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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It is the dead period for college basketball. No “official” recruiting. The summer AAU circuit is winding down. So any basketball news is surprising beyond reports of high school kids and where they are leaning.

It is also how you know that your team is either controversial or expected to be good next season (or both). The team keeps getting mentioned in stories or features about the upcoming season.

Jeff Goodman at FoxSports.com posts a little on Pitt’s recently completed Ireland trip. The focus is the NCAA changing the rule to allow freshmen to make the trip. Coach Dixon (obviously) liked the rule change and thinks more teams will take the opportunity. Before, it was only teams with very small freshmen classes taking the trip, simply because there weren’t enough bodies on the roster.

Dixon said this year’s Pitt group will be much bigger and longer than a year ago. Don’t be surprised to see a frontcourt that features much-improved big man Gary McGhee and Zanna – a long and skilled 6-foot-9 native of Nigeria who averaged 8 points and 7 boards on the trip.

“We think he’s going to be pretty good,” Dixon said. “He’s another body so we can play bigger.”

Dixon also has plenty of size on the wing with guys like Gilbert Brown (6-foot-6), Brad Wanamaker (6-4), Patterson (6-5) and freshmen J.J. Moore (6-6) and Cameron Wright (6-5).

This could be Dixon’s deepest team since he took over – although he was cautious.

“Everybody is deep in the summer,” he laughed.

Not in Kansas and Memphis if the NCAA isn’t clearing top-5 players.

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The pads went on yesterday, and suddenly things changed.

Today, however, the Panthers put on the shoulder pads and that meant the speed of the game went up a few notches as the drills became semi-live (meaning there is contact but players must do their  best to stay on their feet and not tackle to the ground) and it was easy to see the difference because Sunseri struggled.

He threw two picks, was not nearly as accurate as he was the first two days, missed some easy throws and by the end looked a little bit rattled.

That’s not a big deal – in fact I expected as much from him because the speed of the game was so much different from yesterday until today. I also expected the offensive line to be a step behind as they got used to a full speed rush and they were as well.

When camp started, even Tino Sunseri was well aware that things change when the pads go on.

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Time to cram some things into posts and attempt to catch-up on training camp and the links to them, with a passing attempt to tie them together.

Starting with the injuries. Coach Wannstedt pointed out some before camp even began.

We do have a few guys that will be limited from an injury standpoint. Nothing has occurred this summer. Two or three of the freshman that have reported were banged up in All-Star games, and actually before they arrived here. There were some surgeries that a couple of kids had done: Jeff Knox had shoulder surgery from a basketball injury; Arthur Doakes had something done right after the season from an old shoulder injury; Derrick Burns hurt his leg up at the Big 33 game. He (Derrick) came here , was training and suddenly couldn’t participate. We have more incoming freshmen on the injury list this year than what we’ve had in years past.

…

Two players will be on the medical list and will not be participating. Aundre Wright had a bad knee injury at camp and Aaron Smith — neither of those two guys will be out participating due to medical reasons, and will be out for the duration of the year.

None of the incoming freshman were likely to even sniff the depth chart, so taking a medical redshirt is probably not a big deal.Wright tore his ACL at the end of spring practice and Aaron Smith’s injury was not disclosed.

At the start of last year’s training camp, Wright and Smith were at the top of the depth chart for kick and punt returns respectively. Neither exactly distinguished themselves. Wright is not even on the depth chart for kickoff returns, and was the 3d cornerback behind Antwuan Reed and Buddy Jackson.

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One of the really good things announced by Coach Wannstedt at the start of camp was this.

The final grades from summer school are beginning to come in.

I do have great news. We have nine scholarship seniors: Dan Hutchins and Tyler Tkach have already graduated. Greg Romeus, Greg Cross and Ricky Gary will all be graduating this week as well, so five of our nine scholarship seniors on the entire team will have their degrees going into their senior year. Jabaal Sheard and Dom DeCicco were not redshirted, so they’re progressing and will need the full four years to finish up.

