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.
October 24, 2008
Top of The Pitt
There are two very important things for the Pitt football team to understand as it sits at No. 17 in the BCS, 5-1 overall, and 2-0 in the Big East:
1. The season is only half over.
2. In the grand scheme of things, the Panthers really haven’t accomplished anything.
Now, that’s not to say that they haven’t been pretty good so far.
For most teams, a blowout win over Navy might not mean a lot in the grand scheme of things. But for Pitt, that was a pretty big win.
After all, no one - not the fans, not the players, not the coaches, not the media - forgot about last season’s loss to Navy in the weeks leading up to last week’s game in Annapolis. It was an embarrassment to give up as many points and lose in the way the Panthers did.
So Pitt went to Navy last Saturday with a goal - albeit an unstated one, at least publicly - and it’s safe to say that the Panthers accomplished that goal by hanging 42 points on the Midshipmen and holding them to, really, one meaningful drive in the game.
Good show, but now it’s time for serious business. And regardless of the 2-5 record, Rutgers is serious business.
We all know that Rutgers is down this year. We’ve seen the scores on each week’s ticker and we know about the losses. We know Rutgers has only scored more than 17 points once in seven games this season and that was against Morgan State. We know that Rutgers’ one Big East win came in a 12-10 barnburner against Connecticut. We know that Ray Rice is gone and the offense has taken some time to get its groove back.
Regardless of all of that, Pitt needs to approach this game with just as much focus, determination, and fire as it would approach a national championship game.
See, here’s the thing: the Panthers have put together a pretty impressive season so far, but they haven’t truly accomplished anything. At 5-1, they haven’t even earned bowl eligibility. They need at least one more win for semi-eligibility and two more wins to ensure a spot in the postseason. And the fact of the matter is, Pitt hasn’t even guaranteed a winning season yet. 5-7 is still a possibility. A worst-case scenario and something of an unlikely outcome, to be sure, but a possibility all the same.
Ordinarily, I’m not big on motivational slogans or enthusiastic cliches, but more and more I find myself buying into Pitt football’s 2008 mantra:
Prove it.
That phrase was appropriate at the beginning of the season when the Panthers were ranked despite coming off a 5-7 record, and it’s even more fitting now. Pitt has done well for itself so far, and national observers are taking notice, but little - if anything - has been proven. The Panthers need to finish down the stretch, and 4-2 over the final six games is the minimum after the way the season has started.
Pitt is in a unique situation right now, and it’s one that the team has not been in for quite awhile:
The Panthers control their own destiny. Over the final six games, Pitt can decide whether it’s a BCS team or a St. Petersburg Bowl team (or not a bowl team at all). Over the past three Pitt teams, only one has faced a similar situation at the midpoint of the season.
That was the 2006 squad, and I’ve found myself thinking about that year a lot over the past week.
You remember 2006. No real impressive wins over the first half of the season, but a 6-1 record to open the schedule and some positive momentum heading down the stretch.
I think we all know how that story ended, as the Panthers went on to lose all five of the remaining games and miss a bowl for a second-straight year.
Of course, you do remember who the Panthers played to kick off the losing streak, don’t you?
Rutgers at home, naturally.
So this year’s Pitt team, more than maybe any team in the country, needs to ignore rankings, records, and all of that and adhere to the old cliche of focusing on one game at a time. Pitt has played well, without a doubt, but the players and coaches need to realize that they haven’t accomplished anything and to get comfortable in their current successes would only lead to failure.
Pitt’s got a chance to make 2008 a really special year, but the season is far from over, and if the Panthers forget that, it will be a long ride down the stretch.
Recruiting roundup
It’s been two weeks since the last In the Pitt, so there’s a lot to talk about.
For starters, two days after the last In the Pitt, the Panthers’ commitment list hit a dozen when Thomas Jefferson tight end he would attend Pitt. To say DeCicco’s commitment was a surprise is probably an overstatement, but in a way, the long-held expectation of his commitment added a certain element of suspense when the months passed without a decision from the 6’5” 220-pounder. In the end, the lure of staying home and playing at Pitt was too strong for DeCicco to avoid, and he continued the tradition of a Thomas Jefferson Jaguar committing to Pitt every year.
