Panther-lair.com - Chryst addresses the injury question

August 30, 2012

Chris Peak
Panther-lair.com Publisher

Some of the biggest questions with the Pitt football team heading into its season opener against Youngstown State are regarding injuries. Key players like senior running back Ray Graham and junior cornerback K'Waun Williams spent portions of training camp on the sidelines, and the Panthers will need those players when the team takes the field this season.

On Thursday head coach Paul Chryst said that inquiring minds will have to put their inquiries on hold until game day.

"Every week there are going to be some guys health-wise that we don't know (about their statuses), and we're going to see what happens," Chryst said at the start of his press conference Thursday. "It's this week and it will be every week, and I don't…there are guys on the staff who are trying to figure out exactly where we're going. So I won't comment on that and probably won't during the year."

Throughout training camp, Chryst termed most of the injured players as "day-to-day," and he reiterated that status for Graham and Williams during his Monday press conference. Defensive coordinator Dave Huxtable also more or less gave redshirt sophomore defensive end T.J. Clemmings the same prognosis on Tuesday.

While some coaching staffs might use the "day-to-day" designation as a general subterfuge in the gamesmanship of college football, Chryst and company claim a certain level of sincerity.

"I'm not going to tell you something I don't know for sure," Chryst told the assembled media on Thursday. "I don't need to share things that other people don't need to know, and a lot of it is, I really don't know. So if you spend a lot of time talking about things you don't know, at times that seems like a waste of time. But really, it's because I don't know."

Chryst did say - without naming names - that he is encouraged by the "day-to-day" status of some of the players.

"We really do have a group of guys that are day-to-day, and there's a group of those that I am kind of excited that they're day-to-day, (because) we've got a chance here."

Coaches often institute policies that prohibit players from participating in a game if they miss a certain amount of practice time during the week. For Chryst, situations like that are far less rigid, and his approach is comparably malleable.

"I think our policy is, is the guy prepared to go out and play? Is he in good shape?" Chryst said. "No, I don't have a hard and fast rule. I remember growing up as a player, and if you didn't practice Wednesday and Thursday you were not going to play in the game. I don't have that policy. So I think you try to take each situation; there are so many different variables, and it goes back to, is it right for the player and is it right for the team? You make the best decisions you can with that information."