Kid picking all time greatest football program (perception) over Pitt does not exactly rise to film at 11 Pitt news status...
Do you guys even care about Pitt news?!
- Thread starter bobfree
- Start date
He was recruited by Pitt, offered by Pitt, his dad played at Pitt, his coach played at Pitt and he’s in Pitt’s backyard. Regardless of his weight or his ultimate impact on the field it’s a whiff by the staff. Not the end of the world but Pitt needs to start delivering on the field to change the perception.
And for all of the Pitt to NFL talk, so you think ND having two OL almost guaranteed first day selections helped sell him?
That said, who was the last local kid to go there and get drafted by the NFL? Ray Zellars? Did Darrin Walls get drafted? Asking seriously.
And for all of the Pitt to NFL talk, so you think ND having two OL almost guaranteed first day selections helped sell him?
That said, who was the last local kid to go there and get drafted by the NFL? Ray Zellars? Did Darrin Walls get drafted? Asking seriously.
Parents went to Pitt and have season tickets. Coach went to and played for Pitt. Kid grows up Pitt fan. We aren't even in his top 4. You don't think there are problems locally?
I am starting to realize Narduzzi needs to go the Lyke with a request for more $$ for some better recruiters, including a locally based one. Because even in the mid 90's, we never ever were so disrespected by the WPIAL primma donnas.
there is a problem locally but im not panicking just yet. I think, overall, our classes are decent and the local classes have been weak. Obviously we need to fix this though, longterm it could be an issue. I think, I hope, we get a couple good seasons going, become entertaining again, this will help.
That's my hope anyways.. Lets not act like we've dominated wpial in the past too. it's never been that way, even when we paid kids in the 80's.
I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!!!
Better?
Or- I’ll stick with my strategy of judging recruiting by the results on the field.
Better?
Or- I’ll stick with my strategy of judging recruiting by the results on the field.
Well yeah, we are recruiting better outside of the area than we have, but worse within our region than we have. The problem is, that still leads to 7-8 win seasons. You got to maintain the local base while improving the regional and national recruiting. We are just treading water. Maybe the QB kid is the guy who lifts the program out of these doldrums. But I would guess out of P5 schools, we are absolutely the worst at legacy layup recruits.
And that's the only way. But again, read my post. We are doing better outside the region, but worse locally. It is the circle of hell, just treading water. And if we have to win to fill the stands to get the recruits, but we can't get recruits because we don't fill the stands well....you try to solve the infinity equation.
If I'm Pitt's recruiters, I'd remove the mystery...go to the kids' parents (alumni) and ask them directly why their kid didn't choose Pitt.
Personally, I believe that it's a combination of issues, including (1) not winning enough, (2) being perceived as a team whose coaches are constantly in transition, (3) contantly getting beaten-down by the local media coverage, which leads to: (4) lack of local fan support -- and somewhere further down the list: (5) not having an on-campus stadium.
The fact that this kid grew up watching Pitt probably made it an easier decision. Look at the fiasco's he would have witnesses at his age growing up, and compare to the actual good things about Pitt football. It is really unbalanced. The better question is this. Why in the world would he choose Pitt over Notre Dame?
You guys who are blaming the staff for the recruiting loss, what the hell do you want them to do? They offered him early, recruited him, and he visited just recently. If Pitt just isn’t attractive enough to him, nothing can be done. Competing with blue bloods isn’t easy, and ND has that magical name unfortunately. Pitt has always gotten some top locals, but just has to have a big season at some point, and draw intense interest to get many more.
It would be nice if one of our former pitt players, who is coaching now, would throw us a bone. Every damn player that played for pitt in 80's and 90's seems to be a head coach somewhere, you'd think this would help us out on occasion. #5 OLB from north hills who just happens to be coaching the # 1 team in PA needs to remember his roots here.
Because with Pitt Athletics, "NEGATIVE" is more common. It's not the posters being negative, it's Pitt doing something negative AGAIN and just people commenting on it.
Clemson in particular is being very selective right now. I'd say the chances of him being able to actually commit there at this moment is nil.
Don't you wonder why kids with all of these "offers" from really big-name places don't at least take OV's to some of these places? Or, at least ONE OV to a big-name place? I mean, you'd think they'd take one, just for hell of it. But for some reason, all of these guys don't find it interesting to visit Georgia or Alabama or wherever, right? Nope, that's not it.
If they can't take an OV, they don't have committable offers, period. The school may "like" them, but that's not the same thing as being willing to take their commitment.
The TRUTH. When your school makes decisions like making the worst basketball hire of the last several decades, that almost ALL fans saw as a big problem, then what are the fans supposed to do besides complain and expect the worst? Or just leave altogether?
It sucks. As others have mentioned, this staff just flat sucks at selling.
