rope: Will we see Baldwin running a lot of short routes this year compared to last years send him down field and throw it up for grabs style?

Paul Zeise: Welcome to the first edition of the Pitt chat. Hopefully we can answer a lot of questions each week about your Pitt Panthers..... To answer this one, yes. I think they want him to become a much more complete receiver and use him in a lot of situations, including some screens and some slants and anything to get him in the open field one-on-one with defenders. I think we will see him used in a lot of different ways.

Mr._title: Lets start with billy stull. How short will be the leash in yanking Mr. Stull? he finished the season dreadfully and many are convinced that Walt was right. He is not a Div 1A QB. Your thoughts?

Paul Zeise: I think all of this would have been avoided if he would have gotten more work in a few blowouts back in 2005 when he was a freshman......OK, sorry I couldn't resist. I don't think his leash is going to be so short that he is yanked the first time he makes a mistake. But I do think that if the trend of the Panthers having a very stale passing game develops, he'll be clearly toeing the line. It would be interesting to see how long the coaches would stick with him if he doesn't play well and it is getting close to week 4 when the really tough games begin. My guess is, he'll be fine and this won't be much of an issue because the coaches won't put him in many situations where he will be able to fail miserably.

PittDC: With a walk on behind Houser at center....are there any young lineman, they are grooming to take center next year or in the future and who they think has great potential for the center position?

Paul Zeise: Great question and from what I can see, no. This is certainly something that needs to be watched as I am fairly certain they want to do better than Alex Karabin there next year. But I just don't see who it will be at this point, unless they are going to go after another junior college player in the offseason. The player who physically would make the best center is Chris Jacobson but I'm not sure he would be able to handle some of the other parts of the job of being center, like making the line calls and other things like that.

CMUandPitt: Now that Colin Dunlap is on the WVU beat, do you ever get the urge to pull a prank on him, such as playing "Old MacDonald" and/or towing his tractor from the PG parking lot?

Paul Zeise: Um, no, who do you think I am, the old PA announcer from Pitt Stadium?

PittDC: How is Nate Byham's concussion? All okay and cleared to play?

Paul Zeise: I'm not sure he is ready to play in fact, I'd be shocked if they put him out there in harm's way this week in a game which is, let's face it, not going to be all that challenging. I mean, it seems to me that coaches are going to try and take the cautious route with any player who might be a little bit dinged up and Byham had the kind of injury which, the more time you have to recover the better. I could be wrong but I just don't think they are going to put him out there this week, or if they do, it will be in a limited capacity.

PittDC: Did the sales office meet their goal of 50K season tickets sold? That would be great if they were able to do so.

Paul Zeise: Last number I heard as around 46 K, so if you add the student tickets and visiting tickets and whatnot, it means there are probably about six or seven thousand tickets out there floating for this game. And if the crowd for this game is 50,000 or more that would be a huge step forward for this program.

GE: Most agree that, except for a few bright spots (see Pitt vs. Navy), Pitt's 2008 offense consisted of LeSean McCoy and Conor Lee. It sounds like there is some reason to be optimistic regarding the running game in '09, but how about the kicking game? Your opinion Paul on the kicking game?

Paul Zeise: The kicking game is going to be solid. I don't know if it will be light's out like last year, but it should be solid. I think Dan Hutchins is a good kicker. He will be reliable though his range isn't quite what Lee's was. Inside of 40, however, which is where most of the kicks will come from, he should be very reliable. And if they get stuck and need a longer kick, they can always have Kevin Harper kick it since he has the much stronger leg.

footballpenguin: I know a lot can happen over the course of the season, but is this likely the last year we see juniors Greg Romeus and Jabaar Sheard in a Pitt uniform because they opt for the nfl?

Paul Zeise: Well, I don't know. I would think if Romeus has a great season yes, this is it for him because he's 6-foot-6 and in the words of his teammates and coaches, a physical freak, and clearly could be a first round pick. Sheard, however, his pro potential is still not quite as clear -- because he's not quite as physically gifted and as big as Romeus -- so it would be interesting to see where he'd be projected if he has a good year and whether it would be high enough to leave early. My gut tells me Romeus will be gone, Sheard will return.

bald_zoo_guy: How independent is the Cignetti offense from the old Cav offense which was widely criticized the last few years?

Paul Zeise: I think the play calling will be a little bit different but the offense itself will still be heavily based on a run game and a short passing and play action passing game. I don't know that we'll see that much of a difference in the actual offense but we could see a little difference in the play calling and how certain players are used.

pittnh: Do you think Bostick will ever develop into the type of QB he was hyped to be coming out of high school?

