Welcome back to In The Pitt, PantherLair.com’s new weekly discourse featuring a roundup of everything that’s happened in the past week, with insight and inside information thrown in for good measure.
October 10, 2008
Top of The Pitt
No doubt about it: the win over South Florida last week was the biggest story in Pitt athletics, and it still is this week. Easily the biggest win of 2008 - and quite possibly the biggest win of the Dave Wannstedt Era, although that debate won’t be rehashed here - Pitt’s 26-21 upset of then-No. 10 USF pushed the Panthers back into the top 25 (No. 24 in the AP poll), improved the team’s record to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the Big East, and served to help Pitt climb back toward its preseason expectations.
But if the 2008 season ends up being a success, it will be important to remember that the story didn’t start on a warm Thursday night in Tampa.
No. The story of Pitt’s improvement - and possible eventual success - in 2008 started about a year ago on a Wednesday night in Pittsburgh.
October 10, 2007 should be the date that lives in infamy. In fact, the associations that are tied to that phrase (“lives in infamy”) are more than appropriate, since October 10, 2007 was the night when the Pitt football team fell victim to none other than Navy, as that academy’s armada bombed Pittsburgh with a running attack that was unstoppable.
Pitt was embarrassed on national TV - again - and the Panthers fell to 2-4 on the season. For all the lows that had come before in the Wannstedt Era, whether it was losing at Ohio or getting run out of the stadium against West Virginia, none were lower than the 48-45 double-overtime loss to Navy at Heinz Field.
The bottom fell out. The ship sunk. The straw broke the camel’s back. Take your pick of “impending-doom-has-become-doom-happening” cliches; they all fit and they’re all appropriate. Things could not possibly get worse.
But 10 days later, as the team was in the throes of being as low as ever, the Panthers ran out of the tunnel at Heinz Field and upset then-No. 23 Cincinnati 20-17 on the strength of a touchdown with five minutes left in the game and an interception with just under three minutes remaining. Pitt came back to beat a ranked opponent, something the team had never done under Wannstedt, and suddenly there was some optimism around the lockerroom.
The next week Pitt went on the road to Louisville, where the Panthers hung with a team that has given them problems ever since the Cardinals joined the Big East. This time, though, Pitt was in it until the end, and only a last-minute fumble by LeSean McCoy kept the game from overtime.
The Panthers came home the next week to host Syracuse and beat the Orange 20-17 on the strength of 10 fourth-quarter points. Two weeks later Pitt was back on the road. This time the game was at Rutgers, another Big East foe that Wannstedt hadn’t been able to top in his first two seasons as head coach of the Panthers; against the Scarlet Knights, a penalty erased Oderick Turner’s go-ahead touchdown catch with 19 seconds go that would have put the Panthers ahead 21-20.
For 2007’s penultimate game, Pitt fell to South Florida 48-37 at Heinz Field in a game that saw USF manufacture two touchdowns on returned interceptions, another touchdown after an interception that was returned to the Pitt 1, and a touchdown on Matt Grothe’s 80-yard run to open the second half, charging the Panthers with four completely avoidable touchdowns. Mistakes doomed Pitt against USF, but the mistakes were identifiable and correctable.
Then the season finale against West Virginia happened, and everyone knows the results of that game and the hard work and determination that preceded them.
So why I am recounting the 2007 season, a campaign that most, if not all, of the readers of PantherLair.com can surely recall with vivid accuracy?
Because the 2007 Navy game and its fallout have forged a path that leads directly to the 2008 South Florida game.
I often hear the phrase “learning how to win” thrown around, and while no one has ever been able to give anything resembling a sound explanation of what exactly that phrase means, I do believe this:
Over the 10 stretch of games that starts with Cincinnati 2007 and continues up to and including Syracuse 2008, when the Panthers manufactured their second comeback win in a row, the team was learning how to win, whatever that means. Something changed with this team after that loss to Navy, and although there have been stumbles along the way - see the three losses in 2007 (Louisville, Rutgers, USF) and the Bowling Green loss in 2008 - the Panthers have developed a certain something.
Call it the “It factor.” Call it “learning how to win.” Call it “swagger.” Call it “grit” or “determination” or “will” or whatever. The nomenclature doesn’t matter. What matters is that this team has something.
Now, that’s not to say that every game from here on out will be a win and Pitt will finish 11-1 and be in the top four of the BCS. Not at all. I’m sure there are at least a few more stumbling blocks out there for the Panthers, because the team is still growing into this role of being winners. But I do think that a game like the South Florida win will be something these players can build confidence from, and that confidence should help carry Pitt to a very good record by the end of the season.
What-ifs?
In the wake of the win over South Florida, I couldn’t help but look at the rankings and wonder just where Pitt would be right now if the Panthers hadn’t stumbled in the season-opener against Bowling Green. I know it’s an exercise in futility, but it’s still somewhat interesting to note that the Panthers could be as high as 13 in this week’s AP poll, right behind Ohio State (No. 12).
