#5 Days Until Pitt Football: Tom Flynn

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 Tom Flynn.

Flynn was a defensive back for Pitt in the early 1980s and was a rare four-year starter for the team from 1980 to 1983. During his time with the Panthers he picked off ten passes and also was a top punt returner. He returned two punts for touchdowns and his 357 yards in 1981 were fourth in the entire NCAA.

Flynn was taken in the fifth round of the 1984 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers and played for three years in the league. In 1986, he joined the New York Giants in the middle of the year and won a Super Bowl with the team.

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.