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.

Football Talk

So after a long hiatus from football discussion, with basketball out of the way, let's get into it.

For starters, former Panther Elijah Fields could end up at California University. There were some grumblings of this as a possibility almost immediately after he was dismissed from the team and it looks as if it could be a possibility:

Elijah Fields, who was dismissed from Pitt's football team last month for violating team rules, might end up at California University.
Head coach John Luckhardt said Fields has shown interest in transferring to the university. The 6-2, 225-pound safety would have one season of eligibility remaining.

"Everything is still in the processing stage," Luckhardt said.

As much as he botched his chances at Pitt, I still try to convince myself that he's young and still learning. I hope he can turn things around there.

Paul Zeise of the PG thinks that while Tino Sunseri had the first crack at reps with the first team, that Pat Bostick seems to have the slight edge in terms of knowing the system. It's been documented that Coach Wannstedt would like this battle to be settled this Spring. I don't know - with the way last year's competition went on, I'd be kind of surprised if that happened. Both quarterbacks say they're ready.

ESPN.com blogger, Brian Bennett, goes over the usual questions in his Pitt spring preview video. He also talks to Offensive Coordinator, Frank Cignetti, about Pitt's many offensive weapons.

SI.com wonders if Pitt is ready to dethrone Cincinnati. More Pitt-Cincinnati talk. Everything I've heard this offseason has been about Pitt and Cincinnati. I'm a little surprised that it appears West Virginia isn't even being passively seen as a contender with both Jock Sanders and Noel Devine coming back.

Cam Saddler's opportunity to get on the field more comes - at wide receiver: I really think he could turn into a great kick returner and hope his focus remains there. But with the losses of Oderick Turner and Dorin Dickerson, there's definitely a need there for another receiver.

And with all the NFL Draft talk about Dorin Dickerson and Nate Byham getting drafted, after Bill Stull's season and experience with a pro-style system, he is getting some looks as well:

Stull, who was one of 15 former Panthers who worked out Tuesday for scouts representing 27 of the 32 NFL teams, is considered a late-round draft pick or a desired free agent.

After the year he had, I'm a little surprised there hasn't been more discussion about him as a middle-round draft pick. He has experience in a pro system, made very few mistakes last year, and despite his weaknesses such as throwing an accurate deep ball, makes for a reasonable NFL prospect.

Meanwhile, speaking of Dickerson, he's having a hard time gauging where he might be selected because of all the interest he's received.

More to come...

Quiet Offseason No More

Funny how things can change just like that. Just last month, all was quiet on the homestead:

"This has really been a quiet offseason in a lot of ways," Wannstedt said. "I think the guys are working hard and we are probably a lot healthier, too, than we've been. But from a standpoint of major changes, I don't think there are many, if any, and we're in very good shape to move forward."

The fact that there won't be any major shake-ups, either with the coaching staff or personnel, makes this a different offseason for Wannstedt, considering the coaching changes, transfers and major surgeries he has dealt with since he arrived at Pitt in 2005.

Now this isn't a catastrophic loss, but I think it certainly qualifies as a major one.

Fields was a starter who was finally starting to show some of the promise that had been affixed to him after being a fairly highly-rated recruit. Had he not previously had any troubles, such as the 2007 suspension, he might have been able to skate by on this latest issue. This latest issue, officially forcing him out of the program, is obviously bringing up the talk about 'wasted talent.'

Now comes the part where I don't excuse his error (which apparently was posting videos of him partying and drinking on Twitter), but I will point out that had it not been for his prior offenses, barring absolute obscene or offensive content, this almost certainly wouldn't have led to his dismissal. Fields had no margin for error and had to be on his best behavior, which he apparently was not.

So Much For That Hybrid Linebacker Thing

So of course the day after I post random football notes - nothing of real significance - THIS happens:

Pitt senior safety/linebacker Elijah Fields has been dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons.

Fields (6-2, 225) has had off-field issues throughout his career and had been disciplined several times -- including being suspended for the entire 2007 season -- but had seemed to pull it together enough to have his best season last year.

Still, he had several incidents of insubordination and other minor issues throughout the season, but the final straw came last week when he had a video posted on his Twitter page of himself partying with friends and apparently drinking alcohol.

No matter how you look at it, this will be at least a blow of some degree to Pitt. Fields seemed to really respond last year when he played a bit in that roving linebacker role - strong enough to rush the line but agile enough to cover men downfield a bit.

I haven't seen the video yet and don't even know if it's still there. So I'm unsure if he was booted for drinking while underage (not sure when the video was shot - he's 21 now) or if he was booted for merely drinking in the video along with other content. More on this later, but for now, not good.

Recapping a Beatdown

Holy offense, Batman. At least one thing went right on Saturday as Pitt scored the most points since running up 55 on Temple ten years ago.

Ron Cook was thinking what most Pitt fans probably felt :

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said something late yesterday afternoon that was unimaginable a week ago, a month ago, certainly 9 1/2 months ago when his Panthers defied incredible odds in the worst way to be shut out in a college football game, 3-0, by Oregon State in the Sun Bowl.

"Offensively, we were able to carry the load today. That's a nice feeling."

