Spring Football Notes

A few Spring football bits and pieces coming out over the past few days:

The time for Dan Mason, Chris Jacobson, and Mike Cruz is now.

Speaking of Jacobson, he's going to be one of three new starters on the line. One of Pitt's biggest challenges this season will be having a new quarterback behind a retooled line.

And with Mason poised to start, once-prized recruit Shayne Hale, who was a potential MLB, is making the move to DE.

Meanwhile, running backs coach David Walker tries in vain to convince us that there is a chance for some competition going on for the starting back job:

"We all know Dion had a lot of success last season. We know he did a great job," said Pitt running backs coach David Walker. "But Ray Graham's trying to win a job. Jason Douglas is trying to win the starting tailback job. Chris Burns is trying to win the starting tailback job. So, those guys are working hard, and they're not going to concede anything to Dion."

Okie dokie. Hard to believe that even Ray Graham, who has shown flashes of brilliance, will even take a significant number of carries from Lewis, who is still bringing home awards based on last year's performance.

WR Coach Out

Paul Zeise of the PG broke the news that Bryan Bossard, Pitt's receivers coach, is apparently moving on.

Tough to say what really went wrong. He seemed to do a fine enough job - Baldwin has been great and Mike Shanahan looked good in his first year. But like Paul says, there's also the personality factor that we never really think about unless we hear of conflicts.

Either way, good luck to Bossard down the road.

Paul also has some news in there on Phil Bennett and running backs coach, David Walker.

Battles to Keep an Eye on

One of the biggest question marks comes at running back. Not so much because the position appears to be in great trouble, but because of the wait to see who will grab the bull by the horns and secure the starting spot.

But Pitt running backs coach David Walker is not overly concerned about it, mostly because he has plenty of young and talented options to pick from.

"No concern at all," Walker said. "It is a work in progress, and half of the fun is to try and build it and see if some guys will rise up and take the job. Now, obviously, if we didn't feel the guys we have are capable, that's a different situation, but this group -- we are smart, we are tough and we're athletic -- so I am confident that whoever runs out there and gets the bulk of the carries will be ready to do a great job for us."

In fact, picking the best one might be the toughest part of the transition because they are similar in talent and all seemingly capable of getting the job done.

Dion Lewis to this point apparently has the starting spot, but it's a long way till the start of the season. While I'm glad that there are so many options available, that could possibly be a problem for Wannstedt. Remember, it took him a while to give Shady the job full time, even though he had effectively outplayed Larod Stephens-Howling...and even then, LSH still got a decent amount of carries. I really hope that if someone stands out, they'll land the job and not have to deal with a running back by committee.

Meanwhile, possibly the other biggest decision for Pitt will come at guard.

Either way, Pitt looks to be solid on the line.