2019 WPIAL Class is Weak
- Thread starter DiehardPanther
- Start date
Not sure how they missed Kyi Wright from Farrell in that list, but yeah seems like a down year for the WPIAL and PA in general.
Have to get Kristofic. Everything else in the WPIAL is average or worse.
Western PA HS football has been on a gradual downward spiral since the collapse of the steel industry (circa early 1980s) and the subsequent population flight to other locations.
The worst its been that I can remember. The DMV is loaded, Jersey is strong, and surprisingly Connecticut has 4 or 5 really elite prospects.
Who needs the WPIAL when HCPN literally just poached several top recruits away from their own states? Screw dominating THIS state HCPN said, "Lets go dominate other states and take whats OURS!"
If we keep dominating FL, Jersey, and takes what we want from the DMV, our recruiting "ranks" are just going to keep going UP.
If we keep dominating FL, Jersey, and takes what we want from the DMV, our recruiting "ranks" are just going to keep going UP.
Reading this thread while Billy Joel's "Allentown" plays in my head...
How do you know this wpial class is weak? Did you see them all play? Or it it the offers they have received so far? Or maybe it's the fact that psu hasn't offered any of them yet, that you base your opinion?
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How? Because look at the scholarship offers after the first couple of kids. It is WEAK. REALLY WEAK. Why would you argue this?
Kristofic seems to be for real. Yes, he is a huge recruit for us. We can't continue to get obliterated in our own back yard. We've lost a ton of great talent that actually grew up as Pitt fans, in Pitt families, going to Pitt games. Kristofic is another one of those. It seems like Carmody is going to blow up soon and he's also at a position of need but that's a tough nut to crack if ND offers. Beyond that, its Thrift and a bunch of no-names. I think a couple more besides Carmody rise up as Seniors and could be late additions.
I would take the top 5 and then be okay looking elsewhere to fill out the class. The entire northeast region is down for '19, so I would imagine Narduzzi will be digging into OH, TX, FL for a majority of the class.
FWIW, it sounds like Kristofic is pretty enamored with ND just like Jurkovec.
FWIW, it sounds like Kristofic is pretty enamored with ND just like Jurkovec.
They still have to play their senior year of high school, and it could all change
Right, but it usually doesn't.
How often does that happen?
Well if a player has 1 year of eligibility left, that makes them a Senior in high school, and mostly ALL Juniors in high school becomes Seniors. So to answer your question, quite often.
That is a good call. Where do u think he plays in college? Mick Williams was a RB at one point in HS and became a solid DT in college.
He would have to be a fullback that could block......He sure can run, freakishly quick......
There was an article in our local fishwrapper about the Nitter # 5 2018 recruiting ranking.
Out of their 23 recruits they only took 6 players from PA not all from WPIAL. They took 13 players from their primary recruiting area is a 250 mile radius from St College, 2 from TX, 2 from Fl, 1 from AZ so it's obvious they're branching out and recruiting regionally and nationally.
The article went on to say Franklin hired a new RB coach named Ja Juan Seidur who has FL connections since the Nitters want to focus on FL and TX recruiting and not so much on local recruiting in the future.
Pitt better get on the national recruiting horse and start to riding it because the WPIAL horse is almost dead!
"it's five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
Go Pitt & CSU Rams!
Out of their 23 recruits they only took 6 players from PA not all from WPIAL. They took 13 players from their primary recruiting area is a 250 mile radius from St College, 2 from TX, 2 from Fl, 1 from AZ so it's obvious they're branching out and recruiting regionally and nationally.
The article went on to say Franklin hired a new RB coach named Ja Juan Seidur who has FL connections since the Nitters want to focus on FL and TX recruiting and not so much on local recruiting in the future.
Pitt better get on the national recruiting horse and start to riding it because the WPIAL horse is almost dead!
"it's five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
Go Pitt & CSU Rams!
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I think it will benefit Pitt that PSU is starting to have more of a national recruiting footprint, similar to OSU but obviously to a lesser extent. We won't be in as many recruiting battles with them for prospects in the region.
I understand the theory but it doesn't work as well if PSU/ND/OSU/UM grab the top 7 WPIAL players continually and simply leave us more scraps than they used to. We need to win more of those battles as the local talent pool continually declines AND do better in Jersey or Florida etc. We're not good enough as is that we can get away with just doing one or the other.
Hopefully it helps in the overall pool of Northeast and Mid-Atlantic talent.
Just a side note, I really don't want Joey Porter to be suddenly immersed in the Pitt football program given his history for shenanigans.
The majority of Penn State's 4* players still came from their recruiting region, which is the Mid-Atlantic area.
When Penn State had to go more national, they didn't do very well. They lost Justin Fields, and only signed like one 4* out of that national grouping. The rest were 3* players.
It might be true that Penn State or us need to go more national. But if they or we do, the programs aren't going to perform very well. There's going to be a drop in the talent level of the two teams.
https://bwi.rivals.com/commitments/football/2018
trent gordon texas 4 star
jordan miner florida 4 star
judge culpepper florida 4 star (son of nfl all pro brad culpepper)
I think the point being made is that the backbone of any team is going to come from their region if at all possible. Recruiting kids from far away is expensive, time-consuming, and is going to have a high miss rate. It would be interesting to see a spreadsheet detailing how much money/time it costs to get one recruit in Florida versus one recruit in PA or Jersey or Maryland.
That said, getting a foothold in any of the talent-rich southern states is very useful, even if it only leads to a few players every couple of years. Coaches have to be realistic about who to go after, however.
Fields was an interesting case to follow. He got offered by PSU when he was a regional 3-star recruit, and that is the kind of player that is probably easier to lure away. Once he blew up into one of the top 5 kids, getting him out of that area was never going to happen, as those kinds of southern kids are all going to end up in the SEC. I would be willing to bet that once he decommitted, PSU just let it go. The time and expense and likely result just wouldn't have made sense. Nobody has an unlimited budget for money and time.
Teams from our area have to supplement with kids from more fertile grounds, but they are never going to be the guys who you build the team around. Those kids have to come more locally. Too bad there are none of those kinds of players locally for this next cycle. There's literally not one kid in the WPIAL that is a game-changer, but 2020 for PA looks much better.
That said, getting a foothold in any of the talent-rich southern states is very useful, even if it only leads to a few players every couple of years. Coaches have to be realistic about who to go after, however.
Fields was an interesting case to follow. He got offered by PSU when he was a regional 3-star recruit, and that is the kind of player that is probably easier to lure away. Once he blew up into one of the top 5 kids, getting him out of that area was never going to happen, as those kinds of southern kids are all going to end up in the SEC. I would be willing to bet that once he decommitted, PSU just let it go. The time and expense and likely result just wouldn't have made sense. Nobody has an unlimited budget for money and time.
Teams from our area have to supplement with kids from more fertile grounds, but they are never going to be the guys who you build the team around. Those kids have to come more locally. Too bad there are none of those kinds of players locally for this next cycle. There's literally not one kid in the WPIAL that is a game-changer, but 2020 for PA looks much better.
Barely made the cut 4* players that were dropped to 3* in the Composite. I don't use Rivals, I only use the Composite.
The Mass. TE and the CB Minor were the only two that made the 4* cut in the Composite. And Minor just barely made it. He's closer to being a middle of the road 3* than he is a 5*.
