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If you spend any time on Twitter, you no doubt have seen people posting certain Pitt players wearing uniform numbers that correspond with the number of days left until the football season kicks off. Jim did it last year and this year, Pat Narduzzi has been doing it.
I know we have a lot of younger readers here and also some folks that may not have spent their entire lives following Pitt sports. For that reason, I thought it would be cool to not only do the countdown here, but also give a brief writeup on the player to potentially help fans connect a little more with some of the all-time greats.
Quick disclaimer - this isn't necessarily about picking the best player for each number. Not only is that disputable in many instances, but it's not really the point of the exercise. So don't be offended if your favorite player doesn't make the list here. I'll probably mirror Narduzzi's list for the most part but may go off the board in a few instances.
These will also be brief, folks. It's the offseason and we all use this time to wind down a bit. These won't be theses or anything, but we'll cobble together a few facts for each guy.
Finally, feel free to add on to a player's accomplishments in the comments section. Some I'll leave out due to space/time and some I may not even know about. But this will be a good learning exercise for all of us.
Continuing our countdown today is linebacker Eric Williams.
Williams came to Pitt via Pennsbury in Pennsylvania in the 2010 recruiting class. He redshirted that season, but found his way into three games, including the Panthers' bowl game against SMU in 2011. He took a massive step forward in 2012 as a sophomore, playing in all 13 games, making 52 tackles, including 4 1/2 for losses, with a sack and interception. That season included a big game against Notre Dame when he collected ten tackles.
Unfortunately for Williams, that's where his Pitt career ended. In the spring of 2013, he was dismissed from the program following a drug bust under then head coach Paul Chryst. Williams later resurfaced at IUP that fall and, starting at safety, recorded six interceptions - best in his conference.
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