Actually, the Buckeyes were No. 14 last week, so assuming Pitt entered the USF game ranked in the top 15, the Panthers could have conceivably passed OSU by beating the No. 10 team on the road.
I know, I know, it’s just like my parents always used to say: shoulda, coulda, woulda in one hand and you-know-what in the other and let me know which one gets filled first. But since rankings are, in essence, a bunch of you-know-what and Pitt’s BCS hopes rest on winning the Big East, I don’t see the harm in looking at what could have been if not for that August 30th mess.
Hoops adds another
While football is the headline of Pitt athletics at the moment, Jamie Dixon and the mens’ hoops team scored another name for the class of 2009 when Forestville (MD) Bishop McNamara forward/center it was Pitt’s coaching staff that made all the difference.
Zanna, an exchange student from Nigeria, is “very fluid” and has “good footwork and above average athleticism for a big man,” according to a scouting report on Rivals.com’s Maryland hoops site. In that same article, Bishop McNamara head coach Marty Keithline said the following about the 6’9” big man:
"Talib has improved tremendously since he first arrived here. He has gotten stronger…he has improved his ball handling, his shooting. He was already a good defensive player, but he has improved there as well. Talib is a very hard worker, he's worked hard in the weight room, worked with trainers, and has worked on improving his game."
By early September, Zanna had Zanna was a Panther.
Upon his commitment, Zanna told Tony about the factors behind his decision:
"I liked the school, the players, the basketball program, and the coaches," Zanna said. "I enjoyed my visit and had a good time.
“I am very excited.”
Keithline added the following about Zanna’s game:
"He is a primarily a back-to-basket scorer. Over the past year he has expanded his frame to 15 feet, and he has a lot of face-up moves. He changes his game a lot with shots blocks. He also dominates the paint."
Gain one, lose one
While the Pitt basketball team added a recruit in September, Dixon and the Panthers also lost a future player when word that former Pitt signee commit to Memphis.
Dodson’s saga began when he was part of Pitt’s recruiting class of 2007. He was ruled a non-qualifier after enrolling, which led him to Miami Dade C.C., but due to his prior non-qualifier status, he was ineligible to attend Pitt or any other Big East school.
To be honest, the best rundowns I’ve read on the situation were in B_Man’s posts in this thread. I’m going to post some of his thoughts on the matter; I hope he doesn’t mind.
The process is fast and simple. Darnell was notified over the summer that he had not cleared the clearinghouse and needed to take care of his core credits...he went to summer school and got to Pitt late, enrolled, but the class (or classes) he took over the summer were not acceptable core classes. Pitt did appeal that, and he was granted a temporary eligbility to work out with the team as the NCAA went through the appeal...but, the classes were not core courses and he was deemed a non-qualifier. Per Big East rules, the conference does not allow non-qualifiers and Dodson could not stay.
Dodson's eligibility did not come into quesiton out of the blue last September, the NCAA had already flagged him the previous June for not have the core course requirements completed.
Now Dodson will play at Memphis, where former Pitt assistant Orlando Antigua is currently on John Calipari’s staff.
Honors galore
Switching back to football, the South Florida win bore numerous fruits of reward for the Panthers. In particular, redshirt senior linebacker Scott McKillop, sophomore running back LeSean McCoy, and defensive coordinator Phil Bennett all received individual accolades for their efforts last Thursday night.
McKillop took home the most hardware. After recording 12 solo tackles, 3 tackles for loss, and 2 sacks against the Bulls, McKillop was named Big East Defensive Player of the Week, Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week, the Football Writers’ Association of America Bronko Nagurski Player of the Week, and The Lott Trophy Impact Player of the Week.
By comparison, McCoy and Bennett were fairly under-recognized. McCoy took home Big East Offensive Player of the Week honors, and was also named Rivals.com’s Big East Player of the Week, while Bennett was named Coordinator of the Week by Rivals.com.
Another note on Bennett
Perhaps some might say that Pitt finally has a defensive coordinator who understands how to defend the spread, since the Panthers held South Florida to just 245 yards of total offense in the 26-21 upset. And we’re also probably going to hear a lot about Pitt’s “Bandit” package, which is one of the Panthers’ defensive sub-packages that utilize multiple defensive backs.
But let me just say this:
Scheme is one thing. Having athletes at as many positions as possible is something different altogether. The “Bandit” package usually features four down linemen, one linebacker (McKillop), and six defensive backs. The backs are usually made up of three safeties and three corners, and while this scheme may get credit for shutting down the Bulls’ offense, I think it should be noted that putting Elijah Fields and Dom DeCicco and Aaron Berry and Antwuan Reed and a bunch of other fast, athletic guys on the field at the same time isn’t a schematic move as much as it’s common sense.
