Tag: Pitt

Notre Dame-Pitt: Former Irish running back currently Panthers leading rusher

A familiar face is coming back to South Bend

When Notre Dame and Pittsburgh do battle on Saturday afternoon in South Bend it’ll be a game that features a couple of former Fighting Irish standouts now wearing a different shade of blue.

Linebacker Shayne Simon and running back [autotag]C’Bo Flemister[/autotag] both spent four seasons at Notre Dame before transferring and ending up at Pitt.

Flemister said earlier this week of his decision to attend Notre Dame out of high school, where he wound up getting his degree:

“The big attraction to me personally was my future,” Flemsiter said. “They preach four for 40. Four years for the next 40 years of your life. You’re building a huge network. That alumni network is awesome. That was pretty much my biggest deciding factor. I’m looking 40 years down the road how going there could have helped me coming out of high school.”

Flemister currently leads Pitt with 282 rushing yards and has added a pair of touchdown runs.  He’s come on largely over the past two games for Pitt, who is just 2-5 on the year.

Check out some of the best photos of Flemister during his Notre Dame days below!

Notre Dame-Pitt: How Beano Cook nearly ended annual rivalry game

Earmuffs!

If you’re a longtime fan of college football then the name Beano Cook certainly means something to you.

Cook was a prominent college football media member and played a huge role in ESPN developing as a college football brand.

Notre Dame fans remember Cook for his prediction about Ron Powlus winning multiple Heisman Trophies, but Cook was so much more than just that.

The following comes from “Haven’t They Suffered Enough?”, Cook’s biography written by avid college football fan and Notre Dame graduate John D. Luckas.  As you’d probably guess, the book has plenty of stories of Beano that involve Notre Dame.

Before his ESPN career that most of us knew him from, Cook served as a sports publicist at Pitt.  It was in that role that he nearly ended the Pitt-Notre Dame rivalry in 1958.

Notre Dame vs. Pitt: Staff Gameday Predictions

What happens today in South Bend?

It’s only been two weeks since Notre Dame played a game, whooping USC 48-20, but it feels like even longer.  Not because of what has necessarily gone on as much with Notre Dame, but because of all the major news that has come out of college football since then.

What Notre Dame team will come out of the bye week as they host a disappointing Pitt team this Saturday afternoon?

Will the Irish offense look improved compared to what we saw in games 5-8?  

Will the defense continue to be as stout as the impressive unit has been?

Or will Pitt have an impressive showing despite being just 2-5?  This is the only team to have handed Louisville a loss this season, mind you.

Here is what the Fighting Irish Wire staff sees happening on Saturday in South Bend:

Report: Sean Payton strikes again, signs Saints TE Lucas Krull to Broncos practice squad

Report: Sean Payton struck again, signing recently-waived New Orleans Saints tight end Lucas Krull to the Denver Broncos practice squad:

Sean Payton just won’t stop poaching former New Orleans Saints players. The Denver Broncos are reportedly signing tight end Lucas Krull to their practice squad after the Saints waived him on Tuesday, which is nothing if not annoying. Can’t Payton find his own players?

Krull will be backing up another ex-Saints tight end, Adam Trautman, in Denver while leaving behind a stacked depth chart in New Orleans. Juwan Johnson and Foster Moreau figure to lead the Saints’ tight ends in snaps played this year with Jimmy Graham coming into games for a specific package of plays. Taysom Hill is also in the mix and the team hopes to expand his role as a receiver in the fall.

Still, it’s frustrating to lose Krull. He’s someone the Saints signed as an undrafted rookie out of Pitt and developed on the practice squad last year into an at-least-competent pass catcher. Now he’ll be working with Payton, the Broncos, and Russell Wilson. But that’s a risk the Saints accepted in waiving him.

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Remembering Beano Cook and his Notre Dame moments 10 years after passing

Love him or hate him, few have ever been quite like Beano, who died 10 years ago today.