But DeCicco’s status as “Pitt’s newest commit” didn’t last long, and several days later word got out that Beaver Falls receiver went with Pitt.
With Thomas and DeCicco on board, Pitt’s Devin Street each has a legitimate shot of getting a third star.
Plus, those 13 current commits will be joined by anywhere from five-to-eight more prospects, and Pitt’s looking at a pretty strong group to fill out those remaining spots.
In fact, the Panthers look like odds-on favorites for at least a few four-star prospects. At the top of that list is Penn Hills linebacker Dan Mason. Mason will probably follow through on his desire to hold off a decision until January, but we’re still pretty confident that he’ll choose Pitt when he does commit.
Another one to keep an eye on is Jeannette running back/cornerback Jordan Hall. Hall is committed to Ohio State, but we keep hearing that his commitment is slipping from “solid” to “looking around.” If he does commit to looking around, Pitt will be one of the favorites.
This week also brought the name listed Pitt as one of his official visit destinations.
As for three-stars, the top prospects who seem to have legitimate interest in Pitt are:
Florida running back Greg Pratt
New Jersey defensive end Bernardo Nunez
New Jersey offensive guard Khalil Wilkes
Delaware defensive end Jamil Merrell
Delaware linebacker Jamal Merrell
The real prize among the three-star group would have to be New Jersey super-athlete Prospects Play Under the Lights features knows that Evans is a five-star trapped in a three-star ranking, but I wouldn’t expect that to last. Evans will be a four-star by the time Letter of Intent day arrives, and he’s got five-star offers, with nearly 30 offers from the likes of Florida, Miami, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Penn State to name a few. But amongst those “big” names, Pitt has done a good job with Evans. More specifically, Jeff Hafley has done a good job with Evans, and Pitt will probably be in it until the end with Evans because of Hafley’s efforts. Evans will be a tough get for the college he chooses, but Pitt’s got a fighting chance, and to land Evans would be huge for the program.
I’ll say this now: Josh Evans could be the biggest score in the class of 2009 if Pitt can get him.
Another three-star to keep an eye on is Hackensack (NJ) tight end keeping his options open. From what we hear, Pitt’s had some pretty good contact with Bush. The staff would like to take two tight ends in this class; DeCicco is one, and Bush very well could be the other.
Bush might not be the only recruit Pitt poaches from Rutgers. Two-star defensive end Jordan Hill committed to the Scarlet Knights over the summer, but his name always seems to come up in discussions of committed prospects who are looking around. Pitt was in good with Hill when he committed (and they still are, from what we hear), so it will be interesting to see what happens if he officially opens up his recruitment.
- A popular question over the past week has been “Who is the staff bringing in for official visits this weekend?” The short answer is “No one.”
This staff has never been big on bringing in players for official visits during the season, which is probably why Pitt doesn’t usually get many mid-season commits. Obviously if a player insists on taking a mid-season official - like Hubie Graham or Kevin Harper last season - then the staff obliges. But the coaches would much rather bring players in for a weekend once the season is over; that way they can spend the maximum amount of time with the recruits. On a game weekend, the coaches and players have a lot of time already accounted for, and that means less personal time for the prospects.
So if a few recruits are really adamant about taking a visit during the season (Pratt, for one, mentioned visiting for the West Virginia game, which could be a possibility since that game is on Friday afternoon, leaving Friday evening, all day Saturday, and all day Sunday for the visit), the coaches will acquiesce. But I wouldn’t expect to see it happen very often.
- Elsewhere this week, Oklahoma safety got a top five and Pitt is part of it. I still have a hard time seeing Lowe actually committing to Pitt, but the story stays interesting as long as he keeps mentioning the Panthers.
- Tony caught up with 2010 Maryland linebacker has an early offer from Pitt. Forbes also has early offers from Maryland, Boston College, and West Virginia, so his list will probably keep growing, but Pitt has been in it from the start, and that should give the Panthers a good chance.