Yet, this staff seems to be at least that good at scouting for talent. We'll see this season when we play teams that have been utterly dominating us on the recruiting front. PSU and ND are on the schedule. We have only 3-5 players on our roster that they wanted. Its all about beating those teams on the field.
Pitt hasn't been relevant in any of these kids lifetimes. Hell we haven't been relevant since their parents were in high school. The only time our stadium has any atmosphere is when these teams that own us show up and bring the atmosphere with them....and we lose those games too frequently. Pitt's brand was as bad as K-Mart and the Cleveland Browns. Its been a slow slog getting out of the hole we were in but I think we're moving up. We just need to keep building. There's a way to go yet.
Yet, this staff seems to be at least that good at scouting for talent. We'll see this season when we play teams that have been utterly dominating us on the recruiting front. PSU and ND are on the schedule. We have only 3-5 players on our roster that they wanted. Its all about beating those teams on the field.
Pitt hasn't been relevant in any of these kids lifetimes. Hell we haven't been relevant since their parents were in high school. The only time our stadium has any atmosphere is when these teams that own us show up and bring the atmosphere with them....and we lose those games too frequently. Pitt's brand was as bad as K-Mart and the Cleveland Browns. Its been a slow slog getting out of the hole we were in but I think we're moving up. We just need to keep building. There's a way to go yet.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
If this kid committed to Pitt, at least half the board would be complaining that this level of recruiting just won't cut it.
And the Other Half would be calling this a Great Signing and that Narduzzi owns James Franklin when recruiting Western Pa. or that James Connor and Aaron Donald were 3 Stars so this Guy will be All Pro in the NFL..
pittdan77
Athletic Director
Agree. Plus, kids are different now than when I was there. More adventurous, the world is less concerning and because of this, they are more apt and have more of a desire to go away to go to school. Whether it is for athletics or just school itself, especially in the status driven upper class suburbs. It is almost a "cool" or status thing.
No. Because his final 4 of Notre Dame, Ohio State Clemson and Michigan says otherwise.
Bro - some of that is true and some of it isn't. I have one of the best DL in the country right now. We have been all over. If my guy wanted to commit tomorrow, he could and he hasn't taken an "official visit" yet.
How about (6) he didn't want to go to the same school his dad attended? It really could be that simple.
A lot of truth to what you say, except that the desire to go away doesn't stop the Nits and other schools from getting their legacies.
No football program gets 100% of their legacies...I get that. But Pitt's record of getting the athletic children of their past players is putrid.
Could be. But that doesn't explain why so many of the other Power 5 schools have a better record of getting their legacies. Repeating what I just posted - no school get all of their legacies, but Pitt's record is unusually bad.
People are arguing about a few pounds. It really doesn't matter because he needs to get a lot bigger and a lot stronger. The frame and athletic ability are there. It's the main reason he's a 3 star and not rated higher, but has a lot of interest.
Anyway, it doesn't matter for Pitt at this point.
Anyway, it doesn't matter for Pitt at this point.
But are those committable offers????? If a player doesn't choose Pitt then those offers are not committable. BUT! If he doesn't choose Pitt then they are committable!
See how this works?
sarcasm...
Getting a strong local recruiter could help...
I keep thinkin that too.
Having Jurkovic (sp?) going to ND probably really swayed him to go there.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
Nope. He'd be classified as a reach with a boat load non-committable offers that chose Pitt because he's a legacy. That's what we do here.
You are wrong. Now if he was a legacy that we got over Toledo, Temple and Buffalo, that would be met with a shrug. Kristofic we knew had legit offers from ND, tOSU,
I agree, getting higher rated OL would be ideal, but come on, lets look at some of your names
Nix had his moments but for the most part played below his ranking. Jacobsen, that poor guy dealt with injuries, which didn't allow him to play anywhere close to his potential. Joe Thomas had a good final year, but before that was a disappointment, and hated on these boards.
These guys weren't close to our best OL.
Malecki and Pinkston we're great, but don't forget, they were DL recruits
Then who’s been our best lineman? All were starters as freshman and sophomores. It’s not like we have a ton of NFL lineman playing.
Everyone were good college football players. Which is all that matters to me. I mean just two years ago we had a Oline that was ranked in the top 5.
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In terms of one individual player, sure. Maybe we did all we can and simply couldn't compete this time.
But we're going to have a hard time breaking out of the .500 middling level without landing more of the top local talent generally, which is what a lot of the reaction is to.
Extending Narduzzi for stability was a good move, but ultimately an ability or inability to get more of the top local talent, or to supplement it with better talent from other pipelines (which is the harder of the two things to do historically!) is going to determine his success. It's very hard to grab 4 star players from Florida consistently enough to make up for missing on the ones we actually have left in our home state.
