From the Desk of Jim Snyder
Who visited this past weekend
Last week in the War Room, we reported on nine players that had attended at least some of the Panthers practices. You can find their names on the War Room Archives message board. Shown below is a list of some of the prospects that visited Pitt this past week. Most attended last Saturday when the Pitt staff held a Blue Chip Day potential recruits.
Brian Brannigan OL 6’ 3” 273 St Joseph’s (NJ)
Corey Clarke WR 6’ 1” 185 Brush (Ohio)
Scott Corson ** DL 6’ 5” 280 Johnstown
Jared Dewalt OLB 6’ 3” 305 Brush (OH)
John-Kevin Dolce DE 6’ 2” 230 St Anthony’s (NY)
Ryan Flanagan OL 6’ 6” 270 West Chester East
Vidal Hazelton WR 6’ 2” 260 Moore Catholic (NY)
Chris Hanna OL 6’ 4” 292 Gateway
Justin Hargrove LB/RB 6’ 4” 230 Baldwin
Tyler Henderson DB/RB 6’ 1” 190 Burrell
Dustin Illgenfritz DT 6’ 3” 275 Spring Grove
Pat Illig OT 6’ 3” 290 Central Catholic
Eric Jobe DT 6’ 3” 270 LaPlata (MD)
Mike Kush OL 6’ 4” 290 Johnstown
Dan Loheyde ** LB 6’ 2” 220 Gateway
Mike Lukendadt DT 6’ 2” 260 Downingtown East
John Malecki ** DT 6’ 3” 270 Franklin
Terrance McCrae WR 6’ 3” 190 Connellsville
Bill Nagy OL 6’ 5” 295 Hudson (OH)
Nate Nix OLB 6’ 3” 210 Thomas Jefferson
Charlie Noonan DT 6’ 3” 253 St Joseph’s, Ardmore, PA
Eric Rodemyer OL 6’ 3” 210 Kennedy Christian
Tyler Santucci LB 6’ 2” 230 Valley
Chad Schofield OL 6’ 4” 320 Strongsville (OH)
Aaron Smith Ath 6’ 0” 180 Gateway
Joe Thomas OL 6’ 5” 285 Lakewood, St Edwards
Xavier Thomas WR 5’ 11” 170 Johnstown
** These three players have given Pitt a verbal commitment.
In some ways, Pitt has received commitments from prospects that were low hang fruit. Some grew up Pitt fans and were predisposed to become Panthers. There are several other prospects in Western PA that would probably accept quickly if offered. They are players we think will end up playing Division 1 football.
The big question every year is how many do you take early and how many scholarships do you want to hold back for recruiting battles with players that may have a dozen or more offers? How many do you want to hold back for Florida players that may be unwilling to commit until they have made official visits late next fall?
This week we got a chance to watch video on the three prospects from Johnstown. It was easy to see why DT Scott Corson was offered early by Dave Wannstedt and his staff. He looks like he has a world of potential and gets off the ball quickly. I will say it is often hard to watch the Johnstown players without your eye being drawn to running back LaRod Stephens. He is small but he has great field vision. We have a dozen or more videos at Rivals.com on players from Pennsylvania for editing. Over the next couple of weeks they should be available for your viewing. Hopefully you will enjoy them as much as we did.
Congratulations
The top four finishers in the Bracket Battle were Presp, 12-0, NY Panther, Shoe Box and crhhar8892. All five of them have been given one months free service going forward. Quite frankly I was down the drain early with Vermont and Bucknell upsets. I had Syracuse going deep into the tournament. Who would have believed that West Virginia would have been the high ranked team in the Big East at seasons end?
A few odds and ends
Hopefully you have seen the notices on our message board that the Spring Game will be held at Gateway High School. There will be free admission. It is open to the general public and the Blue-Gold game starts at 1:00 PM. Pitt will undoubtedly run into field condition problems most years at Heinz Field. It is best to rotate this game to 4 or 5 high schools in Allegheny County. It is a good way to win friends in the community. Gateway is a good place to start. They have a number of Division 1 prospects in the recruiting Class of 2006 and 2007.
In some ways it was hard to believe Pitt and Penn State had not played each other in baseball in 11 years. Pitt got hammered in a game played in Altoona this week. Despite the loss we are hopeful this is another sign that the relationship between Pitt and Penn State is improving and we will eventually see the two schools playing in football.
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.
Note to Pantherlair.com Fans: The staff at Pantherlair.com works diligently to bring you the best information on University of Pittsburgh football and basketball recruiting (in addition to game coverage). Thousands of Panther fans visit our site on a daily basis. We have received a tremendous amount of e-mail thanking us for our efforts. If you like our site, please feel free to tell other fans about it. “Spread the word” and let’s add to our online family of Panther fans.
