Out Of The Junkyard
Worth The Risk?
By Guy Junker

Turn to page 106 of the Pitt Football Media guide and you will see fullback Dustin Picciotti. But you won't see him at practice at the UPMC facility on the Southside and you won't see him at Heinz Field either. That's because his football career is over before it ever got started. At least at the collegiate level. And that is bad news as well as good news. It's bad because THE prized recruit of the Walt Harris era at Pitt never got to reach his potential. It's good news because Dustin finally has relief from the headaches he has been plagued with ever since he suffered a concussion in the Big 33 Football Classic all-star game two years ago, a month before reporting to Pitt.

Despite losing a kid who SuperPrep magazine considered the number one fullback in the country coming out of high school, Pitt head coach Walt Harris has not changed his mind about his recruits participating in games like the Big 33. "It's a reward for a job well done in high school. It makes the player more mature and builds confidence. You get a better player in return. What happened to Dustin was a freak thing."

Baldwin High School football coach and athletic director Don Yannessa sees it a bit differently. "I've never been an advocate of seniors who have graduated playing in the multitude of all-star games that have sprung up in recent years." But he makes one exception. The Big 33. "That game is a showcase. With it's long and prestigious history, playing in a game of that magnitude is worth the gamble." Yannessa was the head coach of the Pennsylvania team for the 1999 Big 33 game and an assistant coach for the 1983 game.

Even before Picciotti's injury, I personally have never been a big fan of any of those kinds of games. They are run by well-intentioned people and most raise money for good causes such as providing scholarship money for non-athletes. They generally promote good will in a variety of ways. The media and fans love them. And why not? They will be talking about the performance of former Woodland Hills star Steve Breaston in this summer's game for years. Luckily he came away healthy and looks to have a good collegiate career ahead of him at Michigan. Picciotti wasn't as fortunate. He is not the first stud player to be injured in one of those games, and, sadly, he probably won't be the last.

The most tragic local case was Jeff Boynton, a blue chipper from Plum High School headed to West Virginia. He was paralyzed playing in a Shriners all-star game that also featured Dan Marino. There are many other stories, like that of Wilmington offensive lineman Brian Shannon. He broke his leg in the Big 33 game and it delayed his career at Notre Dame. He did play for the Fighting Irish, but some felt he was never the same.

One way to improve the situation would be to use kids for these games entering their senior year of high school instead of those already graduated. The players could benefit by allowing college coaches and recruiters see them play in a game against other gifted athletes, on a playing field that might be a bit more level than a lopsided regular high school game. This would come before any had committed in writing to attend a particular college or university. They might be a year younger, but around here, there would not be a lack of talent.

Yannessa likes that idea too. But the PIAA won't allow any players with high school eligibility remaining, to participate in all-star games.

That's been their rule since the early part of the twentieth century. The executive director of the PIAA, Brad Cash, explains that it's designed to keep elite players from gaining a competitive advantage and taking it back to their respective high schools. That makes sense. Even Walt Harris says it helps a player mature. But if you limited high school athletes to one such game, could it really make that much difference?

Of course football is a rough game and you can't play it at a high level without risks. Any practice, any scrimmage, any game, could result in serious injury for a player. In the case of Picciotti, maybe he was prone to concussions and would eventually have had trouble anyway, but maybe not. Perhaps the injury at the Big 33 cost him millions of dollars as an NFL player. We'll never know.

Luckily, it won't cost him a college education. Even though it was his decision to walk away from football, he will keep his scholarship while Pitt tries to get him a medical hardship. Bravo to Pitt for that. So while you won't see Picciotti on the pages of any future Pitt Football yearbooks, you still might see him around campus in Oakland. And that keeps this story from being a real tragedy.

Guy Junker is co-host of Sports Beat and the 11 p.m. Regional Sports Report With Fox Sports Pittsburgh.