Okay. I was looking at where a kid was "from" but I stand corrected and that sort of makes it worse.
RIP WPIAL recruiting
- Thread starter Slick Manager of Champs
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It's not even the money at Stanford. They are out on a west coast island and is much better known for its Olympic sports. I was pretty surprised they wanted to go to the ACC but I don't know if they'll keep competing in football. I could see them becoming another Creighton but finding a conference fit might be more of a problem.
I think using SMU as an example of "all in" is probably the best recent example, and it's still a dubious prospect, at best. Few non-blue-bloods have their supposed resources and I'm not sure how you justify the return, other than prestige. None of what they done really does much for the school's academic purpose and I'm quite certain that's the argument that Stanford and Pitt has with themselves and we know which side will win.
We like to criticize Pitt for not caring about football but I really don't think it's that as much as viewing football against the entirety of the university.
It’s not only the population decline, but the overall demographic change. The son of a mill worker has a different concept of work ethic and familial upbringing than that of a tech worker or whatever. Some of the latter don’t even let their kids play football.
Call us 84 Lumber, because we have supplied them with formidable materials to build a solid bench.
I'll admit to being wrong on Hayes. I thought he would be an NFL talent. No idea how he is still playing, though. Must have gotten a medical redshirt for one of those partial seasons.
The story here isn't merely that PN has given up on the WPIAL; he's given up on PA altogether. The other side of the state is really starting to produce more real D-1 talent, besides St. Joe's Prep. Pitt is attracting a LOT of kids from the Philly area these days, and it appears that PN doesn't even attempt to recruit any of the talent out that way for football.
Essentially, PN has no home recruiting base, at all. This will probably be his epitaph.
I just saw that Abdul Carter was only #9 in PA his draft year, so should have been reachable. I wonder how much effort they made for him. NIL wasn't a thing back then, so no excuse there.
Essentially, PN has no home recruiting base, at all. This will probably be his epitaph.
I just saw that Abdul Carter was only #9 in PA his draft year, so should have been reachable. I wonder how much effort they made for him. NIL wasn't a thing back then, so no excuse there.
You would think that PN being from Youngstown he’d recruit that area hard. But he doesn’t.
I was curious, so I looked it up.
Pitt was actually Abdul Carter's first offer back in August of 2019.
Abdul Carter Timeline Events
247sports.com
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They can send offers out by email or letter. It doesn't reflect if they actually made any other effort, or if they quit once the big boys came calling.I was curious, so I looked it up.
Pitt was actually Abdul Carter's first offer back in August of 2019.
Abdul Carter Timeline Events
Recruiting is relationships. They need to jump on kids early and get their feet in the door. Now, maybe they did that with Carter and he just wasn't interested, but I don't remember hearing anything about them making a serious play for him.
I've been saying that forever. Huge Philly contingent on campus, they took over Forbes ave after the Eagles won Super bowl. Why hasn't Football (and basketball) ever been able to tap into that.
And yes, I agree, no home recruiting base for Narduzzi. Saw a tweet he just offered a TE from Idaho. I remembered when he was hired, Dokish thought recruiting would be so much more improved. After his first year it was, but it declined ever since.
Let's just call it what it is: we don't get players from anywhere anymore if they have a legit better offer. And not only that, but schools that have been much lesser than Pitt recently (Indiana, Duke, Purdue, Rutgers, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Syracuse, etc.) are beating us out for recruits at a rate I'm thinking they likely haven't in some time.
Yes, some of it is NIL. Yes, some of it is just bad luck with being in a conference that probably has an expiration date (or at least one that can be sold as such by coaches who are recruiting against it). But we're regularly being beat out by Big 12, scrub ACC, and even G5 schools.
Pat Narduzzi has done some nice things here, but we've reached the definition of complacency under his tenure. Pitt football has about as much excitement going for it at the moment as the thought of landing a job copying Encyclopedias with a feather pen.
Yes, some of it is NIL. Yes, some of it is just bad luck with being in a conference that probably has an expiration date (or at least one that can be sold as such by coaches who are recruiting against it). But we're regularly being beat out by Big 12, scrub ACC, and even G5 schools.
Pat Narduzzi has done some nice things here, but we've reached the definition of complacency under his tenure. Pitt football has about as much excitement going for it at the moment as the thought of landing a job copying Encyclopedias with a feather pen.
I would find it hard to believe that Pitt wrapped up their eval and got an offer out before any other school and then made no effort when other schools got involved. Carter made an unofficial visit to PSU in October of 2019, six months before PSU made him an offer. Read into that whatever you like, but I think most likely, Carter was knew he was going to be a Nit as soon as he got their offer.
