Monday, February 22, 2010

Cat Basket Podcast Number 29

Potpourri of Pitt football topics.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Losing a linebacker

Earlier this year it was reported that Elijah Fields would be moving to linebacker. While that may have been the case, I always felt that his role would be like we saw towards the end of the season. We used him primarily in nickel situations where he would line up in different spots around the field. Having him as a linebacker in our system this year probably wouldn't have changed what we saw last year much other than defining it as 4-3 instead of a nickel.

Well now it appears that all of this does not matter one bit. After struggling to make his way on campus due to grades, Elijah has had a rough time at Pitt. The most notable problem came when he was suspended for an entire season due to failing a drug test. He was expected to be a major contributor and people were even labeling him as the "Shady of the defense" during pre-season practices.

Now as we sit through cold winter months waiting for something to talk about, this is the time we typically hate having things to discuss. Just like last year with the Adam Gunn and Jonathan Baldwin incidents, off-season news typically is bad news. While the Big 10 talk and hiring of two new coaches have kept us busy for a little while, we finally have some of the news we hate to get.

From sources close to the team as well as reports from both PantherDigest and PantherLair, it looks as if Elijah Fields has once again failed a drug test. Coach Wannstedt has had Fields on a short leash since the problems first arose a few years ago. Now with a second violation it appears his days wearing #4 for the Panthers are over. This is a sad end to what looked to be a very promising career.

Now the Panthers will look to fill the hole left created in that area. With some combination of Holley, Tags and DiCicco set to return as our starting safetys, those positions are fine. At linebacker Williams and Gruder return on the outside and Dan Mason is ready to fill the void left by the graduation of Adam Gunn. So while losing Fields certainly hurts, at this point we look to be replacing depth only on paper.

Hopefully this works out best for all parties. As we saw last year, this isn't the worst thing in the world as people have left and succeeded. Jason Capizzi and Tommie Duhart are two examples that come to mind. In the end Pitt opens up another spot to let someone earn a chance and Elijah will have the chance to prove himself in a new environment.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Pitt to Big 10 Rumors

So if you are a frequent visitor to the various Pitt football related message boards you have seen the news that on February 4th we will be joining the Big 10. The basis of the rumor was a closed door meeting that Steve Pederson had with the student-athletes. Apparently, people took this annual meeting as a basis to fan the flames. Every poster who confirms this rumor is apparently "in the know" and is getting the information from only the most reliable of sources. As of right now there is no major news outlet or journalist that has even brought up this move to the Big 10 which is going to happen in a matter of days according to rumor.

I think these rumors are indicative of the atmosphere that Big 10 expansion has created with schools that could be involved. Nobody wants to be left in a conference that was raided by the Big 10 without a plan. The ACC raid on the Big East has had a negative impact on the football conference in terms of national perception. Losing another team would take the BCS bid away from the Big East.

I'm not a message board insider or a guy who knows another guy that is always ahead of the curve on rumors. The way I see this rumor is that on Friday we will still be in the Big East enjoying the fruits of an extremely good football recruiting class looking forward to playing Seton Hall at the Pete on Saturday. There is a chance that we could be a part of the Big 10 expansion but I would bet that the actual media not guys on a message board who get texts from mysterious sources will break the news.

Remember people the internet is serious business and don't forget to sign up for a message board account to complain about the Oakland Zoo. I hear that is what the cool guys are doing now.