Welcome back to In The Pitt, PantherLair.com’s weekly discourse featuring a roundup of everything that’s happened in the past week, with insight and inside information thrown in for good measure.
January 16, 2009
Top of the Pitt
Sunday morning was one of those times when you thought it would never end.
In the hours leading up to Pitt’s basketball game against St. John’s, the two major University of Pittsburgh sports programs picked up three commitments between them, quite possibly setting a record for the most commitments from the most sports in the shortest amount of time (unless Doc Carlson and Jock Sutherland pulled in a couple commits on the same day).
It’s tough to say exactly when it started. I guess the whole thing got underway when Tony posted Sunday morning that New Jersey defensive back Jason Hendricks jumped on board, too.
Three commitments in one hour; that’s a hectic start to the day, and it didn’t slow down as the day went on. Almost all of the 14 official visitors that were in town over the weekend stuck around for the basketball game, and while there weren’t any more commitments after Gray and Hendricks, the table appears to be set for a few more.
We’ll get to a full breakdown of the official visit weekend, but let’s start off by looking at Pitt’s newest commits.
The Texas gunslinger
Okay, maybe “The Texas Gunslinger” is a bit much in the way of nicknames for Kolby Gray, but it will work for now until one of our more creative posters comes up with something better. Nevertheless, Gray’s commitment is notable for a lot of reasons, and his verbal pledge to the football team was quite possibly the biggest news to come out of the weekend.
To start, let’s review the background on Gray’s recruitment. If you turn back the clock to late spring/early summer, recruiting for the class of 2009 was really getting going and the word we were getting was that Pitt would not take a quarterback in the class. That rationale was based on three basic notions:
1. There weren’t many available scholarships for the class of 2009.
2. With five scholarship quarterbacks on the roster for 2009, three of the five on the roster for 2010, and possibly two of the five on the roster for 2011, there appeared to be enough depth for the next three seasons.
3. The class of 2009 was not strong for quarterbacks, at least in Pitt’s traditional recruiting area. By contrast, the class of 2010 has at least three Division I quarterbacks in Pennsylvania alone.
Thus the decision was made to skip quarterback recruiting for the class of 2009, and the coaching staff moved its focus to other positions for this class while keeping an eye on next year’s class for signal-callers.
But then the 2008 season happened, and as time went on, the confidence in Pitt’s current crop of quarterbacks fell. Beyond true freshman Tino Sunseri, the coaches didn’t have a world of hope for any of the Panthers’ quarterbacks, and Sunseri’s promise was built on training camp and scout team work, which can be misleading (or at least give false hope).
So the coaching staff changed direction and reinvested in recruiting a quarterback for the class of 2009. A virtual APB was put out on the top available quarterback prospects in the country. The search turned up a number of prospects, and Gray was among them.
Enter Phil Bennett. With the backing of Dave Wannstedt and the approval of Matt Cavanaugh, Bennett headed off for Cypress-Falls High School in Houston, TX, to reach out to Gray. Bennett had an existing relationship with Cy-Falls head coach David Raffield, and that connection only helped facilitate Pitt’s relationship with Gray.
After meeting Bennett, Gray had Pitt as a favorite. An official visit was set for the weekend of January 9th, and the countdown began.
In the meantime, anticipation for Gray’s visit - and likely commitment - grew, particularly after Pitt’s abysmal offensive performance in the Sun Bowl, when the Panthers lost to Oregon State 3-0. With that loss firmly in the conscience of Pitt fans everywhere, Gray became something of a must-get prospect.
On Sunday morning, Pitt got Gray.
Now the question becomes this:
What has Pitt got with Gray?
To get an idea of Gray, it’s important to understand his history as a quarterback. Sure, it’s a story that’s been oft-told, but it bears repeating for placing his significance as a recruit.
As a junior in 2007, Gray ran a straight-up spread offense at Cy-Falls, and his production tells the tale:
59.7% completions, 3.350 yards, 32 touchdowns, 5 interceptions
You can see how well Gray operated in that system by watching either this clip. Both are from his junior season and both show off a strong, accurate arm, pretty decent footwork, and a lot of pure, natural skills that would seem to translate well to the college game.
After that season, though, all of those big, fast receivers and skill players that you see on the junior film graduated, leaving Gray as one of the few returning offensive weapon. So Raffield and the Cy-Falls coaching staff decided to do some slight revamping to the offense and refocused the system on the star quarterback.
Gray’s response to the change in offense:
Rushing - 1,006 yards and 13 touchdowns
Passing - 57% completions, 1,492 yards, 9 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions
I’d say that’s a pretty good response, and you can watch highlights of Gray’s senior season. You see pretty much what you would expect from those numbers: the same strong-armed, accurate quarterback, but this time he’s running almost half the time (179 carries and 214 pass attempts this season).
The moral of the story, though, goes beyond Gray’s athletic ability and playmaking ability. The moral of the Kolby Gray Story is that when his team needed to find a way to generate offense in the 2008 season, the coaches turned to him, and he responded by being his team’s top weapon.
So to answer the previously-stated question (“What has Pitt got with Gray?”), the answer is this:
A winning attitude, a do-whatever-it-takes player, a mobile quarterback, an athletic quarterback with the potential to add size to his 6’2” 180-pound frame, and a potential starting quarterback for the future.
And with the Sun Bowl so fresh in everyone’s minds, the desire for Gray to make an impact inevitably falls to a shorter timeline than is probably realistic. In the aftermath of the bowl game - and, really, the season as a whole - Cavanaugh, Pitt’s offense, and quarterback Bill Stull all fell under much scrutiny, and the duo of Cavanaugh and Stull took much of the blame. The mandate from the fans in the days after the 3-0 debacle was for a new coordinator and a new quarterback.
But let’s all understand something:
Kolby Gray may be that guy at some point down the road, but it’s not going to be 2009 and it’s probably not going to be 2010.
For Gray to start or contribute this coming season or next season would go against everything that Dave Wannstedt and Matt Cavanaugh have professed in the past. These two are very much opposed to putting inexperienced players on the field, no matter how talented they may be, and that reluctance is amplified when it comes to the quarterback position. The 2007 season, with its revolution of first-time starters at quarterback only added more conviction to the collective hesitation of Cavanaugh and Wannstedt.
The sum result is that catastrophic injuries/situations would have to befall Bill Stull, Pat Bostick, and Tino Sunseri next season for Kolby Gray to get the call.
Plus, in addition to the natural aversion to playing freshmen, Gray also has to grow accustomed to Pitt’s offensive system. While it’s admirable that he excelled in two separate - although not altogether unrelated - offensive schemes, a viewing of his highlight clips shows no snaps taken under center. Cy-Falls’ spread and zone-read schemes had him taking virtually all of his snaps in the shotgun, something he will only do at Pitt on third-and-long and in occasional two-minute situations.
