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.
June 27, 2008
Top of The Pitt
The biggest story of the week came on Tuesday when Aliquippa lineman committed to Pitt. Hollins, 6’4” 254, could play on either side of the ball, and at Pitt’s prospect camp he worked out at defensive tackle and offensive guard.
Hollins is big, strong, and athletic, and as Kevin Gorman pointed out in the Trib this week, this season will be his fourth as a starter at Aliquippa, which is virtually unheard of and it speaks to just how good Hollins is/can be. The Quips are a storied high school program with a lot of talented teams over the years, and few, if any, players have been good enough to start for four years. And what’s more: Hollins has started every year of his high school career on the line. He’s not some little speedster who has been on the field since he was a freshman because he was faster than everyone else; Hollins is a lineman through and through, and he’ll be bringing that high-caliber talent to the Panthers next year.
The next one?
As is the case every time Pitt gets a commitment, the next question is this:
Who’s next?
We’ve speculated for awhile that Thomas Jefferson tight end he’ll be choosing between Pitt and Penn State; when we talked to him yesterday, he said that he hasn’t been in contact with Penn State for the past few days, so I think you can see where this is going. We expect Lippert to be on board before the end of business Friday.
The other side of the Lippert story that’s of note is the side that involves Hershey (PA) Milton Hershey tight end/defensive end/jumbo athlete this article from the Penn State site, Lippert says that the PSU staff “wants to take a look at a kid from Milton Hershey, Garry Gilliam.” If it was a question of Lippert vs. Gilliam, the Penn State staff picked Gilliam when it extended an offer to him.
Going back to DeCicco, he’ll probably join the train soon as well. He has talked about visiting Illinois at the end of this week, but that trip looks like it won’t be happening. Really, his commitment could be coming any day now (I know, I know, we’ve been saying that for about a week, but I really think it’s coming this time. Honest).
Some visitors this weekend
Even though the coaches are technically on vacation, Pitt is going to have some big visitors in town this weekend.
On Sunday, Bethlehem (PA) Liberty receiver Deon Long). Street said that Pitt and UConn are at the top for him, with Rutgers a distant third.
When we first interviewed Street, he said he wanted to wait the process out and see what offers would come; when we spoke to him on Thursday, he said that he expected to make a decision this summer. It wouldn’t surprise me if that timeframe shrinks even more, particularly after he visits Pitt on Sunday.
Before Street gets here, though, Homestead (PA) Steel Valley defensive lineman Ezell has pretty much narrowed his choices to Pitt and Ohio State, and we think that Pitt has 60/40 odds on this one.
Speaking of Ohio State
I suppose we’d be remiss to not mention to be said about it. Pitt lost out on a good player, and while there were probably a number of mitigating factors at play, that’s about the best/only way to sum it up. Could a return visit to Pitt this week, as was planned, have helped the Panthers’ chances with Brown? Without a doubt. Is there still a chance that Brown could reconsider his decision down the road and take another look at Pitt? Absolutely.
I guess the reason this one stings a bit more is the fact that Pitt’s coaches and fans all felt like the Panthers had a legitimate shot at landing one of the best players in the nation. Brown wouldn’t have been the first Top100 player to commit to Pitt and there will be more after him, but the prospect of securing a commitment from No. 73 in the country is understandably exciting (just as it was last year with the nation’s No. 26 prospect). Add in the fact that Brown seemed like he was leaning to Pitt that weekend, and excitement reaches a fevered pitch.
To have that all come crumbling down on Monday morning on the news that he was announcing without taking another visit to Pitt, well, it was hard to take. Throw in the possibility of, well, outside influences, and the ire on these message boards grew.
Like I said, I guess I just don’t have much to add to the conversation. Pitt seemed to have a good shot at a top player and they missed out, for whatever reason. Fact is, when Brown signs his Letter of Intent next February, the circumstances of how he came to choose that school really won’t matter. We can all hold on to our grudges and remain indignant over what we presume to have occurred, but in the end, it just won’t matter.
