I know that the response to this question by NJPSU is going to be nasty but honestly, I think this is a fair question and worthy of a serious response.
First, let's throw everyone's current recruiting rankings right out the window because they are meaningless. They are mostly speculative in January and February. To be analyzing them in August is just completely absurd. Why don't we talk about something more scientific like, oh, I don't know, astrology?
As for Pitt's recruiting to date under Narduzzi, I think it has improved quite a bit, TBH. If you look at what we were doing three years ago when he arrived, and who we were recruiting against; versus what we are doing now, and who are we are recruiting against, the improvement has been undeniable.
I also understand that outside of the top 5–8 programs in the country, recruiting is largely guesswork. I think the difference between the 13th best recruiting class in the country and the 32nd best recruiting class in the country is whether or not a three star athlete or two develops better than other three star athletes in that class.
So far, this has gone pretty much all I expected it to go. We have made incremental progress and we look a lot like Michigan State did at the beginning of the Dantonio era. Obviously, we are trying to emulate that success – which is why we hired the guy in the first place.
Also, I expect this year to be a tougher year than others seem to expect. I think seven or eight wins. However, I believe that starting next year, we are going to be a tough out for every team we face.
Now, does that mean that we will be able to recapture at Pitt what they clearly captured at Michigan State? I don't know - nobody does?
However, I do know that we are bringing in better, longer athletes to play that defensive scheme and it can't possibly be worse than it was last year. I also know that with a lesser talented team, we were able to beat the champions of the Big Ten Conference and all of college football.
I think there's a lot of reason for sincere eyes-wide-open optimism.