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Papa Kante

Vuk wrote a column in yesterday's PSN suggesting that Papa should begin to play a larger role. I remember when he had a season-ending injury last year that Capel said something to the effect that it would be a blow to the Panthers season. However, he has hardly played this year, which is surprising given this statement. Needing rebounding help as they do, it would seem that Papa might be able to help. Just wondering what others think about this.

Ranking the portal departures

The transfer portal for Pitt players should be closed at this point, but I guess some late paper work could mean another name or two surfaces today. But all told, Pitt had 17 scholarship (not counting Jake McConnachie, since I'm not sure if he was on scholarship still or not) players depart from the end of the regular season up through the end of the bowl game off the 2024 roster.

Which ones stung the most? I went through and sort of handicapped it in terms of worth to next year's team, plus past success.

Pitt lost some depth, and perhaps some developmental options, but really only had 2-3 that really stung from this portal session.


Tier 1
1. Sincere Edwards, DE - Talented freshman who would have played a good bit in 2025. Probably the toughest break Pitt suffered in the December portal window.

2. Ryland Gandy, CB - Held starting CB job in 2024, likely to be starting CB again in 2025. Only true starter the Panthers lost.

3. Jordan Bass, LB - Tough situation. Definitely a player Pitt would have liked to keep, but also had to commit more to three other rising junior linebackers.


Tier II
4. Nate Yarnell, QB - Reliable backup QB the coaches trusted. Creates void behind Holstein.

5. Daejon Reynolds, WR - Solid depth option at WR, probably could have been used a bit more this past season.

6. Tamarion Crumpley, CB - Was No. 4 corner this year and played OK at times. Could have remained in the rotation in 2025.

7. Rodney Hammond, RB - Made sense for him to move on after getting passed by Reid, plus with the eligibility situation too. Good player who can probably find a better role somewhere else.

8. Nahki Johnson, DT - Johnson was part of the DT rotation this past season, but Pitt has a lot of young DTs that seemed like higher priorities of keeping and passed him on depth chart.

Tier III
9. Terrence Moore, C - One-time starter at center, but got passed up by Lyndon Cooper. Would have been nothing more than a depth option in 2025.

10. Chief Borders, DE - Was part of DE rotation, and that spot is thin, but did not produce much in 2024 and is off to his fourth school in 2025.

11. Elliot Donald, DT - Pitt’s prized recruit in the 2021 class never panned out. Played some in 2024, but never challenged much for a bigger role.


Tier IV
12. Noah Biglow, CB - Redshirt junior this past season and did not make the two-deep depth chart in his four seasons at Pitt.

13. Lamar Seymore, WR - Recorded one catch for five yards in two years at Pitt. Seemed like he got passed by Tyreek Robinson already.

14. David Ojeigbe, DE - Plays position of need, but couldn’t get on the field at all in 2024. Worth a shot at the time, but didn’t pan out. He will be off to his third school in 2025.

15. Jeremiah Anglin, DB - Virtually same story as Ojeigbe. Player they liked previously from HS recruiting, brought him in, and was gone six months later and onto his third school in three years.

16. Montravious Lloyd, RB - Never cracked the rotation. Pitt has Reid and Juelz Goff for next season, plus signed three backs in 2025 class. Seemed like they were ready for this one.

17. Ty Diffenbach, QB - Fell behind a walk-on this past season, perhaps even was behind true freshman Julian Dugger as well. Dropped down to FCS already.

I held off since yesterday...

that game was such a microcosm of the JC era. some good; some bad. some talent showing out. some talent playing stupid. some deficiencies in talent. lack of preparedness to start the game, as per.

but here's the main thing: it's good. but it's not quite good enough. losing to Clemson in a close game isn't a terrible loss. but it's multiple, now. it's so disjointed. you lose to garbage Syracuse teams then beat UNC and DUkE. fans just can't get on-board. you get a tad excited but then it all comes crashing down. there's that Kenny Pickett guy on here always blaming the fan support. but JC teams just ALWAYS disappoint you. ALWAYS.

and as I wrote recently (and got shouted down), we're in coaching purgatory. not good; not terrible. but with his contract, we're stuck. we could do better than JC. and the risk is we end up like the women's program - that's worst case scenario.

