From the desk of Jim Snyder
Congratulations to our Bracket Battle winners
Our top four finishers in the Bracket Battle were:
1) Pittinmd
2) 59andcounting
3) DORT
4) Braves2121
Pittinmd gets a lifetime subscription to the Pantherlair. These next three get six months for free. I have notified Customer Service. I will notify the winners offline once I hear back from Rivals.com that everything has been set up.
Some navigational hints
When you are looking at a player’s profile in the database only the most recent story is visible. Sometimes that is not the story that will tell you the most about a player. It may only tell you about a recent visit to another school. Drill down by clicking on Updates in the gray border to learn more about the player. Also click on Bio in the gray border. If a player is all-conference or all-state you are mostly like to find that type of information under Bio.
Keeping them at home
The best way for a college football or basketball program to sustaining itself over the long run is to sign many of the best players in your home state. The recently released Associated Press AAAA all-state basketball team has DeJuan Blair from Pittsburgh Schenley, Nasir Robinson from Chester and Brad Wanamaker from Philadelphia Catholic on their first team. All three are coming to Pitt.
In addition Junior College transfer Cassin Diggs is from Williamsport. Mike Cook is from Philadelphia and redshirt freshman Gilbert Brown is originally Harrisburg. Slowly the Pitt basketball program is taking on an in-state flavor. Pitt should always be recruiting the eastern corridor from New York to Washington, DC. It is after all Big East country but the core should come from in-state if at all possible.
DeJuan Blair was the Pennsylvania Player of Year in AAAA. Brad Wanamaker was selected as the Philadelphia Player of the Year by the Philadelphia Daly News and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Player of the year by the Philadelphia Inquirer. These two will play for a Team USA all-star squad later this month in France.
Don’t be surprised in Nasir Robinson takes Chester to a AAAA state championship next year.
It was very good news to learn today that DeJuan Blair will be eligible next fall. I have high hopes for the big man. The big question mark was would his knees rebound from double-knee surgery and they have.
The Pittsburgh J.O.T.S. AAU basketball team is now known as the Pittsburgh Storm. With J. O. Strights close friendship with Bob Huggins recruiting at home just got a little more complicated. Ugh!
Bob Huggins to West Virginia
Bob Huggins returning to West Virginia means the basketball series with the Mountaineers will heat up. These games will be soldout and will be worth the price of admission. Don’t give up your season tickets.
One thing I will say about Bob Huggins is that he is one very competitive SOB. I once saw him knock out Duquesne’s B.B. Flenory at Civic Arena when he was a player at West Virginia.
He later took over an Akron basketball program that had fallen on hard times. Pitt agreed to a home and away series with the Zips because forward Jerome Lane was from Akron. In the first game Pitt beat Akron 67-65 at the Field House. The following year Pitt went to Akron and managed to win 67-63. Both games went down to the closing minute. Keep in mind these were pretty good Pitt teams that went 25-8 and 24-7. The 1987-88 team was the one that suffered the painful overtime loss to Vanderbilt in the NCAA tournament. Huggins had the Zips very competitive. He then went on to coach the Cincinnati Bearcats.
The basketball version of the Backyard Brawl has gotten a lot more interesting. I can hardly wait.
The Big East/SEC basketball series
This year the Big East and the SEC will start a “challenge” series where four games will be played in two days this year. These games will be televised on one of the ESPN networks. The first year doubleheaders have been scheduled for Philadelphia and Birmingham, Alabama.
December 5th (Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center; Birmingham, Ala.)
7 p.m. West Virginia vs. Auburn – ESPN2
9:30 p.m. Georgetown vs. Alabama – ESPN
December 6th (The Wachovia Center; Philadelphia)
7 p.m. South Carolina vs. Providence – ESPN2
9:30 p.m. LSU vs. Villanova – ESPN
Hopefully this series will be a financial success and be expanded in future years.
Spring practice thoughts
I was a little pessimistic coming into spring practice. Watching the Panthers finish the season losing their last five games was a reality check. However as we progressed through spring practice I have regained my normal optimism and think they could be better than most folks think.