That’s outstanding that some seniors have or will already have graduated before the season has started. It’s so easy to gloss over the educational part of this. No, that isn’t why they were recruited, and most of the time it has little to do with what school they chose. But to make it to their senior year and be on track or already with enough credits to graduate, that is a credit to them for taking the student aspect serious enough.

Then there are the top players at Pitt with their own websites and attention, getting some more.

Three Pitt football players have been selected preseason candidates for the Maxwell Football Club’s most prestigious awards, it was announced today.

Pitt junior receiver Jon Baldwin (JonBaldwin82.com) and sophomore running back Dion Lewis (DionLewis28.com) have been named to the watch list for the Maxwell Award, annually presented to the “outstanding collegiate football player in America,” while senior defensive end Greg Romeus (GregRomeus91.com) has been named a candidate for the Chuck Bednarik Award, which honors the nation’s top defensive player.

The Maxwell Award has been presented since 1937 and is named in honor of sportswriter Robert W. “Tiny” Maxwell. The Chuck Bednarik Award, named after the College and Pro Football Hall of Famer, has been presented since 1995.

Not surprising that they are on the lists.

Just trying to finish as many projects around the house and get family visits finished before the end of August. Once the games begin, well, nothing gets done.

The Ireland trip is finished and Pitt didn’t lose a game — including beating the Melbourne team that included the still hateable Eric Devendorf. Cardiac Hill has a nice recap on things with the scoring averages and some thoughts for the upcoming season.

Over at Pitt Script, there’s a look at Pitt recruiting. Steve Adams is getting good reviews from his play in the States. Khem Birch is looking good and Malcolm Gilbert has Pitt near the top of his board.

In more basketball stuff…

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Before I can get to actual training camp, I need to clean out some browser tabs that rapidly accumulated over Big East Media Day.

Related to nothing, but a good laugh. A 1980s golf outing photo featuring Coach Wannstedt and Nick Saban.

If you want to judge which Pitt player was the favorite choice for the media to interview there are two options. One is to wait until you find an article that mentions which players got the most attention (“…the media’s most popular interview at Tuesday’s event — Zach Collaros and Dion Lewis tied for that award…”). The easiest metric, though, is volume of stories. Dion Lewis was the overwhelming option.

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I swear, it wouldn’t be Pitt training camp without concerns over the O-line. Last year, the primary concern was whether Robb Houser would be sufficiently recovered to play center. Whether there was sufficient depth, and if new starters would perform.

This year the concern is all about center and the interior O-line spots. It does have a decided, Groundhog Day feel to it. Only the names have changed.

“We have some issues on our team we need to address, football-wise, right off the bat,” Wannstedt said. “In the spring, Jack Lippert moved to center, we had Chris Jacobson working at left guard and Greg Gaskins working along with Ryan Turnley at right guard, so there is some good competition going there.

“But I don’t think any of us really walked away from the spring and said we are locked in at any one of the three positions, so that is a good thing because it means we will have competition and so we need to get that solidified.”

Of the three spots, only Chris Jacobson seems a lock to be the starter at left guard. Gaskins is penciled in as starter, but Turnley is right there.

Right guard is redshirt junior Gaskins’ to lose, but he will face stiff competition from redshirt sophomore Turnley. The two battled in the spring, but neither distinguished himself. Their competition will be closely monitored.

As for the center spot, well this is where it gets interesting/terrifying. As much as Coach Wannstedt has had a philosophy of having versatility on the O-line, the lack of good recruiting at the center position is noticeable. The battle is between a converted D-line player (Lippert) and a walk-on (Alex Karabin). At the moment, Karabin is the starter. How can there not be more than a little nervousness?

Naturally, Coach Wannstedt is more confident — publicly.

On the realistic expectations for the offensive line for the season opener:

“The offensive line probably takes longer than any other position to come together, but Tony Wise will get them ready. I am confident of that.