- The mention of Forbes is a good reason to review the known 2010 offers. Eight current juniors hold official offers from Pitt, and Forbes is the lone non-Pennsylvania recruit on the list. The other seven are:
Sto-Rox QB Paul Jones
Cardinal O’Hara RB Corey Brown
Sto-Rox WR Andrew Carswell
Clairton WR Kevin Weatherspoon
Central York TE Kyle Baublitz
Fox Chapel OL Miles Dieffenbach
Canon-Mac LB Mike Hull
The generally-accepted thinking has Dieffenbach and Weatherspoon as near-locks for Pitt and Hull a near-lock for Penn State. I like Pitt’s chances with Jones and Carswell (although Penn State could make a lot of headway with both if offers were extended), and at this point I don’t really have a feel for Brown, Baublitz, or Forbes. But it wouldn’t surprise me if Pitt has two early commitments from the class of 2010 shortly after Signing Day 2009.
The quarterback question
I promised myself I wasn’t going to talk about Pat Bostick in this forum, but there’s a recruiting angle to the situation that should be addressed. To start, let’s look at Pitt’s quarterback situation in terms of how many years of eligibility each player has after this season:
Bill Stull - 1
Greg Cross - 1
Kevan Smith - 2
Pat Bostick - 2
Tino Sunseri - 4
(Before we go any further, for the sake of this argument we’ll assign a certain amount of irrelevance to Cross; given what has transpired thus far, it’s hard - at this point - to envision him as a contributing factor. He could play a key role in the coming season, but for this discussion, we’ll assume that to be unlikely).
It’s probably safe to say that Stull will be the starter in 2009. 2010 is the real question, and for several reasons.
The general assumption is that Bostick’s appearance for three handoffs and a kneel-down against Navy was an implication that the coaching staff has decided he is not the starting quarterback of the future. If that implication is accurate - and it’s hard to imagine a different interpretation of that situation - then 2010 is a bit of a quarterback quagmire. In essence, the coaching staff has to believe that Sunseri will be developed enough as a redshirt sophomore to take control of the offense.
Otherwise, the options are fairly limited.
If we assume that the staff has decided against Bostick’s future, then he is not an option to start. And if Bostick has been ruled out, then it’s probably safe to say that Smith has also been ruled out. If that were not the case, presumably Smith would have gotten the call as Stull’s backup and taken the final reps against Navy.
Additionally, it’s looking more and more like Pitt will not pursue a quarterback in the class of 2009. That decision is largely due to the fact that there just aren’t a lot of quality senior quarterbacks this year. The one possible scenario I can see taking place would involve Seneca Valley QB C.J. Brown, but Brown is currently committed to Maryland, and he would need to reopen his recruitment for something to happen with Pitt.
So if the staff leaves quarterback off the 2009 list, then it will be imperative to take one in 2010. In fact, 2010 could be a precarious year for the Panthers at quarterback: Stull, Bostick, Smith, and Cross (assuming he doesn’t redshirt next year) will all be gone, leaving only Sunseri from the current roster. If the 2009 class doesn’t bring in a quarterback, then the only other scholarship quarterbacks on the roster to back-up Sunseri will be true freshmen from the class of 2010.
That’s thin.
Really, in retrospect, the staff probably should have taken another quarterback in the class of 2008 beyond just Sunseri and Cross.
But if Bostick had redshirted this season, he would have been around in 2010, even if it was to back-up Sunseri. That’s what makes the determined urgency of eliminating Bostick’s redshirt all the more curious: even if Bostick isn’t seen as the starting quarterback of the future, he could still have value as a five-year player. Perhaps Bostick could redshirt next season and Sunseri could act as Stull’s backup. But the insertion of Bostick into a game for four meaningless snaps when Pitt held a four-touchdown lead with just a few minutes left in the fourth quarter was puzzling, to say the least. It’s difficult to not read that situation in a particular manner.
I said I wasn’t going to go that far into it, but there it was.
Anyway, the recruiting implication is that the staff needs to think long and hard about quarterback options in the class of 2009, and the class of 2010 needs to include at least two quarterbacks.
Hoops coming up
We’ll get more and more into basketball as the season draws near. In the meantime, Big East Media Day was this week, and Rivals.com presented us with a couple good content items.
