Submit your Pitt football question

Well now, the demand is certainly here for some Q&A, and we have the supply to help fill that demand. I'll have a Q&A today and then try to have at least one a week until spring football begins when we'll get back into the every day routine.

There are a lot of questions about Pitt now that recruiting is over and the offensive coordinator is headed out of town. I know there have been a lot of names thrown around, but my gut feeling is that the offensive coordinator will not be one of these early names we're hearing, for a number of reasons. I could be wrong, but based on conversations I've had, that just seems to be the way the wind is blowing at this point.

If you go to the Redshirt Diaries, I have a semi-serious look at the early names being thrown around. Again, I'm doubting any of these names are going to be the guy but it is the early speculation, which is always fun.

So, without further delay, let's get into today's expanded Q&A.

Q: I understand recruiting all the running backs since the team is losing its top two backs next year, but what is with all the pint-size backs? Aside from Shariff Harris, all the running backs on the roster are "Stephens-Howling-size" and seem very similar in that they are very short with speed.

Tom Mikeska, Pittsburgh

Zeise: I agree that Raymond Graham and Dion Lewis are smaller backs with speed, but Kevin Adams is 6 feet, 210 and Chris Burns, who is on the roster and is one of the favorites to become the starter, is 5 feet 11, 200 pounds. which is about the same size as LeSean McCoy (who was listed at 5-11, 210). So I think the Panthers have a mixture of bigger backs and smaller backs and I think a combination that starts with Shariff Harris and Chris Burns and includes someone like a Graham, will be fine. I've said it before and I'll say it again -- I think replacing Scott McKillop is going to be tougher than replacing McCoy.

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Q: Was Matt Cavanaugh going to the NFL the best news of the off season? He killed the offense with his play calling and not using his assets. Is there a chance that Walt Harris could be brought back to run the offense?

Grant Tyman, Dormont

Zeise: The Walt Harris question -- you win the derby for getting it answered as I had no fewer than 20 inquiries about Harris. Which is sort of hilarious to me, considering Harris was run out of town by many of the same people who are begging for him to be hired. I know his name was floated out there and there is some talk that he is going to be one of the names, but I don't see it happening. Like I said, if you go to the "Redshirt Diaries" http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/collegesports/default.aspx you'll see why I really don't think that Walt Harris and Dave Wannstedt could co-exist, given their respective philosophies.

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Q: Here is the perfect opportunity for Dave Wannstedt to go out and get a REAL "college coordinator," someone with vision and an aerial attack. I'm thinking colleges like Boise State, TCU, Tulsa, Houston. Thoughts?

Bob Fitzmaurice, St. Pete Beach, Fla.

Zeise: This is a question I'll answer very simply with another question -- in four years of observing Wannstedt, have we seen anything -- anything at all -- which would make you believe that there is any chance at all of a spread, read-option, option, five-wide guy being hired by him? He even said it the other day: The Panthers will run a pro-style offense, period. So while fans are getting all giddy because their favorite whipping boy Cavanaugh is leaving, I'm thinking I am not going to go too far out on a limb when I say whoever gets hired will be very similar in philosophy to Cavanaugh. Now, the play-calling might change a little, but I just don't see it changing dramatically.

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Q: Do you follow any of the recruiting process, and if you do, how did we do? I see from certain websites that we have no five-star recruits this year and the overall ranking dropped considerably from last year's top 25.

Blaise Novotny, Ebensburg

Zeise: It is not a great class, but I always tell people to ask me about a recruiting class about two weeks after they put the pads on in August and I can usually tell you who is or will be a player and who is not very good. All you have to do is watch them for a few full-contact sessions and that tells you a lot.

That's one reason I think Chris Burns is going to be pretty good. He was one of the most impressive freshmen at camp last year. I was also impressed with the three defensive backs -- Ronald Hobby (who has since been given his walking papers), Jared Holley and Antwuan Reed as well as local guys Tino Sunseri, Manny Williams, Lucas Nix, Jonathan Baldwin and Andrew Taglianetti -- just to name a few. Those guys all showed me they are potentially players, and that has nothing to do with their star-rankings. So to answer your question, yes, I follow recruiting but I don't like ranking classes or players until I see them play.

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Q: What happens to Kevan Smith's scholarship now that he has left the football team?

Ed Cummings, Sterling, Va.

Zeise: It becomes available to be handed out to someone else.

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Q: So who is the heir apparent at running back and fullback for Pitt? And does this lower the expectations for 2009?

