It has been a difficult offseason for Pitt football. The program has battled off-field discipline issues and, more recently, some key recruiting losses.

It certainly was not the discussion that Wannstedt wanted to have yesterday, but it was not something he shied away from when he met with reporters.

His message was loud and clear: The sky is not falling at Pitt, the program is in good shape and, though the Panthers have lost a few key recruiting battles, it is early in the process.

Wannstedt addressed the discipline issues first and said that they are a concern, but that he has addressed them and that he is confident that the team has learned from them.

The troubles began in spring football when two players -- receiver T.J. Porter (driving while intoxicated) and Tommie Duhart (insubordination) ­--were dismissed from the program.

In early May, receiver Jonathan Baldwin was charged with a misdemeanor indecent assault and summary harassment and disorderly conduct in an incident involving a female student on a campus bus.

A few days later, senior middle linebacker Adam Gunn, was suspended indefinitely after he was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, failure to disperse and public drunkenness in an altercation with police officers outside a Station Square night club.

Wannstedt said the status of Gunn and Baldwin won't change until their cases are resolved.

Wannstedt said he has taken a proactive approach toward making sure the bad behavior does not become a trend. He also made it clear that he doesn't take any incident involving his players lightly and that he made that point crystal clear to his players at a 7:30 a.m. meeting the first day of the summer session.

"Everybody that knows me, knows what I stand for and knows that discipline is, has been and always will be a major part of our program," Wannstedt said. "We don't tolerate those types of things and we're disappointed that they happen. Discipline is a very big thing with me, and we went a few years with no problems.

"I know we have great kids here, we had a couple make mistakes and they are being held accountable and dealt with accordingly, but at some point we move forward. The players understand what I am about and I think the [ones involved in the incidents] are as disappointed as I am that they would disappoint themselves, their families and our football program in that manner because they know better.

"When someone makes a mistake, you have to use that as an example and hope that not only teaches that individual a lesson, but the rest of the members on our football team learn from someone's mistakes."

Wannstedt said he reads news articles on almost a daily basis to his team about incidents involving players all across the country and uses those articles as a teaching tool.

He also said he has made sure his players have remained active in the community and in charity work. In coming weeks, they will volunteer at the Mel Blount Youth Home and work at a fundraiser for the Fallen Heroes Fund.

"The more you can get them out in the community to do things," Wannstedt said, "it helps support the right way to do things. Like I said, I don't tolerate these kinds of things, but I do believe they are behind us."

In addition to the discipline issues, Wannstedt has had to deal with the fact that the "recruiting fence" he has tried to build around Western Pennsylvania prospects has seemingly developed a major hole.

There have been eight players from the WPIAL this year with offers from Pitt who have already made verbal commitments, and only one of them (Penn Hills' Aaron Donald) has committed to the Panthers.

Worse for Pitt, five recruits have committed to Penn State, including two players with deep Pitt ties -- Fox Chapel's Miles Dieffenbach (his father is Pitt's tennis coach) and North Allegheny's Tom Ricketts (his dad is a former Pitt player).

Wannstedt said he's confident the Panthers will have a great recruiting class by February. This week, the Panthers will hold two more prospect camps and he expects the total number of players to come through to be about 650, which is far more than they have had in the past.

"If you think about, we had about 50 or 60 kids at our prospect camps," Wannstedt said.

"So we're making a lot of progress in that area. And at this point, we are way ahead in recruiting than we have been -- at this point the last few years there were probably 40 kids I was comfortable offering a scholarship to -- right now, I'd say we are at about 75.

"We are further ahead with quality names at every position and more players come through here than at any point since I have been here. We're banging heads with the top programs for kids and there will be some wins and losses. We believe we have the best program in the country, but it may not be for everyone.

"But we're going to get our share of guys, and they are going to be great players who are going to be excited about winning and being a part of Pitt football."

NOTES -- Wannstedt said that the careers of defensive end Doug Fulmer (knee) and tight end John Pelusi (shoulder) are over due to their injuries. Both will remain involved with the team in various capacities and work on their graduate degrees. ... Wannstedt said that the only incoming recruit who is still in doubt due to academics is Beaver Falls' Todd Thomas, who is in summer school. If Thomas doesn't become eligible, he will likely head to Milford Academy for prep school for a year.