Now, it has become something of a common refrain to suggest that Pitt would adopt a new offense in the interest of playing to Gray’s strengths. I really don’t see that happening. To the best of my knowledge, Pitt never made such a proposal to Terrelle Pryor a year ago, and if ever there was a time to promise a philosophical change, that was it.
Barring a change in the offensive coaching staff - and while there’s a slight possibility that could still happen - I don’t see the offense changing.
Now, Raffield - the coach at Cy-Falls - did say that he thinks Gray can make the transition to the pro-style/West Coast offense that Pitt runs.
"I think his game can translate to a pro-style offense…he's got a big-time arm. He's still maturing, but he has a great presence on the field."
I guess we’ll see. Gray’s not big right now - 6’2” 180 - but his coach says he has room to grow. Maybe he’ll grow into a 6’3” 220-pound mobile quarterback with a strong arm (sounds a little like Kevan Smith, actually) and a three-year starter at Pitt.
For now, it’s safe to say that the Panthers have gotten a pretty solid quarterback recruit with a chance to be a good player down the road.
The Jersey DB
Pitt’s second football commitment of the weekend arrived with considerably less fanfare than Kolby Gray. Jersey City (NJ) Hudson Catholic running back/defensive back Jason Hendricks committed to Pitt Sunday morning over offers from Syracuse, Temple, Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, and James Madison.
We can be honest here: that’s not an impressive list, and the lack of big-name offers led to a rather unenthusiastic reaction on this message board when Hendricks committed. That’s understandable, and without any film to get a sense of what kind of player he is, the most we have to judge with is his offer sheet.
You can also consider the words of Hendricks’ coach at Hudson Catholic, Rob Stern. Admittedly, Stern is a biased party because Hendricks was the best player on his team, but it’s still worth hearing his input:
"He's a great player and a tremendous defensive player," Stern said. "I've coached 21 years in college and high school and he's probably the best open-field tackler I've ever coached. He's got a great first step and he probably has 20 blocked punts in his four-year career here.”
That was what Stern told us when we first Nyshier Oliver) both play in Hudson County, and for Hendricks to stick out among that competition - not to mention the wealth of other good high school players who might not be Division I prospects - is certainly a testament to how well he played this season.
At a Rivals-verified event, Hendricks reportedly measured in at 6’1”, but he told us that when he was at Pitt he measured in at 5’10” and some change. We’re working to get senior film of Hendricks, but I’ve heard that the tape is quite impressive.
The Jersey point guard
Of the three commits that Pitt athletics locked up on Sunday, none has more stars than Isiah Epps. Epps, a 6’2” 170-pound junior from Plainfield (NJ) High School, is a four-star point guard, and he committed to the Panthers Sunday morning. Epps chose Pitt over offers from Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. Joe’s, and Maryland, and he told PantherLair.com that he was also hearing from Marquette and Kansas.
Since Epps is just a junior, there’s a good chance his offer sheet will pick up over the next year and a half. Rivals has him ranked made the difference for Epps in picking Pitt:
"I picked Pitt because I like their academics and I love their coaching staff," Epps told PantherLair.com Sunday afternoon. "I'm real cool with [former Pitt point guard and current assistant coach] Brandin Knight. He played for the same AAU team that I play for, so we have a connection, and for me to go there and learn from him, that would be a big. He was a great guard at Pitt.
"We've talked about playing point guard and he told me to be a leader on the floor. He said, 'When you see your teammates down pick them up and if you lead the team, that's the way to win.'
"We don't exactly play the same way, but learning the game from him will make me a better point guard.
"Brandin Knight and Pitt's academics; those were the two main factors in why I picked Pitt."
Epps describes himself as a natural point guard who likes to lead on the floor and control his team, but at the time he considers himself a shooter. He said that his coaches at Plainfield use him as a combo guard, but Pitt is recruiting him exclusively for the point. Epps is Pitt’s first commitment for the class of 2010, and if his commitment sets the tone for the rest of the class, Jamie Dixon and company could be in for their best group of recruits yet.
I guess this is what happens when you’re the No. 1 team in the country.
Weekend wrap-up
14 recruits made the trip to Pittsburgh for official visits this past weekend. Eight of the recruits are already committed to Pitt, and the other six were top prospects on the Panthers’ board. Gray and Hendricks committed on the visit, leaving four more targets.
Bernardo Nunez
Position: DE
Hometown: Hoboken, NJ
To say Nunez had a good visit is almost an understatement. In fact, after his visit he said that Pitt is his top school.
"Pitt's up there for me; they're No. 1. The visit put them up there, and I had some strong feelings about committing, but I want to take an official visit to Michigan State next weekend and see what happens after that. After that Michigan State visit next week, I'll know where I'm going."
Nunez already visited Maryland and he’ll go to Michigan State this weekend. For the longest time, I thought he was Maryland’s to lose, but after this visit, it looks like Pitt is the team to beat. As long as he comes out of the Michigan State visit uncommitted, I think he commits to Pitt early next week.
If that happens, Pitt will have a pretty solid defensive end prospect. I think I’ve used the word “prototypical” about a 1,000 times when describing Nunez, but that’s exactly what he is:
The prototype for a defensive end in Pitt’s defense.
At 6’3” 232, Nunez has size and quickness, good agility and athleticism, a powerful burst off the ball, and a good sense of “get after it.” Watch his junior highlights; don’t you get a sense that he has an innate ability to get after it?
I remember early in the recruiting process for this class, I was talking to one college evaluator about Nunez, and he said “That kid would be the perfect end in Pitt’s defense.”
Isaac Holmes
Position: DT
Hometown: Hoboken, NJ
Holmes and Nunez were half of one of New Jersey’s most dominant defensive line this season, and both had their fair share of offers. Of the two, Holmes’ offer sheet was a little more impressive, with the most notable school being Florida. Still, Pitt was always part of his recruitment, and he made the trip this past weekend.
His visit to Pitt was his third official. He already took Maryland.
This most recent visit apparently went pretty well.
The key for Holmes was that he felt like was at home when he was in Pittsburgh. One would assume that of College Park, Gainesville, and Pittsburgh, the latter probably most resembles Holmes’ native stomping grounds of Hoboken.
"That was my first time in Pittsburgh, but when I first walked in, I felt like I was back home. I was like 'wow, I was not expecting at all.' I really felt like it was home, and that caught my eye…
“…Right now, my lasting impression from the Pitt visit is that it's a remarkable place. The facilities are great, the coaching staff is great, the players are great, and I could be around them for the next few years. I felt very comfortable…
“…If it came down to it, I have to say that I really see Pitt as a big-time program. There's something real special at Pitt right now."
