thought just yet.”

On the quarterback competition:

“It still is a battle. Pat’s right there but both quarterbacks (Stull and Bostick) are playing well right now. It’s between those two; I think they have separated themselves from the rest. (Greg) Cross has his package of plays and (Kevan) Smith is still learning and working hard. (Tino) Sunseri is a freshman and I have been very pleased with him. He has a chance to be a good player for us.”

Of course, the other explanation is that Wannstedt giving Bostick a little public positive reinforcement. He could be making sure Bostick knows he has a shot not to be redshirted and to stay focused on preparing and learning in camp.

The defense continues to make the strong showing in practices.

Senior nose tackle Rashaad Duncan terrorized offensive linemen during the 5-on-5 rush drills. On one play, the 6-foot-2, 295-pound Duncan enervated senior guard C.J. Davis on the way to the tackling dummy.

Redshirt freshman defensive lineman Myles Caragein continued to be virtually unstoppable during the rush drills. In the 11-on-11, the Keystone Oaks High School product stuffed tailback Kevin Collier behind the line of scrimmage, while freshman Tony Tucker swooped in to force a fumble.

And the linebackers look to be solid.

Middle linebacker Scott McKillop is even better than advertised. Let me say that again — Scott McKillop, the one getting all the accolades, might actually be underrated. He is the smartest football player on the defense — maybe the team. He’s tough, he knows his position and he is a much better athlete than people give him credit for. The other thing is that Adam Gunn has become an excellent linebacker as well and Shane Murray always seems to be in the right place at the right time.

Aliquippa’s Brandon Lindsey is another player who looks like he is getting better and better.

So far in camp, all the defensive attention has been on the D-line and a secondary battle. Very little talk about the linebackers, despite McKillop’s presence and the fact that Pitt is pushing him for national attention.