I’ve always believed that going into training camp, from a coaching standpoint, is that you focus in and make each player understand that he needs to get his game to the highest possible level that he can play, and I believe that can happen. If our starting center is Alex Karabin, our job and his job is getting Alex to play as well as he can. On the other side, Jason Pinkston who has been around here, better get his game playing at the level that he is most capable of, as is Jon Baldwin and Dion Lewis. That really has to be both the players’ and coaches’ focus coming out of training camp.

With opening out at Utah, there’s no margin for error. We’re going to have to go out there and play as well as we can in order to win that game, and everybody knows that. This is a very, very important training camp for us as a football team. We have a lot to get done in the next 27 days.”

Right now the O-line concerns outweigh even the worries over a new QB.

Ron Cook had a column this morning taking Pitt’s athletic director and football coach to task for the non-suspension of Jabaal Sheard.

If I’ve heard Wannstedt and athletic director Steve Pederson say it once, I’ve heard them say dozens of times that they want a strong program at Pitt — not just a strong team — and that they’re always going to do the right thing for the long term rather than overlook problems for short-term benefit.

Well, guess what?

Hey, I know that admirable policy isn’t always easy to follow. Wannstedt and Pederson wouldn’t have to swallow hard to suspend Sheard if he were a third-string defensive end or if Pitt’s opener was against New Hampshire at Heinz Field. Of course, it’s a lot more difficult in this case. But that doesn’t change the message Wannstedt and Pederson will be sending if they allow Sheard to play at Utah. They might as well tack up a sign in the locker room that says: “If you’re a good enough player and the game is really big, you can get away with bad behavior.”

I’ve already indicated my feelings on this, and that a suspension for the first game still would make more sense to me.

Today was the opening of Pitt’s training camp and Coach Wannstedt wanted to get out in front of all of this.

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Jock Sanders not withstanding,  Pitt was the overwhelming choice to win the Big East. That means, of course, that Coach Wannstedt needs to tamp things down.

“We’re younger this year and less experienced, so that’s my feeling.”

And then this:

“We’ve been together long enough now that the players understand we’re not going to overreact to anything good or bad. It really doesn’t mean anything at this point.”

From that the players took their cue.

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If you want to claim a theme from the Big East Media Day, I think it would be considered, “Hey, we’re still here and doing okay.”

At media day at the historic Hotel Viking, Marinatto hoped all the talk of pillaging and plundering would be put on pause as he rattled off the league’s accomplishments. (The past four years, the Big East has won 72.2% of its non-league games, trailing only the Southeastern Conference. League teams have also won 73% of their bowl games.)

This could be one of the more competitive seasons in league play. “The conference is truly up for grabs,” says Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt, whose Panthers were picked to win the league in the preseason media poll. He says five of the Big East’s eight teams could contend for the league title, given all the inexperience at quarterback. Only three starting QBs are back.

Expectations are modest. Parity is being stressed. As is the fact that there are 3 new head coaches and only 3 teams returning a starting QB.

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Well nothing like a plea deal to bring things back down to a manageable level.

Sheard, 21, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. He also agreed to pay medical bills for the victim, Edward Parker, 27, of Stanton Heights, and write a letter of apology to him.

District Judge Robert Ravenstahl approved the plea agreement and ordered Sheard to pay a fine of $300, plus court costs.

The disorderly conduct charge is a summary offense. The charges dropped in the plea deal were the aggravated assault (felony), resisting arrest and criminal mischief.

Sheard’s defense attorney declared the outcome unsurprising and typical for a first-time offender.

Parker was knocked through a glass door at the art gallery and suffered cuts and bruises, which Sheard attorney William Diffenderfer said required “a few staples in his head.” Diffenderfer said Parker has 90 days to forward his medical bills from UPMC Shadyside Hospital to Sheard.