Joe Jinlii, Pittsburgh

Zeise: Externally -- meaning, to the world outside of Western Pennsylvania - yes, having no McCoy means Pitt might begin the season unranked or ranked very low as national perception is that he was their franchise and now they are cooked. Locally, I'd say the expectations are a little lower (people were talking about the Panthers winning the Big East next year) but not much. With the returning players and the defense the Panthers should have, there is no reason at all that this team shouldn't be expected to go at the very least 8-4, if not 9-3. That is not saying they will, it is saying they should. This team should be talented enough at this point in the Wannstedt era to be expected to get to a bowl game at the very least every single year.

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Q: My question, like many I'm sure, is about the offense next season. When Pitt played too conservatively this season, they lost. It seems to me that without McCoy, and I understand there is a lot of hype for Burns, that the staff will get even MORE conservative. I'm really hoping you can tell me my logic is wrong.

Jim Raible, Irwin, Pa.

Zeise: I am going to say this and I hope people understand fully what I mean. McCoy is and was irrelevant to next season in many ways because with him or without him, nothing matters unless the quarterback play improves by leaps and bounds. That's just reality. And if the quarterback play stinks or is not very good, the coaches will be conservative. If the quarterback, whoever it is, can make plays and can show he can carry some of the load, then the coaches will be more willing to let him throw the ball a little bit more. So really, again, I don't think it has as much to do with the running back spot as it does the quarterback spot.

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Q: Hypothetically speaking, if McCoy does not perform well at the NFL Combine and his draft stock drops, can he return to the Panthers if he does not hire an agent like in college basketball?

Tim Millhouse, Pittsburgh

Zeise: No, that's not an option in football. Once you declare, you better make a roster because your college career is over.

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Q: I've been meaning to write since the bowl game, but had trouble finding the motivation. I fully appreciate your perspective that Bill Stull was the best option the Panthers had a quarterback. Given that, perhaps they should have simply abandoned quarterback all together. And pray tell you have some idea what they will do next year? Some are insinuating that the offensive struggles are in part responsible for McCoy changing his tune. Do you buy that?

Jonathan Keim, Bellefonte, Pa.

Zeise: Yes, to the question about McCoy. I spoke with several people who said that the offensive ineptitude was at least a small part of the reason he left. But to the bigger picture- - quarterback play. Wannstedt said the other day that all three -- Bill Stull, Pat Bostick and Tino Sunseri -- will be treated equally and will be given equal snaps in spring football. I don't know if I buy that, nor am I sure if I buy the idea that Tino Sunseri will get a real fair shake at winning the job, though a new offensive coordinator coming in might give some opportunity to the younger guy getting a look. But again, we can only go by the precedent we've seen around this program and based on that the head coach clearly favors experience at that position and he favors making the safest choice and that would point to Stull or perhaps Bostick. Like I've written before, if Sunseri is going to win the job he is going to have to do it by being so unbelievably better than Stull in the spring that there is no reasonable questions in the coaching staff's mind that he can get the job done. And that's a lot to ask of a redshirt freshman. The bottom line is this position is the one which will decide whether Pitt is mediocre, good or even great in 2009, and whoever is the starter will have more pressure on him to perform at a high level than just about any player in the conference, if not the country.

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Q: Four years of Dave Wannstedt and he has yet to produce one team ranked in the top 25 at season's end. Remind me again about that next level we are getting to? How can anyone think Dave Wannstedt is moving Pitt back to prominence?

Dave DeBlasio, Houston, Texas

Zeise: He's recruited well. He has the base of a very good team. He finally got back to bowling this year but you are right, the next level has been elusive for this program. I will say the foundation of talent is better than what he inherited and it is much better in the important places on both lines of scrimmage. So he is clearly moving it in the right direction again, but the time is now to prove that this past season wasn't just a fluke. The team won nine games, it really should have won 11 and while last season it was learning how to win, you are right, it is time to deliver on some of the promise. He's done a very good job of acquiring talent and rebuilding the program in other areas, but it is time to win the Big East, get to a BCS and then remain an annual contender.

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Q: Isn't it just possible that Wannstedt wouldn't know a good quarterback if one came up and bit him? Is he exceptionally blind to offensive ability?

Tom Trageser, Mt. Lebanon

Zeise: No I don't think that is fair. He hasn't had a lot of great quarterbacks to work with but when he's had one, like Tyler Palko and, way back with the Bears, Eric Kramer, he's let them play and he's let them throw the ball. He's obviously a defensive-minded coach but I don't think he totally ignores the other side of the ball.