I’m not sure if Pitt’s past problems in defending the spread were as much a problem of scheme as they were of talent. Pitt has a lot of high-caliber athletes on the team now, and if you want to stop a spread offense, I can’t think of a better way to do it than to put a bunch of speedy athletes on the field and let them run.
That being said, I think Bennett is doing a good job as the coordinator, and he deserved the recognition from Rivals.com.
Recruiting roundup
The first thing I need to point to in the Recruiting Roundup is the Recruits React piece we ran on Tuesday morning. The article was a collection of quotes from 11 of Pitt’s top recruiting targets reacting to the Panthers’ win over South Florida. I wish we could have gotten more recruits, but those 11 were the ones we could track down.
However, keep an eye on recruiting articles over the next week, because we’ll be sure to get more reactions to that game from each recruit we talk to.
Now then, on to the Roundup, and we’ve got a lot to cover this week.
Naples (FL) running back Dion Lewis; we think the target number at that position is three, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if that third back is Pratt.
Pratt’s Naples teammate Josh Elizondo[/URL] has also shown a lot of affinity for Pitt in the past, but it now sounds like he’s looking to stay in-state. We’ll have an article on him later today.
An interesting prospect who popped up this week is Corsicana (TX) Navarro Junior College receiver Bradley is looking to take a visit. We’ll keep an eye on this, although I’m not sure if Pitt is hot on the market for two-star receivers from Texas.
One receiver is high on is Beaver Falls four-star he’s looking to make a decision in the next couple weeks. I don’t know how long it will take Thomas to decide, but I do feel pretty confident that he’s going to pick Pitt.
Illinois defensive lineman [URL=http://pittsburgh.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=858834]committed to Iowa. A few eyebrows were raised initially about Covert - son of former Pitt great Jimbo Covert - choosing not to attend Pitt, but several factors were at play. For starters, it’s not always appealing to play at the same school as your father, particularly if your father was one of the school’s greatest players. I could see how some people might not want to walk into that shadow. Additionally, I’ve heard that Covert - the younger one - has a very tight relationship with the Iowa coaching staff, and that relationship is stronger than the one he developed with the Pitt staff. That kind of thing can be hard to overcome.
In the end, it’s probably not a huge loss for Pitt. The staff thought enough of him to offer a scholarship, but the fact that the offer was for a greyshirt says something of how high he was on the board. Covert’s a good player, but Pitt will find other defensive linemen.
Speaking of defensive linemen, there are a few that seem to top Pitt’s chart. For starters, there are the two Hoboken prospects, defensive end Pitt, Maryland, and Oklahoma are the three schools he definitely wants to visit. He wouldn’t go so far as to call those three favorites, but experience has shown that when a player is that certain about visiting a group of schools, those schools are probably his favorites.
Mike Farrell talked to Holmes this week, and he’s got a top three as well: Pitt, Maryland, and Florida. Notice a pattern? Me too. I think it’s going to be tough to beat Maryland for Nunez and Holmes, but if any school seems poised to do it, it’s Pitt.
A third defensive lineman who resurfaced this week is former Harrisburg defensive tackle naming Pitt as a favorite. Now he’s in his second year at Milford - he spent his senior year of high school at Milford as well - and from what I’ve heard Pitt is keeping an eye on him. The question with anybody at Milford is when they will be ready for college. LeSean McCoy, a friend of Henderson’s who also spent some Milford, was ready to enroll at Pitt in May of the year after his high school class graduated. We’ll keep an eye on Henderson’s progress at Milford, and we’ll be there when the Falcons come to Moon Township to take on the Robert Morris JV squad on October 20th.
he’s got a top four and Pitt is part of it.
We also caught up with New Jersey offensive lineman he’s putting his recruitment on hold for the time being. Not much of an update there, although Pitt seems to be in the top group for Wilkes, too.
The thing with Wilkes, Nunez, and Holmes (and Irvington, NJ, athlete Josh Evans, who is having a ridiculous season, by the way), is that I can see Pitt staying in it until the end with all of those guys, but it’s not hard to imagine each of them picking a school other than Pitt. I think Jeff Hafley has made considerable strides in the Garden State (and I think I’ve spoken highly of his efforts before), but I don’t get the impression that Pitt is the front-runner for any of them. Then again, you don’t need to be the front-runner for the whole race in order to end up the winner, and Pitt has been pretty good at come-from-behind victories lately. I’m not counting Pitt out with any of those guys, but I wouldn’t call the Panthers the favorite for any of them either.
I mentioned that Josh Evans is having a great season, and that reminded me to link the latest Ray Graham have been going absolutely nuts this season, and this past week was no different, as Evans threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, while Graham rushed 8 times for 136 yards and touchdowns of 65 and 64 yards. Not too shabby.
Pennsbury tight end he likes the Orange but is nervous about the coaching situation. I think he’s waiting to see what Pitt and Connecticut do before he makes a decision.
