Pitt category, Page 120

The Tribune-Review sports staff is conducting a daily countdown of the best players in Pittsburgh pro and college sports history to wear each jersey number. No. 13: Dan Marino He was the coach’s son, so it was only right that a very young Dan Marino had to accept he was...

With covid concerns in the air, Pat Narduzzi likes the fact he has a third candidate to be Pitt’s backup quarterback this season. The NCAA last week granted Arizona State transfer Joey Yellen immediate eligibility. He is competing with Nick Patti and Davis Beville for the No. 1 backup job...

Nico Popa aspires to play professional baseball. The Seton LaSalle graduate and standout right fielder for Pitt hopes an extra year with the Panthers will have multiple benefits, including bolstering his draft stock. Popa, who graduated in May with a degree in marketing, is one of three Panthers — Chris...

The NCAA granted Pitt redshirt freshman quarterback Joey Yellen immediate eligibility Friday, giving him the opportunity to challenge sophomore Nick Patti and redshirt freshman Davis Beville for the No. 2 job behind senior starter Kenny Pickett. Yellen enrolled in January after one season at Arizona State (2019) and an appearance...

Pitt canceled football practice Thursday after several players displayed symptoms that are associated with covid-19. “Our medical team decided it was in everyone’s best interest to temporarily pause our Thursday training camp activities so that we could test symptomatic players per our protocol,” athletic director Heather Lyke said. “Based on...

When the Phoenix Suns entered the NBA bubble in July, former OLSH standout Cam Johnson was inserted into the starting lineup. There was no big message from first-year coach Monty Williams, and there was no “here’s what you have to go do.” For Johnson, it was all doing whatever he...

The chances of playing any semblance of a college football season in the fall are looking bleak. It’s unclear if the sport will try to function in the spring. And who knows if either option will be safe enough for the players. For those reasons, many top-tier NFL prospects have...

The ACC is proceeding with the intent of starting the football season on time, and the conference’s top doctor said Tuesday it can be done safely. Dr. Cameron Wolfe, an infectious disease specialist at Duke and chair of the ACC’s medical advisory team, told Sports Business Daily he recognizes the...

Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi continued to build his class of 2021 on Monday night when tight end Jake Renda flipped from his commitment to Michigan State and announced on Twitter his plan to enroll at Pitt. The Panthers have 19 players in next year’s recruiting class, which is ranked 26th...

Monday was a regularly scheduled day off for Pitt football, but while the practice fields on the South Side were silent, players’ voices were not. Several of them went on Twitter — using the hashtag #WeWantToPlay — to join players from around the nation in pleading with Power 5 officials...

Pitt’s Jaylen Twyman and Penn State’s Micah Parsons, who decided to opt out this season, soon might be joined by the entirety of their college football brethren. ESPN reported Sunday night that sources told the network postponing or canceling the football season appears inevitable. Power 5 commissioners held an emergency...

Randy Bates is a cancer survivor who spent quarantine “sitting in my living room thinking about weird things I’m going to do” when Pitt opens training camp. So why wouldn’t you expect the Panthers’ 60-year-old defensive coordinator to use a water pump that looked like it came from the Civil...

A day after Pitt defensive coordinator Randy Bates said he would be shocked if one of his players decided not to play this season out of respect to covid-19, All-ACC defensive tackle Jaylen Twyman revealed Saturday his plans to return home and skip the 2020 season. “This past year has...

The Mid-American Conference on Saturday became the first league competing at college football’s highest level to cancel its fall season because of covid-19 concerns. “I’m heartbroken we are in this place,” MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said. With the MAC’s 12 schools facing a significant financial burden by trying to maintain...

The question made Damar Hamlin chuckle. He considered it for a moment and gave an answer that said a lot about what will push Pitt through a season overflowing with expectations. Athletes and their coaches don’t usually like to play the what-if game with reporters. They prefer to deal with...

Friday’s “First Call” gives us gambling odds for Pitt football in the ACC. And for Notre Dame, too. We also try to scout the Pittsburgh Pirates’ next opponent. A pair of former Pirates pitchers square off this weekend. And an epic Big Ten rivalry just got more salty. Irish odds...

Pat Narduzzi won’t admit it. More to the point, he doesn’t want to admit his team can be exceptionally good this season. What coach wants to put undue pressure on his team, especially one at Pitt, where the Panthers have only one double-digit victory total (10 in 2009) since Jackie...

The ACC released dates for its 11-game, reconfigured football schedule Thursday, giving Pitt four home games to start the season, including the opener against nonconference opponent Miami (Ohio) on Sept. 12 at Heinz Field. There are two open dates, but they don’t appear on Pitt’s schedule until the eighth week...

When head trainer Rob Blanc walked into Pat Narduzzi’s office last week, Pitt’s coach thought someone was injured or ill. Actually, the news was almost that bad. Blanc told Narduzzi he is retiring after 32 years, all of them as Pitt’s head football trainer. Blanc, 60, served eight football coaches....

For Friday’s “First Call,” we take a closer look at ACC football’s sudden addition of Notre Dame this year. And we try to dispel some of the knee-jerk, negative reaction to it. Although it’s totally understandable. I mean, c’mon. It’s Notre Dame. Ugh. On Wednesday, a torrent of anti-Notre Dame...