Greg Romeus Still A Question Mark

Another day and more questions about Greg Romeus. The questions have been going on since training camp and haven't really stopped.

For starters, Paul Zeise said he looked like he had a hard time staying loose against Utah.

And then there was this week, when he was absent entirely. Pitt and Dave Wannstedt didn't really clarify if it was injury or something else that caused him to miss the game.

Coach Dave Wannstedt said Romeus, the 2009 Big East co-Defensive Player of the Year, was excused "to go home for personal reasons."

It seems pretty clear that this is injury-related and he's not completely healthy. No news there. At some point, just come clean about the injury.  I don't see why it's such a huge deal.

This is, of course, leading to mass speculation.

And Jabaal Sheard, after the New Hampshire game, made it sound like we can expect to see Romeus away for a while...and tried to paint a rosy picture at the same time:

"We know we have to step it up without Greg," Sheard said. "We are definitely going to miss Greg, we will definitely miss him because he is a leader, he pushes all of us and he's a great player. But guys like Brandon and Nate Nix stepped up and made a lot of plays.

"I know Greg is happy at home watching this game but we'll be fine without him until he gets back. Brandon is a great pass rusher, he is actually probably faster than Greg, and we saw that last year against Syracuse and I hope that he continues to play at a high level."

It's hard to get a good handle on this and there's no way to determine (at least on the outside looking in) if he'll be ready to play against Miami. From the sound of things, I wouldn't count on it.

Backup Running Back Suspended

Pitt's third-string running back Jason Douglas has been suspended from the team for his involvement in a car accident on Sunday, which was apparently a DUI...particularly of note because I don't believe he's of age.

It will be interesting to see if he misses any time.  Jabaal Sheard did not for his previous issue this Summer, but it was also in the offseason.  Douglas actually did see some time on Saturday with three carries, but isn't expected to be a significant part of the offense barring injury to Dion Lewis or Ray Graham.

Overall, a fairly minor note. But given Pitt's recent troubles with Sheard and Elijah Fields in the offseason, Pitt players aren't exactly doing a good job of staying out of trouble.

EDIT: Okay, scratch that minor note thing.  The Trib has more on the story, and, well, yeah it's not good:

For starters, the accident was not him striking another a car - it was striking a person...and it appears serious.

And then there's this:

A tow truck driver with McGann and Chester caught up with the sedan near 18th Street in the South Side and followed it until the sedan's driver parked on Sarah Street, where arriving police officers ordered the driver out of the car.

The driver, identified as Douglas, stumbled from the sedan and nearly fell, according to the affidavit. His breath smelled strongly of alcohol, and officers had to help him stand, the affidavit states.

"Hey I play for Pitt football. ... Please don't arrest me," Douglas told the officers, according to the affidavit.

Douglas' eyes were also bloodshot and glassy.

Definitely not good.  This sounds like the type of thing that can get you kicked off a team...especially if you're only a third-string running back.  Not that it should matter, but we all know it typically does.

Views From The Enemy

So with gametime merely two days away, I thought I'd take a look at what they're saying out in Utah:

Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham discusses the game in his press conference on Monday. Overall, he seems really confident and it sounds like the Utes will be ready to play.

The Utes offense features a 1,000 yard rusher in senior Eddie Wide. Wide is a true star and he averaged more than five yards per carry on the ground last year. But the receivers are looking to be featured on Thursday as long as sophomore quarterback Jordan Wynn does his part:

“We are ready to go,” said senior wideout Shaky Smithson. “We came into camp this year with the attitude that no one can contain us on the outside or going across the middle. We will make any defense that lines up against us pay for underestimating us. As long as Jordan (Wynn) can get us the ball, and he will, we will make plays.”

Whittingham also thinks the receivers will be ready:

“Knowing that we can throw the ball down field to capable, athletic players opens up so many doors for any coach preparing a game plan on the offensive side of the football,” Whittingham said. “Our receivers seem to rise to the occasion every year, I don’t see any reason why this year will be any different.”

Meanwhile, it's understandable for Utah to bring up the 2005 Fiesta Bowl debacle. That's likely the last time many of them have watched Pitt play. Still, it doesn't sound like Whittingham is using that game as any kind of point of reference:

"It's a whole new coaching regime, a whole new program," he said. "There are no similarities with this Pittsburgh team as opposed to the one we played in '05. It's a complete transformation."

He also, correctly, pointed out that this year's Pitt team is much better than that 2004-05 team in that press conference audio link above. I don't blame Utah for mentioning the game. It really helped to catapult them to getting into the conversation as seriously belonging in the BCS. And in a lot of ways, it helped open the door for teams like Boise State and TCU to get serious shots at BCS bowls. If Utah loses that game, no telling how much it affects the influence of voters.