Strong words from a young man who is also considering the reigning national champions.
Maryland, Pitt, and Florida have been the leaders for Holmes for awhile, but he still plans to take an official to Rutgers next weekend. After that, he’ll make a decision.
As was the case with Nunez, I always kind of thought that Maryland was the school to beat for Holmes. He’s got a cousin that plays at Maryland, and the Hoboken duo has been to College Park for a number of visits. But this past weekend’s trip to Pitt seems to have changed things for both Holmes and Nunez. I’m not quite ready to call Pitt a favorite for Holmes, but I’ll put them pretty close to the top until I hear otherwise.
Shane Gordon
Position: LB
Hometown: Weston, FL
Pitt definitely wants at least one or two more linebackers in this class - after RB-turned-OLB/SS he enjoyed himself.
"They did well for themselves on that visit, they really did. I didn't know what to expect, but I really liked it there.
Gordon’s biggest apprehension about visiting Pitt just might have been the climate adjustment from sunny Florida to Pittsburgh in the winter. But he said after the visit that even that went well.
“That was my first time seeing snow, so that was something. I was a little worried about the cold weather and I wanted to see how it would be, and it wasn't all that bad. I thought it was going to be worse, actually."
Getting over the weather was important for Gordon, because his teammate, Pitt commit Jason Douglas, told me that he thought Gordon was scared of the cold and needed to see that it’s not that bad. Of course, as I type this at noon on Thursday, the temperature in Pittsburgh is 12 degrees and it feels like -3 with the wind chill, so I suppose that it’s better to have had Gordon come in over the weekend, when the temperature was only 10 degrees below freezing.
Nevertheless, the cold didn’t bother Gordon, and his sit-down with Wannstedt at the end of the visit apparently was pretty warm.
“He wasn't trying to sell anything, we were just talking about what I want to do. Sometimes with coaches you can tell that they're trying to push you or sell you or come at you hard, but Coach Wannstedt wasn't like that.
"He's a real person, and I like that. And all the players say really good stuff about him and the other coaches."
Pitt was the second official visit for Gordon but the start of his three-week “Farewell to Recruiting Tour” (that’s my title, not his), as the visit to Pitt kicked off a run of three consecutive visits. This weekend he’ll go South Florida and the following weekend he will visit Ole Miss. He is expected to pick from those three, and to be honest, I don’t really have a feel for how this one will go. I don’t think he’ll commit while he’s on the USF visit because he seems genuinely interested in taking all three visits, so the key for Pitt is to have him not commit when he’s at Ole Miss.
I’d imagine that if he’s still uncommitted after the Ole Miss visit, Dave Wannstedt and Joe Tumpkin will try to get down to Florida for an in-home visit. That will probably be Pitt’s best shot at locking up Gordon. We’ll see how the whole thing plays out.
Dan Mason
Position: LB
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
Mason is the top linebacker target for Pitt, and most of us have felt for a long time that Pitt was the top school for him. In fact, he said as much over the summer. He later backed off that stance, but the feeling with Mason and a Pitt commitment has always been more “when” than “if.”
Thus far, we have been unable to reach Mason for comment on his visit (he’s the only uncommitted visitor we haven’t interviewed), but the Rivals.com national writers like Mike Farrell haven’t been able to reach him either, so it looks like Mason has gone a bit incommunicado. Nevertheless, we’ll keep working the phones to get the word.
However, you can always get input from others, and we’ve been doing that for the past week, too. Overall, we’ve heard pretty positive things about Mason’s visit from a variety of sources.
As far as we know, Mason has at least one more visit set up, and that’s a trip to West Virginia next weekend. From what we hear, it will probably be a Pitt-WVU battle, and as was the case in the past two Backyard Brawls, I like Pitt’s chances.
Filling out the class
With Gray and Hendricks on board, Pitt’s got 17 commitments in the class of 2009. Dave Wannstedt said they’re looking to take 18-20 in the class, and if history serves as any example, you can pretty much assume that they will take two or three more than whatever number Wannstedt throws out in early January, so let’s assume five more scholarships.
Now, before we get into the remaining targets, let’s take a look at how the numbers break down.
14 scholarship players were in their final years of eligibility this past season:
Dave Brytus
Chase Clowser
Conredge Collins
CJ Davis
Rashaad Duncan
Mark Estermyer
Adam Gunn
Derek Kinder
Conor Lee
Scott McKillop
Austin Ransom
LaRod Stephens-Howling
Eric Thatcher
Dom Williams
Obviously 14 is well short of the 17 current commitments, so some further attrition has to happen. When LeSean McCoy declared for the NFL draft, that opened up another spot, so the working number is now 15. The next step to get the other 7 spots that we’re looking for in this exercise is to look at the fourth-year juniors. You’ll recall that Dave Wannstedt said the following in his end-of-season teleconference with beat reporters:
“We have four or five players who could graduate by August. We’ll see how it goes through the offseason and spring practice, and if they’re contributing and they want to come back, then I’ll give them that option. If they’re not contributing, then they’ll end up graduating and moving on. That could open up some more scholarships for us.”
There are 12 fourth-year juniors on the 2008 roster:
John Bachman
Craig Bokor
Irvan Brown
Steve Dell
Doug Fulmer
Cedric McGee
Shane Murray
Gus Mustakas
John Pelusi
Bill Stull
Oderick Turner
Mick Williams
Quite frankly, I think Wannstedt may be able to get two or three of those guys to fit into his criteria of “not contributing…and moving on.” Let’s assume that they get three from that list to move on; that moves the open spot count to 18. Now we’ve at least accounted for the current commitments plus one more. To get the remaining four spots for our target of 22, there are two options:
1. Current players transfer or leave the team
2. One or two recruits take a grayshirt
Truthfully, I could see both scenarios playing out. We’ve all read the message board rumors about possible transfers, and fairly often, there’s fire behind those smokes. If we’re looking to get four more spots (in order to reach 22), Pitt would need two or maybe three premature departures. From what I’ve heard, that’s not that tall of an order, and if three left the program, then you would need one recruit to take a grayshirt. If that happened, we’d be at 22.
That wasn’t so hard now, was it?
So if we’re looking at 22 scholarships, that means five remaining spots. Obviously the four official visitors listed above - Nunez, Holmes, Gordon, Mason - are at or near the top of the list. But they’re not the only ones. Hackensack (NJ) tight end Brock DeCicco. Bush already visited Pitt and he’s got a visit to North Carolina this weekend. After that, he’ll pick between the Panthers and the Tar Heels.