The first was a the new three-point line in college basketball. The article looks at the fact that none of the top three teams in the Big East - Pitt, Connecticut, and Louisville - have distinguished three-point shooters, and now that the line has been moved back an extra foot, the task would appear to be even more daunting.
Tony also took a look at a couple of the big issues surrounding the 2008-09 team: the search for a shooting guard. Like I said, as the season gets closer we’ll have more and more breakdowns of the Panthers and the season ahead.
Odds and ends
- From the video vault:
Former Pitt great Mike Ditka stopped by the Panthers’ Southside facilities on Wednesday and spoke to the team. Afterward, he addressed the media, and PantherLair.com had video of his comments.
Dave Wannstedt addressed post-game Wannstedt video after the Navy blowout for more comments on those two topics.
- There were a couple shakeups in The Pitt Dow this week, most notably involving Jabaal Sheard and Jonathan Baldwin, who each moved up a few spots.
- Last week’s Friday Guest was Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pitt beat writer Paul Zeise, and while his column for PantherLair.com was geared for the Navy game, it’s message addresses the remainder of the season and is worth reading if you missed it the first time.
- We finally got around to updating the Big East commitment sheet. As it stands, Cincinnati is leading the arms race with 20 verbals, followed by Rutgers (19), USF and WVU (15), Pitt (13), Connecticut (12), Louisville (6), and Syracuse (5).
- Also, we’ll be updating The 2009 Big Board this morning, so that will be up to date as well.
Prediction time
I know what I said at the start of this edition of In the Pitt about Pitt not getting comfortable and not having really accomplished anything yet, but I do have a feeling that the Panthers can win this one going away. They’ve got to get Jonathan Baldwin involved early and often and they need to keep the running game rolling like it has been for the past three games. I’m not worried about the defense and I expect to see at least one or two turnovers (remember what Scott McKillop did to Rutgers last year; I think this year’s defense is even better). If Pitt stays ahead on turnovers, the day will look good for the Panthers.
Pitt 27
Rutgers 10
Add your prediction to the bottom of this thread.
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.
October 24, 2008
Top of The Pitt
There are two very important things for the Pitt football team to understand as it sits at No. 17 in the BCS, 5-1 overall, and 2-0 in the Big East:
1. The season is only half over.
2. In the grand scheme of things, the Panthers really haven’t accomplished anything.
Now, that’s not to say that they haven’t been pretty good so far.
For most teams, a blowout win over Navy might not mean a lot in the grand scheme of things. But for Pitt, that was a pretty big win.
After all, no one - not the fans, not the players, not the coaches, not the media - forgot about last season’s loss to Navy in the weeks leading up to last week’s game in Annapolis. It was an embarrassment to give up as many points and lose in the way the Panthers did.
So Pitt went to Navy last Saturday with a goal - albeit an unstated one, at least publicly - and it’s safe to say that the Panthers accomplished that goal by hanging 42 points on the Midshipmen and holding them to, really, one meaningful drive in the game.
Good show, but now it’s time for serious business. And regardless of the 2-5 record, Rutgers is serious business.
We all know that Rutgers is down this year. We’ve seen the scores on each week’s ticker and we know about the losses. We know Rutgers has only scored more than 17 points once in seven games this season and that was against Morgan State. We know that Rutgers’ one Big East win came in a 12-10 barnburner against Connecticut. We know that Ray Rice is gone and the offense has taken some time to get its groove back.
Regardless of all of that, Pitt needs to approach this game with just as much focus, determination, and fire as it would approach a national championship game.
See, here’s the thing: the Panthers have put together a pretty impressive season so far, but they haven’t truly accomplished anything. At 5-1, they haven’t even earned bowl eligibility. They need at least one more win for semi-eligibility and two more wins to ensure a spot in the postseason. And the fact of the matter is, Pitt hasn’t even guaranteed a winning season yet. 5-7 is still a possibility. A worst-case scenario and something of an unlikely outcome, to be sure, but a possibility all the same.
Ordinarily, I’m not big on motivational slogans or enthusiastic cliches, but more and more I find myself buying into Pitt football’s 2008 mantra:
Prove it.
