Football: Seniors on the team ready to win, teach newcomers

Any team that wants to be successful needs veteran leadership, and if that kind of experience is… Any team that wants to be successful needs veteran leadership, and if that kind of experience is any indication of how the Pitt football team will fare this season, then fans should be very excited.

The team boasts 20 seniors, including 12 starters who aim to show the younger players on the team what it takes to win.

And maybe nobody knows that better than linebacker Adam Gunn.

“Being a sixth-year senior, I can say I’ve been through it all and that it really is my responsibility to keep everyone on track and make sure if they don’t know what they’re doing that they catch up and learn,” Gunn, a senior who was granted an extra year of eligibility this summer, said.

This is an important responsibility because as the seniors pass on what they know to the younger players, those younger players take that knowledge and eventually mentor the next batch of underclassmen in upcoming years.

These seniors said they remember a time not too long ago when they, too, were young players and how much it meant to them when the upperclassmen helped make them not just better players, but also helped them adjust to college life.

“Chris and Scott McKillop were two great guys who went out of their way to make sure I was enjoying myself here at the University and that I felt comfortable,” senior offensive lineman John Malecki said. “That’s really something that I want to be able to do for somebody else with the position I’m in now.”

This year’s group of true seniors — or four-year seniors — was Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt’s first official full recruiting class at Pitt, and the group has helped lead the way for the team’s improvement over the past few seasons.

When Wannstedt took the head coaching job at Pitt, he said he would emphasize recruiting players from Western Pennsylvania, an area traditionally rich in football talent.

Pitt currently has 38 players from the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League and the City League, which comprise the greater Pittsburgh area.

Wannstedt wasted no time in staying true to his promise, as he got a commitment from Malecki, a star at the Pittsburgh area school Franklin Regional. Malecki was one of Wannstedt’s first-prize recruits in the class that contributed to the team’s turnaround.

Wannstedt has been able to land so many local players by having the Pittsburgh area guys already on the team to show the players in the area what Pitt has to offer.

“Coach Wannstedt will have older guys that have been here for a while and especially guys from the local area talk to some of the young recruits they bring in,” Malecki said. “Something they instill here at the University of Pittsburgh is that family aspect, and we just try to get the young guys to feel comfortable.”

The class of 2006 was highlighted by the four-star recruit Malecki, five-start tight end Nate Byham, four-star tight end Dorin Dickerson, four-star cornerback Aaron Berry and two-star Greg Romeus, who is now a redshirt junior.

These experienced veteran players, along with countless others from that recruiting class, have been the main reason Pitt was able to win nine games last year. With their continual leadership over the younger players, they will be the reason Pitt will be able to win even more games.