Ten years ago today a legend in the college football media world left us as Beano Cook passed away.  The 1954 University of Pittsburgh graduate went on to become one the most recognizable faces associated with college football media but before his ESPN career that most of us knew him from, he served as a sports publicist at Pitt.

Eventually Cook worked his way into the media world and upon doing so, waste no time becoming one of the biggest names in the business.

 John D. Lucaks, a Notre Dame graduate and passionate college football fan in his own right worked with Cook for years after developing a unique friendship on a whim.  Lucaks released Cook’s biography, “Haven’t They Suffered Enough?” in 2021 and as you’d probably guess, has plenty of stories of Beano that involve Notre Dame.

I was seven years old when Beano declared that Ron Powlus would win multiple Heisman Trophies and just assumed Cook was a Notre Dame backer at heart.  After reading this book I’ll let you know that he certainly wasn’t (doesn’t make him any less of a college football enthusiast) but sure did have some tales involving Notre Dame.

I’ll also say that in no point in my life have a I read a biography and in my head heard the featured person’s voice as clearly I did Beano’s with this book.

Find out below just a few of the stories that Lucaks shares in the book that involve Beano irritating a few Notre Dame priests during his publicist days at Pitt, the story behind his Powlus prediction, and what game Notre Dame won that earned Beano a huge pay day!

All are excerpts from the book that can be purchased for any longtime college football fan on Amazon.

Catching up with the Boston Celtics’ 2023 NBA draft workouts Part IV

Let’s dive into who the Celtics might be targeting at No. 35.

Even with the offseason here in earnest, the Boston Celtics have plenty on their plate regarding their future as they continue to work out prospects projected to go in the second round of the ’23 NBA draft.

With the Celtics likely to need cheap depth in the future, look for prospects who are either polished enough to get some real minutes in their rookie campaign or who might be okay with a season or two stashed abroad while the team makes decisions about how it will use the new two way player slot added to rosters in the latest collective bargaining agreement recently adopted by the league.

Adding to our previous reporting of the team’s known workouts comes a new wave of prospects Boston has been working out — let’s dive into who the Celtics might be targeting at No. 35.

Pro Football Hall of Famers by college

Who is the most surprising (either included or not)?

The 2022 Pro Football Hall of Fame class was unveiled just before Super Bowl LVI as eight legendary football players are now headed to Canton where they’ll be put among football’s immortals.

Have you ever wondered where the best to ever do it went to college though?

Here are the ten college football programs to have produced the most Pro Football Hall of Fame members of any.

Report: Saints ‘burning the phone lines’ on last-minute vetting of Pitt DT Calijah Kancey

Pro Football Network’s Tony Pauline reports the Saints are ‘burning the phone lines’ on last-minute vetting of Pitt DT Calijah Kancey, a likely first-round pick:

Here’s a scoop from Pro Football Network’s Tony Pauline, who reports that the New Orleans Saints are finishing up some last-minute homework on Pittsburgh Panthers defensive tackle Calijah Kancey in the final days leading up to the 2023 NFL draft.

While Pauline was quick to caution that he doesn’t grade Kancey as a first rounder, that isn’t what he’s hearing from sources around the league:

I’ve never been as high on Kancey as most, and I don’t think he’s a great first-round projection. The size (6’1”, 281 pounds), lack of growth potential, and short arms (just over 30.5 inches) worry me. Despite my opinion, everything I’ve been told in recent days points to Kancey being a lock as a first-round pick.

Who would select him in the first round? If I was a betting man, I’d go with the New Orleans Saints. The franchise has been digging deep into Kancey and burning the phone lines talking with his coaches at Pittsburgh recently to get as much detail as possible on the defensive tackle.

Kancey posted an elite Relative Athletic Score, which comes close to the internal metrics the Saints value, but he’s also 20 pounds underweight for their standards. The lightest defensive tackle the Saints have drafted in the last five years was 294-pound Jordan Jackson, a sixth rounder last year who spent his entire rookie season on the practice squad. They signed Kentavius Street to a minimum free agent deal last summer and he played at about 290 pounds.