That phrase was appropriate at the beginning of the season when the Panthers were ranked despite coming off a 5-7 record, and it’s even more fitting now. Pitt has done well for itself so far, and national observers are taking notice, but little - if anything - has been proven. The Panthers need to finish down the stretch, and 4-2 over the final six games is the minimum after the way the season has started.
Pitt is in a unique situation right now, and it’s one that the team has not been in for quite awhile:
The Panthers control their own destiny. Over the final six games, Pitt can decide whether it’s a BCS team or a St. Petersburg Bowl team (or not a bowl team at all). Over the past three Pitt teams, only one has faced a similar situation at the midpoint of the season.
That was the 2006 squad, and I’ve found myself thinking about that year a lot over the past week.
You remember 2006. No real impressive wins over the first half of the season, but a 6-1 record to open the schedule and some positive momentum heading down the stretch.
I think we all know how that story ended, as the Panthers went on to lose all five of the remaining games and miss a bowl for a second-straight year.
Of course, you do remember who the Panthers played to kick off the losing streak, don’t you?
Rutgers at home, naturally.
So this year’s Pitt team, more than maybe any team in the country, needs to ignore rankings, records, and all of that and adhere to the old cliche of focusing on one game at a time. Pitt has played well, without a doubt, but the players and coaches need to realize that they haven’t accomplished anything and to get comfortable in their current successes would only lead to failure.
Pitt’s got a chance to make 2008 a really special year, but the season is far from over, and if the Panthers forget that, it will be a long ride down the stretch.
Recruiting roundup
It’s been two weeks since the last In the Pitt, so there’s a lot to talk about.
For starters, two days after the last In the Pitt, the Panthers’ commitment list hit a dozen when Thomas Jefferson tight end he would attend Pitt. To say DeCicco’s commitment was a surprise is probably an overstatement, but in a way, the long-held expectation of his commitment added a certain element of suspense when the months passed without a decision from the 6’5” 220-pounder. In the end, the lure of staying home and playing at Pitt was too strong for DeCicco to avoid, and he continued the tradition of a Thomas Jefferson Jaguar committing to Pitt every year.
But DeCicco’s status as “Pitt’s newest commit” didn’t last long, and several days later word got out that Beaver Falls receiver went with Pitt.
With Thomas and DeCicco on board, Pitt’s Devin Street each has a legitimate shot of getting a third star.
Plus, those 13 current commits will be joined by anywhere from five-to-eight more prospects, and Pitt’s looking at a pretty strong group to fill out those remaining spots.
In fact, the Panthers look like odds-on favorites for at least a few four-star prospects. At the top of that list is Penn Hills linebacker Dan Mason. Mason will probably follow through on his desire to hold off a decision until January, but we’re still pretty confident that he’ll choose Pitt when he does commit.
Another one to keep an eye on is Jeannette running back/cornerback Jordan Hall. Hall is committed to Ohio State, but we keep hearing that his commitment is slipping from “solid” to “looking around.” If he does commit to looking around, Pitt will be one of the favorites.
This week also brought the name listed Pitt as one of his official visit destinations.
As for three-stars, the top prospects who seem to have legitimate interest in Pitt are:
Florida running back Greg Pratt
New Jersey defensive end Bernardo Nunez
New Jersey offensive guard Khalil Wilkes
Delaware defensive end Jamil Merrell
Delaware linebacker Jamal Merrell
The real prize among the three-star group would have to be New Jersey super-athlete Prospects Play Under the Lights features knows that Evans is a five-star trapped in a three-star ranking, but I wouldn’t expect that to last. Evans will be a four-star by the time Letter of Intent day arrives, and he’s got five-star offers, with nearly 30 offers from the likes of Florida, Miami, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Penn State to name a few. But amongst those “big” names, Pitt has done a good job with Evans. More specifically, Jeff Hafley has done a good job with Evans, and Pitt will probably be in it until the end with Evans because of Hafley’s efforts. Evans will be a tough get for the college he chooses, but Pitt’s got a fighting chance, and to land Evans would be huge for the program.
I’ll say this now: Josh Evans could be the biggest score in the class of 2009 if Pitt can get him.