On to a cheerier subject
Hopefully you didn’t pass over the videos we’ve had this week. And I’m not talking about the Rivals.com releases (you need to keep an eye out next week for video of Pitt commit Dion Lewis; that should be out early in the week, and it’s some good stuff).
I am talking about PantherLair.com’s video highlights from the Pitt 7-on-7 camp. This week we had videos of Penn Hills LB Matt Plautz. On Friday we’ll have an odds-and-ends video with highlights of a few more players from the 7-on-7 camp.
Here are the links to the videos:
Dan Mason video
[URL=http://pittsburgh.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=996&CID=821051]Brock DeCicco video
Matt Plautz video
A word on Plautz (and I’ve said this before on the message boards): Kid is a player. He’s a legit 6’4”, and while his 4.7 40 might not be termed “speed-burner,” he has a lot of skills that he brings to the table. Earlier this week, Plautz told Tony that all of the Pitt coaches complimented him on his performance at the prospect camp and that he noticed the Pitt coaches following him around at the 7-on-7 camp. I think you can get some indication of why he garnered that interest by watching the video. He doesn’t have any offers yet, but I can see him having a number of options when it is all said and done. One of those options may be to add some muscle and become a tight end in college; if he is willing to make that transition, I think he could be a worthwhile addition at Pitt. From what I can tell, though, I think he’s set on playing receiver; as such, I think he’ll excel at the position, possibly at a MAC school or perhaps one of the lower-tier Big Ten schools (and I use that term affectionately to mostly refer to Northwestern).
Either way, over the past two weeks, Matt Plautz made a fan out of me.
Some team news - the good edition
When you think of NFL prospects on the current Pitt squad, LeSean McCoy is the first name that comes to mind, and rightfully so. After that, you might think of players like Scott McKillop, Nate Byham, Dorin Dickerson, Jason Pinkston, Greg Romeus, and so on. But here’s a new name to add to the mix:
Mark Estermyer
We’ve been hearing that Estermyer, who will serve as the Panthers’ long-snapper on field goals and punts for the second consecutive season in 2008, has been rated as next year’s top long-snapper and a high-priority free agent by the BLESTO Scouting Service. National Scouting, the other primary NFL scouting service, has Estermyer ranked 5th out of 15 long-snappers who will come out of college next year.
As numerous players throughout the NFL can attest, there is a living to be made as a long-snapper, and it looks like Mark Estermyer has a good shot at making that living.
Some team news - the bad edition
When I asked what names you think of in regards to Pitt’s NFL prospects, did Moe Williams come to mind? Well, if our sources are correct (and we think they are), Williams won’t be developing his game as a Panther; we’re hearing that he is pursuing a transfer to Edinboro.
Williams was declared academically ineligible for the fall semester/season earlier this month.
Are you concerned about Big East recruiting?
Yes, it’s the end of June. Yes, Pitt is currently sitting on three commitments. And yes, Rutgers (18), Cincinnati (17), West Virginia (10), South Florida (11), and Connecticut (4) all have more commitments than the Panthers.
So, are you concerned?
While it’s true that Pitt is lagging behind in the overall quantity of commitments, I’m not sure if it’s as bad as those numbers may indicate. And if you look closely at the classes that the other Big East teams are building, I think you’ll see that Pitt’s not really that far behind in terms of quality.
First of all, it’s important to distinguish what qualifies as quality at this time of year. When the classes are ranked at the end of the year they’ll be listed according to Rivals points, which are derived from a formula that I don’t have access to. If you look back at the final rankings from the class of 2008, you’ll see that the formula does account for quantity: Nick Saban’s “cast a wide net” approach landed 32 commitments; each recruit carries a certain number of points based on his individual ranking, so with a mass of commits like Alabama had, the team’s point total ended up being the highest in the nation. Miami also benefited from the quantity factor, taking 33 commitments and finishing fifth in the team rankings.
