#57 Days Until Pitt Football: Bryan Knight

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 defensive lineman Bryan Knight.

The past week, we've lacked some star power around here in the countdown. That changes a bit today with Knight.

Hard as it seems to believe, Knight actually began his career as a wide receiver. Players often change positions in college but going from receiver to the defensive line is a bit of a rarity. In between, he stopped off at linebacker, but it was at defensive end where his career took off.

In 2000 and 2001 at end, he terrorized the Big East. In 2000, he was a Football News All-American after 26 tackles for losses (then a Pitt record and second in the nation on a per game basis) and 11 1/2 sacks. In the team's final contest against Penn State until this upcoming year, Knight had a huge game, recording three sacks and four tackles for losses in the 12-0 win. In 2001, he saw a slight dip in production but was still named to the Big East's All-First Team after another standout season (8 1/2 sacks and 16 1/2 tackles for losses).

Knight was drafted in the fifth round in 2002 by the Chicago Bears and stuck with the club, playing a total of 31 games with the team, including two starts in a brief career. He later signed with the Carolina Panthers but did not play in a game.

Be sure to join Cardiac Hill's Facebook page and follow us on Twitter@PittPantherBlog for our regular updates on Pitt athletics. Follow the author and founder/editor @AnsonWhaley.