From the desk of Jim Snyder
We are getting very close to the start of fall camp for Dave Wannstedt’s team. Pitt will hold a media day on Tuesday August 9th and camp starts the following day (August 10th). This means that the newspapers, radio stations and television stations will have more to report on next week. So will the Pantherlair. Various members of the Pitt staff have taken vacations over the past few weeks so understandably things slowed a bit lately. We are getting close to the best time of year (football season followed by basketball season).
The fall camp is open to the media but closed to the general public. The complex on the Southside is a terrific practice facility but they have limited parking. Having the public eating up parking spaces that is needed for coaches and players would be a nightmare.
Pitt will host their annual FanFest at Heinz Field on August 25th. If you want to see the players up close this is the place. FanFest runs from 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM.
Pitt will hold their annual football kickoff luncheon will be held at the Hilton on September 2nd.
This past week Rivals.com released their list of 3-star players. All of the state rankings have also been updated. We also have taken this opportunity to update the Pantherlair’s Top 50. You can find always find a link at the top of the “Between Fifth & Forbes” message board. Often different recruiting experts can look at the same prospect and see different things. It happens in the NFL draft and it happens at the college level. There always tends to be a little bias towards the players you are most familiar with.
Rivals.com will release their preseason All-Big East teams this weekend.
It is estimated that 400 players from the state of Florida will receive scholarships to Division 1A or 1AA football scholarship this year. A number of schools including Pitt go into the state. It often takes a little longer for their stories unfold. Most Florida players want to know where they stand with the Big 3 first. At the end of the day they will only take about 60 players so there will be plenty of very good prospects scrambling for scholarships as we move deeper into the recruiting season. Pitt has a few scheduled for visits Labor Day weekend. We should get a better feel for them once more of them have been to Pittsburgh.
The commitment by Anthony Elzy to North Carolina was a little disappointing. I thought he had been undervalued by some of the recruiting experts and looked like he could be a solid running back with breakaway capability. North Carolina was an early favorite of Elzy but it appeared Pitt had made up ground. He apparently visited Chapel Hill and liked what he saw.
Pitt has five freshmen running backs. We think a number of these players will eventually be moved to fullback or defense. You have to wonder if this is a factor with Elzy or Collier.
We spoke to Kevin Collier this week. He was to visit Wisconsin but did not make the trip. He told us they had taken another running back which is far as we can tell is not true. He now tells us he will visit Tennessee. One “birdie” says his mother would like him to check out Tennessee. We thought Collier was very close to committing in early July. Something has him reluctant to make a commitment. A month has passed since we thought he would commit. We still believe he leans to Pitt but you have to be a little concerned with each passing week. Next week high schools and colleges will swing into high gear with their fall camps. College coaches and high school players will get very busy with practices often scheduled two or three times a day. It will get very tough for most players to make visits until we get into the football season. Many will have to wait until after the high school season is over to take visits that are a significant distance from their home. We still think Collier is leaning to Pitt but may not be the lock we thought 30 days ago.
Darrin Rogers of Quaker Valley High School recently picked up a scholarship offer from Richmond. He also has offers from Bowling Green, Kent State and New Hampshire. He camped recently at the University of Akron and is waiting to hear if coach J.D. Brookhart will offer. Coach Aubrey Hill at Pitt has stayed in touch with him. He tells Rogers Pitt still may offer if a couple of players in front of him do not workout. Pitt is looking at him as a wide receiver although I think he would like a shot a playing quarterback at the next level.
We talked to Perry quarterback Desmond Brentley (6’ 3” 228) last night. He had attended the University of Akron’s summer camp and they finally offered yesterday. He said he loved their new facilities and thinks they have their program moving in the right direction. Desmond also has an offer from Temple. Brentley also told us that the Pitt coaches called his coach and want a meeting with him tomorrow (Friday). Its anybody guess what they will tell him?
This past week we gave an early preview of the Pitt-Notre Dame game. We hope you had a chance to check it out. It is very possible that this game could have Gator Bowl implications. Notre Dame has to travel to Michigan and Purdue this fall. They also have Michigan State, Southern Cal and Tennessee at home. If the Fighting Irish want a New Year’s Day Bowl they may have no choice but to beat Pitt. Their schedule is too tough. On the other hand Pitt could lose to Notre Dame but win the Big East and still end up playing New Year’s Day by winning the conference.
We will try to run brief summaries of a most of the Big East teams over the next couple of weeks. We will lead off with Pitt on Monday. It is only a thumbnail sketch. We will go into more detail once camp starts.
The football roster has been updated based on info from the Pitt media guide.