However, it seems to me (and others have agreed on this) that average stars may be a better measure of the actual strength of the class. I understand the point system because quantity is a factor that should be considered, but when you sort the class of 2008 according to average stars, you get a ranking list that’s a little bit different.
For example, in the final 2008 rankings, the list went like this:
1. Alabama
2. Notre Dame
3. Florida
4. Ohio State
5. Miami
But when you sort by average stars, it looks like this:
1. Notre Dame
2. USC
3. Ohio State
4. Florida
5. Oklahoma
Alabama drops to No. 6, while Miami falls to a tie for No. 13.
So what’s the stronger class? Alabama with 32 commitments but an average star rating of 3.72 or Notre Dame with 23 commitments and an average star rating of 3.96? It seems to me that the Irish get the prize here.
With that in mind, let’s look at the 2009 Big East commitment sheet. Since I don’t know the formula, I can’t calculate how many points each school has right now, but we can figure out average stars. When I calculated the average stars, I assigned each currently-unranked player two stars, since all prospects who have Division I offers are automatically assigned at least two stars.
Cincinnatihttp://cincinnati.rivals.com/commitlist.asp - 17 commits (6 three-stars)
Average stars: 2.35
Connecticuthttp://connecticut.rivals.com/commitlist.asp - 4 commits (1 three-star)
Average stars: 2.25
Louisville - 1 commit (1 three-star)
Average stars: 3.0
Pitt - 3 commits (3 three-stars)
Average stars: 3.0
Rutgers - 18 commits (3 four-stars; 8 three-stars)
Average stars: 2.78
South Florida - 11 commits (3 four-stars; 5 three-stars)
Average stars: 3.0
Syracuse - 1 commit
Average stars: 2.0
West Virginiahttp://westvirginia.rivals.com/commitlist.asp - 10 commits (2 four-stars; 8 three-stars)
Average stars: 3.2
Now, obviously guys like Romel Dismuke, who haven’t been ranked yet for whatever reason, will probably be at least three-stars, so that will affect the team rankings, but I think you can see what we’re driving at here.
Yes, Cincinnati has a ton of commitments, and so does Rutgers, but quantity doesn’t always equate to quality. Both schools have verbal pledges from some very good prospects (Ricky Harris for Cincinnati). But they are also taking a lot of prospects that are either under-ranked and have great potential or are ranked properly and just aren’t what you would call high-caliber.
Another thought on Rutgers:
I have heard a number of stories now about Greg Schiano’s recruiting success and how he has achieved it this year, and mostly they boil down to this:
Schiano and his staff are telling in-state players that they are filling up with out-of-state players, and they’re telling out-of-state players that they are filling up with in-state players. What it boils down to is pressure sales, and the effects are clear. Look at what said about his commitment: “[Schiano] asked, ‘How would you feel if we ran out of scholarships to give?’ When he said that, I knew it was time to commit.”
I think that’s a pretty telling quote.
Around Pitt recruiting
Also happening in the past week:
- Montour athlete the WVU site, and while his three interviews weren’t all completely different, there was enough discordance to make one take note. There’s a prevailing sentiment that says he’s headed for Notre Dame, but I think Pitt will get an official visit.
- Cleveland cornerback he accepted. There’s a chance that Pitt could get back into it with Dismuke.
- Naples (FL) defensive tackle he’s got a top four that consists of Pitt, Duke, North Carolina State, and South Carolina, and he plans to take official visits to those schools.
- Pennsbury tight end he likes the Panthers a lot.
- Hoboken (NJ) defensive end he plans to take an official visit to Pitt.
Thanks for joining this week’s edition of In The Pitt. Since this feature is still in its early stages, it’s safe to assume that the project will be in flux for a few weeks as we strive to find the best format. Feel free to e-mail chrispeak1@comcast.net with any suggestions, feedback, or other input.[/URL]
This post was edited on 6/27 8:21 AM by Chris Peak
June 27, 2008
Top of The Pitt
The biggest story of the week came on Tuesday when Aliquippa lineman committed to Pitt. Hollins, 6’4” 254, could play on either side of the ball, and at Pitt’s prospect camp he worked out at defensive tackle and offensive guard.
