Bingo. BuffetParrothead "Gets It".
Hell, the I4 Corridor has 6 times as many people as Western PA.
This is Why You Recruit FL and TX
- Thread starter DiehardPanther
- Start date
Bingo. BuffetParrothead "Gets It".
Hell, the I4 Corridor has 6 times as many people as Western PA.
Ya, it's amazing Florida Atlantic and Florida International are not powers with your logic
Again, 4 out of the top 5 pa recruits for 2017 were WPIAL. The last couple years the league has produced multiple 5* recruits and dozens of 4*.
Even just recently the best players Pitt has had have been WPIAL players (Whitehead, Donald). Almost every high profile player pitt has had in recent years (donald, shady, Connor, revis, Whitehead) have been from Pa. what’s funny is the majority of the other big time contributers pitt has had not from Pa (Fitzgerald, TJ Clemmings, Dion Lewis) NONE are from Florida. The only real high profile guy Pitt has gotten from Florida is Jabaal Sheerd... compare that to the names listed above... all recent, not from the 70’s...
But yea go to Florida where every school in the world is sending recruiters to bring home the 3* guys. You say land Florida 3*’s like it’s an easy task. All the big boys are offering those kids as well, pitt needs to continue to recruit where people care about the name and their family can see them play 8 times a year, not chase fairy’s in Florida while completely ignoring the base of talent that pitt built its entire history on...
What a great idea, let’s just not focus on the league that gave pitt players like Marino, Whitehead, revis, donald, tony Dorset, etc. leave the door wiiiide open for jimmy franks to pick whoever he wants from that group, and go start getting nothing but Florida 3*’s! Smfh
So the NFL DPOY for this year is a former WPIAL player, but yea there’s no talent in western pa.... moron
pittdan77
Athletic Director
I remember in the late 80's. There was all of this talk about Pitt and PSU having top five recruiting classes which was supposedly the norm during that time period and Pitt's roster was thick with WPIAL talent. Of course none of those teams won anything.
My guess is that if Pitt built a roster that focused mostly on the WPIAL this board would lose its collective mind. Even if the school was winning the "big" battles for the top kids. Don't get me wrong. If you compare how the game is played in western PA to the rest of the state, with a few exceptions, it's a harder hitting, tougher game. But there just isn't a ton of skill guys that jump off the page. I'm okay with OL-men and a few other position types but the speed and skill is very thin in the WPIAL.
My guess is that if Pitt built a roster that focused mostly on the WPIAL this board would lose its collective mind. Even if the school was winning the "big" battles for the top kids. Don't get me wrong. If you compare how the game is played in western PA to the rest of the state, with a few exceptions, it's a harder hitting, tougher game. But there just isn't a ton of skill guys that jump off the page. I'm okay with OL-men and a few other position types but the speed and skill is very thin in the WPIAL.
It's also 600 times as far away and is recruited by about every program in the SEC and ACC (and UCF, USF, FIU, FAU, etc.), -- many of whom have better amenities, fans, under the table cash benefits, and weather than Pittsburgh in addition to being closer to home for them.
I want Florida players too, but you're clearly in fantasy land if you think we're going to have a roster with more players from Florida than Pennsylvania.
I agree with this. We all want Florida players but we aren't winning any recruiting battles in SEC country let's be realistic. Very few northern schools are. We have done a good job supplementing our roster with talented 3 stars from FLA in recent years and that needs to continue. This is one of the most nonsensical narratives that gets traction on here. You would have to have almost no previous knowledge of recruiting and/or college football to believe Pitt's roster should have more FLA kids than PA.
I have no idea what you're talking about? When did I say WPIAL sucks in 19?
And I agree, a big time player is a big time player, regardless of where they came from. But anybody that thinks we're going to be pulling a bunch of big time football players from far away, is delusional.
In the end, we will get a bunch of middle of the road recruits that don't have much of a choice but to go far away because nobody locally wanted them. And they will play like a middle of the recruit that nobody locally wanted.
The fate of our program, much like basically every program, is how:
1. How many 4* recruits does your local recruiting base produce?
2. How many of them can you get?
This is why the "FL" strategy will result in an average program. Most kids stay in their geographic region to play college football. The ones that don't are usually the ones that don't have much of a choice because nobody in the region wants them.
As a western PA native I hate to see it, but 2017 may well turn out to be the last good WPIAL year for a while. 2018 and 2019 are totally different stories.
Actually with them finally hiring some decent coaches both those schools really turned it around this year.
If Kiffin stayed there long term I could see FAU being dominant at that level.
Sure, "at that level." Kiffin isn't being asked to take 2* recruits and turn them into 4*. Their low 3* and 2* recruit class will still one of the highest ranking ones in Conference USA. Throw in all the big time JUCO and 4* transfers Kiffin is taking, and that can work there.
What we are asking out of FL recruits is far different. We aren't asking middle of the road 3* players to be middle of the road 3* players. We are asking them to greatly exceed their recruiting ranking. Kiffin isn't.
I don't see FSU, U of Florida, Texas, or Texas A&M recruiting WPIAL players?
