The Erie Times-News spoke 1-on-1 with Pittsburgh football coach Dave Wannstedt on Thursday at a sports banquet at the Kahkwa Club involving the Erie Chapter of the Panthers Club. Here’s what Wannstedt said about the three area players – Franklin’s Nate Byham (junior tight end) and Erie’s Maurice Williams (sophomore receiver) and Dan Matha (red-shirt freshman offensive lineman) – who are with the Panthers.

Status of Byham (Suffered a knee injury last season) – “He’s good. He’s actually doing everything now. He’s running full speed. Lifting full speed. Kids are throwing the ball around on their own (during voluntary workouts). He’s been cleared by our doctors to do everything.”

Status of Matha (Red-shirted last season after having surgery on both shoulders) – “He’s fine. He got a lot of reps in spring practice. He tweaked his knee a little bit at the end of spring, but he’s fine. He’ll be competing and he just needs to get a lot of reps.”

Wannstedt’s outlook for Byham and Matha – “Byham is our starting tight end so we have high expectations for Nate. I think Dan Matha with him being red-shirted last year, the most important thing he needs to do is just learn the offensive system and compete and get stronger and there is no expectations on him this year as a red-shirt freshman because of the offensive line. That position takes a little longer for guys to really get in the lineup more so than other positions.

Status of Williams (Played as a true freshman last season, but is academically ineligible for the 2008 season) – “It’s nothing that was a surprise. We’ve had ongoing discussions with Mo this whole semester that he knew what he had to get done academically. I would preface everything by saying he’s the first guy on the football field. Never misses a weight workout. Works as hard as we like. The disappointing thing is that he didn’t put the same type of effort and interest in the academic end of it like he addressed the football and weight workouts.

“With that being said, he’s a freshman. If Derek Kinder doesn’t get hurt last year, Mo Williams never makes the field. He really should have been red-shirted. The guy was a quarterback in high school, as we all know, and a defensive back. Never played receiver. We put him at receiver and because of necessity and lack of depth, he was forced to play. We will red-shirt him this year and I expect him to be a major player here in the next couple of years.

On whether Wannstedt wishes he’d red-shirted Williams from the start – “Yes. Oh yeah. He wasn’t ready. He made plays for us last year to help us win a couple of games, but he wasn’t ready to play, but we had no choice.”

In addition…

The Times-News asked Strong Vincent High senior quarterback Deonte Flemings about Williams, who also played at the same high school.
“That’s his responsibility, but I think he’ll shape up. He’ll get more focused.”

-- Duane Rankin