So Kancey would need to pack on a lot of weight just to meet one of their thresholds; there’s nothing to be done for his subpar length, which would be the shortest arms of a drafted defensive tackle in years. The Saints are notorious for sticking to their athletic prototypes in the draft. These last-minute conversations with Kancey’s coaches will need to really sell them on him as a first-round prospect. If the Saints are so curious about Kancey, though, you have to wonder why they didn’t simply host him on a pre-draft visit to speak with him themselves.

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Saints go with undersized but athletic DT in Lance Zierlein’s new mock draft

The Saints went with an undersized but athletic defensive tackle in Lance Zierlein’s new mock draft, breaking their mold to select Calijah Kancey:

The New Orleans Saints defensive line is the thinnest spot on their roster, particularly at defensive tackle, so it makes sense that NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein has them prioritizing that need in his new mock draft. And on paper, Pittsburgh Panthers product Calijah Kancey would address the need for a disruptive interior lineman.

But he would be an unprecedented pick for New Orleans, who hasn’t drafted a defensive tackle at his size (281 pounds) with such poor length (30.6-inch arms) since Jeff Ireland was hired to overhaul their college scouting department back in 2015. Still, there’s a lot to like about Kancey if you can overlook his shortcomings. Here’s what Zierlein said about this pick:

Kancey plays with terrifying first-step quickness as a penetrator and a pass-rusher. He lacks the size for usage on early downs, but he could have game-altering potential if the Saints are able to slow opposing offenses on first down.

Kancey has a very productive resume with 34.5 tackles for loss and 16 sacks in 33 games at Pitt, with Pro Football Focus charting crediting him with 111 quarterback pressures.

You just have to wonder how easily that translates to the NFL when the gap in size between Kancey and his opponents widens while the gulf in athleticism narrows. Another former Pitt Panther, Aaron Donald, has overcome the same concern but he’s a truly special player and it’s unfair to Kancey to shoulder those kind of expectations.

He’s not going to win with that first step as consistently in the pros as he did in college, and better blockers are going to more easily push him off the line of scrimmage. As Zierlein observed, he may not be able to play all three downs for New Orleans. That’s something the Saints must consider over the next few weeks until draft day.

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New Orleans Saints 2023 NFL draft scouting report: Pitt RB Israel Abanikanda

New Orleans Saints 2023 NFL draft scouting report: Pitt running back Israel Abanikanda surging after strong pro day workout, via @DillySanders:

The New Orleans Saints have already addressed the running back room this offseason, but they might not be done adding weapons. Jamaal Williams was signed to a three-year deal, but Alvin Kamara has looming legal troubles and a potential out in his contract in 2024. Could the Saints look to the draft for some insurance?

The Saints recently met with Pittsburgh running back Israel Abanikanda at the combine in a formal interview, according to Abanikanda himself. It makes sense why the Saints are still interested in him, as he’s a great talent that has done nothing but help himself in the past year.

He put up staggering numbers in his senior season, rushing for 1,431 yards and an insane 20 touchdown runs. He’s young and has fairly low tread on the tires for someone who was as productive as he was. He caught a couple of passes, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it a strength of his.

His size and speed combination is where he gets really exciting. He stands at 5-foot-10 and a dense 216 pounds while not sacrificing any of the athleticism of a smaller guy. He has a 41-inch vertical and 10-foot-8 broad jump, adding a 4.41-second time in the 40-yard-dash.

As a running back, he’s a grinder with a great motor. Has a ton of tools to come in and produce immediately while New Orleans figures out the Kamara situation. He also pass blocks willingly, which will go a long way in the Saints organization.

I wouldn’t call Abanikanda and Williams a super complimentary backfield, but they’re two talented players and, with Kamara, would still be the best trio in the NFC South.

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