Speaking of tight ends, Thomas Jefferson TE that the visit is still on). DeCicco responded very favorably to Pitt’s win over South Florida - and his brother Dom’s interception in that game - and I think the Panthers are back to a firm hold on the lead.
2010 Sto Rox quarterback a visit to Happy Valley two weeks ago, but he doesn’t have an offer from Penn State. It will be interesting to see how his recruitment changes once PSU offers.
The Penn State site also had Andrew Carswell. I think Pitt’s got a shot at both of those guys, but there are still a lot of offers to come their way.
Another 2010 prospect with a Pitt offer is Canon-Mac linebacker nearly said as much in an article last week, but Pitt will probably work to stay in it as long as possible.
While we’re talking 2010 prospects, let’s review the official offers that have been sent out so far:
QB Paul Jones, McKees Rocks (PA) Sto Rox
RB Corey Brown, Springfield (PA) Cardinal O’Hara
WR Andrew Carswell, McKees Rocks (PA) Sto Rox
WR Kevin Weatherspoon, Clairton (PA) Clairton
TE/DE Kyle Baublitz, York (PA) Central York
OL Miles Dieffenbach, Pittsburgh (PA) Fox Chapel
LB Mike Hull, Canonsburg (PA) Canon McMillan
LB Nick Forbes, Frederick (MD) Thomas Jefferson
Baublitz - the tight end/d-end from York - talked to Mike Farrell this week, and he’s got offers from Pitt, WVU, Boston College, and Clemson. He’s probably going to add quite a few more offers over the next year, but Pitt’s in early on Baublitz, so we’ll be talking to him a lot in the coming months.
Another 2010 prospect to keep an eye on is Easton (PA) Wilson Area quarterback Smith’s recruitment is on its way up.
On the hoops side, Tony caught up with Bob Hurley, the high school coach of s2009 five-star guard [URL=http://pittsburgh.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?pr_key=60677&sport=2]Dominic Cheek. Hurley had some very positive things to say about Cheek’s in-home visit with Jamie Dixon and Brandin Knight, and that article will be coming up later this morning. I’ll think you’ll like what you read.
Also on the hoops side, 2010 Sewickley Academy guard his three finalists are Pitt, Notre Dame, and Davidson.
Another hoops extension
I’d be remiss to not mention the contract extension for women’s basketball coach Agnus Berenato that was announced late this week. We’ve seen a remarkable turnaround in the men’s hoops program, but it’s nothing compared to what Berenato has done in five years at Pitt.
When Agnus first took over at Pitt for the 2003-04 season, the Panthers were among the worst - if not the absolute worst - women’s basketball programs in the country. In her first year at Pitt, Berenato went 6-20, but in her second season she increased the win total to 13. In the 2005-06 season she accomplished the previously-unthinkable by registering a 22-11 and barely missing the NCAA Tournament. The next year the Panthers won 24 games, entered the Coaches Poll for the first time, and made their debut appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
2007-08 was an even greater accomplishment, as Berenato and the Panthers matched the school-record of 24 wins, upset a top 10 team for the first time, and advanced to the Sweet 16. Berenato has the Pitt women on the way up, and it’s nothing short of amazing that she has been able to accomplish so much - particularly after starting with so little - in such a short amount of time.
The new contract will keep her at Pitt at least through the 2015-16 season, and even if you don’t care much for women’s sports, you have to appreciate what the University has in Berenato.
Odds and ends
Just a few more items before we wrap up:
- In case you missed any of it, we had a ton of post-game content from the Pitt-USF game last Thursday, including 41 photos from the game.
- Rivals jumped on the Scott McKillop train this week when they had him as a guest on Rivals Radio. You can listen to the interview by clicking here.
- Rivals also released its first set of bowl predictions. They have Pitt playing in the Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Ala., on December 29th as the third Big East team taken. Rivals projects WVU to get the BCS bid and play in the Orange Bowl and USF to get the second Big East bid and play in the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte (they have Notre Dame getting the Gator Bowl bid).
I suppose at this point it may seem odd to have Pitt as the No. 3 team in the conference even though the Panthers are currently at the top of the ranks. The way I see it, it’s still early, and the people at Rivals are hedging their bets that WVU ends up on top. I think the Panthers have put themselves in position to take the conference, but they’ve obviously still got a lot to prove.
I have to admit, from a purely selfish standpoint I’d much rather Pitt get the Big East’s No. 6 tie-in and go to St. Petersburg for a game on the 20th and be back home for Christmas than get the No. 4 tie-in and spend the holidays in Birmingham. But that’s just me.
January 1st in Miami wouldn’t be too bad.
- With the Thursday game last week and travelling and all that, obviously there was no In the Pitt, and with the bye week this week, we’re going to hold the next edition of The Pitt Dow until next week. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this question:
Which infamous score from the 21st century will resonate more for you down the road? I know the USF game is very recent in our minds - perhaps too recent - but let’s try to look into the future for historical context; which score will mean the most to you:
12-0
13-9
26-21
I think I know what the answer will be, but let’s hear some responses anyway.
