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April 7, 2009

Great. Just great.

Pitt announced today the suspensions of senior cornerback Aaron Berry, senior defensive tackle Tommie Duhart and sophomore offensive lineman Wayne Jones for violation of team policy.

There is no one thing.

Wannstedt declined comment but issued a release which said the three were suspended for unrelated incidents which were “violation of team policy”

All three are out for the rest of spring practice including the Blue-Gold Scrimmage on Saturday.

No official word as to what. Academic issues are presumed for the majority.

Tommie Duhart has been in and out of Coach Wannstedt’s doghouse for at least the past year or so.

Aaron Berry is a starting corner. Trying to get some consistency. He’s been getting a lot of work against Jonathan Baldwin.

Wayne Jones was in the mix at center.

Not happy about this. The good thing is that Coach Wannstedt remains very dilligent and not afraid to suspend players who don’t meet the standards. You prefer to not have to have it as any issue, but that is just never going to happen anywhere.





Berry has definitely been a disappointment. He has good skills but his brain falls asleep on the wheel constantly. He gets lost in traffic too, thank God he doesn’t drive the truck that brings us our beer. Andrew Taglianetti is the kid you wish Aaron Berry was more like.

Comment by Panthoor 04.07.09 @ 5:35 pm

Instead of suspending them, maybe Wanny should have had them cleaning Heinz Field after the scrimmage on Sat.

Comment by w bill 04.07.09 @ 6:20 pm

lol w bill. That’s only if your entire team is a bunch of thugs, and trying to suspend players would result in only the water boys being eligible.

Also, I heard that when you do that, your team winds up losing to Iowa during the regular season. And say what you will about Pitt, but at least we beat Iowa this year.

Comment by maz. 04.07.09 @ 6:59 pm

Well, I guess if there is a silver lining, based on last year, Aaron Berry doesn’t need all the practice anyway…..

Comment by Joey D 04.07.09 @ 9:59 pm

to quote Allen Iverson “Practice? We’re talking about Practice? Practice? Practice? We’re talking about Practice? Practice?”. Sorry – somebody had to go there – it’s still my favoite youtube video! At least it will give more time to the other guys. I’m just excited to see a new OC run the offense.

Comment by Dishman 04.07.09 @ 10:16 pm

The more I learn about the academic support systems PITT has in place for its student-athletes it’s making me believe that a kid almost has to make a conscious decision to fail to meet the academic standards, if this is the case in these suspensions. By that I mean he has to say to himself “I’m just not going to do the work necessary”.

I’m sure some players really struggle with it, and I also have to believe some of those same kids persevere and do what’s required not only to stay on the team, but to finally get a degree.

Anyway, like almost every other thing in life – there are individual choices to be made and no one said they would all be easy ones.

Comment by Reed 04.08.09 @ 5:56 am

Please just kick Berry off the team. He is terrible and yet still walks around with the cocky attitude. Let him transfer to IUP.

Comment by Rex 04.08.09 @ 9:08 am

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I am not sure of what you intended to say, but it seems like DW and the athletic department take academics seriously. A number of universities do. Rutgers has an excellent program in place which contributes to a high graduation rate. A lot of schools are unfairly criticized. The student-athlete, however, must have a desire to emphasize the student half of his life.

Comment by BigGuy 04.08.09 @ 9:24 am

BigGuy,

Reed is referring to the academic support programs that Pitt has in place for student athletes. Like at other big athletic programs, there is a lot of help and support for the student-athlete to help them perform on the student side.

From tutoring, to rooms for studying, computers, and people checking on progress to make sure the kids are staying current on their work.

Then there are the “easy” majors — and you can find this at any school no matter how academically reputable. You can usually locate it by the disproportionate number of student athletes gravitating towards on.

The point being, as long as the student-athlete is not blowing off classes and at least is willing to give some effort it is not that hard to stay out of academic problems.

Comment by Chas 04.08.09 @ 9:43 am

“Communications” and “Administration of Justice” are the majors favored by the Athletic Dept at Pitt.

You have to be a complete moron or do absolutely no work to fail in those courses based on the subject matter and resources available to athletes and the mandatory requirements the athletic department imposes on the academics of the athletes.

Comment by Joey D 04.08.09 @ 9:54 am

Chas, Joey D, good responses. Thanks.

Comment by BigGuy 04.08.09 @ 9:58 am

While that is true, I’ll point out that graduating near or at the top of Pitt’s communications program is actually quite difficult and an accomplishment for those who do it. (And no, I was not in the communications program, I just knew some people in it, and they worked their butts off.)

Comment by maz. 04.08.09 @ 11:09 am

Love the site! Let me just say that Aaron Berry needs to just go away…waste of talent and a poor attitude to boot….he gets beat on every deep ball and cant return punts for anything…..big waste!

Comment by GBash 04.08.09 @ 12:59 pm

Let’s chill on the Aaron Berry bashing. Without him, Pitt would not have landed LeSean McCoy.

As far as I’m concerned, that alone validates his time at Pitt.

Comment by Chas 04.08.09 @ 1:26 pm

this is good news

Comment by foge@yahoo.com 04.10.09 @ 12:59 pm

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