Pittsburgh Removes Football Players From Program
This weekend’s NFL draft featured the selection of exactly ZERO players from Pittsburgh. This is odd because Pitt usually had among the best recruiting classes in the Big East. They are able to keep a lot of that great Pennsylvania talent to stay at home… but it rarely translates into wins. And now the team is going backwards—having to dismiss two players and indefinitely suspend two others.
Head coach Paul Chryst did a nice job to keep the team bowl-eligible in 2012, after yet another coaching change. One ugly part of the coaching job is discipline issues. And it has reared its head in Pittsburgh lately. As noted above, Chryst had to remove two players from the team permanently and indefinitely suspend a third:
Tight end Drew Carswell and defensive back Eric Williams, both juniors, have been removed from the team. Carswell, Williams and defensive tackle Khaynin Mosley-Smith were all suspended last week after police made a drug raid on their house.
Yikes. Not a good thing when a drug raid occurs at the house of players.
And then, in a separate incident, Chryst gave the indefinite suspension penalty to yet another player–QB Tra’von Chapman. Chapman was arrested in Ohio over the weekend for assault and something called “unlawful restraint.” Whatever it is, it isn’t good. ESPN had Chapman as the 20th best QB coming out of high school.
Pitt has had better football weekends, that’s for sure.
The Confidential 