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.[/URL][/URL]
October 10, 2008
Top of The Pitt
No doubt about it: the win over South Florida last week was the biggest story in Pitt athletics, and it still is this week. Easily the biggest win of 2008 - and quite possibly the biggest win of the Dave Wannstedt Era, although that debate won’t be rehashed here - Pitt’s 26-21 upset of then-No. 10 USF pushed the Panthers back into the top 25 (No. 24 in the AP poll), improved the team’s record to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the Big East, and served to help Pitt climb back toward its preseason expectations.
But if the 2008 season ends up being a success, it will be important to remember that the story didn’t start on a warm Thursday night in Tampa.
No. The story of Pitt’s improvement - and possible eventual success - in 2008 started about a year ago on a Wednesday night in Pittsburgh.
October 10, 2007 should be the date that lives in infamy. In fact, the associations that are tied to that phrase (“lives in infamy”) are more than appropriate, since October 10, 2007 was the night when the Pitt football team fell victim to none other than Navy, as that academy’s armada bombed Pittsburgh with a running attack that was unstoppable.
Pitt was embarrassed on national TV - again - and the Panthers fell to 2-4 on the season. For all the lows that had come before in the Wannstedt Era, whether it was losing at Ohio or getting run out of the stadium against West Virginia, none were lower than the 48-45 double-overtime loss to Navy at Heinz Field.
The bottom fell out. The ship sunk. The straw broke the camel’s back. Take your pick of “impending-doom-has-become-doom-happening” cliches; they all fit and they’re all appropriate. Things could not possibly get worse.
But 10 days later, as the team was in the throes of being as low as ever, the Panthers ran out of the tunnel at Heinz Field and upset then-No. 23 Cincinnati 20-17 on the strength of a touchdown with five minutes left in the game and an interception with just under three minutes remaining. Pitt came back to beat a ranked opponent, something the team had never done under Wannstedt, and suddenly there was some optimism around the lockerroom.
The next week Pitt went on the road to Louisville, where the Panthers hung with a team that has given them problems ever since the Cardinals joined the Big East. This time, though, Pitt was in it until the end, and only a last-minute fumble by LeSean McCoy kept the game from overtime.
The Panthers came home the next week to host Syracuse and beat the Orange 20-17 on the strength of 10 fourth-quarter points. Two weeks later Pitt was back on the road. This time the game was at Rutgers, another Big East foe that Wannstedt hadn’t been able to top in his first two seasons as head coach of the Panthers; against the Scarlet Knights, a penalty erased Oderick Turner’s go-ahead touchdown catch with 19 seconds go that would have put the Panthers ahead 21-20.
For 2007’s penultimate game, Pitt fell to South Florida 48-37 at Heinz Field in a game that saw USF manufacture two touchdowns on returned interceptions, another touchdown after an interception that was returned to the Pitt 1, and a touchdown on Matt Grothe’s 80-yard run to open the second half, charging the Panthers with four completely avoidable touchdowns. Mistakes doomed Pitt against USF, but the mistakes were identifiable and correctable.
Then the season finale against West Virginia happened, and everyone knows the results of that game and the hard work and determination that preceded them.
So why I am recounting the 2007 season, a campaign that most, if not all, of the readers of PantherLair.com can surely recall with vivid accuracy?
Because the 2007 Navy game and its fallout have forged a path that leads directly to the 2008 South Florida game.
I often hear the phrase “learning how to win” thrown around, and while no one has ever been able to give anything resembling a sound explanation of what exactly that phrase means, I do believe this:
Over the 10 stretch of games that starts with Cincinnati 2007 and continues up to and including Syracuse 2008, when the Panthers manufactured their second comeback win in a row, the team was learning how to win, whatever that means. Something changed with this team after that loss to Navy, and although there have been stumbles along the way - see the three losses in 2007 (Louisville, Rutgers, USF) and the Bowling Green loss in 2008 - the Panthers have developed a certain something.
Call it the “It factor.” Call it “learning how to win.” Call it “swagger.” Call it “grit” or “determination” or “will” or whatever. The nomenclature doesn’t matter. What matters is that this team has something.
Now, that’s not to say that every game from here on out will be a win and Pitt will finish 11-1 and be in the top four of the BCS. Not at all. I’m sure there are at least a few more stumbling blocks out there for the Panthers, because the team is still growing into this role of being winners. But I do think that a game like the South Florida win will be something these players can build confidence from, and that confidence should help carry Pitt to a very good record by the end of the season.
What-ifs?
In the wake of the win over South Florida, I couldn’t help but look at the rankings and wonder just where Pitt would be right now if the Panthers hadn’t stumbled in the season-opener against Bowling Green. I know it’s an exercise in futility, but it’s still somewhat interesting to note that the Panthers could be as high as 13 in this week’s AP poll, right behind Ohio State (No. 12).