The one area that remains a concern is linebacker. It still looks thin. The heart and soul of your kickoff and punt teams often comes from linebackers. You need to find more than just starters. Depth is also important at this position. Greg Webster struggles with Crohn’s disease has hurt as have the injuries to Steve Dell and Dan Loheyde.
Last year Coach Wannstedt said all summer that Elijah Fields would start out as wide receiver. At 6:00 AM on the first day of fall camp Elijah Field was informed he looked like a safety.
With LaRod Stephens-Howling and Kevin Collier back and LeSean McCoy coming in this summer you have to wonder if running backs Shariff Harris or Greg Williams will get a call at 6:00 AM on the first day to tell them they look like linebackers.
Pitt has three linebackers coming in this summer in Tristan Roberts, Brandon Lindsey and Max Gruder. It would not surprise me to see Harris and/or Williams join them early in fall drills.
Pitt will hold their third scrimmage tomorrow and the Pantherlair will be there keeping you up to date.
Recruiting summary
Coach Wannstedt has brought in large recruiting classes the past couple of years. The laws of mathematics say at some point Pitt will have a smaller class. It may be the first true sign that recruiting has actually gotten better. Last year Ohio State only signed 15 players and the Buckeyes expect to take another class in the mid-teens this year. For now we will use a number of 18 for Pitt although this could be a couple less or a couple of more depending on how successful they are in keeping players in the football program.
This past week Bishop McCort tight end Mike Cruz and Wilmington Area running back Chris Burns both committed to Pitt. They join defensive back [/B]Antwuan Reed[/B] from Johnstown who committed late last year.
Pitt top three targets are Jeannette’s Terrelle Pryor, Aliquippa’s Jonathan Baldwin and Thomas Jefferson’s Lucas Nix. At the end of the day we believe Lucas Nix will be a Panther sometime this spring. As Chris and Tony have reported Nix is now the unofficial tour guide at Pitt. Pryor and Baldwin will be tougher. All three of these players are in the 6’ 5” to 6’ 6’ range. They are must gets.
Once you get by the big three Pitt needs to land three linebackers. There are three WPIAL linebackers that are being very heavily recruited in Andrew Sweat, Christian Wilson and Gateway’s Shayne Hale. All three will be very difficult to land. I like Shayne Hale the best and he might be Pitt’s best shot in this group.
There is another group of linebackers which includes Brandon Beachum, Taylor Hill, Mike Yancich and Justin Staples. Pitt could have better luck in this group. The staff must reload at linebacker if the program is to move forward.
Pitt has told one offensive lineman they will only take three this year. Lucas Nix is one of them. The others could come out of Pitt’s summer camp.
Pitt has three prospects in hand. If they landed the big three plus three linebackers that would give them nine committed. They would be half way home. After that just get me nine quality athletes to go with this group. A couple of linemen should be in this group.
Pitt looks to be in good shape with Averin Collier. It will comedown to Pitt and Syracuse. He will not stray far from home. We will have an article on Collier later today.
Others prospects we think Pitt is still in the mix for are TE Nic DiLillo, TE Hubie Graham, A.J. Alexander, Cameron Saddler, CB Cameron Chism, DE Jeremy Longo and DE Kaleb Ramsey.
Yesterday offensive tackle R.J. Dill (6’ 8” 295) was at practice. There was an article on him on the Ticker yesterday. He does not seem to be a high priority at this time.
Other visitors yesterday included Akron Hoban linebacker Will Fleming and a pair of twins from Maryland Pat Boyle and Shawn Boyle. Also attending was Woodland Hills Noah Taylor the younger brother Jason Taylor from the Miami Dolphins.
Let me conclude with Pitt’s latest recruit Chris Burns. I don’t ever recall a recruit saying the team Chaplin was one of the reasons he picked Pitt. You take help wherever you can get it. He is a well spoken young man who sounds like he will be an asset to the program. Pitt was anxious to get him on board before others found him. He is a sleeper but I like him on film. His team runs a Wing-T offense so he is not a true tailback. I would try to find a place for him on offense (maybe in the slot). That was the vision for Dorin Dickerson and it did not workout. Burns can always be moved later but give him a shot on offense first. Hopefully you got a chance to watch our video highlights this week. Nifty stuff!
