With college football right around the corner, the beginning of the 2014 NFL Draft is tagging right along. Through this mini-series, we’ll review junior tape of potential prospects from Pitt and Penn St. To kick things off, a look at Pitt’s Jason Hendricks and Penn St’s Glenn Carson. *Obvious Disclaimer: With a full season to go, scouting reports of players can dramatically change. What is seen on a prospect’s junior tape can be much different than what happens his senior year, for better or ... Read More
An underclassman shouldn’t win the Heisman Trophy
"With great power, comes great responsibility." Sure, you've heard that old saying many times before, but how many times has it actually been acted upon? Time and time again we see star athletes who have went to the well one too many times. I'm not talking about a pitcher throwing one too many fastballs or a point guard throwing one too many behind the back passes. No, I'm talking about star athletes who get some time in the spotlight for their on-field statistics, and then do something ... Read More
Pitt Panthers Notebook: James Robinson help Team USA U19 Team to Championship
With not much new going on around the Pitt Panthers football and basketball teams this time of year, I'm back with my Pitt Panthers notebook to take a quick spin around Pitt's athletic programs. Perhaps the biggest news going on over the course of the past couple of weeks came in the form of Pitt freshman guard James Robinson, who helped Team USA capture the FIBA U19 World Championship Gold Medal with an 82-68 win over Serbia in Sunday’s title game. The victory gave the United States its ... Read More
Sunseri in Saskatchewan
Former Pittsburgh Panthers quarterback Tino Sunseri may never get a shot at the NFL, but he is a professional athlete after all. Sunseri signed a free agent contract with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL) in late May, entering training camp as the fourth-string quarterback. Since then, Sunseri has unseated incumbent third-stringer Levi Brown, who was promptly cut from the team’s roster on June 17th. A 9 for 12, 122 yard performance that also included the ... Read More
O’Brien rebrands Penn State Football
On July 23, 2012 the NCAA penalized Penn State football with a $60 million fine, a ban from bowl games and post-season play for 4 years, a reduction in scholarships from 25 to 15 per year for four years, the vacating of all wins from 1998 to 2011, and a 5-year probationary period. In comes Bill O’Brien. O'Brien was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year by media and the coaches, the national coach of the year by ESPN, and O'Brien was awarded the 2012 Paul “Bear” Bryant College Coach of the Year ... Read More
A New Era at Pitt
The first rule of Pitt football is to love the game. The second rule of Pitt football is to love the school. Just ask Rushel Shell. This week when Shell asked to be reinstated to the program after a change of heart coach Paul Chryst and his staff decided they no longer needed him. Shell, a Pittsburgh native, requested a transfer to UCLA only to change his mind to stay close to family. The words Pitt Panther football and mediocre are one in the same. Over the past decade, the Panthers have ... Read More
Did Pitt make the right call with Rushel Shell?
Pitt head coach Paul Chryst was faced with a difficult decision on Monday when he elected to not allow former Panthers running back Rushel Shell to return to school, after Shell elected to not to transfer to UCLA. While the Shell saga is apparently now closed as it relates to the Panthers, only one question is left unanswered- did Chryst make the right decision? Naturally there are two schools of thought on this situation. The first is in regards to allowing Shell to ... Read More
What’s next for Rushel Shell?
A year ago at this time, the future looked so bright for then Pitt freshman running back Rushel Shell. In the last calendar year though, very few would have predicted Shell's fall from grace from can't miss prospect to a player that's currently simply looking for a place to play next season. In the past two days, we have found out that UCLA is no longer an option for Shell and the door he hoped would be open for a return to Pitt was slammed shut in his face. That begs the question of what's ... Read More
Rushel Shell not allowed to return to Pitt
Apparently the crazy saga that is Rushel Shell's collegiate football career has finally come to a conclusion, at least as it regards the Pitt Panthers. Just one day after expressing his desire to return to Pitt, Shell won't get the chance as he found out today that the University has no intentions of allowing him to return. As I reported on Sunday, Shell had a change of heart and elected not to transfer to UCLA after all and expressed an interest in returning to Pitt, where he would have ... Read More
Is Rushel Shell interested in returning to Pitt?
The saga that led to former Pitt running back and Hopewell native Rushel Shell transferring from his hometown Pitt Panthers to UCLA was a bit bizarre to say the least. However if the situation was bizarre before, it just got a little more crazy. According to a couple of reports, Shell is interested in returning to Pitt. That's not a typo. Apparently the WPIAL's all-time leading rusher, the guy who was supposed to be the Panthers featured back for the next two or three years has expressed ... Read More