Pitt Take 5: 2 months after bowl game, spring drills kick off Monday
Never mind the loss of Heisman Trophy finalist Kenny Pickett. He was one of the best players to wear a Pitt uniform this century, and now he’s gone. Never mind that starting linebackers John Petrishen, Phil Campbell III and Cam Bright — the heart of a good defense — must...
U mad, bro?: Steelers fans voice opinions on Super Bowl aspirations, Kenny Pickett, JuJu and the Pats, even T.J. Watt’s allergy
The Pittsburgh Steelers offseason doesn’t mean that the team is off the radar. At least not with Steelers fans who read “Breakfast With Benz.” As usual, this week my inbox and Twitter interactions are flooded with Steelers fans giving their opinions on all sorts of topics. You know, like JuJu...
Turnovers compound Pitt’s problems in blowout loss to Miami
The finger of blame can be pointed in a variety of directions after Pitt’s 18th loss of the season Tuesday night, 85-64, to Miami. The game was close for only a few moments in the first half, and the 21-point margin of victory was not indicative of how low Pitt’s...
Aaron Donald, Pat Narduzzi make financial commitments to Pitt football
Aaron Donald never played for Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi, but they are part of the same team of donors to the football program. On Pitt’s sixth annual Day of Giving, Donald donated $200,000 to the Pitt Football Championship Fund. Narduzzi and his family gave an unspecified amount. Both men have...
Facing tough finishing stretch, Pitt’s Jeff Capel remains encouraged
Two weeks before the start of the ACC Tournament – and with Pitt’s signs of life slowed down considerably by Georgia Tech on Saturday night — Jeff Capel wants to be clear about the current state of his team. “One loss we had the other day is not indicative of...
Christian Spears leaving Pitt to become athletic director at Marshall
Christian Spears, who has been Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke’s top assistant since 2017 and administrator for football and men’s basketball, is leaving to become athletic director at Marshall University. Marshall’s Board of Governors voted Monday to approve the hire. Spears was Pitt’s deputy athletic director and chief operating officer,...
Mouhamadou Gueye’s versatility offers Pitt hope over final days of season
A man sporting an eclectic collection of skills, Mouhamadou Gueye blocks shots and makes 3-pointers with greater frequency than any of his Pitt teammates — 38 3s, 59 blocks. In fact, he is one of only two players from a power conference — Stanford’s Spencer Jones is the other —...
Pitt senior Jayla Everett dismissed from women’s basketball team
Senior guard Jayla Everett, who leads Pitt women’s basketball in scoring, was dismissed from the team Sunday for unspecified reasons, coach Lance White said. Everett had not played in Pitt’s most recent two games, but scored 18 at North Carolina on Feb. 10. It was her sixth game with at...
Pitt’s momentum goes splat in loss to Georgia Tech
The fruit was juicy and hanging low for Pitt to pick. Or, so it appeared. There was momentum from a three-game winning streak, the largest home crowd of the season (9,085) eager for a reason to get excited about basketball again and even a last-place team in town as the...
Pitt Take 5: Talking about streaks, seedings and Jeff Capel’s style
All of a sudden, Pitt basketball is interesting, fun and worth the price of admission. Amazing what a little three-game winning streak can do. Pitt will try to make it four in a row Saturday against Georgia Tech at Petersen Events Center. Tipoff is 7 p.m. on the ACC Network....
First Call: Ryan Clark doubts Mason Rudolph; ex-Steelers assistant hired in Green Bay; Aaron Donald to keep playing?
Friday’s “First Call” has a less-than-optimistic opinion on the Steelers offense from one of the team’s former players. We have updates on the post-Super Bowl retirement talk surrounding Sean McVay and Penn Hills alum Aaron Donald. A former Steelers assistant may factor into the Aaron Rodgers situation in Green Bay....
Pitt’s 3-game winning streak provides chance to salvage season
The narrative surrounding Pitt before its stunning upset of North Carolina was this: The two-game winning streak was nice, but it’s time to confront the big boys of the ACC. Yes, the Panthers play hard, connect on defense and — thank you, Ithiel Horton — make the opponent respect the...