Yesterday Fox Interactive Media announced they were acquiring the assets of Scout.com. These are two West Coast based companies and it is probably a good fit. We have no idea how many months it will take to complete this transaction. We do know this. It is probably good for the consumer. Over time they will probably get stronger. Rivals.com, which is located in a suburb or Nashville, will be forced to get better too. They have plenty of competitive folks on the Rivals.com payroll and are well financed. They had plans to improve in any event. This will probably insure they keep focus and follow through with their plans to upgrade your service. We all get better when there is viable competition. Just ask Dave Wannstedt. He wants another quarterback and another running back.
Rivals.com has completed their first pass at assigning three star players. If your favorite player came up short on stars don’t blame me. That is not my job. Drafting players in the NFL is an imperfect science. How else could you explain the Tennessee Titans drafting Adam “Pacman” Jones from West Virginia in the first round?
College recruiting is also an imperfect science. We would all be far better off if we could wait until after they played their senior season. The pressure on early commits will mean that most college coaching staffs will make mistakes. Some of Dave Wannstedt’s recruits over the next several years will play for IUP some day. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger would have played for Ohio State if it were a perfect system. Toledo quarterback Bruce Gradkowski might be at Pitt right now and maybe Dan Moses of West Virginia. The Mid-American Conference has pumped out its share of NFL players because recruiting is not an exact science. The problem is compounded when you must evaluate these players early in their career.
We publish the Pantherlair’s Top 50 because we like it better than the one Rivals.com publishes. On the other hand we readily admit we have a bias for players we know something about versus those which are only a little familiar. Rivals.com puts a lot of time and a lot of money trying to get it right but at the end of the day there will always be players they wished they had looked at a little closer.
Our goal is to provide you with a lot of pictures and video. We will tell you who is recruiting a prospect and who is not. We will tell you how they did in their senior year. We hope that we will supply you with enough info to form your own opinion.
Coaches are hired and fired based on how many games they win and not on how many stars they collected. While there is a strong correlation between stars and wins the Utah team that whacked Pitt last year was not loaded with four-star players.
Camp starts next week. Fall is just around the corner. Football is almost here. In many ways Pitt hiring Dave Wannstedt, Matt Cavanaugh and Paul Dunn plus the retention of Curtis Bray has the Panthers in a bit of a “Return to the Future- part 2” mode. It is fitting that we start the football season by having former Pitt quarterback Dan Marino inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame.
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 8/5 7:00 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
We are getting very close to the start of fall camp for Dave Wannstedt’s team. Pitt will hold a media day on Tuesday August 9th and camp starts the following day (August 10th). This means that the newspapers, radio stations and television stations will have more to report on next week. So will the Pantherlair. Various members of the Pitt staff have taken vacations over the past few weeks so understandably things slowed a bit lately. We are getting close to the best time of year (football season followed by basketball season).
The fall camp is open to the media but closed to the general public. The complex on the Southside is a terrific practice facility but they have limited parking. Having the public eating up parking spaces that is needed for coaches and players would be a nightmare.
Pitt will host their annual FanFest at Heinz Field on August 25th. If you want to see the players up close this is the place. FanFest runs from 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM.
Pitt will hold their annual football kickoff luncheon will be held at the Hilton on September 2nd.
This past week Rivals.com released their list of 3-star players. All of the state rankings have also been updated. We also have taken this opportunity to update the Pantherlair’s Top 50. You can find always find a link at the top of the “Between Fifth & Forbes” message board. Often different recruiting experts can look at the same prospect and see different things. It happens in the NFL draft and it happens at the college level. There always tends to be a little bias towards the players you are most familiar with.
Rivals.com will release their preseason All-Big East teams this weekend.
It is estimated that 400 players from the state of Florida will receive scholarships to Division 1A or 1AA football scholarship this year. A number of schools including Pitt go into the state. It often takes a little longer for their stories unfold. Most Florida players want to know where they stand with the Big 3 first. At the end of the day they will only take about 60 players so there will be plenty of very good prospects scrambling for scholarships as we move deeper into the recruiting season. Pitt has a few scheduled for visits Labor Day weekend. We should get a better feel for them once more of them have been to Pittsburgh.
The commitment by Anthony Elzy to North Carolina was a little disappointing. I thought he had been undervalued by some of the recruiting experts and looked like he could be a solid running back with breakaway capability. North Carolina was an early favorite of Elzy but it appeared Pitt had made up ground. He apparently visited Chapel Hill and liked what he saw.
Pitt has five freshmen running backs. We think a number of these players will eventually be moved to fullback or defense. You have to wonder if this is a factor with Elzy or Collier.
