War Room-April 14th
From the desk of Jim Snyder
A little on Tyler Smith
I have called forward Tyler Smith and few coaches repeatedly over the past week or two. He has gone into a lock down mode and I assume he will resurface when he is ready to make an announcement. Not sure what to make of this rumor about him waiting to see what Barry does. One coach told me he did not know why he was so concerned with coaches staying that Tyler did not plan on being in college fours years anyway. We will keep calling.
Some navigational hints
Keep checking the “Ticker” for recruiting articles. It has been a very busy week. In the first five days of the week (Sun-thru Thurs) there were 84 recruiting articles the last time I counted. That is almost 17 per day. Please check the “Ticker” at least once per day for articles you may have missed. In addition to the recruiting articles Chris has been providing us with team coverage and photo slide shows.
Also check “Headlines” under Pitt News on the upper left hand side. These are articles generated by the Pantherlair staff and include team coverage.
Panthers wrap up spring practice
Pitt will hold their annual Blue-Gold game Saturday at Heinz Field at 1:00 PM. If you cannot make it there will be a tape delay broadcast available on Fox Sports Pittsburgh on Saturday April 22nd at 1:00 PM and again Wednesday April 26th at 1:00 PM.
Hopefully you saw the photo slide show from yesterday’s practice session. There are 34 exclusive photos including a few of incoming freshman. Last night a few posters indicated they had trouble with today’s slide show. Keep trying. Rivals.com has had some software issues dealing with video and pictures. They may have been working on a patch last night. These latest group is very good. You will not want to miss them.
Chris has provided us with over a dozen slide shows now of the spring practice sessions. If you have missed one simply go to “Headlines” in the upper left hand corner of this page.
Let the real recruiting begin
The conclusion of the spring drills ends a “Quiet Period” in recruiting. Coaches have not been able to recruit off campus nor return phone calls. All of that now changes. We begin an Evaluation Period. The Pitt coaches will pack their suitcases and hit high schools hard. Coaches may also attend combines (including many of the Nike Camps) during this period. The Evaluation Period goes on for six weeks (until May 31st). Recruits will now get to know the Pitt coaches. Pitt coaches will be pitching hoping to get official visits this fall. Up until this point most out of state players have had little contact with a Pitt coach. There are a few exceptions like Jordan Mabin, [/B]Cameron Heyward[/B] and Tony Tucker but most out-of-state recruits know little about Pitt right now. Next week the staff will start spreading the word.
We have come across a few more Florida players with Pitt offers. We will introduce them over the next few days. We have to be realistic. No Big East school is going to pull a player out of Florida if the Big Three (Miami, Florida and FSU) go after him hard. However, there are more players down there than the Big 3 can take so all of the Big East schools will recruit in Florida. Most Floridians do not know much about Pitt right now but Charlie Partridge will be in Florida for the six weeks teaching them and he will get an occasional assistant from Coach Wannstedt.
We though it might be a fun idea to put to Pantherlair wish list of in-state players. It tries to balance Pitt’s needs, player’s ability and the probability of Pitt landing the player. Hopefully before the football seasons starts Pitt will land five or six of these players.
1) Pat Bostick QB Manheim Twp.
2) Mo Williams WR Erie Strong Vincent
3) Henry Hynoski FB Southern Columbia
4) Dom DeCicco LB/WR Thomas Jefferson
5) Brandon Lindsey LB Aliquippa
6) Josh Marks OT Southern Columbia
7) Toney Clemons WR Valley
8) Evan Blankenship OL Center
9) Dan Matha OT Erie McDowell
10) Myles Caragein DT Keystone Oaks
Players that could move on to future top ten lists: Jon Ditto-Gateway, Steve Paskorz-Hampton, Gino Gradkowski-Seton-LaSalle, Derek Moye-Rochester, Nick Sukay-Greensburg CC, Andrew Devlin-Mount Lebanon and Chris Drager Thomas Jefferson.
Last weekend we reported in the War Room that Henry Hynoski and Josh Marks were coming to Pittsburgh for the weekend. Earlier this week Chris Peak had an excellent report on Hynoski. Later today we will have an article on Josh Marks. What is amazing about their visit is they cam to town and spent two nights in Pittsburgh (at their own expense). They got the equivalent of an official visit. All I can say is these two were intent on checking Pitt out thoroughly. It probably also means that they will decide early where they are going to college. I expect both player to have committed somewhere in the next 90 days. Pitt has a good shot.
Often when the family has heath issues geography can come into play. Cameron Heyward seemed to like his visit to Pitt a lot. This will probably come down to Pitt and Georgia. The Heyward’s now live in a suburb of Atlanta and both Georgia and Georgia Tech can be viewed as local schools. Cameron still has relatives in Pittsburgh. Do you stay at home or go away to school? It is the classic choice many recruits are faced with.
Pat Bostick will be at the Blue-Gold game with his family and coach on Saturday. This will be Pat’s sixth visit to Pitt in the last 8 weeks. We expect that he will be a Panther soon. It is simply a matter of all of the parties being comfortable with his decision so he does not change his mind if Michigan makes a late push. He is a heavy Pitt lean.
Enjoy the spring game!
The War Room is targeted towards our premium customers. We ask that all information reported in the War Room MUST stay right here! That’s the way this deal works. When this information is repeated outside of the Between Fifth and Forbes forum it only cheapens the price of yours and every other die-hard who have purchased premium services. The War Room is one of our more popular features...thank you all for keeping the information on this board.
