Published: November 24, 2009 01:03 am      

Pitt’s Gunn persevered through injury

MORGANTOWN — Like his counterpart on the West Virginia Mountaineers, Pittsburgh middle linebacker Adam Gunn didn’t need the assorted bumps and bruises that come with another year of college football.

He, like Reed Williams, could be off somewhere beginning their business careers, a diploma in hand, the experience of college football behind them. They have enjoyed the fruits of victory and tasted the bitterness of defeat.

Moreso, they spent what could have been their senior seasons badly injured, missing virtually an entire season. Williams had undergone surgery on both of his shoulders between his junior and senior years and could not really protect himself last season, trying to play a couple of games but realizing that it was a losing battle.

As tough as that fight was, Gunn’s was even tougher for he was injured in an early-season game and had to sit there are they told him he had suffered a broken neck.

“That was one of the most devastating things you’ll ever hear in your life,” Gunn admitted. “It was very tough to think I’d never play again, to have your senior year taken away. I just thank God for the opportunity to be part of this 9-1 team.”

Gunn had already used up his redshirt year, unlike Williams, so he had to apply to the NCAA for a sixth year. It was granted and he is making the most of it.

“I really did not think he’d come back,” Coach Dave Wannstedt admitted. “We knew he’d come back from a health standpoint, but he already had a degree. He plays football because he loves football and wants to help his team win. That says a lot about him as a person.”

Not to make too much out of what Gunn’s presence at middle linebacker means to the Panthers, but he was not playing due to an ankle injury in the one game they lost, a tough 38-31 decision on the road at N.C. State.

“We were trying to figure out who we were then,” Gunn said. “Following that game, we came together and put it together.”

Wannstedt respects what Gunn has meant to his team, both on the field and off.

“Adam is a very good player for us, no. 1. But as much as his performance on the field, just having him out there calling the defenses, being at meetings, it gives our defense a real sense of stability.

I let players elect captains during the bye week. He was elected one of our captains,” Wannstedt said.

Gunn, who is from the Vandergrift section of Western Pennsylvania, at 6-2, 230 is not a large linebacker. He had to change positions to play there, taking the place of their defensive star from the past two years, Scott McKillop.

Gunn was not a starter two years ago when Pitt came to Morgantown and upset the Mountaineers, who were four-touchdown favorites and on the doorstep of a national championship game appearance.

“That was an important win for us,” Gunn said. “We were not having a very good season. I definitely would say it was a turning point. I know the bus ride back [to Pittsburgh] was amazing. To go through Morgantown, to leave that place upsetting the No. 2 team in the country, it was a great ride.”

And it’s still going on, for Pitt has won 19 of 24 games starting with that game and needs only to beat Cincinnati next week, whether or not it beats WVU, to win the Big East title.

E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.