Home >  Sports >  Notebooks

Monday, August 26, 2002

By Shelly Anderson, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Even before the coaches approached him, Pitt's Tim Murphy thought about the possibility of moving from tailback to fullback.

Murphy, a 5-foot-10, 230-pound redshirt freshman from Buchtel High in Akron, Ohio, came into training camp a year ago as one of six young players hoping to win the starting tailback job. Then a shoulder injury and surgery kept him out of contact all season.

When fullback Dustin Picciotti decided two days into the 2002 training camp to quit playing because of lingering problems related to concussions, there was no clear backup to returning starter Lousaka Polite.

Murphy stepped out of a competitive and fluctuating situation at tailback into the nearly uncontested role of second-string fullback.

"It's something that will help the team and help myself," Murphy said.

He said he picked up the nuances of fullback quickly, and he proved it last week in the Panthers' second scrimmage, leading the team in rushing with 62 yards and a touchdown on just five carries. He also caught a pass out of the backfield, for a 1-yard gain.

Murphy said he would be comfortable at either running back spot now and for the rest of his career.

"Whatever the team wants me to do," he said. "I thought about it -- two years down the line they might move me back or something, but I'm just trying to do my job wherever they put me."

Turnover troubles

One of Pitt's big problems last year in its 1-5 start was turnovers. The Panthers had 18 in that stretch.

Turnovers were something of a problem early in training camp this year. It wasn't unusual to see the whole fleet of running backs, a ball under one arm, doing extra conditioning drills at the end of practice.

The problem surfaced again in the Panthers' second scrimmage last week when the team had five turnovers -- two interceptions thrown by Pat Hoderny and fumbles lost by quarterbacks Tyler Palko and Luke Getsy and tailback Jawan Walker.

Coach Walt Harris is determined that everyone on the team enters the season taking great care of the ball.

"When you turn the football over, you're going to lose," Harris said. "I don't care if Joe Paterno's coaching the team, John Cooper's coaching the team, John Majors is coaching the team, Bear Bryant is coaching the team. If you turn it over 18 times, you're going to lose."

New look

At Fanfest last week at Heinz Field, Pitt players wore their new Nike-made jersey. That sparked a chorus of questions from fans about when they'll be able to buy Nike replica jerseys.

There is no clear answer.

The Panthers signed with Nike this summer to outfit the football team, but Pitt gear made by Nike is not yet available to the public.

"We're pressing [Nike] and they're being extremely cooperative considering the pressure we've put them under," said Jim Earle, associate athletic director for new business and fan development. "I don't have any final answers on when or exactly what the assortment will be."

At the very least, Earle said, there will be things such as sweatshirts and T-shirts sometime this season. Jerseys might be another matter.

"I can't say definitely at this point," he said. "That would be our top priority, but that's also one of the most difficult for them to produce."