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 4/6 10:18 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
This post was edited on 4/7 8:27 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
Congratulations to our Bracket Battle winners
Our top four finishers in the Bracket Battle were:
1) Pittinmd
2) 59andcounting
3) DORT
4) Braves2121
Pittinmd gets a lifetime subscription to the Pantherlair. These next three get six months for free. I have notified Customer Service. I will notify the winners offline once I hear back from Rivals.com that everything has been set up.
Some navigational hints
When you are looking at a player’s profile in the database only the most recent story is visible. Sometimes that is not the story that will tell you the most about a player. It may only tell you about a recent visit to another school. Drill down by clicking on Updates in the gray border to learn more about the player. Also click on Bio in the gray border. If a player is all-conference or all-state you are mostly like to find that type of information under Bio.
Keeping them at home
The best way for a college football or basketball program to sustaining itself over the long run is to sign many of the best players in your home state. The recently released Associated Press AAAA all-state basketball team has DeJuan Blair from Pittsburgh Schenley, Nasir Robinson from Chester and Brad Wanamaker from Philadelphia Catholic on their first team. All three are coming to Pitt.
In addition Junior College transfer Cassin Diggs is from Williamsport. Mike Cook is from Philadelphia and redshirt freshman Gilbert Brown is originally Harrisburg. Slowly the Pitt basketball program is taking on an in-state flavor. Pitt should always be recruiting the eastern corridor from New York to Washington, DC. It is after all Big East country but the core should come from in-state if at all possible.
DeJuan Blair was the Pennsylvania Player of Year in AAAA. Brad Wanamaker was selected as the Philadelphia Player of the Year by the Philadelphia Daly News and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Player of the year by the Philadelphia Inquirer. These two will play for a Team USA all-star squad later this month in France.
Don’t be surprised in Nasir Robinson takes Chester to a AAAA state championship next year.
It was very good news to learn today that DeJuan Blair will be eligible next fall. I have high hopes for the big man. The big question mark was would his knees rebound from double-knee surgery and they have.
The Pittsburgh J.O.T.S. AAU basketball team is now known as the Pittsburgh Storm. With J. O. Strights close friendship with Bob Huggins recruiting at home just got a little more complicated. Ugh!
Bob Huggins to West Virginia
Bob Huggins returning to West Virginia means the basketball series with the Mountaineers will heat up. These games will be soldout and will be worth the price of admission. Don’t give up your season tickets.
One thing I will say about Bob Huggins is that he is one very competitive SOB. I once saw him knock out Duquesne’s B.B. Flenory at Civic Arena when he was a player at West Virginia.
He later took over an Akron basketball program that had fallen on hard times. Pitt agreed to a home and away series with the Zips because forward Jerome Lane was from Akron. In the first game Pitt beat Akron 67-65 at the Field House. The following year Pitt went to Akron and managed to win 67-63. Both games went down to the closing minute. Keep in mind these were pretty good Pitt teams that went 25-8 and 24-7. The 1987-88 team was the one that suffered the painful overtime loss to Vanderbilt in the NCAA tournament. Huggins had the Zips very competitive. He then went on to coach the Cincinnati Bearcats.
The basketball version of the Backyard Brawl has gotten a lot more interesting. I can hardly wait.
The Big East/SEC basketball series
This year the Big East and the SEC will start a “challenge” series where four games will be played in two days this year. These games will be televised on one of the ESPN networks. The first year doubleheaders have been scheduled for Philadelphia and Birmingham, Alabama.
December 5th (Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center; Birmingham, Ala.)
7 p.m. West Virginia vs. Auburn – ESPN2
9:30 p.m. Georgetown vs. Alabama – ESPN
December 6th (The Wachovia Center; Philadelphia)
7 p.m. South Carolina vs. Providence – ESPN2
9:30 p.m. LSU vs. Villanova – ESPN
Hopefully this series will be a financial success and be expanded in future years.
Spring practice thoughts
I was a little pessimistic coming into spring practice. Watching the Panthers finish the season losing their last five games was a reality check. However as we progressed through spring practice I have regained my normal optimism and think they could be better than most folks think.