Wannstedt had an in-home visit with Bush last week and convinced Bush and his father to take an unofficial visit to Pitt over the weekend, but the inclement weather prevented it. Still, Bush will go to the UNC visit with Pitt in the lead. If that’s still the case after the weekend, I’d expect him to join the ranks soon.
The other top prospect on the board is Irvington (NJ) all-everything athlete Josh Evans. By the time Signing Day gets here, Evans might get the award for most mentions in previous editions of In the Pitt. We’ve written so much about Evans that I’m running out of hyperbole-laced superlatives to use when describing him. Nevertheless, Evans has the chance to be the crown jewel in Pitt’s class of 2009 if he chooses the Panthers over 35-plus offers, but it’s not going to be easy.
From the look of things, Oklahoma, Florida, and Pitt appear to the frontrunners for Evans. He visited Oklahoma in mid-December and then traveled to the Orange Bowl in Miami to watch the Sooners and Gators face off for the national championship. I spoke to him briefly this week and he told me that he will visit Florida next weekend. He had previously hoped to set up a visit to Pitt for midweek next week, and we’ve got him on the official visit list, but when I spoke to him, he was uncertain if he could make that visit.
Still, I think that his relationship with Jeff Hafley, along with the persuasive powers of Dave Wannstedt, should keep him on track to visit Pitt. And as we’ve seen in the past, if Wannstedt can get a recruit on campus, anything is possible.
If Pitt could land Evans, it just might be the biggest coup of the Wannstedt Era (save for maybe LeSean McCoy). Throw in Holmes, who also has Florida as one of his finalists, and Pitt could go into Signing Day saying “We beat the national champions for two prospects.” Now, neither of those two are slam dunks, but you have to at least give Pitt a fighting chance.
So we’ve listed six prospects - Mason, Nunez, Holmes, Gordon, Evans, and Bush - who appear to be the top remaining targets for the five remaining spots (according to our math). If lightning strikes six times and all six of those players want to commit to Pitt, believe me, Wannstedt will find a way to get them all in, probably with one or two more grayshirts.
But I think we know that landing all six of those prospects is pretty unlikely. Here’s a ranking of the six recruits in order of who is most likely to commit (as far as we can tell):
Nunez
Mason
Bush
Gordon
Holmes
Evans
Of course, as is always the case, there’s a pretty good chance that at least one of Pitt’s final commits comes from a recruit who’s not even on this list. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if one of Pitt’s final commitments comes from a recruit who doesn’t even have an offer yet. It happens every year, and I’d imagine 2009 will be no different. There are a couple possibilities for who those prospects could be, and we’ll work up a list for next week.
McCoy to the pros - again
Well, it finally officially became official on Wednesday:
LeSean McCoy declared for the NFL draft
Here at PantherLair.com, we wish LeSean the best. I can reason out several different outcomes for this situation, but more often than not, when I look at the draft possibilities and his likely standing, it seems like he could very realistically fall to the second round. Now, a strong showing at the NFL combine could elevate his standing, but there are a lot of very good juniors in this draft who could be first-round picks, and there are some high-caliber seniors, too, so the first round might be a tough nut to crack.
Nevertheless, now that this whole affair is done, I hope that the Pitt fans on this message board can reflect back on some of their favorite McCoy moments from the past two years. It was only two seasons, but it sure seems like a lot more when you look at all the great plays McCoy made for Pitt.
Recruiting roundup
Most of the Pitt-related recruiting news this past week was centered around the official visits, but there were a few other notes to mention in this week’s roundup.
- On the list of recruits who don’t have offers at present but could end up at Pitt is Pennsbury tight end Marck realizes that, so for now he’s considering his options and keeping an eye on Pitt.
It looks like Marck’s two main options are Syracuse and Miami (OH). He likes Syracuse, but apparently his brother transferred to Miami (OH) from Connecticut, and that has Miami on his radar.
- Another unoffered recruit who is on Pitt’s short list is Lansdale (PA) North Penn running back/cornerback he’s considering a visit to Pitt on the 23rd. We first heard about Akins a couple weeks ago, but the word is he won’t visit Pitt unless he’s got an offer. I would assume that the promise of an offer would probably bring him to campus, too, but, like Marck, his future - at least in terms of Pitt - is probably dependent on what happens with the six top targets listed above.
- The Wake Forest this weekend, after which he’ll probably make a decision.
We’re not totally sure where Pitt and Wilkes split ways, but once Stanford was involved, it appeared to be all downhill for the other schools recruiting him.
- A couple linebacker prospects showed up on the radar this week. First up was Atco (NJ) Winslow Township’s Pitt is one of a couple schools that have been by for in-home visits lately.
The other linebacker who emerged with some late Pitt interest was Denton (TX) Guyer’s he’s been in some contact with Pitt lately.
"I've been talking to Pitt recently. They're supposed to come down to see me at the end of the week. They just want to come see me and give me the eyeball test," Marley said. "The two linebackers they had visiting this week didn't commit. He said that if they didn't then he was going to come down here and talk to me and hopefully offer."
To be honest, I’m not sure how much will come of this. Glaud has an offer but Marley doesn’t; either way, Mason and Gordon are still the top targets at linebacker, and I’m guessing that if Pitt starts to sense that Gordon is headed elsewhere, they’ll try to get Glaud in for a late official and push for a commit. But that’s just my read on the situation. We’ll be in touch with Glaud and Marley over the weekend and see what they have to say.
On the air
Be sure to tune in to the PantherLair.com Pitt Show every Saturday morning from 11 to noon on Fox Sports Radio 970 AM in Pittsburgh. This is the only all-Pitt talk show in Pittsburgh, and I expect Pitt fans to make the most of it. If you’re not in Pittsburgh, you can listen live online at www.fox970.com. The show is driven by the fans and the calls, so the number to get on the line is 412-922-2874.
I have to be honest, the response so far has been great and the phone has been ringing off the hook during the show. But I really think we can do even better. I think Pitt fans can use this hour every Saturday morning to show how University of Pittsburgh sports are viable subject matter in the local media. I read a lot on these message boards about how Pitt athletics doesn’t get a fair shake in the local papers or on the local TV and radio stations; well, here’s your chance.
This week, we’re going to be talking about the new commits, the recruiting stretch run, the No. 1 basketball team, LeSean McCoy, and anything else that you, the Pitt fans, want to talk about.
Listen to Fox Sports Radio 970 AM in Pittsburgh or online at www.fox970.com from 11 to noon every Saturday, and call in to the show at 412-922-2874.