Who visited this past weekend
Last week in the War Room, we reported on nine players that had attended at least some of the Panthers practices. You can find their names on the War Room Archives message board. Shown below is a list of some of the prospects that visited Pitt this past week. Most attended last Saturday when the Pitt staff held a Blue Chip Day potential recruits.
Brian Brannigan OL 6’ 3” 273 St Joseph’s (NJ)
Corey Clarke WR 6’ 1” 185 Brush (Ohio)
Scott Corson ** DL 6’ 5” 280 Johnstown
Jared Dewalt OLB 6’ 3” 305 Brush (OH)
John-Kevin Dolce DE 6’ 2” 230 St Anthony’s (NY)
Ryan Flanagan OL 6’ 6” 270 West Chester East
Vidal Hazelton WR 6’ 2” 260 Moore Catholic (NY)
Chris Hanna OL 6’ 4” 292 Gateway
Justin Hargrove LB/RB 6’ 4” 230 Baldwin
Tyler Henderson DB/RB 6’ 1” 190 Burrell
Dustin Illgenfritz DT 6’ 3” 275 Spring Grove
Pat Illig OT 6’ 3” 290 Central Catholic
Eric Jobe DT 6’ 3” 270 LaPlata (MD)
Mike Kush OL 6’ 4” 290 Johnstown
Dan Loheyde ** LB 6’ 2” 220 Gateway
Mike Lukendadt DT 6’ 2” 260 Downingtown East
John Malecki ** DT 6’ 3” 270 Franklin
Terrance McCrae WR 6’ 3” 190 Connellsville
Bill Nagy OL 6’ 5” 295 Hudson (OH)
Nate Nix OLB 6’ 3” 210 Thomas Jefferson
Charlie Noonan DT 6’ 3” 253 St Joseph’s, Ardmore, PA
Eric Rodemyer OL 6’ 3” 210 Kennedy Christian
Tyler Santucci LB 6’ 2” 230 Valley
Chad Schofield OL 6’ 4” 320 Strongsville (OH)
Aaron Smith Ath 6’ 0” 180 Gateway
Joe Thomas OL 6’ 5” 285 Lakewood, St Edwards
Xavier Thomas WR 5’ 11” 170 Johnstown
** These three players have given Pitt a verbal commitment.
In some ways, Pitt has received commitments from prospects that were low hang fruit. Some grew up Pitt fans and were predisposed to become Panthers. There are several other prospects in Western PA that would probably accept quickly if offered. They are players we think will end up playing Division 1 football.
The big question every year is how many do you take early and how many scholarships do you want to hold back for recruiting battles with players that may have a dozen or more offers? How many do you want to hold back for Florida players that may be unwilling to commit until they have made official visits late next fall?
This week we got a chance to watch video on the three prospects from Johnstown. It was easy to see why DT Scott Corson was offered early by Dave Wannstedt and his staff. He looks like he has a world of potential and gets off the ball quickly. I will say it is often hard to watch the Johnstown players without your eye being drawn to running back LaRod Stephens. He is small but he has great field vision. We have a dozen or more videos at Rivals.com on players from Pennsylvania for editing. Over the next couple of weeks they should be available for your viewing. Hopefully you will enjoy them as much as we did.
Congratulations
The top four finishers in the Bracket Battle were Presp, 12-0, NY Panther, Shoe Box and crhhar8892. All five of them have been given one months free service going forward. Quite frankly I was down the drain early with Vermont and Bucknell upsets. I had Syracuse going deep into the tournament. Who would have believed that West Virginia would have been the high ranked team in the Big East at seasons end?
A few odds and ends
Hopefully you have seen the notices on our message board that the Spring Game will be held at Gateway High School. There will be free admission. It is open to the general public and the Blue-Gold game starts at 1:00 PM. Pitt will undoubtedly run into field condition problems most years at Heinz Field. It is best to rotate this game to 4 or 5 high schools in Allegheny County. It is a good way to win friends in the community. Gateway is a good place to start. They have a number of Division 1 prospects in the recruiting Class of 2006 and 2007.
In some ways it was hard to believe Pitt and Penn State had not played each other in baseball in 11 years. Pitt got hammered in a game played in Altoona this week. Despite the loss we are hopeful this is another sign that the relationship between Pitt and Penn State is improving and we will eventually see the two schools playing in football.
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.
Note to Pantherlair.com Fans: The staff at Pantherlair.com works diligently to bring you the best information on University of Pittsburgh football and basketball recruiting (in addition to game coverage). Thousands of Panther fans visit our site on a daily basis. We have received a tremendous amount of e-mail thanking us for our efforts. If you like our site, please feel free to tell other fans about it. “Spread the word” and let’s add to our online family of Panther fans.
