At Saint Vincent College, the clock is ticking ... literally.

Go to the college's Web site, click on athletics and then on football and the clock is right there, counting down. As of the start of composing this article there were 53 days, 4 hours and 6 minutes left until Saint Vincent will play its first varsity football game since the end of the 1962 season.

Bob Colbert, the Bearcats head coach, put the clock in motion shortly after being hired to resurrect the Latrobe-based college's football program.

"I can remember when there were 500 days on it," said Colbert, a Pittsburgh native who played for North Catholic High School in the mid-1960s. His brother, Kevin, is the Steelers director of football operations.

"It's really starting to wind down now and I think everybody is excited about the coming season."

Surprisingly, things have gone smoothly for Colbert and his staff as they build toward the start of training camp Aug. 11 and the first game Sept. 1.

Saint Vincent will compete in the NCAA Division III Presidents' Athletic Conference, although it probably won't be eligible for the PAC championship until the entire athletic program makes the shift from the NAIA, which gives athletic scholarships, to NCAA Division III, which does not.

The reason there is some doubt is because a school making the transition from the NAIA to NCAA Division III can petition the NCAA and try to speed up the process.

"What they can ask to do is skip a year from two to three or three to four if players [who were on scholarships] are out of school," said Joe Onderko, the PAC's executive director. "But most of the time, a school has to wait until all of its programs fall under the NCAA's guidelines."

The Bearcats had 44 players on the roster last year who practiced, even though there were not any games. Recently, 66 first-year players, mostly freshmen and nine transfers, were announced.

Of those 66 players, four are from WPIAL and PIAA Class AAAA champion Upper St. Clair and nine are from Florida.

Florida?

How was Colbert able to entice nine players from the football-crazy Sunshine State to the Laurel Highlands of Western Pennsylvania and a program with no recent history?

"What people don't realize is there are no Division III or II football programs in Florida, and because of that, they have recruiting fairs that attract just about every smaller school east of the Mississippi," Colbert said.

"When I was [associate head coach and offensive coordinator] at Bridgewater [College], we'd go there and usually find players who were difference-makers.

"What you do is talk to 300 kids [in Florida] and end up with about 10. We also have a kid from California who is 6 feet 5, 250 who was looking for a small, Christian college. I think the fact we're a Catholic college is attractive to players who have attended Catholic high schools."

The additional players give Saint Vincent a roster of about 110 and will provide depth. Naturally, the 44 players who went through drills last fall while the clock had triple-digit days on it will get the first shot at starting positions.

Colbert knows something about starting a program from scratch. When he went to Bridgewater College as an assistant, the football team there had gone 0-10 the previous season. In four years, he helped turn things around and Bridgewater played Mount Union in the Stagg Bowl for the Division III title.

He doesn't promise that Saint Vincent will have a winning season this year, but he does believe the Bearcats will be competitive.

"The biggest challenge has been making sure that our stadium will be ready for the season," he said. "When I interviewed [for the job], they asked me if I would rather play on the campus or at Latrobe High School's stadium. I pushed for on the campus because I believe that's part of the college experience, having games on the campus."

Saint Vincent is currently in the process of putting together Chuck Noll Stadium. The field is named after the former Steelers coach and is on one of the practice fields the Steelers have used at the school for training camp.

Having the Steelers' summer home at Saint Vincent is another recruiting tool for Colbert. There will be a week in August when the Steelers will still be in camp there and the Bearcats will be starting drills.

Saint Vincent's opening game is also unusual. The Bearcats will play Gallaudet University, which specializes in providing courses for the hearing-impaired. Colbert was Gallaudet's head coach in the early 1970s.

"They're a little bit like Notre Dame in that they have a strong following," he said. "So we should have a good crowd for the first game."

As we closed this story, there were 52 days, 23 hours, 36 minutes and 4 seconds until Saint Vincent College football.

Bearcats facts

Saint Vincent College will field a varsity football team this fall. Here are some facts concerning the school's football program:

First varsity season: 1923, 3-1 record.

Best season: 1949, went 9-0 and defeated Emory and Henry, 7-6, in Tangerine Bowl.

Last varsity season: 1962, 1-6 record.

Stadium: Chuck Noll Stadium, on campus facility under construction.

Head coach: Bob Colbert.

Next varsity game: Sept. 1 vs. Gallaudet University, 1 p.m.