Another three-star to keep an eye on is Hackensack (NJ) tight end keeping his options open. From what we hear, Pitt’s had some pretty good contact with Bush. The staff would like to take two tight ends in this class; DeCicco is one, and Bush very well could be the other.
Bush might not be the only recruit Pitt poaches from Rutgers. Two-star defensive end Jordan Hill committed to the Scarlet Knights over the summer, but his name always seems to come up in discussions of committed prospects who are looking around. Pitt was in good with Hill when he committed (and they still are, from what we hear), so it will be interesting to see what happens if he officially opens up his recruitment.
- A popular question over the past week has been “Who is the staff bringing in for official visits this weekend?” The short answer is “No one.”
This staff has never been big on bringing in players for official visits during the season, which is probably why Pitt doesn’t usually get many mid-season commits. Obviously if a player insists on taking a mid-season official - like Hubie Graham or Kevin Harper last season - then the staff obliges. But the coaches would much rather bring players in for a weekend once the season is over; that way they can spend the maximum amount of time with the recruits. On a game weekend, the coaches and players have a lot of time already accounted for, and that means less personal time for the prospects.
So if a few recruits are really adamant about taking a visit during the season (Pratt, for one, mentioned visiting for the West Virginia game, which could be a possibility since that game is on Friday afternoon, leaving Friday evening, all day Saturday, and all day Sunday for the visit), the coaches will acquiesce. But I wouldn’t expect to see it happen very often.
- Elsewhere this week, Oklahoma safety got a top five and Pitt is part of it. I still have a hard time seeing Lowe actually committing to Pitt, but the story stays interesting as long as he keeps mentioning the Panthers.
- Tony caught up with 2010 Maryland linebacker has an early offer from Pitt. Forbes also has early offers from Maryland, Boston College, and West Virginia, so his list will probably keep growing, but Pitt has been in it from the start, and that should give the Panthers a good chance.
- The mention of Forbes is a good reason to review the known 2010 offers. Eight current juniors hold official offers from Pitt, and Forbes is the lone non-Pennsylvania recruit on the list. The other seven are:
Sto-Rox QB Paul Jones
Cardinal O’Hara RB Corey Brown
Sto-Rox WR Andrew Carswell
Clairton WR Kevin Weatherspoon
Central York TE Kyle Baublitz
Fox Chapel OL Miles Dieffenbach
Canon-Mac LB Mike Hull
The generally-accepted thinking has Dieffenbach and Weatherspoon as near-locks for Pitt and Hull a near-lock for Penn State. I like Pitt’s chances with Jones and Carswell (although Penn State could make a lot of headway with both if offers were extended), and at this point I don’t really have a feel for Brown, Baublitz, or Forbes. But it wouldn’t surprise me if Pitt has two early commitments from the class of 2010 shortly after Signing Day 2009.
The quarterback question
I promised myself I wasn’t going to talk about Pat Bostick in this forum, but there’s a recruiting angle to the situation that should be addressed. To start, let’s look at Pitt’s quarterback situation in terms of how many years of eligibility each player has after this season:
Bill Stull - 1
Greg Cross - 1
Kevan Smith - 2
Pat Bostick - 2
Tino Sunseri - 4
(Before we go any further, for the sake of this argument we’ll assign a certain amount of irrelevance to Cross; given what has transpired thus far, it’s hard - at this point - to envision him as a contributing factor. He could play a key role in the coming season, but for this discussion, we’ll assume that to be unlikely).
It’s probably safe to say that Stull will be the starter in 2009. 2010 is the real question, and for several reasons.
The general assumption is that Bostick’s appearance for three handoffs and a kneel-down against Navy was an implication that the coaching staff has decided he is not the starting quarterback of the future. If that implication is accurate - and it’s hard to imagine a different interpretation of that situation - then 2010 is a bit of a quarterback quagmire. In essence, the coaching staff has to believe that Sunseri will be developed enough as a redshirt sophomore to take control of the offense.
Otherwise, the options are fairly limited.
