Moving On To NFL Cut Day

Several Pitt players made the final cuts as teams trimmed their rosters down to 53 players:

Sixth-rounder Nate Byham is part of the 53-man roster of the San Francisco 49ers, and seventh-rounder Dorin Dickerson survived the cut with the Houston Texans.

Undrafted free agent cornerback Aaron Berry escaped Saturday's cuts after the Detroit Lions released former Pro Bowler Dre' Bly and Eric King, both cornerbacks.

The news was not as good for defensive tackle Mick Williams, an undrafted free agent who was one of the Chicago Bears' final cuts on Saturday.

Also, previously cut were OL John Malecki and Bill Stull lost out on the third string QB job to former Panther Tyler Palko.

Mick Williams made it down to the end and I expect he'll get another shot somewhere else. I was also surprised to see Aaron Berry land on an NFL roster - beating out Dre Bly, no less.

Catching up with Bill Stull and Aaron Berry

Bill Stull is taking all the snaps in the Chiefs rookie mini-camp. Not so much because he's highly regarded, but, well, because he's the only QB there.

In a Q&A on the Chiefs' site, coach Todd Haley thinks a few tryout players might be signed:

Q: When it comes to tryout guys, is there any chance you might sign any of them?

HALEY: “I would say there is a chance. Maybe a couple, three maybe?”

But at least one Chiefs blogger doesn't think one of those players will be Stull.

Meanwhile, Aaron Berry appears to making at least small waves in Detroit. On the very first day of camp, he picked off two passes and really impressed his head coach, Jim Schwartz:

"He's got really good foot quickness. He's a two-time All-Big East player. There were some corners that were drafted that were only one time there," Schwartz said of Berry. "He's got good credentials. He's played in a NFL defensive scheme at Pittsburgh. Dave Wannstedt there runs a very similar scheme that he ran with the Cowboys and the Dolphins, so he's been well trained and he's been well schooled. He's quick. He's not very big (5-10, 180), but he plays without fear, so to speak. He did a nice job today."

But he's also been bit by the injury bug - something that can definitely hurt when you're trying to make an impression as an undrafted rookie. Although, from the sound of it, it appears to not be serious:

“We had about three or four guys that didn’t practice, and it was all sort of being cautious,” Schwartz said.

Here's one site that thinks he could make the team and also see some time as a punt returner.

Undrafted Free Agents

Lots of activity post-draft regarding Pitt players:

- DT Mick Williams goes to the Jets.

- Aaron Berry had several offers and opted for the Lions.

- Bill Stull heads to the Chiefs.

- Paul Zeise of the PG also reports that John Malecki was signed by the Titans and that Adam Gunn is headed to Packers mini-camp.

Football News

A few football related notes:

Former 1980s Panther Teryl Austin was hired as the Defensive Coordinator of the Florida Gators. He's coached in a variety of positions in college and the NFL with the Cardinals and Seahawks.

ESPN.com blogger Brian Bennett talks expansion - not just Big Ten, but the idea of Big East expansion comes up.

Looks like Dorin Dickerson and Nate Byham are the only two Pitt players headed to the combine. South Florida leads the way with six combine reps.

Conspicuously absent is Aaron Berry, Pitt's First-Team Big East CB. This projection has him as a possible 5th-6th rounder at best. And here's another one that projects him as a 7th rounder. Okay, one more - this one projects him as a Free Agent pickup.

Meanwhile, another former Pitt corner, Darrelle Revis, came home recently.

Looking ahead to next year, Mark Schlabach has Pitt at I think the highest I've seen in any of the preseason polls - #14. Cincinnati checks in at #13. Pitt has some lofty expectations to live up to, despite not knowing who will play QB - Pat Bostick or Tino Sunseri.

Speaking of Sunseri, his younger brother Vinnie, has his first scholarship offer (subscription needed).

And Bill Hillgrove, voice of the Panthers, is lending his expertise to, and I'm not making this up, a camp for aspiring announcers.

Football Notes

With the Georgetown game out of the way, time to get caught up on a bunch of miscellaneous stories floating around:

Dorin Dickerson, Aaron Berry, and Nate Byham will all be playing in senior games to showcase their skills before the draft.

Meanwhile, Mel Kiper has his 2011 (yes, 2011) draft board up already. In it, Greg Romeus ranks as the #3 DE and Jason Pinkston the #5 OT. I don't know if Romeus can repeat the kind of success he had this year. With the loss of Mick Williams, more attention will probably be paid to him. But if he can, he could be a first-rounder.

