First Call: A college job for Kevin Colbert; ESPN update on Russell Wilson's future with Steelers
Friday’s “First Call” shows us that former Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert is pulling a Rodney Dangerfield and going back to school.
Adam Schefter updates us on the Steelers’ plans with Russell Wilson. We look at the Penguins’ next opponent.
And we preview the weekend’s local college hoops and hockey schedules.
College-bound Colbert?
Kevin Colbert is picking up a side gig in retirement.
The former Steelers general manager is joining Colorado State as a consultant. That’s according to ESPN.com’s Pete Thamel.
Colbert’s job will be to help the university organize a football front office that is in line with the modern landscape of college football’s NIL era. Thamel says, “Colbert will help coach Jay Norvell and the school’s player personnel department set up systems for building a football front office.”
Norvell has been at CSU since 2021. Before that, he was the head coach of the Nevada Wolfpack.
The Rams finished 8-5 last year. It was the team’s first winning season under Norvell, losing 43-17 to Miami (Ohio) in the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl.
Colbert won two Super Bowls in Pittsburgh, serving as director of football operations and then general manager from 2000-22.
Not off the Russ bus
Most people in Pittsburgh seem to think the Steelers are leaning toward Justin Fields as the starting quarterback in 2025. But that may not be a done deal yet.
Appearing on ESPN’s “Get Up” Thursday, NFL insider Adam Schefter said that the door is far from closed on Russell Wilson.
“Pittsburgh has expressed an interest in bringing (Wilson) back, and I think we start there because they’ve got first dibs on the guy,” Schefter said via SteelersNow.com. “But it has to make sense for both sides, and if there’s a deal there that works for both of them, then they can go ahead and do it. If not, then we start to flush out the options.”
Wilson has expressed an interest in staying with the Steelers and told the “Pat McAfee Show” that some talks have already started.
On Monday, Art Rooney II said that the Steelers are likely to bring back either Wilson or Fields, but probably not both.
More sports
• Tim Benz: Let's take the Pirates' fan satisfaction survey together — I'm sure it'll go well
• Football Footnotes: Some important things that Art Rooney II didn't say about the 2025 Steelers
• Steelers positional analysis: Led by Chris Boswell, specialists provide stability heading into 2025
Hoops on tap
Robert Morris’ men’s basketball team got the local weekend hoops action going a little early Thursday. They blew out IU Indianapolis, 106-53. Amarion Dickerson led seven Colonials in double figures with 18 points. That’s six straight wins for Andy Toole’s team.
They next play Sunday at Wright State. The women are at home Friday night against Purdue Fort Wayne.
Pitt is on the road at noon Saturday at Wake Forest. The Panthers are trying for a third straight win after beating Syracuse (77-73) and North Carolina (73-65). The Demon Deacons had won six in a row in ACC play before falling to No. 2 Duke (63-56) and No. 21 Louisville (72-59).
The Panther’s women’s team lost Thursday at Stanford, 58-46. They play Sunday at No. 19 California.
As for Duquesne, the women beat VCU, 69-59, on Thursday behind 15 from Mackenzie Blackford. Up next is a Saturday afternoon date (1 p.m.) at St. Bonaventure. The men host UMass at 2 p.m. Saturday. Both teams are 9-12 and 4-4 in Atlantic 10 play.
Pens vs. Preds
Part of the frustration with the Penguins’ recent road trip is that they played a lot of the bottom dwellers of the Western Conference and still only went 3-4.
One bad team that they didn’t play is the Nashville Predators. They visit PPG Paints Arena on Saturday night. The Preds come in with 43 points. Only the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks have fewer in the West.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, has 50 points, the worst in the Metropolitan Division.
Coach Andrew Brunette’s team has at least been a little bit better of late, winning five of seven. However, they dropped two in a row against the Ducks (5-2) and Vancouver Canucks (3-1).
The Preds come to Pittsburgh as one of the lowest-scoring teams in hockey at 2.65 goals per game. Only the Sharks (2.61), Blackhawks (2.61) and Ducks (2.51) are worse. Meanwhile, they allow 3.20 goals per game, which is the 24th in the NHL.
Nashville is particularly bad away from home. They have just six road wins all season. That is tied with the Blackhawks and Sharks for the lowest total in the league.
Filip Forsberg is Nashville’s top scorer with 18 goals, 31 assists and 49 points to lead the team in all categories. He has 19 points in 11 games this month.
Back on track
The Robert Morris hockey teams are looking to get back in the win column this weekend.
The men’s team (9-14-3) has dropped three in a row. The Colonials hope to reverse that trend against Mercyhurst on Friday and Saturday at Clearview Arena. The Lakers (3-20-3) have really struggled, dropping six of their past seven. That included a horrible trip to West Point when they lost to Army, 9-1 and 13-1.
RMU won the first meeting between the schools in Erie, 5-2, on Nov. 4
As for the women’s team, it just played Mercyhurst last weekend and lost by scores of 7-0 and 6-0. The task gets no easier this weekend as Penn State comes to Neville Island. The Nittany Lions are ranked No. 8 in the country.
On both Friday and Saturday, the women play at 3 p.m., and the men face off at 7.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.