Last ACC Media Days tie-in. Time to clear the links for all Pitt related stuff.

NFL.com’s draft guy thinks Pitt and Syracuse will see their recruiting improve now that they have access to the South.

While adding Pitt and Syracuse has helped expand the ACC’s geographic footprint in the Northeast, the move to the ACC should help the recruiting efforts of Pitt and Syracuse, especially in the Southeast. The Big East was a Northeast-centric league, with only Louisville and USF located in the Southeast. Kentucky, though, produces barely of handful of top-level recruits annually. Now, Syracuse and Pitt will venture outside the Northeast for the vast majority of their game.

As for the importance of recruiting Florida and Georgia, 11 of the 25 players on the preseason All-ACC team are from those two states. It’s hard to see Pitt and Syracuse grabbing top-tier prospects from Florida and Georgia, but schools can win a lot of games with second-tier guys from those states.

Of course, Pitt kind of needs someone who can recruit those areas to get those kids, beyond just one or two.

Yes, recruiting needs to pick up. But that would have been true regardless of the change in conference. Realistically that will be a struggle until Pitt starts winning some of the big games. Not simply coming close (ND). They have to win some when given the national (heck, regional) attention.

Chyrst  acknowledges that reality.

“People are energized by it. I think it’s real,” he said of the buzz for the upcoming season. “At some point, though, we’ve got to do something to keep it going.”

And while he’s excited about Pitt future in the ACC, beginning with that Labor Day matchup against the Seminoles, Chryst is realistic as well.

“We didn’t run straight through the Big East schedule, so who are we to say anything?” he said. “Coaches are notorious for thinking they can have a plan for everything, but that’s not going to happen. We’re going to go through some firsts. We’ve got to know that and embrace that, and try to meet it head on.”

We’ve all heard about SEC speed the last few years. Apparently “ACC speed” became something of a topic on the Media Day.

Asked if the ACC brand is based on speed, he said, “There are some good players who happen to be fast. I don’t have to figure that out. I just have to know who we are playing and prepare for it.”

Duke cornerback Ross Cockrell, who plays Pitt on Sept. 21 in Durham, N.C., said he doesn’t expect the Panthers to have trouble adjusting to the speed in the ACC.

“They played against guys at West Virginia (NFL rookies Tavon Austin and Steadman Bailey, for example) for a long time,” Cockrell said. “It may take a few games to get adjusted, but there are fast guys in each and every conference. … As long as you respect the kind of talent that’s out there, you should be fine.”

Cockrell did admit there are different types of athletes in the ACC, from elusive wide receiver Rashad Greene of Florida State to Clemson’s Sammy Watkins, who combines speed and size.

Then there is Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd, the 2012 ACC Player of the Year, the preseason choice this year and a Heisman Trophy candidate.

“Each one presents different challenges,” Cockrell said. “What’s tough is you have to change your game each and every week to kind of fit the receiver you are going against. And Boyd is the most challenging you have to defend just because he has so many weapons (receivers) at his disposal.”

Where will Pitt emerge in the hierarchy of ACC teams? It’s too soon to ask Chryst.

“We can talk about who we want to be,” he said. “That doesn’t mean jack. Do we have a vision? Do we have a direction? Absolutely. Our plans better be that way.”

It came up in the player press conferences as well for both Pitt and Syracuse.

“Everyone’s fast,” Street said. “Everyone can run. Just watching Florida State, seeing the defensive ends track down a running back or a guard pulling, just seeing that different type of speed is pretty electrifying.”

Which may have more to do with the talent at FSU rather than the overall speed of the ACC.

Still “ACC speed?” Really? Has this meme just become a shorthand for kids in the South? Just seems a bit too simplistic.

They fixed this headline I screenshot later, but the hyperlink still reflects the original misspelling.

Come on editors at the Roanoke Times. You are only 47 miles from Blacksburg. Pitt even played the Hokies last year. Plus all those years in the Big East.

Then there is the sense that there is some stability at Pitt for the first time in a few years.

“The stability is the unknown now,” he said. “We started our first meeting in 2013 by saying to the guys, ‘There’s good news and bad news: We’re back.’ Some of the guys were fired up and some of the guys weren’t.”

The team really feels like it is coming together. The players are talking about a different atmosphere.

“We weren’t as close last year,” said Bisnowaty, a Fox Chapel graduate. “This year, everything I do is with another teammate, whether it’s going to eat or going to class or going out on weekends.

“I don’t think anyone watches film by themselves anymore. The whole offensive line was up here (Wednesday) watching film. This year is a much closer group.”

Which also likely helps in staying awake in a darkened room watching plays over and over.

Why? What’s been missing these last few years? Apparently having the players over to the coach’s house for a cookout.

“That means a lot when a coach invites you to his house,” senior receiver Devin Street said. “In all the years I’ve been here, no coach has done that. I think it was needed for us to trust in him and have a bond with each other and truly just show that it is a family type of atmosphere.”

Players looked forward to the cookouts, where they spent time talking with each other, with coaches, playing with their coaches’ children, swimming and eating. A lot.

In addition, Chryst also put a ping-pong table in the locker room to help foster more camaraderie among his players.

“It’s just a different feeling, being able to communicate,” defensive tackle Aaron Donald said. “We’re around each other a lot more as a team. We’re doing things to try to turn the program back to a winning program. We’re trying to having a winning year, and we’re trying to have a winning program.”

And for the record, calling that cookout a barbecue was a social faux pas that Street learned down in Greensboro.

For instance, Pitt players Aaron Donald and Devin Street now know the difference between barbecue and a cookout — essential knowledge for anyone venturing below the Mason-Dixon Line for the first time.

“That’s been harped a lot around here,” Street said with a laugh.

Yeah. Yeah, it would.

Street also got a solid puff piece as he reflected on how much his dad pushed him in high school through the turmoil he has seen at Pitt.

“Coach (Bobby) Engram (Pitt receivers coach) always tells us, ‘Good is the enemy of great,’ ” Street said.

“I put 22 years into this. I don’t want to say I’m second-best. I want to say I’m the best.”

Training camp opens in a week-and-a-half.