Actually, the Buckeyes were No. 14 last week, so assuming Pitt entered the USF game ranked in the top 15, the Panthers could have conceivably passed OSU by beating the No. 10 team on the road.
I know, I know, it’s just like my parents always used to say: shoulda, coulda, woulda in one hand and you-know-what in the other and let me know which one gets filled first. But since rankings are, in essence, a bunch of you-know-what and Pitt’s BCS hopes rest on winning the Big East, I don’t see the harm in looking at what could have been if not for that August 30th mess.
Hoops adds another
While football is the headline of Pitt athletics at the moment, Jamie Dixon and the mens’ hoops team scored another name for the class of 2009 when Forestville (MD) Bishop McNamara forward/center it was Pitt’s coaching staff that made all the difference.
Zanna, an exchange student from Nigeria, is “very fluid” and has “good footwork and above average athleticism for a big man,” according to a scouting report on Rivals.com’s Maryland hoops site. In that same article, Bishop McNamara head coach Marty Keithline said the following about the 6’9” big man:
"Talib has improved tremendously since he first arrived here. He has gotten stronger…he has improved his ball handling, his shooting. He was already a good defensive player, but he has improved there as well. Talib is a very hard worker, he's worked hard in the weight room, worked with trainers, and has worked on improving his game."
By early September, Zanna had Zanna was a Panther.
Upon his commitment, Zanna told Tony about the factors behind his decision:
"I liked the school, the players, the basketball program, and the coaches," Zanna said. "I enjoyed my visit and had a good time.
“I am very excited.”
Keithline added the following about Zanna’s game:
"He is a primarily a back-to-basket scorer. Over the past year he has expanded his frame to 15 feet, and he has a lot of face-up moves. He changes his game a lot with shots blocks. He also dominates the paint."
Gain one, lose one
While the Pitt basketball team added a recruit in September, Dixon and the Panthers also lost a future player when word that former Pitt signee commit to Memphis.
Dodson’s saga began when he was part of Pitt’s recruiting class of 2007. He was ruled a non-qualifier after enrolling, which led him to Miami Dade C.C., but due to his prior non-qualifier status, he was ineligible to attend Pitt or any other Big East school.
To be honest, the best rundowns I’ve read on the situation were in B_Man’s posts in this thread. I’m going to post some of his thoughts on the matter; I hope he doesn’t mind.
The process is fast and simple. Darnell was notified over the summer that he had not cleared the clearinghouse and needed to take care of his core credits...he went to summer school and got to Pitt late, enrolled, but the class (or classes) he took over the summer were not acceptable core classes. Pitt did appeal that, and he was granted a temporary eligbility to work out with the team as the NCAA went through the appeal...but, the classes were not core courses and he was deemed a non-qualifier. Per Big East rules, the conference does not allow non-qualifiers and Dodson could not stay.
Dodson's eligibility did not come into quesiton out of the blue last September, the NCAA had already flagged him the previous June for not have the core course requirements completed.
Now Dodson will play at Memphis, where former Pitt assistant Orlando Antigua is currently on John Calipari’s staff.
Honors galore
Switching back to football, the South Florida win bore numerous fruits of reward for the Panthers. In particular, redshirt senior linebacker Scott McKillop, sophomore running back LeSean McCoy, and defensive coordinator Phil Bennett all received individual accolades for their efforts last Thursday night.
McKillop took home the most hardware. After recording 12 solo tackles, 3 tackles for loss, and 2 sacks against the Bulls, McKillop was named Big East Defensive Player of the Week, Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week, the Football Writers’ Association of America Bronko Nagurski Player of the Week, and The Lott Trophy Impact Player of the Week.
By comparison, McCoy and Bennett were fairly under-recognized. McCoy took home Big East Offensive Player of the Week honors, and was also named Rivals.com’s Big East Player of the Week, while Bennett was named Coordinator of the Week by Rivals.com.
Another note on Bennett
Perhaps some might say that Pitt finally has a defensive coordinator who understands how to defend the spread, since the Panthers held South Florida to just 245 yards of total offense in the 26-21 upset. And we’re also probably going to hear a lot about Pitt’s “Bandit” package, which is one of the Panthers’ defensive sub-packages that utilize multiple defensive backs.
But let me just say this:
Scheme is one thing. Having athletes at as many positions as possible is something different altogether. The “Bandit” package usually features four down linemen, one linebacker (McKillop), and six defensive backs. The backs are usually made up of three safeties and three corners, and while this scheme may get credit for shutting down the Bulls’ offense, I think it should be noted that putting Elijah Fields and Dom DeCicco and Aaron Berry and Antwuan Reed and a bunch of other fast, athletic guys on the field at the same time isn’t a schematic move as much as it’s common sense.
I’m not sure if Pitt’s past problems in defending the spread were as much a problem of scheme as they were of talent. Pitt has a lot of high-caliber athletes on the team now, and if you want to stop a spread offense, I can’t think of a better way to do it than to put a bunch of speedy athletes on the field and let them run.
