Jerry DiPaola stories, Page 83

A year ago, SirVocea Dennis survived his sophomore season at Pitt — conquered it, really — recording 14½ tackles for a loss while earning third-team All-ACC honors at outside linebacker. Then, coaches came to him and said, “‘OK, you showed you can handle the outside. Now, we’re moving you to...

Among those concerns giving Pat Narduzzi the most angst this week, the lack of traditional TV coverage for Pitt’s game against Western Michigan on Saturday is far down the list. But he did use the occasion to make a plea for a bigger crowd at Heinz Field. The old excuse,...

Midway through a four-game nonconference season that looked soft enough for Pitt to handle, the Panthers are handling it. But what does it mean? Pitt has scored 92 points, tied with the 2009 and 2014 teams for the largest offensive output in the first two games since 1988. That year,...

After Pitt’s 41-34 victory against Tennessee, Pat Narduzzi looked to the heavens. Maybe he knew that what happened Saturday in front of 82,203 people in Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., was based nearly as much on good fortune as good football. But — make no mistake — there was plenty...

With his three top assistants returning to Pitt for a fourth consecutive season, coach Jeff Capel on Friday announced that Milan Brown has been promoted to associate head coach. Brown has more than 25 years of coaching experience, including 12 seasons as a head coach at Holy Cross (2010-15) and...

There is an argument to be made that Pitt’s game Saturday at Tennessee could set the tone for the season. A victory, even against a second-tier SEC team, might get people talking and cause them to pay attention to the events at Heinz Field when Pitt is playing. A loss...

Maceo Austin, who came to Duquesne in 2019 after leading Kennedy Catholic to four consecutive PIAA championships and then started 29 games as a freshman, has left the Dukes for the second time. Austin, a 6-foot-5 guard, did not play for six weeks from Jan. 9 until Feb. 20 last...

Linebacker Troy Benson said he recorded a barely believable 23 tackles in Pitt’s 13-3 victory against Tennessee in 1983. But it was a tackle — of sorts — a Pitt offensive lineman made that remains one of Benson’s most vivid memories of that game, the last between Pitt and Tennessee...

In a football sense, Jackie Sherrill grew up at the knee of Bear Bryant. His cradle was the SEC. He played fullback and linebacker from 1962-65, before serving as a graduate assistant for the legendary Alabama coach in 1966. When Sherrill walks into Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., on Saturday...

Back in Kendall Park, N.J., Phil Campbell III compiled a long list of honors that demand too much time and space to chronicle here. MSG New Jersey Player of the Year was just one. Campbell rushed for 848 yards and 14 touchdowns and recorded 110 tackles during his senior season...

Walk-on Sam Scarton was awarded the first opportunity to kick field goals and extra points, and Ben Sauls handled kickoffs in the opener. But it doesn’t appear Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi is satisfied with his kicking game. “Ben Sauls did a good job. First one he knocks out (for a...

John Petrishen put Pitt’s 51-7 victory against UMass into terms anyone locked inside training camp for a month can appreciate. “We were waiting to hit somebody else,” he said. After Pitt players collided only with teammates almost every day since early August, there was a game to play Saturday and...

With no preseason games to test their training wheels, college football teams march right into the action with a real game that counts. Sometimes, it’s against an obviously weaker opponent. Sometimes, it’s a Power 5 team that generates buzz. Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi is 5-1 in season openers, but the...

College and NFL coaches might be the only people who won’t get offended or embarrassed if you ask where they sleep at night. “In the couch, over there,” Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said Thursday afternoon in a conference room adjacent to his office. But he emphasized he hasn’t done so...

Quarterback Sean Clifford and safety Jonathan Sutherland, both redshirt seniors, became the first three-time captains in Penn State history Tuesday when coach James Franklin named six players to the position for the 2021 season. Joining Clifford and Sutherland as captains are senior safety Jaquan Brisker, senior defensive tackle PJ Mustipher,...

Don’t be surprised at Pat Narduzzi’s answer if you ask him to name five things he’s most anticipating in Saturday’s opener against UMass. One of them might have nothing to do with football. For the first time since the Quick Lane Bowl on Dec. 26, 2019, he won’t be required...