I think I'd rather swing for the fences than be in purgatory. I'm so sick of these crappy teams that play epically stupid. players that just force stupid #### again, and again, and again. the lack of ANY sort of plan on offense.

I watched most of the game yesterday. I had to coach a BB game so left at 2:00 as OT was starting. I'm with kids so can't be on my phone. but my phone is buzzing with text messages from buddies so I knew we'd lost - they're all text/screaming about how stupid we played in OT....again. I knew we lost stupidly. it's one thing to lose in OT. it's another to lose, at home, when your team takes dumb shots.

what do I even do on this board? I hold out hope that I'm completely wrong and things will get better - this is how I started the season, keeping quiet, trying not to be a jerk and hoping I was wrong. but the pattern is pretty clear. I'm so sick of the JC era. it's enough.

Duke Game & Other Dribbles ...

** I’m going to write most of this entry this evening pretending the game ended at the under 8 timeout of the second half.

** That is because I honestly don’t know what the heck happened in the last 8 minutes. Allow me to suggest however, that we didn’t consciously stop playing.

** It appeared to me more like we completely ran out of gas. Bone dry.

** So we looked around for a ride and found ourselves all alone in the middle of desert heated by the Dukies sizzling 55% three point shooting and Coopers back to back posters.

** Had Beebah hit that wide open three at the 7 minute mark that would have cut the lead to 8, perhaps that would have somehow added a little more to the tank. But no.

** I say we ran out of gas because for most of those first 32 minutes, we were using all the energy we could to battle the Dukies.

** And we did battle. We just didn’t play very good basketball against a very good basketball team.

** I think what can be said is that for most of the game, the Panthers tried to replace composure with energy, attempting to make plays before the masterful Blue Devils size and talent could get to them.

** With that, they really never let this game come to them, they rushed too much and missed some plays they often make.

** This was certainly true of both Jaland and Ish. They were both really trying to bring it. They were likely even trying too hard. But as we know, the results were often kinda ugly.

** I’m not worried about Ish and Jaland though. I appreciate the relationship they have with their Coach. I know he’s going to work with them about decision making and trying to involve others.

** I’m not attempting to suggest that the Panthers really had much of a shot in this one after half time. But some of our defensive work in both halves gave us opportunities, even on fast breaks, which we rushed or didn’t convert.

** There’s no doubt that our Panthers were truly troubled by the size of the Dukies. I believe they tried to adjust in the second half and instead they just kept trying tougher and tougher shots instead of moving the basketball.

** My only wonder about this one is the overall offensive game plan. It was clear that Capel wanted to spread out and let Ish and Jaland play iso to create. Maybe he thought this was the best way to attack Duke’s size. From early on however, this didn’t look like a good plan.

** It’s telling that we didn’t have a single trip to the line in the second 20 minutes.

** Still I do believe it’s noteworthy that we are watching the continued progression of Cam Cohren. This was the kind of performance that will help the Panthers win plenty more games.

** His embarrassing move with 30 seconds left notwithstanding, Damien showed us he’s ready to help. This comes at a good time.

** I’ll close by reminding all Panther Hoop fans that perhaps they can take some solace in the thought that this 29 point defeat was not the worst of the evening. That honor goes to the 30 point boat race the #1 team in the county received from the teeth of the Florida Gators.

** At the 7 minute mark of that one, the same mark when we were shooting to cut the lead to single digits, the Vols were losing by 32.

** I hope both our Panthers and Panther fans can move on and pick things up back up with a full tank of gas against the Cardinals at noon on Saturday. I think we will!

Catholics vs Pedophiles

Those shirts should be hot sellers. Should be an interesting week for the high school on Pitt's campus since half the school is ND fans and the other half are PSU fans. Narduzzi isn't allowed within 500 feet.

Pedo question though: how many Western PA kids get on the field when it matters?

Also, this sports writer says we can't make Sandusky jokes anymore:

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