That being said, I think Bennett is doing a good job as the coordinator, and he deserved the recognition from Rivals.com.
Recruiting roundup
The first thing I need to point to in the Recruiting Roundup is the Recruits React piece we ran on Tuesday morning. The article was a collection of quotes from 11 of Pitt’s top recruiting targets reacting to the Panthers’ win over South Florida. I wish we could have gotten more recruits, but those 11 were the ones we could track down.
However, keep an eye on recruiting articles over the next week, because we’ll be sure to get more reactions to that game from each recruit we talk to.
Now then, on to the Roundup, and we’ve got a lot to cover this week.
Naples (FL) running back Dion Lewis; we think the target number at that position is three, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if that third back is Pratt.
Pratt’s Naples teammate Josh Elizondo[/URL] has also shown a lot of affinity for Pitt in the past, but it now sounds like he’s looking to stay in-state. We’ll have an article on him later today.
An interesting prospect who popped up this week is Corsicana (TX) Navarro Junior College receiver Bradley is looking to take a visit. We’ll keep an eye on this, although I’m not sure if Pitt is hot on the market for two-star receivers from Texas.
One receiver is high on is Beaver Falls four-star he’s looking to make a decision in the next couple weeks. I don’t know how long it will take Thomas to decide, but I do feel pretty confident that he’s going to pick Pitt.
Illinois defensive lineman [URL=http://pittsburgh.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=858834]committed to Iowa. A few eyebrows were raised initially about Covert - son of former Pitt great Jimbo Covert - choosing not to attend Pitt, but several factors were at play. For starters, it’s not always appealing to play at the same school as your father, particularly if your father was one of the school’s greatest players. I could see how some people might not want to walk into that shadow. Additionally, I’ve heard that Covert - the younger one - has a very tight relationship with the Iowa coaching staff, and that relationship is stronger than the one he developed with the Pitt staff. That kind of thing can be hard to overcome.
In the end, it’s probably not a huge loss for Pitt. The staff thought enough of him to offer a scholarship, but the fact that the offer was for a greyshirt says something of how high he was on the board. Covert’s a good player, but Pitt will find other defensive linemen.
Speaking of defensive linemen, there are a few that seem to top Pitt’s chart. For starters, there are the two Hoboken prospects, defensive end Pitt, Maryland, and Oklahoma are the three schools he definitely wants to visit. He wouldn’t go so far as to call those three favorites, but experience has shown that when a player is that certain about visiting a group of schools, those schools are probably his favorites.
Mike Farrell talked to Holmes this week, and he’s got a top three as well: Pitt, Maryland, and Florida. Notice a pattern? Me too. I think it’s going to be tough to beat Maryland for Nunez and Holmes, but if any school seems poised to do it, it’s Pitt.
A third defensive lineman who resurfaced this week is former Harrisburg defensive tackle naming Pitt as a favorite. Now he’s in his second year at Milford - he spent his senior year of high school at Milford as well - and from what I’ve heard Pitt is keeping an eye on him. The question with anybody at Milford is when they will be ready for college. LeSean McCoy, a friend of Henderson’s who also spent some Milford, was ready to enroll at Pitt in May of the year after his high school class graduated. We’ll keep an eye on Henderson’s progress at Milford, and we’ll be there when the Falcons come to Moon Township to take on the Robert Morris JV squad on October 20th.
he’s got a top four and Pitt is part of it.
We also caught up with New Jersey offensive lineman he’s putting his recruitment on hold for the time being. Not much of an update there, although Pitt seems to be in the top group for Wilkes, too.
The thing with Wilkes, Nunez, and Holmes (and Irvington, NJ, athlete Josh Evans, who is having a ridiculous season, by the way), is that I can see Pitt staying in it until the end with all of those guys, but it’s not hard to imagine each of them picking a school other than Pitt. I think Jeff Hafley has made considerable strides in the Garden State (and I think I’ve spoken highly of his efforts before), but I don’t get the impression that Pitt is the front-runner for any of them. Then again, you don’t need to be the front-runner for the whole race in order to end up the winner, and Pitt has been pretty good at come-from-behind victories lately. I’m not counting Pitt out with any of those guys, but I wouldn’t call the Panthers the favorite for any of them either.
I mentioned that Josh Evans is having a great season, and that reminded me to link the latest Ray Graham have been going absolutely nuts this season, and this past week was no different, as Evans threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, while Graham rushed 8 times for 136 yards and touchdowns of 65 and 64 yards. Not too shabby.
Pennsbury tight end he likes the Orange but is nervous about the coaching situation. I think he’s waiting to see what Pitt and Connecticut do before he makes a decision.
Speaking of tight ends, Thomas Jefferson TE that the visit is still on). DeCicco responded very favorably to Pitt’s win over South Florida - and his brother Dom’s interception in that game - and I think the Panthers are back to a firm hold on the lead.