The one area that remains a concern is linebacker. It still looks thin. The heart and soul of your kickoff and punt teams often comes from linebackers. You need to find more than just starters. Depth is also important at this position. Greg Webster struggles with Crohn’s disease has hurt as have the injuries to Steve Dell and Dan Loheyde.
Last year Coach Wannstedt said all summer that Elijah Fields would start out as wide receiver. At 6:00 AM on the first day of fall camp Elijah Field was informed he looked like a safety.
With LaRod Stephens-Howling and Kevin Collier back and LeSean McCoy coming in this summer you have to wonder if running backs Shariff Harris or Greg Williams will get a call at 6:00 AM on the first day to tell them they look like linebackers.
Pitt has three linebackers coming in this summer in Tristan Roberts, Brandon Lindsey and Max Gruder. It would not surprise me to see Harris and/or Williams join them early in fall drills.
Pitt will hold their third scrimmage tomorrow and the Pantherlair will be there keeping you up to date.
Recruiting summary
Coach Wannstedt has brought in large recruiting classes the past couple of years. The laws of mathematics say at some point Pitt will have a smaller class. It may be the first true sign that recruiting has actually gotten better. Last year Ohio State only signed 15 players and the Buckeyes expect to take another class in the mid-teens this year. For now we will use a number of 18 for Pitt although this could be a couple less or a couple of more depending on how successful they are in keeping players in the football program.
This past week Bishop McCort tight end Mike Cruz and Wilmington Area running back Chris Burns both committed to Pitt. They join defensive back [/B]Antwuan Reed[/B] from Johnstown who committed late last year.
Pitt top three targets are Jeannette’s Terrelle Pryor, Aliquippa’s Jonathan Baldwin and Thomas Jefferson’s Lucas Nix. At the end of the day we believe Lucas Nix will be a Panther sometime this spring. As Chris and Tony have reported Nix is now the unofficial tour guide at Pitt. Pryor and Baldwin will be tougher. All three of these players are in the 6’ 5” to 6’ 6’ range. They are must gets.
Once you get by the big three Pitt needs to land three linebackers. There are three WPIAL linebackers that are being very heavily recruited in Andrew Sweat, Christian Wilson and Gateway’s Shayne Hale. All three will be very difficult to land. I like Shayne Hale the best and he might be Pitt’s best shot in this group.
There is another group of linebackers which includes Brandon Beachum, Taylor Hill, Mike Yancich and Justin Staples. Pitt could have better luck in this group. The staff must reload at linebacker if the program is to move forward.
Pitt has told one offensive lineman they will only take three this year. Lucas Nix is one of them. The others could come out of Pitt’s summer camp.
Pitt has three prospects in hand. If they landed the big three plus three linebackers that would give them nine committed. They would be half way home. After that just get me nine quality athletes to go with this group. A couple of linemen should be in this group.
Pitt looks to be in good shape with Averin Collier. It will comedown to Pitt and Syracuse. He will not stray far from home. We will have an article on Collier later today.
Others prospects we think Pitt is still in the mix for are TE Nic DiLillo, TE Hubie Graham, A.J. Alexander, Cameron Saddler, CB Cameron Chism, DE Jeremy Longo and DE Kaleb Ramsey.
Yesterday offensive tackle R.J. Dill (6’ 8” 295) was at practice. There was an article on him on the Ticker yesterday. He does not seem to be a high priority at this time.
Other visitors yesterday included Akron Hoban linebacker Will Fleming and a pair of twins from Maryland Pat Boyle and Shawn Boyle. Also attending was Woodland Hills Noah Taylor the younger brother Jason Taylor from the Miami Dolphins.
Let me conclude with Pitt’s latest recruit Chris Burns. I don’t ever recall a recruit saying the team Chaplin was one of the reasons he picked Pitt. You take help wherever you can get it. He is a well spoken young man who sounds like he will be an asset to the program. Pitt was anxious to get him on board before others found him. He is a sleeper but I like him on film. His team runs a Wing-T offense so he is not a true tailback. I would try to find a place for him on offense (maybe in the slot). That was the vision for Dorin Dickerson and it did not workout. Burns can always be moved later but give him a shot on offense first. Hopefully you got a chance to watch our video highlights this week. Nifty stuff!
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 4/6 10:18 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
This post was edited on 4/7 8:27 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