Thanks for joining this week’s edition of In The Pitt. As always, feel free to e-mail chrispeak1@comcast.net with any suggestions, feedback, or other input.
January 16, 2009
Top of the Pitt
Sunday morning was one of those times when you thought it would never end.
In the hours leading up to Pitt’s basketball game against St. John’s, the two major University of Pittsburgh sports programs picked up three commitments between them, quite possibly setting a record for the most commitments from the most sports in the shortest amount of time (unless Doc Carlson and Jock Sutherland pulled in a couple commits on the same day).
It’s tough to say exactly when it started. I guess the whole thing got underway when Tony posted Sunday morning that New Jersey defensive back Jason Hendricks jumped on board, too.
Three commitments in one hour; that’s a hectic start to the day, and it didn’t slow down as the day went on. Almost all of the 14 official visitors that were in town over the weekend stuck around for the basketball game, and while there weren’t any more commitments after Gray and Hendricks, the table appears to be set for a few more.
We’ll get to a full breakdown of the official visit weekend, but let’s start off by looking at Pitt’s newest commits.
The Texas gunslinger
Okay, maybe “The Texas Gunslinger” is a bit much in the way of nicknames for Kolby Gray, but it will work for now until one of our more creative posters comes up with something better. Nevertheless, Gray’s commitment is notable for a lot of reasons, and his verbal pledge to the football team was quite possibly the biggest news to come out of the weekend.
To start, let’s review the background on Gray’s recruitment. If you turn back the clock to late spring/early summer, recruiting for the class of 2009 was really getting going and the word we were getting was that Pitt would not take a quarterback in the class. That rationale was based on three basic notions:
1. There weren’t many available scholarships for the class of 2009.
2. With five scholarship quarterbacks on the roster for 2009, three of the five on the roster for 2010, and possibly two of the five on the roster for 2011, there appeared to be enough depth for the next three seasons.
3. The class of 2009 was not strong for quarterbacks, at least in Pitt’s traditional recruiting area. By contrast, the class of 2010 has at least three Division I quarterbacks in Pennsylvania alone.
Thus the decision was made to skip quarterback recruiting for the class of 2009, and the coaching staff moved its focus to other positions for this class while keeping an eye on next year’s class for signal-callers.
But then the 2008 season happened, and as time went on, the confidence in Pitt’s current crop of quarterbacks fell. Beyond true freshman Tino Sunseri, the coaches didn’t have a world of hope for any of the Panthers’ quarterbacks, and Sunseri’s promise was built on training camp and scout team work, which can be misleading (or at least give false hope).
So the coaching staff changed direction and reinvested in recruiting a quarterback for the class of 2009. A virtual APB was put out on the top available quarterback prospects in the country. The search turned up a number of prospects, and Gray was among them.
Enter Phil Bennett. With the backing of Dave Wannstedt and the approval of Matt Cavanaugh, Bennett headed off for Cypress-Falls High School in Houston, TX, to reach out to Gray. Bennett had an existing relationship with Cy-Falls head coach David Raffield, and that connection only helped facilitate Pitt’s relationship with Gray.
After meeting Bennett, Gray had Pitt as a favorite. An official visit was set for the weekend of January 9th, and the countdown began.
In the meantime, anticipation for Gray’s visit - and likely commitment - grew, particularly after Pitt’s abysmal offensive performance in the Sun Bowl, when the Panthers lost to Oregon State 3-0. With that loss firmly in the conscience of Pitt fans everywhere, Gray became something of a must-get prospect.
On Sunday morning, Pitt got Gray.
Now the question becomes this:
What has Pitt got with Gray?
To get an idea of Gray, it’s important to understand his history as a quarterback. Sure, it’s a story that’s been oft-told, but it bears repeating for placing his significance as a recruit.
As a junior in 2007, Gray ran a straight-up spread offense at Cy-Falls, and his production tells the tale:
59.7% completions, 3.350 yards, 32 touchdowns, 5 interceptions
You can see how well Gray operated in that system by watching either this clip. Both are from his junior season and both show off a strong, accurate arm, pretty decent footwork, and a lot of pure, natural skills that would seem to translate well to the college game.
After that season, though, all of those big, fast receivers and skill players that you see on the junior film graduated, leaving Gray as one of the few returning offensive weapon. So Raffield and the Cy-Falls coaching staff decided to do some slight revamping to the offense and refocused the system on the star quarterback.
Gray’s response to the change in offense:
Rushing - 1,006 yards and 13 touchdowns
Passing - 57% completions, 1,492 yards, 9 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions
I’d say that’s a pretty good response, and you can watch highlights of Gray’s senior season. You see pretty much what you would expect from those numbers: the same strong-armed, accurate quarterback, but this time he’s running almost half the time (179 carries and 214 pass attempts this season).
The moral of the story, though, goes beyond Gray’s athletic ability and playmaking ability. The moral of the Kolby Gray Story is that when his team needed to find a way to generate offense in the 2008 season, the coaches turned to him, and he responded by being his team’s top weapon.
So to answer the previously-stated question (“What has Pitt got with Gray?”), the answer is this:
A winning attitude, a do-whatever-it-takes player, a mobile quarterback, an athletic quarterback with the potential to add size to his 6’2” 180-pound frame, and a potential starting quarterback for the future.
And with the Sun Bowl so fresh in everyone’s minds, the desire for Gray to make an impact inevitably falls to a shorter timeline than is probably realistic. In the aftermath of the bowl game - and, really, the season as a whole - Cavanaugh, Pitt’s offense, and quarterback Bill Stull all fell under much scrutiny, and the duo of Cavanaugh and Stull took much of the blame. The mandate from the fans in the days after the 3-0 debacle was for a new coordinator and a new quarterback.
But let’s all understand something:
Kolby Gray may be that guy at some point down the road, but it’s not going to be 2009 and it’s probably not going to be 2010.
For Gray to start or contribute this coming season or next season would go against everything that Dave Wannstedt and Matt Cavanaugh have professed in the past. These two are very much opposed to putting inexperienced players on the field, no matter how talented they may be, and that reluctance is amplified when it comes to the quarterback position. The 2007 season, with its revolution of first-time starters at quarterback only added more conviction to the collective hesitation of Cavanaugh and Wannstedt.
The sum result is that catastrophic injuries/situations would have to befall Bill Stull, Pat Bostick, and Tino Sunseri next season for Kolby Gray to get the call.
Plus, in addition to the natural aversion to playing freshmen, Gray also has to grow accustomed to Pitt’s offensive system. While it’s admirable that he excelled in two separate - although not altogether unrelated - offensive schemes, a viewing of his highlight clips shows no snaps taken under center. Cy-Falls’ spread and zone-read schemes had him taking virtually all of his snaps in the shotgun, something he will only do at Pitt on third-and-long and in occasional two-minute situations.
