The Pitt football team will be without its most decorated returning starter this season, as Dave Wannstedt announced on Sunday that senior wide receiver Derek Kinder has suffered a torn ACL and will miss the 2007 campaign.

Kinder tore his right ACL after catching a pass over the middle during a seven-on-seven drill in Saturday's practice.

"It was a non-contact injury," Wannstedt said. "He never got hit; it was planted on the grass. It's the right ACL, that's the bad news. The good news is he's got a redshirt year left to get it rehabbed and come back and have a great year next year.

"He does have all the intangibles, the work ethic and the determination, to make a full recovery and to still end up accomplishing everything he wants to accomplish."

Kinder, a 2006 All-Big East selection and a Biletnikoff Award semi-finalist who caught 57 passes for 847 yards and 6 touchdowns, will have eligibility for 2008 since he has not used a redshirt season, but for 2007 the coaches will need to find a replacement for that production.

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