This post was edited on 4/14 3:43 PM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
From the desk of Jim Snyder
A little on Tyler Smith
I have called forward Tyler Smith and few coaches repeatedly over the past week or two. He has gone into a lock down mode and I assume he will resurface when he is ready to make an announcement. Not sure what to make of this rumor about him waiting to see what Barry does. One coach told me he did not know why he was so concerned with coaches staying that Tyler did not plan on being in college fours years anyway. We will keep calling.
Some navigational hints
Keep checking the “Ticker” for recruiting articles. It has been a very busy week. In the first five days of the week (Sun-thru Thurs) there were 84 recruiting articles the last time I counted. That is almost 17 per day. Please check the “Ticker” at least once per day for articles you may have missed. In addition to the recruiting articles Chris has been providing us with team coverage and photo slide shows.
Also check “Headlines” under Pitt News on the upper left hand side. These are articles generated by the Pantherlair staff and include team coverage.
Panthers wrap up spring practice
Pitt will hold their annual Blue-Gold game Saturday at Heinz Field at 1:00 PM. If you cannot make it there will be a tape delay broadcast available on Fox Sports Pittsburgh on Saturday April 22nd at 1:00 PM and again Wednesday April 26th at 1:00 PM.
Hopefully you saw the photo slide show from yesterday’s practice session. There are 34 exclusive photos including a few of incoming freshman. Last night a few posters indicated they had trouble with today’s slide show. Keep trying. Rivals.com has had some software issues dealing with video and pictures. They may have been working on a patch last night. These latest group is very good. You will not want to miss them.
Chris has provided us with over a dozen slide shows now of the spring practice sessions. If you have missed one simply go to “Headlines” in the upper left hand corner of this page.
Let the real recruiting begin
The conclusion of the spring drills ends a “Quiet Period” in recruiting. Coaches have not been able to recruit off campus nor return phone calls. All of that now changes. We begin an Evaluation Period. The Pitt coaches will pack their suitcases and hit high schools hard. Coaches may also attend combines (including many of the Nike Camps) during this period. The Evaluation Period goes on for six weeks (until May 31st). Recruits will now get to know the Pitt coaches. Pitt coaches will be pitching hoping to get official visits this fall. Up until this point most out of state players have had little contact with a Pitt coach. There are a few exceptions like Jordan Mabin, [/B]Cameron Heyward[/B] and Tony Tucker but most out-of-state recruits know little about Pitt right now. Next week the staff will start spreading the word.
We have come across a few more Florida players with Pitt offers. We will introduce them over the next few days. We have to be realistic. No Big East school is going to pull a player out of Florida if the Big Three (Miami, Florida and FSU) go after him hard. However, there are more players down there than the Big 3 can take so all of the Big East schools will recruit in Florida. Most Floridians do not know much about Pitt right now but Charlie Partridge will be in Florida for the six weeks teaching them and he will get an occasional assistant from Coach Wannstedt.
We though it might be a fun idea to put to Pantherlair wish list of in-state players. It tries to balance Pitt’s needs, player’s ability and the probability of Pitt landing the player. Hopefully before the football seasons starts Pitt will land five or six of these players.
1) Pat Bostick QB Manheim Twp.
2) Mo Williams WR Erie Strong Vincent
3) Henry Hynoski FB Southern Columbia
4) Dom DeCicco LB/WR Thomas Jefferson
5) Brandon Lindsey LB Aliquippa
6) Josh Marks OT Southern Columbia
7) Toney Clemons WR Valley
8) Evan Blankenship OL Center
9) Dan Matha OT Erie McDowell
10) Myles Caragein DT Keystone Oaks
Players that could move on to future top ten lists: Jon Ditto-Gateway, Steve Paskorz-Hampton, Gino Gradkowski-Seton-LaSalle, Derek Moye-Rochester, Nick Sukay-Greensburg CC, Andrew Devlin-Mount Lebanon and Chris Drager Thomas Jefferson.
Last weekend we reported in the War Room that Henry Hynoski and Josh Marks were coming to Pittsburgh for the weekend. Earlier this week Chris Peak had an excellent report on Hynoski. Later today we will have an article on Josh Marks. What is amazing about their visit is they cam to town and spent two nights in Pittsburgh (at their own expense). They got the equivalent of an official visit. All I can say is these two were intent on checking Pitt out thoroughly. It probably also means that they will decide early where they are going to college. I expect both player to have committed somewhere in the next 90 days. Pitt has a good shot.
Often when the family has heath issues geography can come into play. Cameron Heyward seemed to like his visit to Pitt a lot. This will probably come down to Pitt and Georgia. The Heyward’s now live in a suburb of Atlanta and both Georgia and Georgia Tech can be viewed as local schools. Cameron still has relatives in Pittsburgh. Do you stay at home or go away to school? It is the classic choice many recruits are faced with.
Pat Bostick will be at the Blue-Gold game with his family and coach on Saturday. This will be Pat’s sixth visit to Pitt in the last 8 weeks. We expect that he will be a Panther soon. It is simply a matter of all of the parties being comfortable with his decision so he does not change his mind if Michigan makes a late push. He is a heavy Pitt lean.
Enjoy the spring game!
The War Room is targeted towards our premium customers. We ask that all information reported in the War Room MUST stay right here! That’s the way this deal works. When this information is repeated outside of the Between Fifth and Forbes forum it only cheapens the price of yours and every other die-hard who have purchased premium services. The War Room is one of our more popular features...thank you all for keeping the information on this board.
This post was edited on 4/14 3:43 PM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