But back to this week's game. Dave Wannstedt is being taken to task (somewhat) for his comment about Tino Sunseri winning a high school state championship:

And Utah is putting a lot of emphasis in stopping Pitt's star defensive ends, Greg Romeus and Jabaal Sheard. So much so, that the team is not even allowing a new offensive tackle to speak to the media this week:

Wanted to talk to Utah offensive lineman John Cullen about his debut with the Utes and the challenge he in particular faces Thursday. Unfortunately the Utes have him on media lockdown and won't allow him to do interviews.

I was told Monday he was getting too many requests and the coaches want him to focus on the game. During several years of covering Utah, the Utes have made similar bans before with certain players, usually quarterbacks, but not with linemen. Kind of tells you right there what the Utes think of Pitt's defensive line, doesn't it?

Preventing an offensive lineman from speaking to the media? Wow, that's some kind of focus.

Desimon Green Caps Off Successful Week For Recruiting

In a growing trend, Pitt landed a verbal commitment from a third recruit this week in three-star Rivals and Scout recruit, Desimon Green.

Green is a two-way star for Western Pennsylvania school, Clairton High School. In 2009 as a junior, he led Clairton to the PIAA Class A Title as both a quarterback and defensive end. On the offensive side of the ball, he totaled 1,600 passing yards, 900 rushing yards, and 23 TDs. The Clairton offense, which he directed, scored a team-record 634 points. On defense, he also had 87 tackles and a team-record 26 sacks.

He was recruited by Greg Gattuso and reportedly had offers from more than a dozen schools including West Virginia, Cincinnati, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, and others.

Pitt is clearly stocking up a bit at DE in anticipation of the loss of Greg Romeus and Jabaal Sheard. Green makes Pitt's fifth defensive end recruit over the past two years (so far) and makes DE one of the most heavily recruited positions on the team. Along with 2010 DE recruits T.J. Clemmings and Bryan Murphy, the position should be in good hands.

Jabaal Sheard Resolution

Pitt DE Jabaal Sheard was ordered today to pay court costs and the medical bills of the man whom he fought during an altercation several weeks ago.  No mention was made of the window which was broken during the fight, but Sheard offered to pay for that damage previously.

This is a lesser charge than the felony count of aggravated assault as well as various misdemeanors.

Sheard pled gulty to a summary charge of disorderly conduct and now comes the part Pitt fans have been waiting for - punishment from coach Dave Wannstedt. The lesser charges may help his cause, but a game suspension could still be forthcoming.

UPDATE: Per an update to the PG story above, Sheard has been reinstated to the team.  Wannstedt says internal discipline will take place. To me, that sounds like possibly no full game discipline (which would be a surprise to me), but I could be reading that completely wrong.

Jabaal Sheard Hearing Delayed

The hearing for Jabaal Sheard, scheduled for today, has been postponed until next Wednesday.  There are a few reports out there right now.

KDKA-TV has been updating the story all day and they are reporting something less than ideal for Sheard:

Today in court, Sheard reportedly wanted to plea to a lesser charge. He also agreed to pay the victim's medical bills, totaling about $1,000.

However, the victim would not accept either and now wants the case to proceed.

Meanwhile, the Post-Gazette is reporting that Sheard's lawyer says the extra time is needed to determine the exact amount owed to the victim.  Either way, it sounds like more money to me.

With training camp coming up around the corner, I'm sure Sheard and Pitt are anxious to put this behind them and determine an appropriate punishment.  At this point, it's looking more and more like a quick fix may be out of the question.

Jabaal Sheard Does His Best Gilbert Brown Imitation

The only thing that may potentially derail Pitt's chances of having a great season is Pitt itself. Pitt does a fairly good job of staying out of trouble, but like any other school, problems do surface.

One such issue surfaced over the weekend when Jabaal Sheard was arrested and consequently suspended from team activities.

Of course the issue apparently happened after midnight. Say it with me - nothing good can come out of being in bars past midnight. There won't be a preliminary hearing until July 28th, so there likely won't be any kind of immediate decision (at least a good news type decision) anytime soon.

The good news, obviously, is that the season has not yet begun. But with camp coming up soon, it would be nice for him to get back to the team as quickly as possible. Facing Utah, Pitt doesn't exactly have a walkover opponent in its opener.

Football Notes

Sorry for the long delay in updates - this past week has just been flat-out hectic with a concert, power outage, vacation planning and a slew of other offline stuff.  Plus, not much has been going on with Pitt, so it was a good time for a respite.

Here are a few football things out there:

Stewart Mandel at SI.com talks about the Heisman race and some of the preseason favorites.  I think this is the first article I've seen where Dion Lewis is not mentioned as one of the top picks.  Mandel places him in a second group to watch for after his initial top ten.  With Pitt getting more play as a Big East favorite, I was a little surprised to see Noel Devine in that first group.  Pitt WR Jonathan Baldwin is also in that second group.

