Post-Superbowl Links

Monday, February 2, 2009

Posted by DCS

With the conclusion of last night's Superbowl resulting in the Steelers' second Vince Lombardi Trophy in three years, there will be a few more coaches and personnel that have ties to the Big East Conference, who will be wearing some serious hardware on their fingers. Congrats to all who represented the conference well last night, and especially to Larry Fitzgerald on a game well played despite the loss.

With two days to go until national signing day, here's what's going on:

• Houston Texans rookie running back Steve Slaton (formerly of West Virginia) was seemingly snubbed by coaches and fans when he wasn't selected to the AFC Pro Bowl squad (Scout.com)
• Rutgers nabs an under-the-radar linebacker recruit from Hackensack -- Junior Solice (Tom Luicci / The Newark Star Ledger)
• Syracuse steals a second Ocean Lakes HS (Virginia Beach) from Louisville in DE Brandon Sharpe (Donnie Webb / Syracuse Post-Standard)
• Excellent piece from Scarlet Scuttlebutt's Keith Sargeant on Rutgers QB recruit Tom Savage
• Matt Grothe, George Selvie, and many others will be on hand to sign autographs for fans at USF's national signing day party
• Greg Auman of the USF Sports Bulletin gives us his thoughts on what Bull fans should expect in the waning days of the signing period

Finally, are you interested in knowing who from the Big East will be participating in the NFL's Scouting Combine? Here's the full list of who's been invited, and below is a listing of the 25 players from the Big East Conference (congrats to Cincy on garnering six invites - the most in the conference this year):

Connor Barwin (Cincinnati - DE)

Will Beatty (Connecticut - OT)

Kenny Britt (Rutgers - WR)

Cody Brown (Connecticut - DE)

Donald Brown (Connecticut - RB)

Darius Butler (Connecticut - DB)

Trevor Canfield (Cincinnati - OG)

Hunter Cantwell (Louisville - QB)

C.J. Davis (Pitt - OG)

Tony Fiammetta (Syracuse - FB)

Adrian Grady (Louisville - DT)

Courtney Greene (Rutgers - DB)

Kevin Huber (Cincinnati - P)

Greg Isander (West Virginia - OG)

Mortty Ivy (West Virginia - LB)

Taurus Johnson (USF - WR)

LeSean McCoy (Pitt - RB)

Tyrone McKenzie (USF - LB)

Scott McKillop (Pitt - LB)

Mike Mickens (Cincinnati - DB)

DeAngelo Smith (Cincinnati - DB)

Brandon Underwood (Cincinnati - DB)

Tiquan Underwood (Rutgers - WR)

Pat White (West Virginia - QB)

Eric Wood (Louisville - C)

Larry Fitzgerald and Pitt: A Matter of Fate

Friday, January 30, 2009

Posted by DCS

I'm sure avid fans of Pitt football already know about this, but I think this story posted by Michael David Smith on Fanhouse.com about Larry Fitzgerald, is very eye-opening. The gist? Growing up in Minnesota, Fitzgerald was a huge Penn State fan and admits,

"...I always liked LaVar Arrington and Brandon Short and I always wanted to be a Penn State linebacker."

Fair enough; Penn State was/is a great program, especially if you want to play linebacker. Something got in the way of Larry making it all the way to State College, PA though. That something, was the weather:

"On our way driving to visit Penn State it was raining really hard and the visibility wasn't good enough so we spent the night in Pittsburgh. My high school coach told me that Tony Dorsett and Dan Marino and Mike Ditka went there and that there were a lot of great players who went there. So we went over to their facility and the coaches didn't know we were coming. I met the coaches and we gave them my tape and that was how the relationship started."

Wow, to think that the Fitzgeralds weren't even planning a stop in Pittsburgh, and that the Pitt coaching staff knew practically nothing about Larry, really speaks volumes about how circumstantial this chance meeting actually was. Of course, you know the rest of the story, so I won't bore you with the details, but it's truly fascinating how these things end up sometimes. I know Pitt and the Big East for that matter, is proud to have Larry representing them in the NFL (and Superbowl!). Best of luck to him and all Big East alums on Sunday.

Greg Gregory: That whole thing about me going to coach with Urban Meyer...that was a joke. Can I have my job back?

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Posted by DCS

Sorry folks, for not being around for the better part of yesterday. I'll really briefly mention that Greg Gregory was not hired to coach tight ends at the University of Florida, as was speculated. Now, Gregory is sitting around as an idle staff member of the USF Bulls, but remember, he is no longer the offensive coordinator (he was stripped of those duties by head coach Jim Leavitt when Leavitt learned that he would be pursuing the UF opening). No update on what will happen with Gregory at this point, but one interesting tidbit to note is that the coach that Urban Meyer decided to hire is Brian White, who not all that long ago, was the offensive coordinator for the Syracuse Orange.

And with that, I give you a plethora of Big East football related information:

• Donnie Webb of the Syracuse Post-Standard discusses the outside possibility that UNC backup QB Mike Paulus (bro of Greg) may want to come home to Syracuse
• Frank Ahrens doesn't hold back on his feelings for Todd McShay and his assessment of Pat White on the Bleacher Report
• Cincy's Mike Mickens is going to sit out the Senior Bowl
• Brian Bennett of ESPN ponders whether or not Larry Fitzgerald is the greatest receiver ever to grace the Big East
• Paul Zeise of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Pitt has snared a new DE recruit
• Rutgers Spring practice begins March 10 and their Spring game is on April 18 (Scarlet Scuttlebutt) -- scroll down
• Greg Auman of the USF Sports Bulletin reports that the Bulls have nabbed another big time recruit

MLK Day Links

Monday, January 19, 2009

Posted by DCS

Happy MLK Day everybody. I hope those who have a day off from work are enjoying themselves, and those that don't....well, that sucks. Anyway, here's all the news that's fit to print in the world of Big East football:

• ESPN's Brian Bennett talks about how the Big East fared in the East-West Shrine Game
• Vidal Hazelton makes it official -- He's a Bearcat
• Chas at Pitt Blather sings the praises of former Pitt wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald
• West Virginia nabs a huge (6'3-4") safety from Florida -- Rivals.com profile
• Ron Zook steals Assistant Head Coach/D-Line coach Keith Gilmore from Brian Kelly