QB Camp- July 28, 2006 Pat Bostick is at the EA Sports Elite 11 QB camp, this week. Not much heard about what he is doing. Even though he has given his verbal to Pitt, there will always be concern until he actually signs in February. The good news about the camp is that it hopefully will give him time to bond with one of the counselors (Insider subs.). The young quarterbacks, along with the camp counselors made ofhttp://pittsportsblather.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_archive.html#115405466428958336 Now That's A Non-Con Schedule- July 28, 2006 Chris Dokish had it yesterday that Pitt will play Washington in a home-and-home this year. Apparently Washington had a lot of people questioning their non-con slate as well. Last season, the non-conference schedule for the Washington men's basketball team was panned as way too easy. This time, at least when the Feb. 17 game is considered, people might be asking, "What were they thinking" Thehttp://pittsportsblather.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_archive.html#115408680725779807 B-Ball Notes: Expectations- July 27, 2006 A couple more way too early prognostications on Pitt. Dick Vitale ranks Pitt at 6 in his pre-season top-40. His top-5 are North Carolina, Florida, Kansas, Ohio St. and UCLA. Other Big East teams are Georgetown (8), Marquette (12), UConn (15), Villanova (16), and Louisville (20). Noticeably absent is Syracuse. A syndicated writer from the Sports Network puts out his pre-season top-5: 5.http://pittsportsblather.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_archive.html#115402335745954978 Reading Material- July 27, 2006 I just learned, but haven't had time to start looking through it. The 2006 Pitt Football Media Guide is on the web. The cover features H.B. Blades, Tyler Palko and Darrelle Revis. As usual the Media Guide is broken up into sections and are all in PDF format for downloading and saving or printing. Or of course, you can order a regular copy for $15 (full disclosure, the Pitt Athletic Departmenthttp://pittsportsblather.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_archive.html#115402216624625879 Nothing Up My Sleeves...- July 27, 2006 Banging on Duquesne isn't really fair. It's not difficult, and it isn't that much fun to keep kicking someone when they are down. Still, this new logo forces my hand. What are they The Duquesne Stage Magicians The new design, created by Rickabaugh Graphics of Columbus, Ohio, replaces the script "D" and "Duquesne" used since 1998. I wanted to make a note of the company that was responsible,http://pittsportsblather.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_archive.html#115400326757118202 Big East Preview from CFN- July 27, 2006 CollegeFootballNews.com has its Big East Preview. They did their Pitt Preview a couple weeks ago. The strange and surprisingly optimistic tone they had for the Pitt preview is now tempered as they pick Pitt for 4th in the Big East. 4. Pitt Predicted record: 8-4 Conf. record: 4-3 Best Player: LB H.B. Blades, Sr. Offense - Running game, running game, running game. Head coach Dave Wannstedt wantshttp://pittsportsblather.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_archive.html#115400072766298074 B-Ball Recruiting Notes- July 26, 2006 Caught this little nugget from a report on the Reebok Camp. Pitt's Jamie Dixon and Boston College's Al Skinner watched Teeng Akol in the morning along with assistants from DePaul, Florida, St. John's and Georgetown.Akol, is without a doubt, very raw. He came to the US from Sudan in 2005. He's also 6' 10" and apparently loaded with potential. Scout.com considers him a 4-star, 30th best PF prospecthttp://pittsportsblather.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_archive.html#115385850827132332 Spencer Signed- July 26, 2006 Charles Spencer, drafted at 65 (3d round) by the Houston Texans has agreed to terms. The Texans have all their draft picks signed. Not sure what the exact numbers were, but it couldn't be much different from the Texans pick at 66. Winston was the last player the Texans signed. He agreed to a $608,000 signing bonus in a four-year deal, which likely will be restructured after three years. He ishttp://pittsportsblather.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_archive.html#115393631723405086 Doomed By Unwieldly Names- July 26, 2006 Way back in May, I posted about the desire of schools with 1-AA football to remove the perceived second class citizen status of that classification. They didn't like that they were being treated like Division 1-AA in basketball and other sports when it came to recruiting and public perception. They were talking about changing the names to something more representative of their respectivehttp://pittsportsblather.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_archive.html#115387846519569543 Grades Out Around 80- July 25, 2006 The Blue Ribbon Yearbook Analysis of Pitt is at ESPN.com (Insider subs). As usual, it's one of the best and most comprehensive you can read. I'll skip down to the conclusion. Grading the Panthers Unit Grade Offense C+ Special teams B- Defense B- Intangibles A- Wannstedt and his staff learned some realities of making the transition back to the college world in '05 the hardhttp://pittsportsblather.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_archive.html#115385559399807464 |