Welcome to the Pitt mailbag, where the Post-Gazette reporters Noah Hiles and Chris Carter answer all your questions about the Panthers. If you have questions, tweet them @_Noahhiles and @Cartercritiques or email them at nhiles@post-gazette.com and ccarter@post-gazette.com. Noah and Chris will answer your questions in full length each Tuesday on YouTube. You can read the condensed version of the discussion below.
Joe: With the football team taken care of, can we expect Alliance 412 to reach a similar agreement with the basketball team in the near future?
Hiles: I think it would be a fair expectation for a deal to get done with the basketball team eventually. That’s not me reporting some inside information, but rather using common sense. If they could make it happen with an 85-man roster, I think it would be much easier to accomplish with a 14-man roster. I do know that, at least for the next month or so, the focus for Alliance 412 is on football. They want to capitalize on the hype surrounding the upcoming season. I think their goal is to use the publicity and buzz from the football team’s deal as an opportunity to generate new money, which can be used for deals with other Pitt teams. Whenever those deals take place, based on the landscape of college sports, it’s safe to assume men’s basketball will be the next team taken care of.
Carter: Football and men’s basketball are the two big-time money-making sports at the collegiate level. If those programs aren’t successful, it won’t really matter how good the rest of your teams are if the goal is generating revenue. Football was the first step, because as Noah mentioned, it’s football season. My guess is that a similar deal with the basketball team will be announced closer to the start of its season. Once those two are taken care of, we will probably see other sports get something as well. Maybe not a team-wide deal, but there could be something, especially for the programs like volleyball or men’s and women’s soccer, that are in the mix for a national championship.
Chuck: I read somewhere that Ohio State’s Athletic Director will be retiring at the end of the year. What are the chances Heather Lyke ends up leaving Pitt to head to Columbus?
Hiles: Heather has said numerous times that she’s very happy at Pitt, but that Ohio State job will be hard for anyone to pass up, especially someone like her, who has worked there in the past. On another note, I guess this is a good time to tease a big story I’ve been working on all summer about Heather Lyke. Over the past few months, we’ve chatted numerous times over a wide range of topics, including her future at Pitt. My goal is to have that published by the end of the month, so stay tuned!
Carter: Heather has done a great job at Pitt. She is paid well here and has a few things she wants to see happen before she considers leaving. However, jobs like the Ohio State Athletic Director position don’t become available very often. It would be hard to imagine that she wouldn’t at least consider the opportunity if it was offered to her.
Jack: From what I noticed, it looked like Carlton Carrington was the best of the freshmen guards during the Spain trip. Do you think that puts him in a spot to be the starting point guard over Dior Johnson and Jaland Lowe?
Hiles: We’re still a long way from starting lineup discussions. It’s August. The team has played two games in Spain and was without their starting center in both matchups. I think it’s encouraging to see Carrington play well, but Dior Johnson still has more experience. I doubt Jeff Capel would see anything over two international scrimmages that would allow him to make a true freshman his team’s starting point guard. Not saying Carrington or Lowe can’t beat out Johnson as the starter; I’m just saying that we’re still months away from that decision being made.
Carter: Those international trips are for team chemistry more than anything else. It’s nice to see Carrington play well, but honestly, no one outside the program knows how well he or any other player did in those two games. There was no live stream, and we didn’t even receive a full box score. All that we have to go off of is the limited stats and highlights that came from the team. The numbers are encouraging, but I don’t think they come close to painting a full picture.
Andy: We recently saw another Pitt Panther get inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. If you had to pick one current Panther to make it into Canton, who would you choose?
Hiles: Man, this is a really fun question. I want to start by saying it’s likely that there are no Pro Football Hall of Famers on this year’s Pitt team, which is the case for pretty much every other team in the country. However, I’d go with Ryan Baer if I had to pick someone. He seems to have a ton of potential for a redshirt freshman. I have no clue what his career at Pitt will look like, but I believe he has a high ceiling. I wouldn’t be shocked if he left the Panthers in a few years as one of their more decorated offensive linemen in the Pat Narduzzi era. That still would leave him plenty of work to do at the professional level, but Baer is my pick.
Carter: I’m going to cheat and stick to the formula. Aliquippa has already produced two Pitt Panthers that reached the Pro Football Hall of Fame. What’s one more? With that being said, my pick is M.J. Devonshire. I think he’s poised to have a great season, and I see him doing very well at the NFL Combine. If he gets in the right situation, maybe he can also put together a strong pro career.
Will: Who ends the 2023 season with the most carries: C’Bo Flemister, Daniel Carter, or Derrick Davis Jr.?
Hiles: Based on familiarity with the offense and skillset, I will go with Flemister. Carter’s role is pretty clear — He will be used in short yardage and for blocking. Flemister and Davis should both receive their share of touches, but right now, C’Bo knows the playbook better since he was at Pitt last year. I’m high on Davis. If Hammond has a big year and goes to the NFL, Davis could be the team’s starting running back next season. But for this question, the safe answer is Flemister.
Carter: It’s going to sound like we’re going with chalk, but favorites exist for a reason. C’Bo is a very experienced player. He saw playing time at Notre Dame before he arrived at Pitt last season. He did well in the situations they needed him. He probably starts the season at No. 2 on the depth chart, which allows him to touch the ball more. However, Davis has great potential to be a big contributor as well.
Thank you all for following along! Be sure to send questions on Twitter to @_Noahhiles and @Cartercritiques or email them at nhiles@post-gazette.com and ccarter@post-gazette.com. And subscribe to our FREE daily all-sports newsletter, PG Sports Feed.
First Published: August 15, 2023, 3:30 p.m.