From the desk of Jim Snyder
Jam Fest returns to Pittsburgh
The weekend AAU basketball returns to Pittsburgh. Most of the games will he held at the Peterson Events Center or the Fitzgerald Field House although some will be spread around to Duquesne, Carnegie Mellon, North Allegheny HS, Brashear HS and Peabody HS.
It looks like over 110 teams will participate which should mean close to a thousand players will be try to hone their skills while catching the eyes of college recruiters. Most teams will play against two other teams in their pool with the winners and losers advancing in different brackets. There will be many games played Saturday night and Sunday morning depending on how a team does in pool play.
This tournament exposes a lot of very good athletes (both basketball and football) to Pitt and the City of Pittsburgh. Justin Young from Rivals.com will be in Pittsburgh covering the tournament. Jerry Meyers from Rivals.com will be in Houston covering the Kingwood Classic. The tournament in Houston is the larger of the two. They expect over 700 teams in Houston.
Here is a list of some of the pool games in the Jam Fest that might be of interest to you as Pitt fans.
Friday 6:30 pm Team Breakdown vs. Positive Image (Pa)--Pool 23 Peterson Ct 1
Key players: Eloy Vargas
Friday 6:30 pm Pittsburgh Storm vs. Charlotte Royals-- Pool 30 Fitzgerald Ct 2
Key players: Jonathan Baldwin, Brian Walsh and Christian Wilson
Friday 7:30 pm Syracuse Select vs. Illinois Wolves-- Pool 31 Fitzgerald 2
Key players: Marcus Sales
Friday 7:40 pm Team Adidas vs. Albany City Rocks-Pool 19 Peterson 1
Key Players: Terrelle Pryor
Friday 8:50 pm DC Assault vs. Rising Stars, Illinois –Pool 13-Peterson Ct 3
Key Players: Terrance Boyd and Roscoe Davis.
Friday 10:00 pm Team Final vs. All Ohio Red—Pool 18--Peterson Ct. 1
Key players: Nasir Robinson
Saturday 11:20 am Playaz NJ vs. East Coast Athletes WV--Pool 3-Peterson 1
Key player: Travon Woodall-Peterson Ct. 1
Saturday 11:20 am Pennsylvania Storm vs. Rising Stars--Pool 30 Duquesne Ct. 2
Key players: Jonathan Baldwin, Brian Walsh and Christian Wilson
Saturday 12:30 pm Syracuse Select vs. Garden State Elite Pool 31 Peterson 3
Key player: Marcus Sales
Saturday 1:45 pm DC Assault vs. Central Jersey Hawks--Pool 1-Fitzgerad 1
Key players: Terrance Boyd and Roscoe Davis
Saturday 3:00 pm Playaz NJ vs. Shining Stars NJ—Pool 3-Fitzgerald 2
Key players: Travon Woodall
Saturday 3:00 pm Team Adidas vs. Maryland Crusaders—Pool 19 Duquesne 1
Key Players: Terrelle Pryor
Saturday 4:10 pm Team Breakdown Northeast Basketball Club NY Pool 23 Peterson 1
Key Players: Eloy Vargas
Sunday 2:00 pm Silver B Final Peterson 2
Sunday 2:00 pm Bronze Final-Fitzgerald 2
Sunday 2:00 pm Alpha Final-Fitzgerald 1
Sunday 2:00 pm Steel City Final-Peterson 1
Sunday 3:15 pm Gold Final-Peterson 1
Sunday 3:15 pm Platinum Final –Peterson 3
The tragedy at Virginia Tech
A good friend of mine taught at Virginia Tech for a number of years and I have been to Blacksburg a number of times. We took the family to watch Pitt play in Marcus Vick’s last year at Virginia Tech. Pitt gave the Hokies all they could handle and they might have beaten them with a little better luck. It was a great place to watch a college game. Seven members of my family were there that night. It is hard to imagine a more unlikely campus for this type of thing to occur. Many years ago the incident with the National Guard at Kent State also left you shaking your head. It too was a place you would never expect something like this to happen. All these years later if you mention Kent State that day immediately pops from my memory. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families involved with the unfortunate incident. Many Rivals members went to the Virginia Tech site to express their sympathy. Eventually they had to set up a separate message board they called Hokie Heaven.
Spring camp wrap-up
Our poll question on the Between Fifth & Forbes message board asks how many games will Pitt win this year? The majority of you answered 7 or 8 games. That looks about right. Pitt has several very winnable games at home but has some very tough tests on the road. The key game might be the road trip to Virginia on September 29th. If the Panthers win this one, they could be playing South Florida Thanksgiving weekend trying to win their 8th or 9th game. I have to admit I am concerned about South Florida. The Bulls are coming off a 9-4 season and they get both West Virginia and Louisville at home this year. They have a very good quarterback and could be a dark horse to win the Big East this fall.