“This was an unfortunate fist fight on the South Side,” said Diffenderfer, who added that the agreement with Parker was worked out “amicably.”

“Frankly, from my experience, it was handled no differently than any other fist fight.”

Both Sheard and Parker declined comment as they left the courtroom.

Following this, Jabaal Sheard was reinstated to Pitt’s’ football team.

“This situation with Jabaal was as surprising as it was disappointing to me,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said in a statement released by the university. “Until this incident, his behavior has always been representative of the high standards we have for our program on and off the field. I’m confident he will learn from this and be wiser moving forward.”

According to the statement, Wannstedt said Sheard will continue to be subject to internal discipline and accountability.

The indications are that the “internal discipline and accountability” will be of the Bobby Bowden variety.

…likely including some extra running and conditioning drills, but it looks like all systems are go for him to start the team’s opener at Utah.

I’m feeling decidedly ambivalent about things if that is the extent of the punishment.

From the football side of things, there is no question that this is good and helps the team immeasurably in what is a very tough opening game on the road. It also feeds into the idea of not punishing the team for Sheard’s actions. And of course, the final dispensation of the case is that Sheard ultimately pled guilty to a single disorderly conduct charge — a very minor offense

But…

He still put a guy through a glass door while fighting. He still acted so recklessly and dangerously. There are no actual disputes as to what the police report indicated occurred.  At least a suspension for the opening game seems like it still would have been appropriate.

So, I thought things were reasonably settled. There were just a few things left to do in the bathroom — cut and place the baseboards, trim and molding. Then it was over for a while. I just needed to borrow my father-in-law’s power miter saw to get things done. Something I would get this weekend when we went down state to see him. From here on out, it was a pure weekend work project.

Well, my father-in-law decided that he would come to us, surprising us on Tuesday night.

Needless to say, my Wednesday was spent back at work on the bathroom. Things getting needlessly complicated.

So, that was what was happening instead of recounts of media day and Jabaal Sheard’s plead deal. Posting to resume soon.

There will be player interviews, puff pieces and the assorted stuff coming out of today’s actual Big East Media Day. Then there is the stuff surrounding the day that is already out there. Stories that came out just before or today. Or the tweeted breaking stories of some interest.

If you have followed some of the media, you know that those going to Big East Media Days were really looking forward to golf and the lobsters last night. The media inevitably talk it up, and well, the waistlines reflect it.

So I have a hard time believing that the Big East would actually move the Media Day to NYC (hattip to On the Banks).

The Pac-10’s savvy decision to bring all 10 coaches and four of its star quarterbacks to New York last week struck a nerve with Big East coaches and athletic directors.

“This is our market, and we have to make sure we protect it,” one AD told The Post.

Could that mean moving the league’s media day from Newport to New York? That idea could be gathering steam.

The media would bitch and moan to no end, so don’t buy it. Besides, they finally got the Cinci newspaper to spring for sending one of their guys to media day.

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In case you were somehow thinking that Pitt would not be the preseason favorite of the Big East, the media poll results blew that out of the water.

1. Pittsburgh (22 first-place votes) 190
2. Cincinnati 142
West Virginia (1) 142
4. Connecticut (1) 131
5. Rutgers 99
6. USF 79
7. Syracuse 41
8. Louisville 40

That’s 22 first place votes out of 24 for Pitt. The Panthers, narrowly were the choice last year. In the prior 19 years of Big East football media polls, the preseason pick has won it only 9 times.

Cinci gets respect and no respect. Everyone expects them near the top of the Big East, but no one thinks they will win it.

The one guy who voted UConn? A USF beat writer.

USF getting knocked down to 6th is something of a surprise as Brian Bennett has noted the Bulls have been a bit overrated at times — probably owing to their potential with Florida talent. At least that they were that far back from 5th and Rutgers.

Rutgers is roughly where they were predicted in the preseason mags.

Congrats to Syracuse for finally not being picked last in the conference.