Paul Zeise: No, but that doesn't mean he couldn't become a very good Division I quarterback who could some day lead Pitt to a bunch of wins. But remember he was hyped to be a franchise quarterback, a big-time player and that was just no fair or realistic. I think he has a chance to be a good player. I don't think he has a chance to become a superstar like he was projected to be.

PittDC: This might be a question more for a mailbag or article, but why does the Big East get so little respect, while the Big Ten and ACC seem to escape it every year? OSU and PSU get blown out in BCS bowls, the ACC teams are always overrated at the beginning of the year, but all we hear about is how awful the Big East is. Why?

Paul Zeise: Because the Big East is four years old and the Big Ten and ACC are much older and have more tradition. It is that simple. In the case of the Big Ten, it also has some large state schools with large crowds and that tends to make people overrate how good the football actually is as well. The ACC benefits from having teams like Miami and Fla. State who are traditional powers as well as a team like Va. Tech who is a more recent powers. It really is that simple -- name recognition and branding. If the Big East continues to play good football, wins bowl games, wins BCS games, wins a national title or two over the next 20 years the perception of it will be much different than it is today.

Maxo70: Is Tino really ahead of Bostick or is this just a situation where they're trying to redshirt Bostick? From the practices I saw last spring and this fall, Bostick seems to be the best decision maker.

Paul Zeise: They want to redshirt Bostick. And you are right, Bostick knows the offense and understands it better than the other two quarterbacks. I also think this -- if Stull got hurt in a game on the road or in a tight game with a lot of pressure, I'd be shocked if they threw the redshirt freshman in there over a guy who has proven he can win games in tough circumstances. So I'd say Tino is ahead of Bostick if he is going to be used in some mop up time or if he is going to be brought into a situation where the quarterback doesn't have as much pressure on his shoulders.

Memory_of_Terrelle: I know we have a cadre of experienced receivers, but did you get a chance to see if the freshman halfbacks were any good at catching passes out of the backfield?

Paul Zeise: Yes, that was one thing I was impressed with just about all of them - they all catch passes well and not only that, they seem to run well after they catch them. That is why I think we'll see a lot of screens and a lot of swing passes with this group.

jersey: What's the word on Tucker?

Paul Zeise: To paraphrase Darryl Hall and John Oates ..."he's gone, oh Pitt, oh Pitt better learn how to face it, he's gone..." He left and he isn't coming back. End of story.

PittDC: How much better will the fullback blocking be this year with Hynoski in there?

Paul Zeise: It should be somewhat improved but I don't know that Conredge Collins was as bad at it as some people try to make him out to be. He wasn't great but when he wanted to -- which was sometimes an issue -- he was capable. I think Hynoski will be a good fullback, though from what I've seen I'm not sure how much a fullback will come into play in this offense.

pittnh: Will Cignetti get the ball in the hands of the playmakers? We heard that every year from Cav, and every year we would see lob passes and 30 carries from the tailback. Any sets for Saddler, or Dickerson?

Paul Zeise: He said he will and I tend to believe him. He knows who the best players on the offense are and he knows that this offense is limited. I think he'll try to make sure Dickerson, Baldwin, Lewis, Graham and Byham do the bulk of the work in terms of getting the ball in their hands as much as possible. Of course, it is easy to say that and as you have pointed out, it doesn't always work out that way so I guess time will tell.

bald_zoo_guy: ACL surgery is significant. Is Cam saddler as quick/ fast as he was coming in last year?

Paul Zeise: He has done an excellent job of getting back and yes, I do think that he has regained his speed and his elusiveness. He showed a lot during the latter part of camp and he should be an exciting return man if nothing else.

PittDC: What's the word on the song between the 3rd and 4th quarter? Still Sweet Caroline or something new?

Paul Zeise: Yes, Neil Diamond is extremely happy with Chris Ferris for keeping his spirit alive at Heinz Field on game days.

Hail_to_PItt: Paul ... By what game will we see Tino Sunseri play this year

Paul Zeise: I think we will see him play some Saturday against YSU.

This_Beat_Just_Got_Worse: Paul, saw the news about Kevin Gorman leaving the Pitt beat. Is it true that his nickname is the Ice Cream Man, since he's got the scoops?

Paul Zeise: Yes, like Clint Eastwood used to say in those Dirty Harry movies "He's a legend in his own mind....."

footballpenguin: Any info on future bowl tie-ins now that el paso will be out?

Paul Zeise: No, they weren't expecting to lose the Sun Bowl. Now that they have (and I for one am glad because El Paso is, well, you can read about my thoughts on it in the Redshirt Diaries if you care to) I'm not sure there was a solid Plan B. I have heard some things about the Music City Bowl but they had that game already and were dumped before so I'm not sure if it is a realistic option.

Paul Zeise: Thanks for all of the great questions -- and we will do this again next week at the same time.