U mad, bro?: No Valentines this week, but lots of agitation about Steelers offensive line, quarterbacks, Kenny Pickett’s hands
My inbox this week was stuffed with plenty of emails about the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback conundrum. Offensive line concerns. Journalism lectures. Penguins negativity. And hamburger commercials. I didn’t get any Valentine’s Day e-cards though. That was sad. But in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, “U mad, bro?” is like a...
Pitt stuns North Carolina in Chapel Hill
The noise from a crowd of 17,270 at North Carolina’s Dean E. Smith Center seemed to grow louder every time North Carolina hit a shot in the second half. And the Tar Heels made plenty of them, seven in a row at one point. Who knew the struggling Panthers could...
Enrolling early easy choice for Pitt’s Marquan Pope, Sean FitzSimmons, 5 others
Time was running out for freshmen to enroll for Pitt’s winter semester, but Marquan Pope wasn’t worried. He had organized the first and final term of his senior year at Guyer High School in Denton, Texas, so he could graduate in December, spend the winter training for Pitt’s 2022 season...
Backyard battle with his brother prepared North Carolina’s Puff Johnson for college
If Puff Johnson crashes his 205-pound frame into Pitt’s 280-pound John Hugley on Wednesday night, North Carolina’s sophomore guard probably will be able to handle it. At least Hugley won’t throw Johnson into the bushes when the Panthers and Tar Heels get together at the Dean Dome. That’s how Puff’s...
Aaron Donald: ‘Force of nature’ who never lost his humility
The passage of time has blurred the truth. DeWayne Brown, who has trained Aaron Donald for the past 13 years, said his protege wasn’t wearing cleats the day he was “killing people” in one-on-one drills at a Pitt camp during summer 2008. Greg Gattuso, the defensive line coach largely responsible...
Capel family no stranger to North Carolina’s Smith Center
The ACC has six teams with winning records in league play. That’s fewer than half of the conference members. Four of them show up on Pitt’s schedule over the final 18 days of the regular season, starting Wednesday with the Panthers’ trip to Smith Center in Chapel Hill, N.C., against...
Pitt partners with brand management agency to help athletes maximize NIL opportunities
Pitt is taking a step forward in helping its student-athletes manage and profit from name, image and likeness opportunities. University officials announced Monday a partnership with The Brandr Group, a brand management, marketing and licensing agency that counts more than 35 college programs among its clients. “We support our student-athletes...
Following Rams Super Bowl win, retirement talk for both Pitt star Aaron Donald and coach Sean McVay?
During the Super Bowl pregame show, NBC aired an interview that Rodney Harrison did with Los Angeles Rams star and former Pitt Panther Aaron Donald. Harrison told the audience that Donald informed him he might retire if the Rams won the Super Bowl. “He’s big on legacy,” Harrison said. “He...
When John Hugley, Ithiel Horton are functioning properly, Pitt is a different team
The mind wanders, wondering what if … • Ithiel Horton had played the entire season for Pitt? • His arrest never happened, and he was able to employ his long- and mid-range marksmanship in those five games that were lost by five or fewer points? Would 10-16 — Pitt’s current...
Pitt survives close call to halt 12-game skid against N.C. State
Conventional thinking might indicate Pitt’s 71-69 victory Saturday against N.C. State would give the team hope. Hope the Panthers can resurrect over the final three weeks what has been a troubling season. Hope the mistakes that made the game closer than it needed to be will disappear. Hope that the...
Pitt women’s lacrosse works overtime in victory against Duquesne
Long before the Pitt women’s lacrosse team’s historic 9-8 overtime victory against Duquesne on Friday night — the program’s inaugural game — coach Emily Boissonneault sat down to write her pregame speech. This wasn’t just any ordinary talk, though. These words mattered. Boissonneault said she wrote the speech “over and...
Take 5: Pitt aims to stack victories, salvage pride against N.C. State
The questions on Pitt fans’ lips are these: Was the 56-51 victory at Florida State on Wednesday a product of Pitt finally adhering to coach Jeff Capel’s insistence on defensive focus? Or, was Florida State just that bad? Whatever the case, it was the lowest offensive output by an ACC...
Pitt freshman offensive tackle Ryan Baer grew up a Steelers ‘fan-boy’ in Cleveland
At this embryonic stage of his college career, Ryan Baer might carry the highest profile of the 12 freshmen in Pitt’s class of 2022. That might be difficult to prove. After all, he’s been on campus for just a month and has yet to wear pads. But there’s no doubt...