Lewis will be hard pressed to win the Heisman, but I do think he's right there in the discussion.  Along those lines, make sure to hop over to our SB Nation Pittsburgh site this week, where we'll have a breakdown of the area's top Heisman hopeful running backs (PSU's Evan Royster, Lewis - Wednesday, Devine - Friday).

Joe Butler of Metro Index says that Pitt could have five first-rounders in next year's NFL Draft.  We're a long way from that happening, but just the fact of it even being discussed is incredible. 

Dave Wannstedt, even with two straight very successful seasons under his belt, still takes a lot criticism about Pitt not getting to that next level.  Some of it is deserved and some is undeserved.  But one thing that cannot be denied is that he has Pitt on the right track.  His staff not only has an eye for talent, but they are regularly getting that talent to come to Pitt.  Programs are not rebuilt overnight and Pitt is still a ways off from being mentioned as a consistent national power.  The good news is that things have been looking up.

Brian Bennett over at ESPN.com had previously released a list of the Big East's top offensive triplets.  With Dion Lewis, Baldwin, and Tino Sunseri, Pitt was at the top of that list.  His defensive triplets are now out and Pitt (headlined by Greg Romeus, Dan Mason, and Dom Decicco) comes in at second behind WVU.

Keep in mind this isn't a team's three best players.  Rather, it's a team's best DL, LB, and DB.  If it were the three best, Jabaal Sheard would likely replace Decicco (in my opinion) and Pitt might be #1 on his list.

Light Football News

Just a few quick hitters here:

Phil Steele named Pitt's schedule the toughest in the Big East and 28th in all of college football.

Gatorsports.com of the Gainesville Sun previews Pitt football and ranks them at #21 in their top 25.

NationalFootballPost.com previews Pitt's potential NFL players in next year's draft including Jason Pinkston, Greg Romeus, Jabaal Sheard, Dom DeCicco, and Jonathan Baldwin. No Dion Lewis.

And the NCAA may be limiting the number of coaches allowed on staffs. Nick Carparelli of the Big East weighs in:

"We are very concerned about the cost of this kind of proliferation and whether it's necessary to … putting our teams in the field of play," said Petrina Long, senior associate athletics director at UCLA and chair of the NCAA Division I Recruiting and Athletics Personnel Issues Cabinet. "The consensus is there are a lot of people involved who may not necessarily need to be involved."

Added Nick Carparelli, Big East senior associate commissioner and chair of the NCAA's Football Issues Committee: "There's a unanimous position (among Big East coaches) that football staffing positions need to be regulated. There are just too many. The Big East coaches feel that there are some schools that have staffs that are so big that it raises the question of what these people can be doing within the rules."

Catching Up

I wanted to resist, but here is another QB story.

And, an AP article talks about Bostick's big game success (despite downplaying that he didn't play particularly well in either game other than mentioning his three interceptions).

Links fast and furious today:

Paul Zeise finally analyzes something I've been screaming about - the bowl situation.

And if that is what the line-up really looks like, in a year when the Irish don't qualify for the BCS and thus end up in the Champs Sports Bowl, the second place team will go to Charlotte to face an ACC team but the third place team in the Big East will end up in either Toronto, Birmingham or St. Petersburg against some MAC or Conference USA school.

That's not a very attractive lineup and speaks volumes about the work left to be done by the conference to continue to build itself up and change the perception of the programs in it.

Finally, someone who gets it.

It seems that everyone (at least from articles I've read) seem to think that the Gator Bowl is no big deal. True it's not a BCS bowl, but it's still a New Year's Day bowl and I consider it on that next Tier of big bowls such as the Cotton Bowl. And for those of you who don't think that's a big deal anymore, I would beg to differ. That may be the only college football casual fans watch all year long (yes, there are actually casual college football fans). A day off of work, too cold to do anything else (at least for those of us in the north) - a day full of college football. Outside of the BCS, New Year's Day is really THE day for college football.

Big East fans also weighed in about it.

Meanwhile, Paul also addresses something I discussed earlier (see below) - the use of the tight ends.

ZEISE: Yes. Cignetti has said as much on many occasions. And early in camp -- before Byham and Dickerson were both injured -- it reflected as much. He knows these guys are two of his best players and he said he wants to make sure they both get enough touches to have an effect on every game. Byham will also play a big role in the running offense because he has developed into an excellent blocker.

As I've said, Pitt is likely poised to use the TEs more - a questionable quarterback, no McCoy, solid players at TE...it seems like it's a given.

Shariff Harris is seemingly in trouble. After a fair amount of hype surrounding him as the possible replacement for Shady last year, he seems to have fallen behind at least Dion Lewis, and now may be as low as 3rd or 4th on the depth chart.

Jarred Holley wants playing time.

Greg Romeus and Jabaal Sheard are going to be a handful.

Craig Bokor is one of the last holdovers from the Walt Harris era.