Now, it has become something of a common refrain to suggest that Pitt would adopt a new offense in the interest of playing to Gray’s strengths. I really don’t see that happening. To the best of my knowledge, Pitt never made such a proposal to Terrelle Pryor a year ago, and if ever there was a time to promise a philosophical change, that was it.
Barring a change in the offensive coaching staff - and while there’s a slight possibility that could still happen - I don’t see the offense changing.
Now, Raffield - the coach at Cy-Falls - did say that he thinks Gray can make the transition to the pro-style/West Coast offense that Pitt runs.
"I think his game can translate to a pro-style offense…he's got a big-time arm. He's still maturing, but he has a great presence on the field."
I guess we’ll see. Gray’s not big right now - 6’2” 180 - but his coach says he has room to grow. Maybe he’ll grow into a 6’3” 220-pound mobile quarterback with a strong arm (sounds a little like Kevan Smith, actually) and a three-year starter at Pitt.
For now, it’s safe to say that the Panthers have gotten a pretty solid quarterback recruit with a chance to be a good player down the road.
The Jersey DB
Pitt’s second football commitment of the weekend arrived with considerably less fanfare than Kolby Gray. Jersey City (NJ) Hudson Catholic running back/defensive back Jason Hendricks committed to Pitt Sunday morning over offers from Syracuse, Temple, Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, and James Madison.
We can be honest here: that’s not an impressive list, and the lack of big-name offers led to a rather unenthusiastic reaction on this message board when Hendricks committed. That’s understandable, and without any film to get a sense of what kind of player he is, the most we have to judge with is his offer sheet.
You can also consider the words of Hendricks’ coach at Hudson Catholic, Rob Stern. Admittedly, Stern is a biased party because Hendricks was the best player on his team, but it’s still worth hearing his input:
"He's a great player and a tremendous defensive player," Stern said. "I've coached 21 years in college and high school and he's probably the best open-field tackler I've ever coached. He's got a great first step and he probably has 20 blocked punts in his four-year career here.”
That was what Stern told us when we first Nyshier Oliver) both play in Hudson County, and for Hendricks to stick out among that competition - not to mention the wealth of other good high school players who might not be Division I prospects - is certainly a testament to how well he played this season.
At a Rivals-verified event, Hendricks reportedly measured in at 6’1”, but he told us that when he was at Pitt he measured in at 5’10” and some change. We’re working to get senior film of Hendricks, but I’ve heard that the tape is quite impressive.
The Jersey point guard
Of the three commits that Pitt athletics locked up on Sunday, none has more stars than Isiah Epps. Epps, a 6’2” 170-pound junior from Plainfield (NJ) High School, is a four-star point guard, and he committed to the Panthers Sunday morning. Epps chose Pitt over offers from Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. Joe’s, and Maryland, and he told PantherLair.com that he was also hearing from Marquette and Kansas.
Since Epps is just a junior, there’s a good chance his offer sheet will pick up over the next year and a half. Rivals has him ranked made the difference for Epps in picking Pitt:
"I picked Pitt because I like their academics and I love their coaching staff," Epps told PantherLair.com Sunday afternoon. "I'm real cool with [former Pitt point guard and current assistant coach] Brandin Knight. He played for the same AAU team that I play for, so we have a connection, and for me to go there and learn from him, that would be a big. He was a great guard at Pitt.
"We've talked about playing point guard and he told me to be a leader on the floor. He said, 'When you see your teammates down pick them up and if you lead the team, that's the way to win.'
"We don't exactly play the same way, but learning the game from him will make me a better point guard.
"Brandin Knight and Pitt's academics; those were the two main factors in why I picked Pitt."
Epps describes himself as a natural point guard who likes to lead on the floor and control his team, but at the time he considers himself a shooter. He said that his coaches at Plainfield use him as a combo guard, but Pitt is recruiting him exclusively for the point. Epps is Pitt’s first commitment for the class of 2010, and if his commitment sets the tone for the rest of the class, Jamie Dixon and company could be in for their best group of recruits yet.
I guess this is what happens when you’re the No. 1 team in the country.
Weekend wrap-up
14 recruits made the trip to Pittsburgh for official visits this past weekend. Eight of the recruits are already committed to Pitt, and the other six were top prospects on the Panthers’ board. Gray and Hendricks committed on the visit, leaving four more targets.
Bernardo Nunez
Position: DE
Hometown: Hoboken, NJ
To say Nunez had a good visit is almost an understatement. In fact, after his visit he said that Pitt is his top school.
"Pitt's up there for me; they're No. 1. The visit put them up there, and I had some strong feelings about committing, but I want to take an official visit to Michigan State next weekend and see what happens after that. After that Michigan State visit next week, I'll know where I'm going."
Nunez already visited Maryland and he’ll go to Michigan State this weekend. For the longest time, I thought he was Maryland’s to lose, but after this visit, it looks like Pitt is the team to beat. As long as he comes out of the Michigan State visit uncommitted, I think he commits to Pitt early next week.
If that happens, Pitt will have a pretty solid defensive end prospect. I think I’ve used the word “prototypical” about a 1,000 times when describing Nunez, but that’s exactly what he is:
The prototype for a defensive end in Pitt’s defense.
At 6’3” 232, Nunez has size and quickness, good agility and athleticism, a powerful burst off the ball, and a good sense of “get after it.” Watch his junior highlights; don’t you get a sense that he has an innate ability to get after it?
I remember early in the recruiting process for this class, I was talking to one college evaluator about Nunez, and he said “That kid would be the perfect end in Pitt’s defense.”
Isaac Holmes
Position: DT
Hometown: Hoboken, NJ
Holmes and Nunez were half of one of New Jersey’s most dominant defensive line this season, and both had their fair share of offers. Of the two, Holmes’ offer sheet was a little more impressive, with the most notable school being Florida. Still, Pitt was always part of his recruitment, and he made the trip this past weekend.
His visit to Pitt was his third official. He already took Maryland.
This most recent visit apparently went pretty well.
The key for Holmes was that he felt like was at home when he was in Pittsburgh. One would assume that of College Park, Gainesville, and Pittsburgh, the latter probably most resembles Holmes’ native stomping grounds of Hoboken.
"That was my first time in Pittsburgh, but when I first walked in, I felt like I was back home. I was like 'wow, I was not expecting at all.' I really felt like it was home, and that caught my eye…
“…Right now, my lasting impression from the Pitt visit is that it's a remarkable place. The facilities are great, the coaching staff is great, the players are great, and I could be around them for the next few years. I felt very comfortable…
“…If it came down to it, I have to say that I really see Pitt as a big-time program. There's something real special at Pitt right now."
