The open browser tabs keep piling up, and it is getting out of hand.

The post on seniors graduating spurred some more good comments and discussion. There was also a Trib article on Coach Wannstedt keeping a close eye on the players and their academic performance. The anecdote is on Ray Graham being consistently late for a class and Coach Wannstedt dealing with it. But here’s the stuff on how the senior class is doing.

This year, several key players have graduated before the first snap of 2010 season and are taking post-graduate credits. They include fifth-year seniors Greg Romeus, an All-American candidate at defensive end; kicker Dan Hutchins; cornerback Ricky Gary; nose tackle Tyler Tkach; and senior wide receiver Greg Cross, a junior-college transfer. In addition, seniors Dom DeCicco, Nate Nix, Jason Pinkston and Jabaal Sheard are close to graduating.

“It would be neat to go nine-for-nine,” Wannstedt said.

Meanwhile, redshirt junior quarterback Pat Bostick earned a bachelor’s degree in communication in three years and is working toward a second degree in media and professional communication.

The dismissal of Elijah Fields certainly increased the odds that all seniors will graduate.

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Considered something of a surprise in the midst of training camp, but hey.

Pitt received a verbal commitment from St. Edward (Lakewood, Ohio) defensive end Deonte Gibson tonight.

Gibson (6’3”, 225 pounds) chose the Panthers over scholarship offers from West Virginia, Stanford, Cincinnati, Michigan State, Colorado, Louisville and Kansas.

I expect that the Plain Dealer will have something at some point, but nothing at the moment. Gibson is a solid 3-star recruit. Rivals.com lists him at #36 in their top-50 Ohio recruits.

ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. also has him in the solid 3-star range (Insider subs.) that will likely take a redshirt in Pitt’s program.

He plays defensive end and while there could be a possibility that he moves to linebacker in college we feel he will most likely stay at end at the next level. He displays the frame to be able to add more bulk once he gets into college weight program. He can help himself at times by crowding the ball more, but displays for the most part a good get-off.

A question many of us have asked.

Q: In your camp reports and blog entries you consistently mention a lack of depth at offensive line and linebackers. I would also consider there to be little quality depth at cornerback as well. For all of Wannstedt’s acclaimed recruiting, doesn’t the lack of capable backups speak poorly to this staff’s ability to get these players to translate that talent to the field?

ZEISE: Well, it is one of two things — there is an issue with evaluation of talent and recruitment or there is an issue of development of talent.

I think one thing that may help with the linebackers is it seems in recent years they’ve actually recruited linebackers — as opposed to safeties or receivers they want to turn into linebackers. But I really don’t know that it is a recruiting issue at linebacker or corner — I think, like you said, they seem to recruit a lot of good athletes and they have a lot of younger players on the field who seem to have some talent. To me that speaks to perhaps a development of talent issue and it is something that likely needs to be addressed. There is no reason there shouldn’t be a few more linebackers and corners out of this group who are ready to play. I’m not sure what the issue is but you are right, it is something that needs to improve.

Now the offensive line, to me, is an entirely different issue and that is all about evaluation and recruiting. They seem to take a lot of kids who are reaches based on potential or because they have “good feet” or whatever but as one high school coach said to me “if a kid can’t block anyone in high school, what makes you think he’ll learn to in college when guys are bigger, faster and stronger.”

So in short, I think they’ve missed on a lot of recruits at that position and they don’t have nearly as many viable options as they should given how many scholarships they’ve devoted to linemen in recent years. That position to me seems to be more of an issue of scouting and evaluation than development of talent.

Simply put, six years into a program you should not be in a position where your best center is a walk-on and his primary back-up is a redshirt freshman defensive lineman who has never played center. So I’d say recruiting for that position — offensive line — has been hit or miss and right now it looks like a lot more misses than hits.

As well as the offensive line played last year (and the good health the starters had) and the development of some players, the lack of quality depth on the O-line has been glaring. Especially with a coach that wants to run the ball, and was an offensive lineman in his playing days. It almost seems inexplicable. The failure to recruit true centers over the years has really bothered me.

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