Hollins is big, strong, and athletic, and as Kevin Gorman pointed out in the Trib this week, this season will be his fourth as a starter at Aliquippa, which is virtually unheard of and it speaks to just how good Hollins is/can be. The Quips are a storied high school program with a lot of talented teams over the years, and few, if any, players have been good enough to start for four years. And what’s more: Hollins has started every year of his high school career on the line. He’s not some little speedster who has been on the field since he was a freshman because he was faster than everyone else; Hollins is a lineman through and through, and he’ll be bringing that high-caliber talent to the Panthers next year.
The next one?
As is the case every time Pitt gets a commitment, the next question is this:
Who’s next?
We’ve speculated for awhile that Thomas Jefferson tight end he’ll be choosing between Pitt and Penn State; when we talked to him yesterday, he said that he hasn’t been in contact with Penn State for the past few days, so I think you can see where this is going. We expect Lippert to be on board before the end of business Friday.
The other side of the Lippert story that’s of note is the side that involves Hershey (PA) Milton Hershey tight end/defensive end/jumbo athlete this article from the Penn State site, Lippert says that the PSU staff “wants to take a look at a kid from Milton Hershey, Garry Gilliam.” If it was a question of Lippert vs. Gilliam, the Penn State staff picked Gilliam when it extended an offer to him.
Going back to DeCicco, he’ll probably join the train soon as well. He has talked about visiting Illinois at the end of this week, but that trip looks like it won’t be happening. Really, his commitment could be coming any day now (I know, I know, we’ve been saying that for about a week, but I really think it’s coming this time. Honest).
Some visitors this weekend
Even though the coaches are technically on vacation, Pitt is going to have some big visitors in town this weekend.
On Sunday, Bethlehem (PA) Liberty receiver Deon Long). Street said that Pitt and UConn are at the top for him, with Rutgers a distant third.
When we first interviewed Street, he said he wanted to wait the process out and see what offers would come; when we spoke to him on Thursday, he said that he expected to make a decision this summer. It wouldn’t surprise me if that timeframe shrinks even more, particularly after he visits Pitt on Sunday.
Before Street gets here, though, Homestead (PA) Steel Valley defensive lineman Ezell has pretty much narrowed his choices to Pitt and Ohio State, and we think that Pitt has 60/40 odds on this one.
Speaking of Ohio State
I suppose we’d be remiss to not mention to be said about it. Pitt lost out on a good player, and while there were probably a number of mitigating factors at play, that’s about the best/only way to sum it up. Could a return visit to Pitt this week, as was planned, have helped the Panthers’ chances with Brown? Without a doubt. Is there still a chance that Brown could reconsider his decision down the road and take another look at Pitt? Absolutely.
I guess the reason this one stings a bit more is the fact that Pitt’s coaches and fans all felt like the Panthers had a legitimate shot at landing one of the best players in the nation. Brown wouldn’t have been the first Top100 player to commit to Pitt and there will be more after him, but the prospect of securing a commitment from No. 73 in the country is understandably exciting (just as it was last year with the nation’s No. 26 prospect). Add in the fact that Brown seemed like he was leaning to Pitt that weekend, and excitement reaches a fevered pitch.
To have that all come crumbling down on Monday morning on the news that he was announcing without taking another visit to Pitt, well, it was hard to take. Throw in the possibility of, well, outside influences, and the ire on these message boards grew.
Like I said, I guess I just don’t have much to add to the conversation. Pitt seemed to have a good shot at a top player and they missed out, for whatever reason. Fact is, when Brown signs his Letter of Intent next February, the circumstances of how he came to choose that school really won’t matter. We can all hold on to our grudges and remain indignant over what we presume to have occurred, but in the end, it just won’t matter.
