Dom DeCicco did a lot of winning in high school.

Now this Thomas Jefferson High School graduate wants to do the same in college, too.

Over his four seasons as a quarterback and defensive back on the Jaguars football team, DeCicco left the field a winner 51 times -- and only had to suffer through six defeats. He helped lead TJ to two WPIAL Class AAA titles and the 2004 PIAA championship.

That changed over the course of one season, his freshman year at Pitt last fall. The Panthers lost more times in a three-month span than DeCicco had during his four-year experience in high school. Pitt went 5-7 and didn't qualify for a bowl bid.

As he moves into what could be his first season as a starter at the collegiate level -- and what most certainly will be the first one in which he plays a significant role with the Pitt defense -- DeCicco is determined not to allow another losing season to happen.

"When you come from a program that wins as much as we did, it was tough last year losing all those games," DeCicco said. "But we know with the way we all have been working and -- with a lot of the newer players coming in here -- that sooner or later we're going to be one of the top teams, a team to watch out for."

The Panthers wrapped up spring practice last week with the annual Blue-Gold Game Saturday at Heinz Field. A starting strong safety in the game, DeCicco led all players in unassisted tackles with four and was second in total tackles with six.

The Blue-Gold Game was just another step in an offseason during which the 6-foot-3 DeCicco said he added some weight and strength working with Pitt strength and conditioning coach Buddy Morris.

"It was the first time I've done his program, and it helped me a lot," said DeCicco, who finished up his freshman year with final exams last week.

DeCicco lettered last season with most of his action coming on special teams. He was a reserve free safety but this season has been playing strong safety.

"There's not that big a difference," he said.

DeCicco and Duquesne High School graduate Elijah Fields are in competition for the starting spot.

"At the beginning it was kind of unnerving because every play out there, you have to be on top of your game because you have somebody behind you, competing with you, someone as good as Elijah who is making plays all the time," DeCicco said. "But it just has made me that much better. I always have to come out and be at the top of my game."

DeCicco and the rest of the Panthers' defense is adjusting to a new coordinator this season in Phil Bennett. He replaced Paul Rhodes, who left to take the same position at Auburn.

DeCicco said Bennett left much of the defense the same and just added some new wrinkles. Still, he said that Benett's personality is different and that Bennett is stressing a more aggressive, playmaking approach and philosophy to the defense. The Panthers were second-to-last in the Big East in both interceptions and forced turnovers.

DeCicco said he would like to see himself as a player who could help be part of a turnaround in those areas.

DeCicco isn't the only Thomas Jefferson alumnus on the Panthers defense. Nate Nix is a 6-foot-3, 225-pound redshirt sophomore linebacker who enters his second season of eligibility this fall. Nix, a good friend of DeCicco, is listed as second on the depth chart at one of the outside linebacker spots.

"He's been getting better and better," DeCicco said. "He's starting to understand the defense a lot better than he probably did at the beginning. Now I think he's starting to make plays out there everytime he's on the field because he has a better understanding of what's going on."

Coming from the same successful high school program, it's safe to say that Nix is just as troubled by the losing as DeCicco. But to hear DeCicco tell it, the Panthers are on their way to mirroring the Jaguars' success.

"If you look at all the talent we have this year and how the season ended last year, the expectations are much higher," DeCicco said.

"We have high expectations for ourselves. Anything less than a top bowl game is unacceptable."