If we assume that the staff has decided against Bostick’s future, then he is not an option to start. And if Bostick has been ruled out, then it’s probably safe to say that Smith has also been ruled out. If that were not the case, presumably Smith would have gotten the call as Stull’s backup and taken the final reps against Navy.
Additionally, it’s looking more and more like Pitt will not pursue a quarterback in the class of 2009. That decision is largely due to the fact that there just aren’t a lot of quality senior quarterbacks this year. The one possible scenario I can see taking place would involve Seneca Valley QB C.J. Brown, but Brown is currently committed to Maryland, and he would need to reopen his recruitment for something to happen with Pitt.
So if the staff leaves quarterback off the 2009 list, then it will be imperative to take one in 2010. In fact, 2010 could be a precarious year for the Panthers at quarterback: Stull, Bostick, Smith, and Cross (assuming he doesn’t redshirt next year) will all be gone, leaving only Sunseri from the current roster. If the 2009 class doesn’t bring in a quarterback, then the only other scholarship quarterbacks on the roster to back-up Sunseri will be true freshmen from the class of 2010.
That’s thin.
Really, in retrospect, the staff probably should have taken another quarterback in the class of 2008 beyond just Sunseri and Cross.
But if Bostick had redshirted this season, he would have been around in 2010, even if it was to back-up Sunseri. That’s what makes the determined urgency of eliminating Bostick’s redshirt all the more curious: even if Bostick isn’t seen as the starting quarterback of the future, he could still have value as a five-year player. Perhaps Bostick could redshirt next season and Sunseri could act as Stull’s backup. But the insertion of Bostick into a game for four meaningless snaps when Pitt held a four-touchdown lead with just a few minutes left in the fourth quarter was puzzling, to say the least. It’s difficult to not read that situation in a particular manner.
I said I wasn’t going to go that far into it, but there it was.
Anyway, the recruiting implication is that the staff needs to think long and hard about quarterback options in the class of 2009, and the class of 2010 needs to include at least two quarterbacks.
Hoops coming up
We’ll get more and more into basketball as the season draws near. In the meantime, Big East Media Day was this week, and Rivals.com presented us with a couple good content items.
The first was a the new three-point line in college basketball. The article looks at the fact that none of the top three teams in the Big East - Pitt, Connecticut, and Louisville - have distinguished three-point shooters, and now that the line has been moved back an extra foot, the task would appear to be even more daunting.
Tony also took a look at a couple of the big issues surrounding the 2008-09 team: the search for a shooting guard. Like I said, as the season gets closer we’ll have more and more breakdowns of the Panthers and the season ahead.
Odds and ends
- From the video vault:
Former Pitt great Mike Ditka stopped by the Panthers’ Southside facilities on Wednesday and spoke to the team. Afterward, he addressed the media, and PantherLair.com had video of his comments.
Dave Wannstedt addressed post-game Wannstedt video after the Navy blowout for more comments on those two topics.
- There were a couple shakeups in The Pitt Dow this week, most notably involving Jabaal Sheard and Jonathan Baldwin, who each moved up a few spots.
- Last week’s Friday Guest was Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pitt beat writer Paul Zeise, and while his column for PantherLair.com was geared for the Navy game, it’s message addresses the remainder of the season and is worth reading if you missed it the first time.
- We finally got around to updating the Big East commitment sheet. As it stands, Cincinnati is leading the arms race with 20 verbals, followed by Rutgers (19), USF and WVU (15), Pitt (13), Connecticut (12), Louisville (6), and Syracuse (5).
- Also, we’ll be updating The 2009 Big Board this morning, so that will be up to date as well.
Prediction time
I know what I said at the start of this edition of In the Pitt about Pitt not getting comfortable and not having really accomplished anything yet, but I do have a feeling that the Panthers can win this one going away. They’ve got to get Jonathan Baldwin involved early and often and they need to keep the running game rolling like it has been for the past three games. I’m not worried about the defense and I expect to see at least one or two turnovers (remember what Scott McKillop did to Rutgers last year; I think this year’s defense is even better). If Pitt stays ahead on turnovers, the day will look good for the Panthers.
Pitt 27
Rutgers 10
Add your prediction to the bottom of this thread.
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.