Strong words from a young man who is also considering the reigning national champions.
Maryland, Pitt, and Florida have been the leaders for Holmes for awhile, but he still plans to take an official to Rutgers next weekend. After that, he’ll make a decision.
As was the case with Nunez, I always kind of thought that Maryland was the school to beat for Holmes. He’s got a cousin that plays at Maryland, and the Hoboken duo has been to College Park for a number of visits. But this past weekend’s trip to Pitt seems to have changed things for both Holmes and Nunez. I’m not quite ready to call Pitt a favorite for Holmes, but I’ll put them pretty close to the top until I hear otherwise.
Shane Gordon
Position: LB
Hometown: Weston, FL
Pitt definitely wants at least one or two more linebackers in this class - after RB-turned-OLB/SS he enjoyed himself.
"They did well for themselves on that visit, they really did. I didn't know what to expect, but I really liked it there.
Gordon’s biggest apprehension about visiting Pitt just might have been the climate adjustment from sunny Florida to Pittsburgh in the winter. But he said after the visit that even that went well.
“That was my first time seeing snow, so that was something. I was a little worried about the cold weather and I wanted to see how it would be, and it wasn't all that bad. I thought it was going to be worse, actually."
Getting over the weather was important for Gordon, because his teammate, Pitt commit Jason Douglas, told me that he thought Gordon was scared of the cold and needed to see that it’s not that bad. Of course, as I type this at noon on Thursday, the temperature in Pittsburgh is 12 degrees and it feels like -3 with the wind chill, so I suppose that it’s better to have had Gordon come in over the weekend, when the temperature was only 10 degrees below freezing.
Nevertheless, the cold didn’t bother Gordon, and his sit-down with Wannstedt at the end of the visit apparently was pretty warm.
“He wasn't trying to sell anything, we were just talking about what I want to do. Sometimes with coaches you can tell that they're trying to push you or sell you or come at you hard, but Coach Wannstedt wasn't like that.
"He's a real person, and I like that. And all the players say really good stuff about him and the other coaches."
Pitt was the second official visit for Gordon but the start of his three-week “Farewell to Recruiting Tour” (that’s my title, not his), as the visit to Pitt kicked off a run of three consecutive visits. This weekend he’ll go South Florida and the following weekend he will visit Ole Miss. He is expected to pick from those three, and to be honest, I don’t really have a feel for how this one will go. I don’t think he’ll commit while he’s on the USF visit because he seems genuinely interested in taking all three visits, so the key for Pitt is to have him not commit when he’s at Ole Miss.
I’d imagine that if he’s still uncommitted after the Ole Miss visit, Dave Wannstedt and Joe Tumpkin will try to get down to Florida for an in-home visit. That will probably be Pitt’s best shot at locking up Gordon. We’ll see how the whole thing plays out.
Dan Mason
Position: LB
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
Mason is the top linebacker target for Pitt, and most of us have felt for a long time that Pitt was the top school for him. In fact, he said as much over the summer. He later backed off that stance, but the feeling with Mason and a Pitt commitment has always been more “when” than “if.”
Thus far, we have been unable to reach Mason for comment on his visit (he’s the only uncommitted visitor we haven’t interviewed), but the Rivals.com national writers like Mike Farrell haven’t been able to reach him either, so it looks like Mason has gone a bit incommunicado. Nevertheless, we’ll keep working the phones to get the word.
However, you can always get input from others, and we’ve been doing that for the past week, too. Overall, we’ve heard pretty positive things about Mason’s visit from a variety of sources.
As far as we know, Mason has at least one more visit set up, and that’s a trip to West Virginia next weekend. From what we hear, it will probably be a Pitt-WVU battle, and as was the case in the past two Backyard Brawls, I like Pitt’s chances.
Filling out the class
With Gray and Hendricks on board, Pitt’s got 17 commitments in the class of 2009. Dave Wannstedt said they’re looking to take 18-20 in the class, and if history serves as any example, you can pretty much assume that they will take two or three more than whatever number Wannstedt throws out in early January, so let’s assume five more scholarships.
Now, before we get into the remaining targets, let’s take a look at how the numbers break down.
14 scholarship players were in their final years of eligibility this past season:
Dave Brytus
Chase Clowser
Conredge Collins
CJ Davis
Rashaad Duncan
Mark Estermyer
Adam Gunn
Derek Kinder
Conor Lee
Scott McKillop
Austin Ransom
LaRod Stephens-Howling
Eric Thatcher
Dom Williams
Obviously 14 is well short of the 17 current commitments, so some further attrition has to happen. When LeSean McCoy declared for the NFL draft, that opened up another spot, so the working number is now 15. The next step to get the other 7 spots that we’re looking for in this exercise is to look at the fourth-year juniors. You’ll recall that Dave Wannstedt said the following in his end-of-season teleconference with beat reporters:
“We have four or five players who could graduate by August. We’ll see how it goes through the offseason and spring practice, and if they’re contributing and they want to come back, then I’ll give them that option. If they’re not contributing, then they’ll end up graduating and moving on. That could open up some more scholarships for us.”
There are 12 fourth-year juniors on the 2008 roster:
John Bachman
Craig Bokor
Irvan Brown
Steve Dell
Doug Fulmer
Cedric McGee
Shane Murray
Gus Mustakas
John Pelusi
Bill Stull
Oderick Turner
Mick Williams
Quite frankly, I think Wannstedt may be able to get two or three of those guys to fit into his criteria of “not contributing…and moving on.” Let’s assume that they get three from that list to move on; that moves the open spot count to 18. Now we’ve at least accounted for the current commitments plus one more. To get the remaining four spots for our target of 22, there are two options:
1. Current players transfer or leave the team
2. One or two recruits take a grayshirt
Truthfully, I could see both scenarios playing out. We’ve all read the message board rumors about possible transfers, and fairly often, there’s fire behind those smokes. If we’re looking to get four more spots (in order to reach 22), Pitt would need two or maybe three premature departures. From what I’ve heard, that’s not that tall of an order, and if three left the program, then you would need one recruit to take a grayshirt. If that happened, we’d be at 22.
That wasn’t so hard now, was it?
So if we’re looking at 22 scholarships, that means five remaining spots. Obviously the four official visitors listed above - Nunez, Holmes, Gordon, Mason - are at or near the top of the list. But they’re not the only ones. Hackensack (NJ) tight end Brock DeCicco. Bush already visited Pitt and he’s got a visit to North Carolina this weekend. After that, he’ll pick between the Panthers and the Tar Heels.
