Starting with the notebook columns today as both deal with injuries and attempts to return. From Zeise, leads with Greg Lee and Marcus Furman returns to practice. Neither, though, could make it to the end of practice. Josh Lay and Tim Murphy both sat out practice with injuries. With Murphy trying to make it as a tailback, there is not a lot of depth and a noticeable drop in talent at fullback. With Murphy and Furman dinged and not practicing, freshman Brandon Mason has looked good competing with Kirkley for the starting RB.
Bendel’s notebook deals with most of the same topics. He notes that Furman had to leave after a big hit from Darrelle Revis.
A week ago, columnist Bob Smizik’s first Pitt football column of the year pretty much suggested that Harris will be coming in for a fair amount of abuse. He does another piece against Harris — this for the calling out the injured players as being soft.
Suppose Lee responds to Harris’ challenge and resumes practice. Then suppose he does further damage to his injury, which had been described as in the hamstring and/or quadriceps area. What does Harris look like if, say, Lee’s hamstring is torn and he is lost for the season?
A talk in the coach’s office would have been a more prudent approach. Nothing was gained by publicly embarrassing Lee.
Harris’ stance is particularly puzzling because of what has transpired in football in recent years. Too many players are dying on the field, usually because of the heat, and too many programs are being blamed because of the way they treat their players. Lee’s injury is not life-threatening. But if the deaths of Kory Stringer of the Minnesota Vikings and Rashidi Wallace of Northwestern have taught us anything it is that coaches and trainers need to be sensitive to the condition of the athletes in their charge.
Now here’s the annoying thing. Smizik actually makes a halfway decent point. But since it came from him, it can easily be dismissed as Smizik just looking for something to rip on Walt.
Two other articles. One on Darrelle Revis and his efforts to get his grades up over the summer to avoid having to go to prep school. It will be interesting to see where he is on the depth chart at the beginning of the season and by the end. Harris seems to want to downplay the expectations.
The must read article for the day concerns the scrimmage today. A good rundown on a lot of position battles, and a lot of expected decisions regarding who will be the starter. The exception, though, is the QB battle.