I would be very surprised if Bill Stull did not open the season at quarterback. Most coaches are pretty conservative by nature and Wanny and Cavanaugh lean to the right on the spectrum. Stull has taken virtually all the snaps this spring with the first team. Neither Bill Stull or Kevan Smith had a strong Blue-Gold game but both had played better in the other three scrimmages. My guess is Pitt will open the season with Stull and move to one of the freshmen only if the Panthers stumble this fall.
On defense the search for a couple of outside linebackers will resume at fall camp. It looks like Pitt will bring the strong safety up in the box on run downs. This is a departure from the past two years. Stopping the run has become a priority.
In his press conference after the game Coach Wannstedt said Jason Pinkston is one of his best five offensive linemen and that the staff would look at moving Mike McGlynn inside to center or guard. Jeff Otah is set at left tackle and C.J. Davis is set at left guard. Last Saturday the biggest hit came when Joe Thomas was bull-rushed and was knocked backwards like a billiard ball into Kevin Collier. Darn near injured Collier. Mike McGlynn has started 31 consecutive games for Pitt. They will find a spot for him somewhere. They may have to take a very long look at the videos over the next couple of months before deciding just where McGlynn will help the most.
To be fair to Joe Thomas most linemen should be redshirted in their first year. They should be on the two-deep in their second year and then should be three-year starters. Thomas was pressed into action as a true freshman when John Simonitis went down. It was expecting a lot of a true freshman.
There was a report recently in the newspapers recently that Pitt had reached an agreement on the property at the old Terrance Village site for use as baseball and soccer fields. Apparently they do have a verbal agreement but it may be well into 2008 before there is any construction. It appears there is still some red tape they must handle first. A long and sad saga.
We now have almost 300 photos taken during spring camp. You can find them at the top of the Between Fifth & Forbes message board. If you have a little time during the next few weeks you might want to review them. Or if you are in a hurry see the link at the bottom of this page.
Do you want to see something cool?
Here is a navigational hint. Go to the football database and click on [/B]Pitt Commits[/B]. You should see a list of the three players committed to Pitt. At the far right click on Capsules and you will see photos of the players already committed to Pitt. You can scroll back to prior years to see picture galleries of earlier years. Pretty nifty!
Recruiting recap
Pitt has a commitment from tight end Mike Cruz but it appears they will take one more. It is curious that three of the tight ends Pitt has recruited have all been heavily recruited by Clemson (Mike Cruz, Nic DiLillo and Hubie Graham ). A birdie tells us some on the Southside were a little surprised when DiLillo committed to Clemson and may try to flip him. Based on watching film we liked Cruz a little better on defense. Others may too. Look for Pitt to take another tight end. There are a number of interesting candidates in the database. There is a post on the F&F board about Mike Cruz. I would treat this rumor with great skepticism.
Pitt offered wide receiver Vaughn Caraway early this week. He is a cousin of Sam and James Bryant. Pitt also has offers out to wide receivers Marcus Sales and Ed Tinker. They have also offered Jonathan Baldwin who could end be a wide receiver or a tight end. In addition they have offered Cameron Saddler, A.J. Alexander and Averin Collier. They are listed as athletes. A couple of these players could play wide receiver. You can be pretty sure Pitt will take one or more wide receiver prospects.
Yesterday we had an article on Harold Coates from Youngstown Ursuline. He was given good marks by some of the folks covering high school football in Ohio for Rivals.com. He is originally from Pittsburgh Oliver. He apparently has some academic issues after attending a Pittsburgh city school in his freshman and sophomore years but a couple of years at a Catholic school could improve his status. He is a prospect to watch even though he does not yet have an offer from Pitt. He has a nickname of the Beast. We had a player while I was in high school by the name of Jim Wilson. He was also called the Beast. He went on to become an All-American tackle for Georgia. He later played for the San Francisco 49’ers and the Atlanta Falcons. He gained a small bit of fame at the NFL level when he was traded for Steve Spurrier. The old ball coach is now the head coach at South Carolina.
Football camps
May and June are the camping season for football prospects. An Elite College football camp will be held at Superdome Sports in Waldwick, New Jersey on May 1st and Rivals.com will be there. In addition Nike Camps will be held at State College on May 12th and at Rutgers on May 13th. College coaches are permitted to attend these events as we are in an Evaluation Period.
There are also Nike Camps at Georgia and Florida State this weekend.
Coming attractions
Today Tony will have an article on defense end Kaleb Ramsey from Laurel Highlands. He now has a number of offers. We will also feature Darnell Dodson in our Getting to Know you series. Chris Peak will take a look at the offensive line as he gives his thoughts on how the Panthers did during spring drills. Rivals.com is sending a crew to the Pete to cover Jam Fest.
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.