On to a cheerier subject
Hopefully you didn’t pass over the videos we’ve had this week. And I’m not talking about the Rivals.com releases (you need to keep an eye out next week for video of Pitt commit Dion Lewis; that should be out early in the week, and it’s some good stuff).
I am talking about PantherLair.com’s video highlights from the Pitt 7-on-7 camp. This week we had videos of Penn Hills LB Matt Plautz. On Friday we’ll have an odds-and-ends video with highlights of a few more players from the 7-on-7 camp.
Here are the links to the videos:
Dan Mason video
[URL=http://pittsburgh.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=996&CID=821051]Brock DeCicco video
Matt Plautz video
A word on Plautz (and I’ve said this before on the message boards): Kid is a player. He’s a legit 6’4”, and while his 4.7 40 might not be termed “speed-burner,” he has a lot of skills that he brings to the table. Earlier this week, Plautz told Tony that all of the Pitt coaches complimented him on his performance at the prospect camp and that he noticed the Pitt coaches following him around at the 7-on-7 camp. I think you can get some indication of why he garnered that interest by watching the video. He doesn’t have any offers yet, but I can see him having a number of options when it is all said and done. One of those options may be to add some muscle and become a tight end in college; if he is willing to make that transition, I think he could be a worthwhile addition at Pitt. From what I can tell, though, I think he’s set on playing receiver; as such, I think he’ll excel at the position, possibly at a MAC school or perhaps one of the lower-tier Big Ten schools (and I use that term affectionately to mostly refer to Northwestern).
Either way, over the past two weeks, Matt Plautz made a fan out of me.
Some team news - the good edition
When you think of NFL prospects on the current Pitt squad, LeSean McCoy is the first name that comes to mind, and rightfully so. After that, you might think of players like Scott McKillop, Nate Byham, Dorin Dickerson, Jason Pinkston, Greg Romeus, and so on. But here’s a new name to add to the mix:
Mark Estermyer
We’ve been hearing that Estermyer, who will serve as the Panthers’ long-snapper on field goals and punts for the second consecutive season in 2008, has been rated as next year’s top long-snapper and a high-priority free agent by the BLESTO Scouting Service. National Scouting, the other primary NFL scouting service, has Estermyer ranked 5th out of 15 long-snappers who will come out of college next year.
As numerous players throughout the NFL can attest, there is a living to be made as a long-snapper, and it looks like Mark Estermyer has a good shot at making that living.
Some team news - the bad edition
When I asked what names you think of in regards to Pitt’s NFL prospects, did Moe Williams come to mind? Well, if our sources are correct (and we think they are), Williams won’t be developing his game as a Panther; we’re hearing that he is pursuing a transfer to Edinboro.
Williams was declared academically ineligible for the fall semester/season earlier this month.
Are you concerned about Big East recruiting?
Yes, it’s the end of June. Yes, Pitt is currently sitting on three commitments. And yes, Rutgers (18), Cincinnati (17), West Virginia (10), South Florida (11), and Connecticut (4) all have more commitments than the Panthers.
So, are you concerned?
While it’s true that Pitt is lagging behind in the overall quantity of commitments, I’m not sure if it’s as bad as those numbers may indicate. And if you look closely at the classes that the other Big East teams are building, I think you’ll see that Pitt’s not really that far behind in terms of quality.
First of all, it’s important to distinguish what qualifies as quality at this time of year. When the classes are ranked at the end of the year they’ll be listed according to Rivals points, which are derived from a formula that I don’t have access to. If you look back at the final rankings from the class of 2008, you’ll see that the formula does account for quantity: Nick Saban’s “cast a wide net” approach landed 32 commitments; each recruit carries a certain number of points based on his individual ranking, so with a mass of commits like Alabama had, the team’s point total ended up being the highest in the nation. Miami also benefited from the quantity factor, taking 33 commitments and finishing fifth in the team rankings.
