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.
From the Desk of Jim Snyder
Football ramblings
Wide receiver Princell Brockenbrough was held out of spring practice as the result of a chronic knee problem. Our “birdies” indicate there simply may not be a lot of cartilage left in his knee. The rumor we heard was that he would be held out of many of the practices this year hoping that he could contribute on Saturday. He is a senior and is on track to graduate. He has no more eligibility left. We will have to see if the knee holds up enough to give them some help this fall until the incoming freshmen have a chance to learn the ropes. Joe Bendel’s article in the Tribune-Review certainly was not encouraging.
We have reported earlier that we were skeptical that Pitt would offer a quarterback this year. We felt they would wait until after the fall camp before making any offers. Pitt, however, has offered junior Mike Hartline (6’ 6” 190) from Canton Glen Oaks. His older brother Brian Hartline recently committed to Ohio State.
Keep in mind that Pitt recruit Brian Williams from Buchtel High School is only 16 years old. He is listed as a cornerback but may grow into a safety before it is over.
In recent years Pitt has played their opener at home. This year they will have to go to Tampa to play South Florida on Labor Day. The last time Pitt played an opener on the road was 1993 when John Major’s returned to Pitt and the Panthers beat Southern Mississippi 14-10. The Panthers went on to finish 3-8 that year to begin the Majors II era.
John Majors has notified the University of Tennessee he will return for the Vols home opener on September 5th. The Vols are planning a reunion weekend with all living UT coaches in attendance. (John Majors, Doug Dickey, Bill Battle and Phil Fulmer). Many of their top former players are also scheduled to attend.
Have Any Well Off Friends
Here is an easy way to upgrade your facilities. A Nebraska reporter told us a story recently about Warren Buffet. As you are aware, he is one of the wealthiest men in America and a big Nebraska fan. Cornhusker AD Steve Pederson apparently was told to try and raise $50 million and Buffet would make up any shortfall.
Barrington Edwards
We spoke several times with Barrington Edwards several times this past week. He never suggested that Pitt was a leader. In fact on a number of occasions he dropped hints that North Carolina was in the lead for his services. He knew he was talking to a reporter that covered Pitt and did not want to shut down his options until he was 100% certain that he had a scholarship in hand.
Barrington would have been a good pickup despite the fact he was the 3rd string tailback at LSU and had run into some disciplinary problems with Coach Saban at LSU.
This reminds us of the saga of Pitt linebacker Clint Session. He committed to Pitt and then decided he also wanted to go to North Carolina. Unfortunately he had not talked to the North Carolina coaching staff before talking to a reporter from the Rivals network. When he did call North Carolina he found that they had given his scholarship to another linebacker. Cliff was in a panic for a couple of weeks until finally settling on Pitt a second time.
Rivals Promotion
Rivals.com has bee running a promotion offering to upgrade the service of “B Ticket holders”. Since this promotion began over 3,000 college sports fans have taken advantage of offer. It is a win-win situation and only takes a little bit of effort. If you have a “B Ticket”, I urge you to try their offer for an upgrade to the Ultimate Ticket.
Strength and Conditioning
This week in the Tribune-Review Joe Bendel reported that outgoing strength and conditioning coach Dave Kennedy was often the source of tension among players and coaches. We had also heard stories of him showing favorites with topped ranked athletes while ignoring some of the other players. Maybe Coach Jim Tressel knew something when he let him go at Ohio State. We have also heard that the off-season workouts and moral seemed to be much better under new coach Mike Kent and his assistant Darren Honeycut.
Double dribbles
We have been hearing rumors for a week or so that forward Mike Davis (6’ 9”) might not return to Xaverian this year. The report in the Post-Gazette by Ray Fittipaldo confirmed our fears. Mike lives with a guardian and certainly is not putting himself in a position to make him academically eligible. Coach Dixon had better keep on looking at big men.
On more positive notes, we have interviewed several basketball players or their coaches and here is what we have found. Shooting guard Ricky Torres from St Raymond’s has narrowed his choices to Pitt and St. John’s and expects to commit before school starts.