Did we really need him anyway, though? We had Nate Temple.
Pitt's recruiting base should be Florida. Cherry pick PA. Reverse that and you're doing it wrong.
When you watch college football and see a kid that jumps off the screen from a program that isn't exactly considered part of the big boys club, google them, and more times than not they will be from Florida. Shit loads of guys that can play that don't meet the "measureables" criteria for elite programs. Guarantee that happened a few times this year with Ashton Jeanty (from FLA, - moved bc military fam, played elsewhere). Same for Desmond Reid. They are literally everywhere.
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In fairness, I think under-recruited talent can be found just about anywhere. We harp on the PA 4-stars who didn't pan out, but the reality is there are a lot of PA 2/low 3-stars who did. Jimmy Morrissey, Dane Jackson, Braylon Lovelace, Gavin Bartholomew, etc. Then you've got your northeast guys like Dennis, O'Neill, Goncalves, Louis, Pinnock, and Pickett. Your midwestern guys, such as Biles, Maddox, etc. The list goes on.
The problem, in my opinion, isn't a lack of developmental talent due to concentrating on the wrong areas, but rather the lack of straight up can't-miss talent. For as long as I've been a Pitt fan we were at least getting some of that, but it seems like those days are behind us.
Agree you can find under-recruited talent anywhere. But Florida has it in greater numbers and I think the chances are a lot better of landing a player with a higher upside. Doesn't hurt that they grow up competing against the best.
Let's be clear. We can't recruit up here. What makes you so confident in PN's ability to discern who might be an undiscovered gem down there? Are there no undiscovered 3-star gems anywhere else?
This whole thing that we should prefer 3-star Floridians over 4-star eastern/northeastern kids is nonsense. If it were such a gold mine of a plan, why doesn't PSU pursue the same path? Why does OSU heavily recruit these so-called overrated 4-star PA kids instead of spinning the carnival wheel on 3-star kids from Florida or Georgia? Why does Notre Dame regularly stay in contact with Central (and they do, by the way)?
I think we all know the answer.
Giving up on regional kids is dumb. Beyond dumb. We can lambast the WPIAL or PA or the region all we want, but other programs for some reason do not. Excuses are for losers.
They are literally everywhere, and they are accidents. Jeanty was an accident. For every kid like him, 1000 others failed. He's the exception, which is why he ended up where he did. If you think we can live on 1/1000 of our chance kids working out, good luck with that.
There are under-recruited players everywhere. However, there are literally tons of them in Florida, and specifically concentrated in South Florida. It's a numbers/efficiency game with contacts and time.
Penn State and Ohio State recruit at a different level than Pitt. Pitt isn't going to beat out PSU or tOSU for any recruit that those programs really want. That's just reality. If Pitt starts to channel too much time chasing a Tyrelle Pryor (different era) or a Maleek Thomas, (different sport) they are essentially just wasting time.
Notre Dame regularly stays in contact with a Catholic school that produces talent? Who would've thought?
PITT used to and still does offer early in a recruit's career. However, I know for a fact they hold off offering some kids early on because it's well known that PITT is seen as a stepping stone or gateway offer. Many schools will use Narduzzi's eyes as justification to offer themselves. I was told that PITT held off offering Cruce Brookins early on because they wanted to increase their chances of landing him.
In this day and age, recruiting is pretty lazy at all schools. Most schools wait till another school gives the green light. If your good enough to play DB for Narduzzi, you're probably going to get attention elsewhere.
Recruiting is only about relationships if offers are equal. My buddy sells cars at Bowser, we've been good friends for 25 years. If he's selling me something that isn't as good of a deal then what Century III Chevrolet is, I'm not buying from him even though we have a relationship and he's courted me harder. I'm going where I get the best bang for my buck.
Yeah, there are definitely more of them down there. Not sure if the percentages are any higher or if it's just a quantity thing. We've seen both decently highly-rated (Jerry Drake, Henry Miller, Khalil Anderson, Lamar Seymorr, AJ Davis, Royal, Battle for the most part, etc.) and lightly-recruited (Gentry Ivery, Michael Smith, Albert Tucker, etc.) southern recruits from hotbed football states not pan out.
For most sports, the pendulum swung all the way over to putting all of the effort in the hands of the kids and their families. You want an offer? Send hundreds of emails with game film. I'm not going to be surprised when this happens to football and basketball because their is an entire industry built on "getting your kid recruited". Way too much money being left on the table with football and basketball for this not to become a thing.
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