They don't want to waste their time.
They're drilling where there's oil!
"it's five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
ND, OSU, PSU, and MIchigan don't mind recruiting Wpial players though.
All-ACC honorable mention by the coaches
The guy has been productive when he can play. He's had 3-4 surgeries on a sports hernia and played a new position this year. He also couldn't play in 3 games and still finished 5th on the team in tackles. What do you expect?
2 years = 169 Tackles, 13.5 TFL, 5 Sacks, 3 Forced Fumbles, #4 in ACC tackles, honorable mention All-ACC Team. That seems pretty decent to me for a former WALK ON.
Texas produces 230+ 3 star athletes per year and Florida produces 200. If they were all so damn good you would see absolute dominance by programs in those states compared to others.
And btw, Woodland Hills has 5 former players in the NFL right now.
Pennsylvania has more players in the NFL than 42 other states.
Pittsburgh is ranked 5th in the country for number of NFL players with 12.
Agreed.
My point was to the poster mentioning how FAU and FIU would never be powers.
Maybe not at the highest level, but it is worth pointing out that the “minor” Florida schools (UCF, USF, FAU, FIU) combined for a 42-10 record last year.
Those schools mostly have HUGE enrollments too. It's a matter of time before they're more routinely challenging more historic schools.
Narduzzi has to recruit out of state, but it would make more sense to add guys to the staff that have strong footholds in NJ, Maryland, and Virginia. I don't know whose responsibility those areas are right now, but they are not getting it done. Bringing in younger guys with some connections there would make more sense than bringing in older guys. Remember what a big impact a guy like Hafley had.
There's lots of talent on the East Coast, it's closer, and the players aren't allergic to winter. It just makes more sense to try to improve in regions closer to home before deciding to spend limited resources on Florida and Texas. Pitt's recruiting budget is not unlimited.
There's lots of talent on the East Coast, it's closer, and the players aren't allergic to winter. It just makes more sense to try to improve in regions closer to home before deciding to spend limited resources on Florida and Texas. Pitt's recruiting budget is not unlimited.
It may not be 17 but the talent is still there, jurkovich, Raines, etc are guys pitt needs to get if they ever want to win an acc title. This idea of getting a bunch of Florida 3* under the radar guys is going to somehow compete with Miami, Clemson and Florida state who are getting the cream of the crop Florida recruits is lunacy. The other thing is Pitt’s brand means nothing to a kid in Florida. No one besides alumni cares about pitt football in Florida, they do however care in the western part of the Pa.
Although not WPIAL 3 of the top 10 Pa recruits this year were from Erie, certainly western Pa... pitt didnt land one of them. The problem is when you can’t land even one of the top 5 pa recruits from west of the Allegheny River, to me that is the problem. That’s where the concern is for Narduzzi.
If Pitt is ever going to get where they want to be and put themselves in position to compete for ACC titles, it’s going to be with the best talent in their own backyard, not on the backs of Miami and Florida state’s scraps
Because they would run into the same distance problem we would trying to pull big time FL players. It's difficult to get talent far away.
Completely agree. Our geographic footprint should be PA, OH, MD, VA, DC, NJ. We have to get a core 4* group from those states.
That's not the answer.
They'd recruit the moon if there were enough worthwhile 4 and 5 star players that they wanted.
The correct answer is that they have more lucrative reruiting opportunities/better players locally, in their Southern region and in the Southwest.
Fl ( Gainesville) to TX (Austin) is roughly 1,019, FL ( Gainesville) to PA (Pittsburgh) is roughly 897 milles so PA is closer but FL U's recruit TX kids and TX U's recruit FL kids.
It's not distance it's the number of high quality recruits in an area that drives recruiting strategy!
"it's five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
Go PITT & CSU Rams!
Yes, FL schools go to where there are big time players that can supplement what the state doesn't have. FL traditionally isn't a big time QB or OL class, so they go to other states to get them. They then go to the states where they think they can win some of these battles. Texas is a good one because, as you allude to, there are more 4* players than Texas can recruit. So after Texas has its pick, you can still land some elite studs. This is why they focus on GA as well. FSU, UF, and now Miami thanks to Richt, are hitting GA hard.
But the core of all of their classes come from their local geographic footprint. As does basically every school's. It has to come from there. You aren't going to go that far away to land the core of your class. Instead, you have to lock up the local elite players.
Remind me again how much teams in Texas and Florida recruit in the opposing territories? These teams average less than 1 recruit per year in the others' backyard. Pitt has as many Texas recruits as most Florida schools and way more Florida recruits than Texas schools.
Number of kids on roster from Texas -
Florida- 4/123
Florida State- 2/131
Miami - 2/111 (One of them is the kicker) (3 from NY, that must mean NY is a recruiting hotbed)
FAU - 3/149
FIU - 0/120
UCF - 0/150
Pitt - 2/115
Number of kids on roster from Florida -
Texas - 5/113
TCU - 4/123 (2 are from JUCO)
Texas A&M - 3/126 (2 of these are transfers from VT, and Marshall and the 3rd is the kicker)
Texas Tech - 3/112
Pitt - 15/115
I looked at 14 of the players on this list and they primarily fell into 4 camps.