2010 Sto Rox quarterback a visit to Happy Valley two weeks ago, but he doesn’t have an offer from Penn State. It will be interesting to see how his recruitment changes once PSU offers.
The Penn State site also had Andrew Carswell. I think Pitt’s got a shot at both of those guys, but there are still a lot of offers to come their way.
Another 2010 prospect with a Pitt offer is Canon-Mac linebacker nearly said as much in an article last week, but Pitt will probably work to stay in it as long as possible.
While we’re talking 2010 prospects, let’s review the official offers that have been sent out so far:
QB Paul Jones, McKees Rocks (PA) Sto Rox
RB Corey Brown, Springfield (PA) Cardinal O’Hara
WR Andrew Carswell, McKees Rocks (PA) Sto Rox
WR Kevin Weatherspoon, Clairton (PA) Clairton
TE/DE Kyle Baublitz, York (PA) Central York
OL Miles Dieffenbach, Pittsburgh (PA) Fox Chapel
LB Mike Hull, Canonsburg (PA) Canon McMillan
LB Nick Forbes, Frederick (MD) Thomas Jefferson
Baublitz - the tight end/d-end from York - talked to Mike Farrell this week, and he’s got offers from Pitt, WVU, Boston College, and Clemson. He’s probably going to add quite a few more offers over the next year, but Pitt’s in early on Baublitz, so we’ll be talking to him a lot in the coming months.
Another 2010 prospect to keep an eye on is Easton (PA) Wilson Area quarterback Smith’s recruitment is on its way up.
On the hoops side, Tony caught up with Bob Hurley, the high school coach of s2009 five-star guard [URL=http://pittsburgh.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?pr_key=60677&sport=2]Dominic Cheek. Hurley had some very positive things to say about Cheek’s in-home visit with Jamie Dixon and Brandin Knight, and that article will be coming up later this morning. I’ll think you’ll like what you read.
Also on the hoops side, 2010 Sewickley Academy guard his three finalists are Pitt, Notre Dame, and Davidson.
Another hoops extension
I’d be remiss to not mention the contract extension for women’s basketball coach Agnus Berenato that was announced late this week. We’ve seen a remarkable turnaround in the men’s hoops program, but it’s nothing compared to what Berenato has done in five years at Pitt.
When Agnus first took over at Pitt for the 2003-04 season, the Panthers were among the worst - if not the absolute worst - women’s basketball programs in the country. In her first year at Pitt, Berenato went 6-20, but in her second season she increased the win total to 13. In the 2005-06 season she accomplished the previously-unthinkable by registering a 22-11 and barely missing the NCAA Tournament. The next year the Panthers won 24 games, entered the Coaches Poll for the first time, and made their debut appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
2007-08 was an even greater accomplishment, as Berenato and the Panthers matched the school-record of 24 wins, upset a top 10 team for the first time, and advanced to the Sweet 16. Berenato has the Pitt women on the way up, and it’s nothing short of amazing that she has been able to accomplish so much - particularly after starting with so little - in such a short amount of time.
The new contract will keep her at Pitt at least through the 2015-16 season, and even if you don’t care much for women’s sports, you have to appreciate what the University has in Berenato.
Odds and ends
Just a few more items before we wrap up:
- In case you missed any of it, we had a ton of post-game content from the Pitt-USF game last Thursday, including 41 photos from the game.
- Rivals jumped on the Scott McKillop train this week when they had him as a guest on Rivals Radio. You can listen to the interview by clicking here.
- Rivals also released its first set of bowl predictions. They have Pitt playing in the Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Ala., on December 29th as the third Big East team taken. Rivals projects WVU to get the BCS bid and play in the Orange Bowl and USF to get the second Big East bid and play in the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte (they have Notre Dame getting the Gator Bowl bid).
I suppose at this point it may seem odd to have Pitt as the No. 3 team in the conference even though the Panthers are currently at the top of the ranks. The way I see it, it’s still early, and the people at Rivals are hedging their bets that WVU ends up on top. I think the Panthers have put themselves in position to take the conference, but they’ve obviously still got a lot to prove.
I have to admit, from a purely selfish standpoint I’d much rather Pitt get the Big East’s No. 6 tie-in and go to St. Petersburg for a game on the 20th and be back home for Christmas than get the No. 4 tie-in and spend the holidays in Birmingham. But that’s just me.
January 1st in Miami wouldn’t be too bad.
- With the Thursday game last week and travelling and all that, obviously there was no In the Pitt, and with the bye week this week, we’re going to hold the next edition of The Pitt Dow until next week. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this question:
Which infamous score from the 21st century will resonate more for you down the road? I know the USF game is very recent in our minds - perhaps too recent - but let’s try to look into the future for historical context; which score will mean the most to you:
12-0
13-9
26-21
I think I know what the answer will be, but let’s hear some responses anyway.
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.[/URL][/URL]