Wannstedt had an in-home visit with Bush last week and convinced Bush and his father to take an unofficial visit to Pitt over the weekend, but the inclement weather prevented it. Still, Bush will go to the UNC visit with Pitt in the lead. If that’s still the case after the weekend, I’d expect him to join the ranks soon.
The other top prospect on the board is Irvington (NJ) all-everything athlete Josh Evans. By the time Signing Day gets here, Evans might get the award for most mentions in previous editions of In the Pitt. We’ve written so much about Evans that I’m running out of hyperbole-laced superlatives to use when describing him. Nevertheless, Evans has the chance to be the crown jewel in Pitt’s class of 2009 if he chooses the Panthers over 35-plus offers, but it’s not going to be easy.
From the look of things, Oklahoma, Florida, and Pitt appear to the frontrunners for Evans. He visited Oklahoma in mid-December and then traveled to the Orange Bowl in Miami to watch the Sooners and Gators face off for the national championship. I spoke to him briefly this week and he told me that he will visit Florida next weekend. He had previously hoped to set up a visit to Pitt for midweek next week, and we’ve got him on the official visit list, but when I spoke to him, he was uncertain if he could make that visit.
Still, I think that his relationship with Jeff Hafley, along with the persuasive powers of Dave Wannstedt, should keep him on track to visit Pitt. And as we’ve seen in the past, if Wannstedt can get a recruit on campus, anything is possible.
If Pitt could land Evans, it just might be the biggest coup of the Wannstedt Era (save for maybe LeSean McCoy). Throw in Holmes, who also has Florida as one of his finalists, and Pitt could go into Signing Day saying “We beat the national champions for two prospects.” Now, neither of those two are slam dunks, but you have to at least give Pitt a fighting chance.
So we’ve listed six prospects - Mason, Nunez, Holmes, Gordon, Evans, and Bush - who appear to be the top remaining targets for the five remaining spots (according to our math). If lightning strikes six times and all six of those players want to commit to Pitt, believe me, Wannstedt will find a way to get them all in, probably with one or two more grayshirts.
But I think we know that landing all six of those prospects is pretty unlikely. Here’s a ranking of the six recruits in order of who is most likely to commit (as far as we can tell):
Nunez
Mason
Bush
Gordon
Holmes
Evans
Of course, as is always the case, there’s a pretty good chance that at least one of Pitt’s final commits comes from a recruit who’s not even on this list. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if one of Pitt’s final commitments comes from a recruit who doesn’t even have an offer yet. It happens every year, and I’d imagine 2009 will be no different. There are a couple possibilities for who those prospects could be, and we’ll work up a list for next week.
McCoy to the pros - again
Well, it finally officially became official on Wednesday:
LeSean McCoy declared for the NFL draft
Here at PantherLair.com, we wish LeSean the best. I can reason out several different outcomes for this situation, but more often than not, when I look at the draft possibilities and his likely standing, it seems like he could very realistically fall to the second round. Now, a strong showing at the NFL combine could elevate his standing, but there are a lot of very good juniors in this draft who could be first-round picks, and there are some high-caliber seniors, too, so the first round might be a tough nut to crack.
Nevertheless, now that this whole affair is done, I hope that the Pitt fans on this message board can reflect back on some of their favorite McCoy moments from the past two years. It was only two seasons, but it sure seems like a lot more when you look at all the great plays McCoy made for Pitt.
Recruiting roundup
Most of the Pitt-related recruiting news this past week was centered around the official visits, but there were a few other notes to mention in this week’s roundup.
- On the list of recruits who don’t have offers at present but could end up at Pitt is Pennsbury tight end Marck realizes that, so for now he’s considering his options and keeping an eye on Pitt.
It looks like Marck’s two main options are Syracuse and Miami (OH). He likes Syracuse, but apparently his brother transferred to Miami (OH) from Connecticut, and that has Miami on his radar.
- Another unoffered recruit who is on Pitt’s short list is Lansdale (PA) North Penn running back/cornerback he’s considering a visit to Pitt on the 23rd. We first heard about Akins a couple weeks ago, but the word is he won’t visit Pitt unless he’s got an offer. I would assume that the promise of an offer would probably bring him to campus, too, but, like Marck, his future - at least in terms of Pitt - is probably dependent on what happens with the six top targets listed above.
- The Wake Forest this weekend, after which he’ll probably make a decision.
We’re not totally sure where Pitt and Wilkes split ways, but once Stanford was involved, it appeared to be all downhill for the other schools recruiting him.
- A couple linebacker prospects showed up on the radar this week. First up was Atco (NJ) Winslow Township’s Pitt is one of a couple schools that have been by for in-home visits lately.
The other linebacker who emerged with some late Pitt interest was Denton (TX) Guyer’s he’s been in some contact with Pitt lately.
"I've been talking to Pitt recently. They're supposed to come down to see me at the end of the week. They just want to come see me and give me the eyeball test," Marley said. "The two linebackers they had visiting this week didn't commit. He said that if they didn't then he was going to come down here and talk to me and hopefully offer."
To be honest, I’m not sure how much will come of this. Glaud has an offer but Marley doesn’t; either way, Mason and Gordon are still the top targets at linebacker, and I’m guessing that if Pitt starts to sense that Gordon is headed elsewhere, they’ll try to get Glaud in for a late official and push for a commit. But that’s just my read on the situation. We’ll be in touch with Glaud and Marley over the weekend and see what they have to say.
On the air
Be sure to tune in to the PantherLair.com Pitt Show every Saturday morning from 11 to noon on Fox Sports Radio 970 AM in Pittsburgh. This is the only all-Pitt talk show in Pittsburgh, and I expect Pitt fans to make the most of it. If you’re not in Pittsburgh, you can listen live online at www.fox970.com. The show is driven by the fans and the calls, so the number to get on the line is 412-922-2874.
I have to be honest, the response so far has been great and the phone has been ringing off the hook during the show. But I really think we can do even better. I think Pitt fans can use this hour every Saturday morning to show how University of Pittsburgh sports are viable subject matter in the local media. I read a lot on these message boards about how Pitt athletics doesn’t get a fair shake in the local papers or on the local TV and radio stations; well, here’s your chance.
This week, we’re going to be talking about the new commits, the recruiting stretch run, the No. 1 basketball team, LeSean McCoy, and anything else that you, the Pitt fans, want to talk about.
Listen to Fox Sports Radio 970 AM in Pittsburgh or online at www.fox970.com from 11 to noon every Saturday, and call in to the show at 412-922-2874.
Thanks for joining this week’s edition of In The Pitt. As always, feel free to e-mail chrispeak1@comcast.net with any suggestions, feedback, or other input.
