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Eli Holstein to Pitt, official

I love how as self loathing PGHers we like to get down on our weather here. Snow can be a legit selling point to these southerners. Many never seeing it before and it being a semi surreal experience.
They will also likely play in bad weather if they make it to the NFL, so they better get used to playing in it.
 
Please......

Yeah, not sure I'd call it a selling point.

Southerners have a ton of mixed feelings on snow. A lot of people secretly love the temporary disruption although they pretend otherwise. (and any snow that lays on the roadway in the south is considered a major disruption). It's a great excuse to stay home, stuff your face and binge watch movies/TV for a couple of days. Any mention of possible precipitation equals a run to the grocery store or Walmart. ...good thing most plan on staying home, because generally speaking, they absolutely suck at driving in it.
 
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Settle down guys I didn't mean it was why he choose Pitt. It's just funny how the snowy heinz field has been a unique experience for recruits over the years (who was it with the snow angels a couple years back?). As opposed to those worrying about there being a snow storm when a southern recruit is visiting.
 
Yeah, not sure I'd call it a selling point.

Southerners have a ton of mixed feelings on snow. A lot of people secretly love the temporary disruption although they pretend otherwise. (and any snow that lays on the roadway in the south is considered a major disruption). It's a great excuse to stay home, stuff your face and binge watch movies/TV for a couple of days. Any mention of possible precipitation equals a run to the grocery store or Walmart. ...good thing most plan on staying home, because generally speaking, they absolutely suck at driving in it.
I don't know man. I played college ball with a few Florida kids and they confirmed playing in this climate as well as getting away from the south excited them.... everyone is different of course but I know for a fact it's true for some.
 
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I don't know man. I played college ball with a few Florida kids and they confirmed playing in this climate as well as getting away from the south excited them.... everyone is different of course but I know for a fact it's true for some.

True. Everyone is different. That's the key point here.

Playing in the snow is fun. But unless you're in Florida, the climate between late August and late November isn't that much different in the south as it is in Pittsburgh. It's December through mid-April that hits different. (and that difference is HUGE). The high school playoffs are generally played on Friday nights & run through early December. So most know what it's like.

As a southerner myself, I absolutely loved the 2009 Cincinnati game. One of my favorite environments at any game I've attended & the weather was a big part of it. ...The 2001 UAB game was a little rough. 2003 Miami was unbearable and that's one of the few times I've left early.
 
I don't know man. I played college ball with a few Florida kids and they confirmed playing in this climate as well as getting away from the south excited them.... everyone is different of course but I know for a fact it's true for some.
So did I, and most of the ones I hung out with spent 6 months bitching about the cold and the weather.
 
I don’t think he was throwing to actual athletes.
Plus, anybody that has coached or played understands that the long ball needs to have players with consistent speed to throw to, else it looks like this in practice, one kid runs a 4.96 another 4.57, but the ball is thrown on "time"
 
Yeah, not sure I'd call it a selling point.

Southerners have a ton of mixed feelings on snow. A lot of people secretly love the temporary disruption although they pretend otherwise. (and any snow that lays on the roadway in the south is considered a major disruption). It's a great excuse to stay home, stuff your face and binge watch movies/TV for a couple of days. Any mention of possible precipitation equals a run to the grocery store or Walmart. ...good thing most plan on staying home, because generally speaking, they absolutely suck at driving in it.
Living in GA for 10 years I concur. The one snow we had about 8 years ago I went out driving. Everything was closed and no one was out because of a tiny bit of snow and ice.

I lol …..amateurs….😂
 
If you’re saying it’s Mac Jones from 2020 Bama, then I’m pretty sure everybody in this forum would be ok with that.
I would be ecstatic , particularly if he had a similarly supporting cast to make him look similarly good
 
I won’t get sick of these… hope he doesn’t

He was the number 9 qb in rivals 2023 class in the country, had 7000 yards, 62 tds and 13 ints also rushed for 1400 yards and 30 tds. Was espns #22 player NATIONALLY. This is probably the best transfer we ever got in my opinion, plus he isn’t already over the hill like Jurkovec and Max Browne was, the kid just left hs a year ago

Is this the highest rated player to ever sign here?
 
I love how as self loathing PGHers we like to get down on our weather here. Snow can be a legit selling point to these southerners. Many never seeing it before and it being a semi surreal experience.
I went to a private school, and we had some students from the Bahamas…the first day of snow they witnessed they were outside making snow angels lol
 
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If you're a generational talent, you also probably want to go somewhere you can start year one to get to the NFL as soon as possible.
This. I don’t understand why these 4/5 ⭐️ recruits go to blue-blood programs where they will sit for at least 2-3 years before they get their shot. I’d go to a program like Pitt.
 