Focusing on the NFL, here's a fairly unique article/slideshow of the top Big East players currently in the NFL - Pitt has three of them including the top two.

Brian Bennett breaks down the top ten Big East games of the year and Pitt lands in three of them...including, unfortunately for Pitt fans, the #1 game against that Ohio team that shall remain nameless. The game also ranked 3rd in the Big East games of the decade and a certain upset from 2007 was #4.

Bennett also rates Pitt as the #4 Big East team in the decade. I would have probably bumped them ahead of Virginia Tech, but maybe that's just me. And sticking with Bennett and this whole decade theme, he ranks Dave Wannstedt as the #10 coach of the Big East.

Moving from Bennett, Bill Conley of Scouts, Inc. says Pitt's 2010 class is better than its 2009 one.

GoPittfootball.com, the school's satellite site for football, has a nice video recapping 2009 season highlights.

Mark Schlabach at ESPN.com says Larry Fitzgerald was the top college wideout of the decade and the #9 overall player. Along those same lines, Paul Zeise throws out some options for Pitt player of the decade and also goes over yet more coaching changes including the departure of Joe Tumpkin and addition of former Pitt QB Luke Getsy.

But getting back to the original thought about player of the decade. Using his list, I'd rank the top five as follows:

1. Larry Fitzgerald
2. Lesean McCoy
3. Darrelle Revis
4. Rod Rutherford
5. (tie) H.B. Blades
5. (tie) Antonio Bryant
5. (tie) Scott McKillop

The last three were too close to call in my opinion.

Wanny, Wanny, Wanny

Dave Wannstedt addressed the media today after camp. Here are some of the things I think that are somewhat interesting:

- Dan Hutchins apparently kicked a 47-yarder at the end of practice. I don't care how many times these guys do it until they get in an actual game.

- Wannstedt said, "I’m glad we’re not playing Saturday; we’re not by any means ready to play a football game." I can't imagine this is a true statement. At least I hope it's not. Hopefully Wannstedt is aware there is a game less than ten days away and that the team is somewhat prepared.

- Aaron Berry will apparently have no part in returning kicks or punts...thank goodness.

- Read into this what you will, but it sounds like Ray Graham is more a #1A than a #2 to me.

- Now, every press conference has its money statement. This is clearly it in this one. On Bill Stull, Wannstedt said, "He has 13 starts under his belt, so he’s our starting quarterback." Now, I really hope he didn't mean that to come out the way it did. And, just so you don't think I'm guilty of taking one sentence out of context, I urge you to view the link and read the whole section on Stull. If you read it the way I do, you can see exactly what I've been saying - that Bill Stull is Wannstedt's security blanket to some degree. He feels comfortable with him and despite the fact that many observers at camp will say he was outplayed, he appears to still be the starter.

Camp Notes

The Post-Gazette takes a look at Senior corner and everyone's favorite kick returner, Aaron Berry:

Berry, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound senior cornerback, was one of the highest-rated players in the 2006 recruiting class and was a starter by the third game of his sophomore season.

Last year, he was second-team All-Big East after recording 41 tackles and three interceptions and breaking up a team-high 10 passes. But he also had too many lapses and gave up too many big plays for a guy who was contemplating leaving school for the NFL.

Seriously though, kick return follies and defensive lapses aside, he's expected to be a major player for the Panthers this year. Personally, he's given up too many big plays for me to call him a shut down corner. I'll have to see it to believe it.

Meanwhile, the Trib takes a look at the guys replacing the forgotten third key departure - Conor Lee:

"Conor Lee, we know by his production here at Pitt how valuable he was to the university," Wannstedt said of Lee, who set a school record with five field goals at Notre Dame, including the game winner of the 36-33 quadruple-overtime victory. "Now, the first time we go out to kick a field goal between Kevin Harper and (Hutchins), it's going to be the first time they're lining up and performing when it counts."

This could really be a serious problem for Pitt. Their offense is not why they were picked to win the Big East, so they may be a team heavily relying on field goals for points. If they can't convert those, it could spell doom.

Paul Zeise checks with his camp notes and continues to rave about Aundre Wright and the running backs.

The AP also spotlights Pitt's losses and its chances to win a wide open Big East.