However, it seems to me (and others have agreed on this) that average stars may be a better measure of the actual strength of the class. I understand the point system because quantity is a factor that should be considered, but when you sort the class of 2008 according to average stars, you get a ranking list that’s a little bit different.
For example, in the final 2008 rankings, the list went like this:
1. Alabama
2. Notre Dame
3. Florida
4. Ohio State
5. Miami
But when you sort by average stars, it looks like this:
1. Notre Dame
2. USC
3. Ohio State
4. Florida
5. Oklahoma
Alabama drops to No. 6, while Miami falls to a tie for No. 13.
So what’s the stronger class? Alabama with 32 commitments but an average star rating of 3.72 or Notre Dame with 23 commitments and an average star rating of 3.96? It seems to me that the Irish get the prize here.
With that in mind, let’s look at the 2009 Big East commitment sheet. Since I don’t know the formula, I can’t calculate how many points each school has right now, but we can figure out average stars. When I calculated the average stars, I assigned each currently-unranked player two stars, since all prospects who have Division I offers are automatically assigned at least two stars.
Cincinnatihttp://cincinnati.rivals.com/commitlist.asp - 17 commits (6 three-stars)
Average stars: 2.35
Connecticuthttp://connecticut.rivals.com/commitlist.asp - 4 commits (1 three-star)
Average stars: 2.25
Louisville - 1 commit (1 three-star)
Average stars: 3.0
Pitt - 3 commits (3 three-stars)
Average stars: 3.0
Rutgers - 18 commits (3 four-stars; 8 three-stars)
Average stars: 2.78
South Florida - 11 commits (3 four-stars; 5 three-stars)
Average stars: 3.0
Syracuse - 1 commit
Average stars: 2.0
West Virginiahttp://westvirginia.rivals.com/commitlist.asp - 10 commits (2 four-stars; 8 three-stars)
Average stars: 3.2
Now, obviously guys like Romel Dismuke, who haven’t been ranked yet for whatever reason, will probably be at least three-stars, so that will affect the team rankings, but I think you can see what we’re driving at here.
Yes, Cincinnati has a ton of commitments, and so does Rutgers, but quantity doesn’t always equate to quality. Both schools have verbal pledges from some very good prospects (Ricky Harris for Cincinnati). But they are also taking a lot of prospects that are either under-ranked and have great potential or are ranked properly and just aren’t what you would call high-caliber.
Another thought on Rutgers:
I have heard a number of stories now about Greg Schiano’s recruiting success and how he has achieved it this year, and mostly they boil down to this:
Schiano and his staff are telling in-state players that they are filling up with out-of-state players, and they’re telling out-of-state players that they are filling up with in-state players. What it boils down to is pressure sales, and the effects are clear. Look at what said about his commitment: “[Schiano] asked, ‘How would you feel if we ran out of scholarships to give?’ When he said that, I knew it was time to commit.”
I think that’s a pretty telling quote.
Around Pitt recruiting
Also happening in the past week:
- Montour athlete the WVU site, and while his three interviews weren’t all completely different, there was enough discordance to make one take note. There’s a prevailing sentiment that says he’s headed for Notre Dame, but I think Pitt will get an official visit.
- Cleveland cornerback he accepted. There’s a chance that Pitt could get back into it with Dismuke.
- Naples (FL) defensive tackle he’s got a top four that consists of Pitt, Duke, North Carolina State, and South Carolina, and he plans to take official visits to those schools.
- Pennsbury tight end he likes the Panthers a lot.
- Hoboken (NJ) defensive end he plans to take an official visit to Pitt.
Thanks for joining this week’s edition of In The Pitt. Since this feature is still in its early stages, it’s safe to assume that the project will be in flux for a few weeks as we strive to find the best format. Feel free to e-mail chrispeak1@comcast.net with any suggestions, feedback, or other input.[/URL]
This post was edited on 6/27 8:21 AM by Chris Peak