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This. I don’t understand why these 4/5 ⭐️ recruits go to blue-blood programs where they will sit for at least 2-3 years before they get their shot. I’d go to a program like Pitt.
They go to be surrounded by other 4-5 stars. They usually come from programs that win state titles and want to win national championships.
 
If you're a generational talent, you also probably want to go somewhere you can start year one to get to the NFL as soon as possible.

I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt that they are ok sitting in Year 1 and then being assured by staff they will be the starter in Year 2. Like I dont know what Kenny Minchey was thinking. You want to play at ND, great. Go to Pitt, light it up and then transfer. Now he is going to sit for 4 years and then transfer to Syracuse for his 5th instead of going to Pitt for 2-3 years then transferring to ND
 
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Unless you are a generational talent, its pretty stupid for a HS QB to go to a blue blood.
The term "generational talent" is overused. To me that means a once in a great while guy like a Trevor Lawrence. If you're a top QB prospect, you believe you can start for whatever program you choose. You don't become a top QB prospect without that kind of confidence and belief in yourself.

That said, I don't necessarily disagree with your premise, which I read to mean that unless you're one of those top 5-6 guys, you should think twice about going to Alabama, OSU, or UGA.
 
The term "generational talent" is overused. To me that means a once in a great while guy like a Trevor Lawrence. If you're a top QB prospect, you believe you can start for whatever program you choose. You don't become a top QB prospect without that kind of confidence and belief in yourself.

That said, I don't necessarily disagree with your premise, which I read to mean that unless you're one of those top 5-6 guys, you should think twice about going to Alabama, OSU, or UGA.

Not sure about top 5-6. Maybe top 1-2.
 
Not sure about top 5-6. Maybe top 1-2.
The top 5-6 are typically interchangeable. Do you think the QB services rate as #5 thinks he's a lesser QB than the guy services rates as #1? When both have the same offers from all the blues?

Maybe the better mantra is--if you're a top 10 QB, think twice about going to a school that is bringing in another top 10 QB and/or is continuing to aggresively recruit one and/or already has three of them as freshmen/sophs on the roster.
 
No. Hell, even Max "Five Head" Browne was a consensus 5 star. So was Ricky Town. Anyone even remember him? At one time, the #1 overall recruit in the country coming out of CA.

Jon Baldwin, Curtis Bray, Mike Chalenski,. Marc Spindler, to name a few others over the years.

Yeah, since they've been assigning stars... Baldwin, Shell, D. Johnson, L. Nix, Ford, etc. have been higher. And you could make that list a lot longer depending on which ratings you used. And that doesn't even get into transfers, as you mentioned, or the fact that there were no star rankings at the time when we were at our peak.
 
He might not be ranked higher but how many recruits have we landed with offers from Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, etc? Now the fact that he's a QB with those offers is pretty impressive. Usually our QB's have PITT as their best offer.
 
He might not be ranked higher but how many recruits have we landed with offers from Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, etc? Now the fact that he's a QB with those offers is pretty impressive. Usually our QB's have PITT as their best offer.

Not being a contrarian, but I'd venture to guess that 4/5-star quarterbacks have a bust rate that is way higher than any other position, so I take that with a grain of salt. I mean, he was rated as the 12th quarterback last year, per this list, and how many guys above him are already in the portal? I see at least a few.

https://247sports.com/Season/2023-Football/RecruitRankings/?InstitutionGroup=HighSchool&Position=QB
 
He might not be ranked higher but how many recruits have we landed with offers from Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, etc? Now the fact that he's a QB with those offers is pretty impressive. Usually our QB's have PITT as their best offer.
HS recruits? None. transfers, like Holstein? A few, and none were worth a $hit, which is why they ended up at multiple schools:

The Jurk
Max Browne
Ricky Towns

That said, none of that means anything about Holstein, hopefully he;s the real deal. Just watching his tape he appears to have much better arm strength and mechanics than the aforementioned bums and he isn't damaged goods yet like they all were.

But.....he didn't make Bama's 4 QB depth chart this year and was beat out on the chart by another (and lower rated) true freshman. So what Pitt got with this guy will really be anybody's guess until September. Being a RS freshman, he cetainly is not guaranteed the starting job as The Jurk and Slowvis were. That may be Yarnell's job to lose.
 
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