Thursday, September 04, 2003

By Paul Zeise, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Pitt coach Walt Harris still has not decided to suspend or discipline starting quarterback Rod Rutherford for the Panthers' opener Saturday night against Kent State.

Rutherford, who was involved in a dispute with a 19 year-old woman early Monday morning outside a Station Square bar and grill, practiced yesterday and took most of the reps with the first team.

Harris was still evasive in discussing the matter and maintained his stance that he will not make any decisions until he completes his investigation. He presumably is waiting for the police to complete their investigation to see if any charges will be filed against Rutherford.

"There is nothing new," Harris said. "Right now, we are preparing to win this football game the best way we know how with the people that we have. Until I know all of the facts, I am not going to make any opinions or statements or decisions."

Harris was the only person who spoke with the media for the second consecutive day. No players, including Rutherford, or assistant coaches were permitted to talk with reporters.

Although Rutherford practiced, backup Luke Getsy also got a fair share of reps, which is not a surprise because Harris has said Getsy would play a few series regardless of what happens.

Harris made Getsy the backup because he is hoping to preserve the redshirt of sophomore Tyler Palko and might still be able to do so if the suspension is for only one game. He could also punish Rutherford by not allowing him to start but allowing him to play, in which case Getsy would start and play a series or two.

Schall backup center

Freshman Chris Vangas is listed as the backup center behind senior Justin Belarski on the official two-deep chart. But if something happens to Belarski, right guard Jon Schall will move to center and sophomore John Simonitis will step in at right guard.

Harris would like to redshirt Vangas, but he is listed as the backup because senior Rob Frederick is recovering from a foot injury.

"We're hoping to hold [Vangas] out and we're hoping not to have him be on the second team," Harris said. "We're hoping to hold him, but there are a lot of dominoes if Belarski goes out. We'll play all of the guys who have already been redshirted unless we hit a bad group of injuries."

Quick kicks

Redshirt freshman linebacker Azzie Beagnyam moved from linebacker to defensive end and will back up Claude Harriott. "We're trying to find the best spot for Azzie where we think he'll help our football team the most and where we think he might feel the most comfortable. ... Harris said he'd like to run the ball more this year. "We want to become a team that can be dominant at the line of scrimmage and have a 1,000-plus rusher." ... Senior William "Tutu" Ferguson will be the team's primary punt-returner.

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