Rod Rutherford grew up on the North Side and was a star quarterback at Perry and then at Pitt, so it was an easy decision for him to accept Dave Wannstedt's offer to join the Panthers coaching staff as a graduate assistant.

And since this is his hometown and this is the program he played for, familiarity is one thing he figured he'd have going for him.

But the job offer came with one twist -- since the graduate assistant who left was on the defensive side of the ball (Greg Williams took a job with the San Diego Chargers), the opening was as a defensive graduate assistant.

"It is a little different for me to be in the defensive meetings and the defensive rooms," said Rutherford, who will work with the linebackers.

"But last year I was an assistant coach at Saint Vincent and I coached the secondary, so I had already started down the defensive path. The way I see it, it can't hurt me in the long run, it can only help me."

Rutherford, who is the fourth all-time leading passer in school history (6,724) and holds the school record for passing yards in a season (3,679 in 2003), said he has actually learned a lot about offense from working with the defense.

"All I am trying to do is learn as much football from as many different coaches as possible and keep working hard and working my way up the ladder," he said.

"I'll always be an offensive guy at heart, but I know this was a great opportunity for me and I'm just working hard to try and make sure I hold up my end of the bargain."

He said that working with the linebackers has been a big change for him, but it has been interesting to learn that position and even more interesting to see the game from the other side of the line of scrimmage.

"I enjoy the fact that as a coach you can teach young men how to play the game and be a role model for them," said Rutherford, who said he still is playing some indoor football.

"I think the key is, I've always heard that the middle linebacker is the quarterback of the defense and I am getting to see that is really true. All the linebackers have their responsibilities that are different and I am learning to appreciate it more and more.

"I just want to learn as much as I can. I do know this, knowing what I know now about defense -- it would have definitely helped me out."

Linebackers learning

Pitt lost two starting linebackers to injury a week into the past season, and at the time, of course, it sent a little bit of a panic through the coaching staff.

But the Panthers managed to plug some holes and middle linebacker Scott McKillop picked up some slack with an All-American season.

At the time it was not a good development, but defensive coordinator Phil Bennett said it might have turned out to be a blessing because both outside linebackers -- Adam Gunn (neck) and Shane Murray (knee) -- are back and a number of younger players got reps last year.

"If we handle this right, it could become something we turn into an area of strength," Bennett said.

"I think once it happened, we had to build from ground zero. We had guys like Max Gruder play about 15 or 20 plays per game and you watch him now, he's a different player -- and we've raised the bar for all of those young guys with experience."

Bennett said Gunn and senior Steve Dell are battling for McKillop's spot, Murray is first team at weakside linebacker and sophomore Greg Williams, who was thrust into a starting role when Gunn went down, is first team at strongside.