We spoke to Kevin Collier this week. He was to visit Wisconsin but did not make the trip. He told us they had taken another running back which is far as we can tell is not true. He now tells us he will visit Tennessee. One “birdie” says his mother would like him to check out Tennessee. We thought Collier was very close to committing in early July. Something has him reluctant to make a commitment. A month has passed since we thought he would commit. We still believe he leans to Pitt but you have to be a little concerned with each passing week. Next week high schools and colleges will swing into high gear with their fall camps. College coaches and high school players will get very busy with practices often scheduled two or three times a day. It will get very tough for most players to make visits until we get into the football season. Many will have to wait until after the high school season is over to take visits that are a significant distance from their home. We still think Collier is leaning to Pitt but may not be the lock we thought 30 days ago.
Darrin Rogers of Quaker Valley High School recently picked up a scholarship offer from Richmond. He also has offers from Bowling Green, Kent State and New Hampshire. He camped recently at the University of Akron and is waiting to hear if coach J.D. Brookhart will offer. Coach Aubrey Hill at Pitt has stayed in touch with him. He tells Rogers Pitt still may offer if a couple of players in front of him do not workout. Pitt is looking at him as a wide receiver although I think he would like a shot a playing quarterback at the next level.
We talked to Perry quarterback Desmond Brentley (6’ 3” 228) last night. He had attended the University of Akron’s summer camp and they finally offered yesterday. He said he loved their new facilities and thinks they have their program moving in the right direction. Desmond also has an offer from Temple. Brentley also told us that the Pitt coaches called his coach and want a meeting with him tomorrow (Friday). Its anybody guess what they will tell him?
This past week we gave an early preview of the Pitt-Notre Dame game. We hope you had a chance to check it out. It is very possible that this game could have Gator Bowl implications. Notre Dame has to travel to Michigan and Purdue this fall. They also have Michigan State, Southern Cal and Tennessee at home. If the Fighting Irish want a New Year’s Day Bowl they may have no choice but to beat Pitt. Their schedule is too tough. On the other hand Pitt could lose to Notre Dame but win the Big East and still end up playing New Year’s Day by winning the conference.
We will try to run brief summaries of a most of the Big East teams over the next couple of weeks. We will lead off with Pitt on Monday. It is only a thumbnail sketch. We will go into more detail once camp starts.
The football roster has been updated based on info from the Pitt media guide.
Yesterday Fox Interactive Media announced they were acquiring the assets of Scout.com. These are two West Coast based companies and it is probably a good fit. We have no idea how many months it will take to complete this transaction. We do know this. It is probably good for the consumer. Over time they will probably get stronger. Rivals.com, which is located in a suburb or Nashville, will be forced to get better too. They have plenty of competitive folks on the Rivals.com payroll and are well financed. They had plans to improve in any event. This will probably insure they keep focus and follow through with their plans to upgrade your service. We all get better when there is viable competition. Just ask Dave Wannstedt. He wants another quarterback and another running back.
Rivals.com has completed their first pass at assigning three star players. If your favorite player came up short on stars don’t blame me. That is not my job. Drafting players in the NFL is an imperfect science. How else could you explain the Tennessee Titans drafting Adam “Pacman” Jones from West Virginia in the first round?
College recruiting is also an imperfect science. We would all be far better off if we could wait until after they played their senior season. The pressure on early commits will mean that most college coaching staffs will make mistakes. Some of Dave Wannstedt’s recruits over the next several years will play for IUP some day. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger would have played for Ohio State if it were a perfect system. Toledo quarterback Bruce Gradkowski might be at Pitt right now and maybe Dan Moses of West Virginia. The Mid-American Conference has pumped out its share of NFL players because recruiting is not an exact science. The problem is compounded when you must evaluate these players early in their career.
We publish the Pantherlair’s Top 50 because we like it better than the one Rivals.com publishes. On the other hand we readily admit we have a bias for players we know something about versus those which are only a little familiar. Rivals.com puts a lot of time and a lot of money trying to get it right but at the end of the day there will always be players they wished they had looked at a little closer.
Our goal is to provide you with a lot of pictures and video. We will tell you who is recruiting a prospect and who is not. We will tell you how they did in their senior year. We hope that we will supply you with enough info to form your own opinion.
Coaches are hired and fired based on how many games they win and not on how many stars they collected. While there is a strong correlation between stars and wins the Utah team that whacked Pitt last year was not loaded with four-star players.
Camp starts next week. Fall is just around the corner. Football is almost here. In many ways Pitt hiring Dave Wannstedt, Matt Cavanaugh and Paul Dunn plus the retention of Curtis Bray has the Panthers in a bit of a “Return to the Future- part 2” mode. It is fitting that we start the football season by having former Pitt quarterback Dan Marino inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame.
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 8/5 7:00 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
