Meanwhile, in Gotham City ...
So yeah, 4 p.m. brought another Pat signal, which we later found out was for Bedford (Ohio) running back (and Saturday visitor) Chawntez Moss, but the early part of Sunday saw the completion of Pitt's 7-on-7 team passing camp at the South Side practice facility. The coaching staff didn't have another big private workout session for recruits like they did Saturday, one of whom was Moss, but I did see them putting a couple high schoolers through combine-style drills again at one point (and perhaps Chris will be able to find out who those players were).
Nonetheless, a few more big names came out to play Sunday.
After participating in the Penn State team camp Saturday, Aaron Mathews, Lamont Wade and Clairton were injected into the loser's bracket on the second day at Pitt. I believe they went 1-2, with a win over McGuffey and losses to Montour and Kirtland (Ohio), but it definitely gave the Pitt coaches a chance to talk to both players. I know I saw some of the staff chatting with Mathews at one point, and they likely caught up with Wade, too.
As for their play on the field, Mathews didn't have his best day, including a drop that led to a Montour pick-six in that defeat. But it's certainly clear why he's such a highly-regarded receiver prospect. Similar to Saturday standout Paris Ford, Mathews just stands out so easily thanks to his combination of size and fluidity.
Wade is the same way, but in a different style. He's so stout and powerful and moves with such aggression without sacrificing much quickness. He racked up plenty of pass breakups thanks to his lockdown press coverage when playing corner, and on the offensive side he was just as impressive. Even in this two-hand touch setting, he was juking defenders and making them miss, all while drawing oohs and ahhs from onlookers.
The other thing about Wade is he's as intense as they come, or at least he was Sunday. Sometimes he's even too intense, drawing a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct against McGuffey after making a tough touchdown catch in traffic and then sort of throwing the ball off of the defender he deemed to be a little too rough in bringing him to the ground. But most of the time, that energy serves him well, and after he was forced to sit out a few plays from that penalty, he was very vocal from the sideline trying to help out his teammates playing corner in his stead.
The Kirtland team that took down Clairton ended up winning the whole tournament in their division by beating Woodland Hills, 21-20, in a thriller. On the final play of the game, Woodland Hills completed a pass toward the sideline but was stopped just a hair short of the end zone, and that was that. Miles Sanders was fantastic all day for Woodland Hills, to no one's surprise, catching touchdowns and working the short passing routes like he figures to do out of the backfield in a real game. He had a key interception, too, on a poorly thrown ball to set up his team's final drive, but his best play of the day probably came early in the morning when he pulled in a high pass in the end zone with one hand and somehow held onto it in traffic for a touchdown.
A couple other Woodland Hills notes: 2016 Pitt target Jo-El Shaw sports such an imposing frame, but also showed his athleticism on some nice pass breakups and near-one-handed grabs. I don't believe former WVU commit Jeremiah Jones played any quarterback this weekend, even though he was under center last season for the Wolverines. Many expect him to be a safety at the next level, and it seemed like the Woodland Hills coaches were trying very hard to work with him on being vocal and becoming a quarterback on the defensive side of the ball. He played that position exclusively in all the action I saw, and seemed to respond well to whatever added responsibility his coaches might be giving him as leader of the secondary.
As for the other champions aside from Kirtland, which got a little congratulatory speech from Pat Narduzzi for its title-winning efforts, Steel Valley edged Mt. Lebanon, 20-19, in a back-and-forth overtime thriller, Plum beat Oil City and Ringgold beat Mars. Steel Valley was one of the most energetic teams I saw all weekend, and their enthusiasm obviously carried over to the field. One thing that impressed me about Mars is that at least a few of those kids also played this weekend at Pitt's basketball team camp on campus in Oakland, and I just think it's great to see high school kids playing multiple sports at that level -- not to mention having success -- over the course of a weekend.
The last thing I'll note is that I think I also spotted recent offeree Kenny Robinson and Allderdice twins Tim and James Jackson back on the South Side Sunday just to watch the games one day after their workout with the Pitt coaches. Speaking of Pitt's coaches, many of them were hanging around once again despite it being Father's Day, so it'll be interesting to see just how successful this weekend tournament ends up being for them after getting to interact with some top targets and just generally making an impression on local high school players and coaches.