Spring practice photo gallery
Jam Fest returns to Pittsburgh
The weekend AAU basketball returns to Pittsburgh. Most of the games will he held at the Peterson Events Center or the Fitzgerald Field House although some will be spread around to Duquesne, Carnegie Mellon, North Allegheny HS, Brashear HS and Peabody HS.
It looks like over 110 teams will participate which should mean close to a thousand players will be try to hone their skills while catching the eyes of college recruiters. Most teams will play against two other teams in their pool with the winners and losers advancing in different brackets. There will be many games played Saturday night and Sunday morning depending on how a team does in pool play.
This tournament exposes a lot of very good athletes (both basketball and football) to Pitt and the City of Pittsburgh. Justin Young from Rivals.com will be in Pittsburgh covering the tournament. Jerry Meyers from Rivals.com will be in Houston covering the Kingwood Classic. The tournament in Houston is the larger of the two. They expect over 700 teams in Houston.
Here is a list of some of the pool games in the Jam Fest that might be of interest to you as Pitt fans.
Friday 6:30 pm Team Breakdown vs. Positive Image (Pa)--Pool 23 Peterson Ct 1
Key players: Eloy Vargas
Friday 6:30 pm Pittsburgh Storm vs. Charlotte Royals-- Pool 30 Fitzgerald Ct 2
Key players: Jonathan Baldwin, Brian Walsh and Christian Wilson
Friday 7:30 pm Syracuse Select vs. Illinois Wolves-- Pool 31 Fitzgerald 2
Key players: Marcus Sales
Friday 7:40 pm Team Adidas vs. Albany City Rocks-Pool 19 Peterson 1
Key Players: Terrelle Pryor
Friday 8:50 pm DC Assault vs. Rising Stars, Illinois –Pool 13-Peterson Ct 3
Key Players: Terrance Boyd and Roscoe Davis.
Friday 10:00 pm Team Final vs. All Ohio Red—Pool 18--Peterson Ct. 1
Key players: Nasir Robinson
Saturday 11:20 am Playaz NJ vs. East Coast Athletes WV--Pool 3-Peterson 1
Key player: Travon Woodall-Peterson Ct. 1
Saturday 11:20 am Pennsylvania Storm vs. Rising Stars--Pool 30 Duquesne Ct. 2
Key players: Jonathan Baldwin, Brian Walsh and Christian Wilson
Saturday 12:30 pm Syracuse Select vs. Garden State Elite Pool 31 Peterson 3
Key player: Marcus Sales
Saturday 1:45 pm DC Assault vs. Central Jersey Hawks--Pool 1-Fitzgerad 1
Key players: Terrance Boyd and Roscoe Davis
Saturday 3:00 pm Playaz NJ vs. Shining Stars NJ—Pool 3-Fitzgerald 2
Key players: Travon Woodall
Saturday 3:00 pm Team Adidas vs. Maryland Crusaders—Pool 19 Duquesne 1
Key Players: Terrelle Pryor
Saturday 4:10 pm Team Breakdown Northeast Basketball Club NY Pool 23 Peterson 1
Key Players: Eloy Vargas
Sunday 2:00 pm Silver B Final Peterson 2
Sunday 2:00 pm Bronze Final-Fitzgerald 2
Sunday 2:00 pm Alpha Final-Fitzgerald 1
Sunday 2:00 pm Steel City Final-Peterson 1
Sunday 3:15 pm Gold Final-Peterson 1
Sunday 3:15 pm Platinum Final –Peterson 3
The tragedy at Virginia Tech
A good friend of mine taught at Virginia Tech for a number of years and I have been to Blacksburg a number of times. We took the family to watch Pitt play in Marcus Vick’s last year at Virginia Tech. Pitt gave the Hokies all they could handle and they might have beaten them with a little better luck. It was a great place to watch a college game. Seven members of my family were there that night. It is hard to imagine a more unlikely campus for this type of thing to occur. Many years ago the incident with the National Guard at Kent State also left you shaking your head. It too was a place you would never expect something like this to happen. All these years later if you mention Kent State that day immediately pops from my memory. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families involved with the unfortunate incident. Many Rivals members went to the Virginia Tech site to express their sympathy. Eventually they had to set up a separate message board they called Hokie Heaven.
Spring camp wrap-up
Our poll question on the Between Fifth & Forbes message board asks how many games will Pitt win this year? The majority of you answered 7 or 8 games. That looks about right. Pitt has several very winnable games at home but has some very tough tests on the road. The key game might be the road trip to Virginia on September 29th. If the Panthers win this one, they could be playing South Florida Thanksgiving weekend trying to win their 8th or 9th game. I have to admit I am concerned about South Florida. The Bulls are coming off a 9-4 season and they get both West Virginia and Louisville at home this year. They have a very good quarterback and could be a dark horse to win the Big East this fall.
