Pitt freshman tailback Dion Lewis is a man of few words, but lately he has been a man of action, and if his performance last week against Rutgers was any indication, he will be carrying the football often in the Panthers' final five games.

Lewis had 31 carries in the 24-17 win against the Scarlet Knights. His workload by far was his season high. He rushed for 180 yards and two touchdowns and got stronger as the game wore on.

To the understated Lewis, this was no big deal, but it is a big development for Pitt, given that he is a true freshman, and there is always a concern about durability when dealing with a young tailback.

"Yeah, I had a lot of carries," he said, with a grin. "But I wasn't too tired and I felt good. I could have run the ball more if they needed. It was a good feeling, and you could see [Rutgers] was getting a little bit tired. And that's because of our great conditioning program. The guys keep pushing."

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said coming into the season that he doesn't like juggling running backs. Despite having a good second option in Ray Graham, Wannstedt clearly is committed to sticking with Lewis and only using Graham occasionally.

Of course, now that Lewis has proved that he is capable of carrying the ball 30 times in a game, Wannstedt said that he will not be afraid to keep handing it to Lewis, even though he has not even made it through a full offseason of winter conditioning and weight training.

"I think 25 [carries] is a nice number," Wannstedt said. "But I know this: Rutgers played a lot of games over the years giving it to [school record-breaking tailback] Ray Rice 35 times. And my reputation I think, as you guys know, [is] I'm not afraid to hand it to [running backs].

"But great running backs want the ball."

Lewis has carried the load for the Panthers, averaging 131.1 yards per game and 5.7 yards per carry. He has 162 carries (23 per game) for 918 yards and nine touchdowns. That production merited Lewis a first-team midseason All-America designation by SI.com.

But perhaps the most impressive thing about Lewis is his ability to carry the ball multiple times productively late in games.

Against Rutgers, Pitt -- clinging to a seven-point lead -- had a 13-play, 60-yard drive that consumed 6:53 in the fourth quarter and should have put the game out of reach, except that Dan Hutchins missed a 30-yard field-goal attempt. On that drive, Lewis had nine carries for 43 yards.

Against Connecticut the week before, Pitt had two fourth-quarter drives -- one to tie the game and one to win it -- and Lewis had 10 carries in 23 plays.

"You have to tackle him every time," Wannstedt said. "And, in the fourth quarter, those 21/2-yard runs become four-yard runs. He has proven he can do it all. He can go inside and outside, shows power and speed, and that is very unusual for any back, let alone a freshman."

Pitt guard John Malecki said it is no coincidence that Lewis is getting better and stronger as games wear on because he is one of the best-conditioned athletes on the team.

Malecki also loves to block for Lewis because he is a physical, straight-ahead runner, the kind of football player people in Western Pennsylvania seem to embrace. Lewis played high school football at Blair Academy in New Jersey.

"Dion is doing a lot of incredible things," said Malecki, a Franklin Regional graduate. "He is a four-quarter, smash-mouth, Pittsburgh-style running back, even though he is not from around here. You can tell he loves the way we run the football.

"He worked very hard to get into our strength and conditioning program to catch up to older guys, and he fits our mentality as a second-half team. Coach Wannstedt and [strength and conditioning coach] Buddy Morris implement that in all of us. [Lewis] takes it to another level."

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NOTES -- Hutchins missed that clutch kick and another earlier in the game, but Wannstedt said yesterday that he has full confidence in him to make clutch kicks. "I've always believed [a kicker] gets confidence back during the week in practice, and he had a very good week," Wannstedt said. "He's kicked extremely well. He had an opportunity to get down to Heinz Field [Wednesday] and kick in the stadium."

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