Swingman Danny Green has North Carolina and Pitt at the top of his list along with St. John’s. Pitt should get a visit in the next few weeks. Forward Jeff Adrien will visit UConn this weekend. He has UConn, Pitt and Kansas in his top three. Pitt is scheduled to get a visit next week.
Power forward John Garcia is scheduled to visit Pitt this weekend. John’s listed 5 Big East Schools as his top choices. Coach Dixon, Slice and Orlando Antigua need to close the deal with this guy.
We also talked to forward Tyrell Biggs. The soft-spoken big guy says Pitt, Syracuse and Miami will get visits in September. We have not talked to forward Ryan Wright out of Canada for a couple of weeks but he usually has Pitt on his list somewhere.
Forward Vernon Goodridge reportedly will also visit Pittsburgh in September. Coach Dixon and his staff seemed to be in the top 3-5 for a number of highly ranked players. It almost appears they just have to get their fair share. Chevron Troutman and Mark McCarroll graduate this year. Chris Taft could be in his last year at Pitt. The possibility of early playing time for a big man is very good.
We have interviewed Yough’s Ben McCauley on a number of occasions and he has been very polite. However, there have been many occasions when we have called at Noon and the big guy is still in bed. Here is what we know for sure. He will not be playing for John Cheney at Temple. Many years ago coach Cheney set up a system where virtually all practices are at 6:00 AM. Coach Cheney wants to win but he also wanted to see his players get degrees. He figured if he got them out of bed and was done with practice before 8:00 AM there would be no excuses that “I slept in”.
In case you missed the recently released Rivals Top 150 for the Class of 2006, Paul Harris from Niagara Falls is ranked No. 14 in the country. Pitt has already offered him and is recruiting him hard.
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.
This post was edited on 8/13 8:39 AM by Jim Pantherlair
if(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
This post was edited on 8/13 8:43 AM by Jim Pantherlair
if(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
From the Desk of Jim Snyder
Football ramblings
Wide receiver Princell Brockenbrough was held out of spring practice as the result of a chronic knee problem. Our “birdies” indicate there simply may not be a lot of cartilage left in his knee. The rumor we heard was that he would be held out of many of the practices this year hoping that he could contribute on Saturday. He is a senior and is on track to graduate. He has no more eligibility left. We will have to see if the knee holds up enough to give them some help this fall until the incoming freshmen have a chance to learn the ropes. Joe Bendel’s article in the Tribune-Review certainly was not encouraging.
We have reported earlier that we were skeptical that Pitt would offer a quarterback this year. We felt they would wait until after the fall camp before making any offers. Pitt, however, has offered junior Mike Hartline (6’ 6” 190) from Canton Glen Oaks. His older brother Brian Hartline recently committed to Ohio State.
Keep in mind that Pitt recruit Brian Williams from Buchtel High School is only 16 years old. He is listed as a cornerback but may grow into a safety before it is over.
In recent years Pitt has played their opener at home. This year they will have to go to Tampa to play South Florida on Labor Day. The last time Pitt played an opener on the road was 1993 when John Major’s returned to Pitt and the Panthers beat Southern Mississippi 14-10. The Panthers went on to finish 3-8 that year to begin the Majors II era.
John Majors has notified the University of Tennessee he will return for the Vols home opener on September 5th. The Vols are planning a reunion weekend with all living UT coaches in attendance. (John Majors, Doug Dickey, Bill Battle and Phil Fulmer). Many of their top former players are also scheduled to attend.
Have Any Well Off Friends
Here is an easy way to upgrade your facilities. A Nebraska reporter told us a story recently about Warren Buffet. As you are aware, he is one of the wealthiest men in America and a big Nebraska fan. Cornhusker AD Steve Pederson apparently was told to try and raise $50 million and Buffet would make up any shortfall.