I would be very surprised if Bill Stull did not open the season at quarterback. Most coaches are pretty conservative by nature and Wanny and Cavanaugh lean to the right on the spectrum. Stull has taken virtually all the snaps this spring with the first team. Neither Bill Stull or Kevan Smith had a strong Blue-Gold game but both had played better in the other three scrimmages. My guess is Pitt will open the season with Stull and move to one of the freshmen only if the Panthers stumble this fall.
On defense the search for a couple of outside linebackers will resume at fall camp. It looks like Pitt will bring the strong safety up in the box on run downs. This is a departure from the past two years. Stopping the run has become a priority.
In his press conference after the game Coach Wannstedt said Jason Pinkston is one of his best five offensive linemen and that the staff would look at moving Mike McGlynn inside to center or guard. Jeff Otah is set at left tackle and C.J. Davis is set at left guard. Last Saturday the biggest hit came when Joe Thomas was bull-rushed and was knocked backwards like a billiard ball into Kevin Collier. Darn near injured Collier. Mike McGlynn has started 31 consecutive games for Pitt. They will find a spot for him somewhere. They may have to take a very long look at the videos over the next couple of months before deciding just where McGlynn will help the most.
To be fair to Joe Thomas most linemen should be redshirted in their first year. They should be on the two-deep in their second year and then should be three-year starters. Thomas was pressed into action as a true freshman when John Simonitis went down. It was expecting a lot of a true freshman.
There was a report recently in the newspapers recently that Pitt had reached an agreement on the property at the old Terrance Village site for use as baseball and soccer fields. Apparently they do have a verbal agreement but it may be well into 2008 before there is any construction. It appears there is still some red tape they must handle first. A long and sad saga.
We now have almost 300 photos taken during spring camp. You can find them at the top of the Between Fifth & Forbes message board. If you have a little time during the next few weeks you might want to review them. Or if you are in a hurry see the link at the bottom of this page.
Do you want to see something cool?
Here is a navigational hint. Go to the football database and click on [/B]Pitt Commits[/B]. You should see a list of the three players committed to Pitt. At the far right click on Capsules and you will see photos of the players already committed to Pitt. You can scroll back to prior years to see picture galleries of earlier years. Pretty nifty!
Recruiting recap
Pitt has a commitment from tight end Mike Cruz but it appears they will take one more. It is curious that three of the tight ends Pitt has recruited have all been heavily recruited by Clemson (Mike Cruz, Nic DiLillo and Hubie Graham ). A birdie tells us some on the Southside were a little surprised when DiLillo committed to Clemson and may try to flip him. Based on watching film we liked Cruz a little better on defense. Others may too. Look for Pitt to take another tight end. There are a number of interesting candidates in the database. There is a post on the F&F board about Mike Cruz. I would treat this rumor with great skepticism.
Pitt offered wide receiver Vaughn Caraway early this week. He is a cousin of Sam and James Bryant. Pitt also has offers out to wide receivers Marcus Sales and Ed Tinker. They have also offered Jonathan Baldwin who could end be a wide receiver or a tight end. In addition they have offered Cameron Saddler, A.J. Alexander and Averin Collier. They are listed as athletes. A couple of these players could play wide receiver. You can be pretty sure Pitt will take one or more wide receiver prospects.
Yesterday we had an article on Harold Coates from Youngstown Ursuline. He was given good marks by some of the folks covering high school football in Ohio for Rivals.com. He is originally from Pittsburgh Oliver. He apparently has some academic issues after attending a Pittsburgh city school in his freshman and sophomore years but a couple of years at a Catholic school could improve his status. He is a prospect to watch even though he does not yet have an offer from Pitt. He has a nickname of the Beast. We had a player while I was in high school by the name of Jim Wilson. He was also called the Beast. He went on to become an All-American tackle for Georgia. He later played for the San Francisco 49’ers and the Atlanta Falcons. He gained a small bit of fame at the NFL level when he was traded for Steve Spurrier. The old ball coach is now the head coach at South Carolina.
Football camps
May and June are the camping season for football prospects. An Elite College football camp will be held at Superdome Sports in Waldwick, New Jersey on May 1st and Rivals.com will be there. In addition Nike Camps will be held at State College on May 12th and at Rutgers on May 13th. College coaches are permitted to attend these events as we are in an Evaluation Period.
There are also Nike Camps at Georgia and Florida State this weekend.
Coming attractions
Today Tony will have an article on defense end Kaleb Ramsey from Laurel Highlands. He now has a number of offers. We will also feature Darnell Dodson in our Getting to Know you series. Chris Peak will take a look at the offensive line as he gives his thoughts on how the Panthers did during spring drills. Rivals.com is sending a crew to the Pete to cover Jam Fest.
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.
Spring practice photo gallery