-First camp is the kickers. There were 2 of these out of the 14.
-The second camp are transfers and JUCO transfers. These were 5 of the 14.
-The third camp is made up of players that didn't have offers from the major schools in their home state. They left their state to go to a Florida, Texas or FSU rather than a Houston, Miami, FAU, UNC, Georgia, Ohio State, Arkansas or Oklahoma State. These are kids that Pitt might be able to get, but would still be competing against teams with far superior recent success. There were 5 of these.
-The Fourth camp of players had offers from every major school in the country and chose to go to FSU or Florida over Alabama, USC, Michigan, Auburn, LSU, OSU, Nebraska, etc. These are kids Pitt has no chance at. There were 2 of these.
Try taking a look at a roster before you open your mouth and spout garbage.
Umm they do recruit the guys they deem worth it, both Jurkovec and one of the kids from Erie are going to Notre Dame. The reining DPOY in the nfl considered the best DT in football is a former Pitt player from the WPIAL, but yea go to Florida where 50 division 1 schools are going after kids and abondon the local area so Franklin can keep loading up on all the local talent and PSU will finish top 10 again while pitt struggles to win a bowl game. Take one look at what’s happened at psu since Franklin got there. I think he’s recruited maybe 2-3 kids from Florida in that time and they’ve been top 10 for 2 years in a row with a team full of kids from Pa, Md, NJ, And Va...
Again, to some fans their favorite player is ALWAYS the backup QB
Financial and time resources are scarce. If anybody thinks it is in Pitt's best interests to fly an assistant coach in and out of Florida and Texas 2-3 times a month for a few 3-stars, they are nuts. Don't forget that all of that time they are spending in Florida or Texas for that single 3-star, they could be visiting half a dozen high schools in PA or NJ. Recruiting is all about face time and relationships. You don't make relationships while you're on a plane or a bus.
There are only so many hours in a day. First, develop your local connections. Spend time economically developing "local" sources of talent. Then, when those are solid, and you don't have to do it every single day at those places anymore, then you branch out. After you develop the cheaper, easier, more economical closer pipelines. Not before.
Now, if you can't build those local pipelines, then there's a problem. Then there's a different discussion altogether. And usually, that discussion is going to come around to needing to hire a new coach.
There are only so many hours in a day. First, develop your local connections. Spend time economically developing "local" sources of talent. Then, when those are solid, and you don't have to do it every single day at those places anymore, then you branch out. After you develop the cheaper, easier, more economical closer pipelines. Not before.
Now, if you can't build those local pipelines, then there's a problem. Then there's a different discussion altogether. And usually, that discussion is going to come around to needing to hire a new coach.
If one were to make a list of pitt kids from Florida since Walt.... that played in the NFL....the list would be rather impressive. In fact....I wonder what the ratio of pitt to fla to NFL/ total Florida recruits at pitt. Im guessing it may be a surprisingly high ratio.
Additionally....the term "recruit florida" is somewhat misleading
We stand no chance of getting players of any pedigree from the panhandle or likely the jacksonville-gainesville corridor
Conversely.....focusing on south Florida and perhaps central fla has and will continue to reap some reward.
Additionally....the term "recruit florida" is somewhat misleading
We stand no chance of getting players of any pedigree from the panhandle or likely the jacksonville-gainesville corridor
Conversely.....focusing on south Florida and perhaps central fla has and will continue to reap some reward.
You really are clueless, I’m also going to guess less than 23 years old as well....
But as a transfer. We were not on his radar coming out of HS
Antonio Bryant
Jabaal Sheard
Greg Romeus
HB Blades
Clint Session
Torrie Cox
They all played in the pros. That is just off the top of my head. Then there are about 20 or more FL kids that started since 2000. FL has been very good to Pitt.
I'm all for increasing the recruiting budget, whatever it is. I do believe that it is not where it needs to be, particularly if they were to agree with everybody here and want to spend a lot of time in the South.
But I still think that more value for the dollar would be earned along the East Coast, particularly VA and MD.
And in just its second year fielding a team, the University of West Florida was the runner up in D2.
You're talking 5 players over 20ish years.
And then a bunch of starters. But someone had to start for the team. You don't think a having a bunch of middle to low 3* guys, whether they be from FL or PA or OH, is why Pitt has been pretty bad during this time frame? You're saying you want to bring in more of these 3* guys?
Penn State brought in four players in the 2018 class from the two states posters are begging us to shift towards:
1 was a Composite 4* (and he just barely made the 4* cut)
3 were Composite 3*
Penn State only signed eight 3* recruits their entire class. Only two were within what would be considered their geographic footprint (OH and PA). The other 6 came from far away.
It's when Penn State had to leave Ohio, PA, and the Mid-Atlantic area, that their class sucked. Because they weren't able to land elite players from far away.
Imagine what kind of class they would have if the majority of it had to come from FL and TX. They wouldn't have finished 5th, and can promise you that.