Barrington Edwards
We spoke several times with Barrington Edwards several times this past week. He never suggested that Pitt was a leader. In fact on a number of occasions he dropped hints that North Carolina was in the lead for his services. He knew he was talking to a reporter that covered Pitt and did not want to shut down his options until he was 100% certain that he had a scholarship in hand.
Barrington would have been a good pickup despite the fact he was the 3rd string tailback at LSU and had run into some disciplinary problems with Coach Saban at LSU.
This reminds us of the saga of Pitt linebacker Clint Session. He committed to Pitt and then decided he also wanted to go to North Carolina. Unfortunately he had not talked to the North Carolina coaching staff before talking to a reporter from the Rivals network. When he did call North Carolina he found that they had given his scholarship to another linebacker. Cliff was in a panic for a couple of weeks until finally settling on Pitt a second time.
Rivals Promotion
Rivals.com has bee running a promotion offering to upgrade the service of “B Ticket holders”. Since this promotion began over 3,000 college sports fans have taken advantage of offer. It is a win-win situation and only takes a little bit of effort. If you have a “B Ticket”, I urge you to try their offer for an upgrade to the Ultimate Ticket.
Strength and Conditioning
This week in the Tribune-Review Joe Bendel reported that outgoing strength and conditioning coach Dave Kennedy was often the source of tension among players and coaches. We had also heard stories of him showing favorites with topped ranked athletes while ignoring some of the other players. Maybe Coach Jim Tressel knew something when he let him go at Ohio State. We have also heard that the off-season workouts and moral seemed to be much better under new coach Mike Kent and his assistant Darren Honeycut.
Double dribbles
We have been hearing rumors for a week or so that forward Mike Davis (6’ 9”) might not return to Xaverian this year. The report in the Post-Gazette by Ray Fittipaldo confirmed our fears. Mike lives with a guardian and certainly is not putting himself in a position to make him academically eligible. Coach Dixon had better keep on looking at big men.
On more positive notes, we have interviewed several basketball players or their coaches and here is what we have found. Shooting guard Ricky Torres from St Raymond’s has narrowed his choices to Pitt and St. John’s and expects to commit before school starts.
Swingman Danny Green has North Carolina and Pitt at the top of his list along with St. John’s. Pitt should get a visit in the next few weeks. Forward Jeff Adrien will visit UConn this weekend. He has UConn, Pitt and Kansas in his top three. Pitt is scheduled to get a visit next week.
Power forward John Garcia is scheduled to visit Pitt this weekend. John’s listed 5 Big East Schools as his top choices. Coach Dixon, Slice and Orlando Antigua need to close the deal with this guy.
We also talked to forward Tyrell Biggs. The soft-spoken big guy says Pitt, Syracuse and Miami will get visits in September. We have not talked to forward Ryan Wright out of Canada for a couple of weeks but he usually has Pitt on his list somewhere.
Forward Vernon Goodridge reportedly will also visit Pittsburgh in September. Coach Dixon and his staff seemed to be in the top 3-5 for a number of highly ranked players. It almost appears they just have to get their fair share. Chevron Troutman and Mark McCarroll graduate this year. Chris Taft could be in his last year at Pitt. The possibility of early playing time for a big man is very good.
We have interviewed Yough’s Ben McCauley on a number of occasions and he has been very polite. However, there have been many occasions when we have called at Noon and the big guy is still in bed. Here is what we know for sure. He will not be playing for John Cheney at Temple. Many years ago coach Cheney set up a system where virtually all practices are at 6:00 AM. Coach Cheney wants to win but he also wanted to see his players get degrees. He figured if he got them out of bed and was done with practice before 8:00 AM there would be no excuses that “I slept in”.
In case you missed the recently released Rivals Top 150 for the Class of 2006, Paul Harris from Niagara Falls is ranked No. 14 in the country. Pitt has already offered him and is recruiting him hard.
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.
This post was edited on 8/13 8:39 AM by Jim Pantherlair
if(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
This post was edited on 8/13 8:43 AM by Jim Pantherlair
if(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