So yeah, 4 p.m. brought another Pat signal, which we later found out was for Bedford (Ohio) running back (and Saturday visitor) Chawntez Moss, but the early part of Sunday saw the completion of Pitt's 7-on-7 team passing camp at the South Side practice facility. The coaching staff didn't have another big private workout session for recruits like they did Saturday, one of whom was Moss, but I did see them putting a couple high schoolers through combine-style drills again at one point (and perhaps Chris will be able to find out who those players were).
Nonetheless, a few more big names came out to play Sunday.
After participating in the Penn State team camp Saturday, Aaron Mathews, Lamont Wade and Clairton were injected into the loser's bracket on the second day at Pitt. I believe they went 1-2, with a win over McGuffey and losses to Montour and Kirtland (Ohio), but it definitely gave the Pitt coaches a chance to talk to both players. I know I saw some of the staff chatting with Mathews at one point, and they likely caught up with Wade, too.
As for their play on the field, Mathews didn't have his best day, including a drop that led to a Montour pick-six in that defeat. But it's certainly clear why he's such a highly-regarded receiver prospect. Similar to Saturday standout Paris Ford, Mathews just stands out so easily thanks to his combination of size and fluidity.
Wade is the same way, but in a different style. He's so stout and powerful and moves with such aggression without sacrificing much quickness. He racked up plenty of pass breakups thanks to his lockdown press coverage when playing corner, and on the offensive side he was just as impressive. Even in this two-hand touch setting, he was juking defenders and making them miss, all while drawing oohs and ahhs from onlookers.
The other thing about Wade is he's as intense as they come, or at least he was Sunday. Sometimes he's even too intense, drawing a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct against McGuffey after making a tough touchdown catch in traffic and then sort of throwing the ball off of the defender he deemed to be a little too rough in bringing him to the ground. But most of the time, that energy serves him well, and after he was forced to sit out a few plays from that penalty, he was very vocal from the sideline trying to help out his teammates playing corner in his stead.
The Kirtland team that took down Clairton ended up winning the whole tournament in their division by beating Woodland Hills, 21-20, in a thriller. On the final play of the game, Woodland Hills completed a pass toward the sideline but was stopped just a hair short of the end zone, and that was that. Miles Sanders was fantastic all day for Woodland Hills, to no one's surprise, catching touchdowns and working the short passing routes like he figures to do out of the backfield in a real game. He had a key interception, too, on a poorly thrown ball to set up his team's final drive, but his best play of the day probably came early in the morning when he pulled in a high pass in the end zone with one hand and somehow held onto it in traffic for a touchdown.
A couple other Woodland Hills notes: 2016 Pitt target Jo-El Shaw sports such an imposing frame, but also showed his athleticism on some nice pass breakups and near-one-handed grabs. I don't believe former WVU commit Jeremiah Jones played any quarterback this weekend, even though he was under center last season for the Wolverines. Many expect him to be a safety at the next level, and it seemed like the Woodland Hills coaches were trying very hard to work with him on being vocal and becoming a quarterback on the defensive side of the ball. He played that position exclusively in all the action I saw, and seemed to respond well to whatever added responsibility his coaches might be giving him as leader of the secondary.
As for the other champions aside from Kirtland, which got a little congratulatory speech from Pat Narduzzi for its title-winning efforts, Steel Valley edged Mt. Lebanon, 20-19, in a back-and-forth overtime thriller, Plum beat Oil City and Ringgold beat Mars. Steel Valley was one of the most energetic teams I saw all weekend, and their enthusiasm obviously carried over to the field. One thing that impressed me about Mars is that at least a few of those kids also played this weekend at Pitt's basketball team camp on campus in Oakland, and I just think it's great to see high school kids playing multiple sports at that level -- not to mention having success -- over the course of a weekend.
The last thing I'll note is that I think I also spotted recent offeree Kenny Robinson and Allderdice twins Tim and James Jackson back on the South Side Sunday just to watch the games one day after their workout with the Pitt coaches. Speaking of Pitt's coaches, many of them were hanging around once again despite it being Father's Day, so it'll be interesting to see just how successful this weekend tournament ends up being for them after getting to interact with some top targets and just generally making an impression on local high school players and coaches.