Can you believe that?

Can you believe Pitt spanked Buffalo, 54-27, here yesterday?

I watched it and I can't believe it.

54-27!

I would have told you before the game that Pitt couldn't score 54 points combined against any four opponents on its schedule, outclassed Youngstown State aside. Of course, I also would have said no four opponents could score a combined 27 points on Pitt's alleged great defense.

Dorin Dickerson finally 'broke out' and had the type of performance people at Pitt have been waiting for since he arrived on campus:

Dorin Dickerson was the prize of the Pitt's 2006 recruiting class, but, for the first three seasons of his Panthers' career, he was mostly a non-factor.

Yesterday, he showed why he was such a prize catch. Dickerson caught eight passes for 71 yards and three touchdowns as Pitt (2-0) stampeded Buffalo, 54-27, before a crowd of 21,870 at UB Stadium.

Of course, as the Buffalo News points out, some of those points came as the result of miscues:

But the Bulls committed four turnovers that the Panthers turned into 27 points. Before the offense even took the field, UB was down, 14-0. That made for a long day in a game where the Bulls were clearly under the spotlight, hoping to shock the Panthers from the Big East.

Pitt (2-0) is the lone Bowl Championship Series program on the Bulls' schedule and a win over the Panthers could have propelled the program closer to the Top 25. Instead, with the spotlight glaring, the Bulls (1-1) forgot their lines.

"It hurts, it really hurts because we thought we had a shot to go out here and beat a BCS school and that was one of our goals this year," said senior free safety Mike Newton, who led the Bulls with 10 tackles. "We have to come back and rebound from this."

That Newton guy seemed to be around the ball quite a bit.

Even the defense got in on the act scoring-wise.

Oh that defense. There were a couple of downers...

Paul Zeise breaks down a few things and says what everyone should be thinking - you can't give up 500 yards in offense to Buffalo.

Uh, yeah - what he said.

And while we're on the subject of downers, Pitt got some bad news when they found out safety Andrew Taglianetti is lost for the season. Elijah Fields should assume the starting spot. Definitely some bad news, but Fields should be a capable backup.

My thoughts on the game:

- Bill Stull's leash has probably gotten a bit longer with two solid games thus far. He played better in this one and the play-calling has been excellent - good mix of pass vs. run, extensive use of the TE, and keeping Stull within his limits. Yes, the deep play probably will not be there all that much under his reign - even with Baldwin on the team. But he's been accurate thus far on the shorter passes and as long as he doesn't lose games, he could do an accurate job. Even if he remains the starter all year, I hope that Sunseri still gets some reps to get him ready for a competition with Bostick next season.

- Yes, Buffalo was no match for Pitt's offensive line, but man can Dion Lewis run. He looks real solid and Pitt's running game hasn't taken even a small step back from last year so far. The road ahead will be the true test, but so far, so good. Some people might be surprised that Graham hasn't gotten more touches so far, but really, there's no been no reason to give him any with the way Lewis is playing.

- Two missed extra points in a game? I hope that gets fixed soon. Dan Hutchins' punting was, again, pretty good, however - averaging over 47 yards a punt.

- With Stull effectively having trouble going deep, I think it may be another year until we see Jonathan Baldwin possibly have a real breakout season. Maybe not, but it's looking that way so far.

- Slightly irritating, but I AGAIN saw Stull look to only one receiver again on a short pass play. Can't remember if it was Baldwin or Dickerson, but it was a 3rd and 4, I believe, in the 2nd half. They didn't convert and it was a bad play all around. I have seen him look for other receivers on other plays, but sometimes he gets so locked onto one guy that it's not healthy.

Did you miss the game? I think it can still be seen on ESPN360.com as of the time I'm posting this assuming you have Verizon or Comcast.

Looking forward to Navy next week - especially since it's a night game.

Day Three of Camp

Day three of camp brought a familiar incident:

Here is a story we've heard before (far too many times) -- redshirt junior safety Elijah Fields was demoted to the second team today because there were some "internal" issues which have “come up during camp” (Dave Wannstedt's words, not mine).

But hey brace yourself for this --- he'll be back to the first team tomorrow.

Or so we’re told.>

You really hope that it's nothing serious. By the sound of it, if he's only been dropped from the first team for a day, it doesn't sound too bad.

Meanwhile, Zeise checks back in with a look at the unclear LB position.

Adam Gunn seems confident of a successful return after last year's injury"

"I couldn't be more excited," Gunn said. "I used the whole spring just getting a feel, trying to get over the whole injury. Now, I'm ready to go. Nothing is holding me back. I'm trying not to have any concerns. I'm trying to keep it in the back of my mind and not think about it. I'm definitely looking forward to (today). I'm truly, truly, truly excited about it.

"I'm sure it's going to go well. I can't wait."

You've got to think that the first few hits he dishes out will be cautious ones. But his approach (at least to the media) sounds like the correct one.

In other news, Kolby Gray, the recruited QB from Texas, will miss the season to have shoulder surgery. Not particularly big news team-wise since he was going to be redshirting, but it would have been nice for him to be able to practice this year and learn the ropes a little.