From the Desk of Jim Snyder
Take a mulligan
The Panthers (5-6) ended their season in Morgantown Thanksgiving night with a 45-13 beating at the hands of West Virginia. Pitt had 20 first downs to 22 by West Virginia and had over 400 yards of offense. Some of the stats suggested it should have been a closer game but the contest with the Mountaineers was a microcosm of the Pitt season. The Panthers had five turnovers, a blocked field goal, dropped passes, missed tackles and a couple of really dumb penalties. The low point of the season was certainly the loss to Ohio University in the second week of season. That loss was down right embarrassing and has set the program back. The Bobcats went onto to finish a disappointing 4-7, which sent poor Frank Solich into a drinking binge. The current Pitt coaching staff gets to take a mulligan in their first season.
Rich Rodriquez and Pete Carroll both struggled in their first season at WVU and USC. Both schools bounced back the following year and maybe the same will happen to Pitt. Next fall they play Toledo, Virginia, Michigan State, Rutgers, West Virginia and Louisville at home. All of these teams with the exception of Michigan State are in bowls this year. Dave Wannstedt has maintained a positive attitude. He is working the recruiting circuit hard. A big part of the answer is to get better players. The Panthers need help upfront where games are often won and lost. They often were not able to put enough pressure on the opposing quarterback.
It will be interesting to see if all the Pitt coaches will be back next season. Tennessee finished 5-6 and got rid of three assistant coaches on the offensive side of the ball including two that had been with the program for over two decades. Sometimes you can have ten good coaches but they simply are not the right mix. They do not always compliment each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
The next step is to keep on recruiting.
Football recruiting hits high gear
This past week college coaches from around the country were out visiting recruits. You are permitted to have seven coaches on the road at anyone time. The Pitt coaches were out in force not only kicking tires for new prospects trying to shore up recruits that have already given verbal commitments. Franklin’s Nate Byham was expecting a visit yesterday (Thursday), as was Woodland Hills’ Greg Webster.
Pitt will entertain recruits the weekend of December 2nd and December 9th. Once we get to December 19th we will enter a “Dead Period” where no school may contact a recruit. This is done so teams can practice for bowls and not fear that schools that are not in bowls are not out there stealing their prospects. The “Dead Period” runs through January 1st.
Pitt already has 19 verbal commitments and offensive lineman Kevin Hughes goes on full scholarship in January with the start of the new semester so hopefully a lot of the heavy lifting is already done. There are a few more prospects the Pitt staff would like to add to round out the recruiting class of 2006.
Let’s take a look at a few positions that might still be of some interest to Pitt fans. Running back Kevin Collier gave Pitt a verbal commitment but then went on an official visit to Syracuse. This has not only caused Pitt fans some anxious moments but I am sure they Pitt staff was concerned. Our “birdies” say the Pitt staff asked him if he was coming to Pitt or not? He was told they stopped recruiting a running back and needed to start looking again if he was not coming. It is our understanding that he reassured the coaches he was coming to Pitt. In addition we talked to Churchville-Chili coach Paul Dick this week. He said, “Syracuse wined him and dined him but at the end of the day he will be coming to Pitt.” Quite frankly I have been reasonably confident for six months he was coming to Pitt. Even prior to his verbal commitment. That does not mean that Syracuse, Southern Cal, South Carolina and UConn will stop recruiting him. Quite frankly there another recruit that has committed that creates more anxiety for me than Kevin Collier. Joe Thomas from St Edward’s has picked up offers from Ohio state and Michigan since he gave Pitt a verbal. Now we hear he will visit Ohio State this weekend. You are never comfortable when a couple of 2000-pound gorillas are hanging around your neighborhood. Joe Thomas fills a Pitt need. He told me this week that he is a far better lineman this year than he was last. He has promised to send us some senior video.
Coach Paul Dick at Churchville-Chili reminded me that Pitt has offered sophomore Averin Collier a scholarship and told me he would put senior video of Kevin Collier in the mail. He is also to send me video of the younger brother, which I am most anxious to see.
Let talk about quarterbacks. Pitt has verbal commitments from Kevan Smith from Seneca Valley and Dexter Davidson from North Broward Prep in Florida. Pitt tried to schedule Kevan Smith for December 9th but he has a wedding to attend so he will visit sometime in January. So why didn’t they schedule him for December 2nd. Thaddeus Lewis will be visiting December 2nd and I am not sure they wanted two future quarterbacks eyeballing each other the entire weekend.
Thaddeus Lewis is an interest prospect. You may recall Dave Wannstedt was in Miami early last spring to watch Lewis practice. He turned to a reporter who was interviewing him and said, “we are going to offer that guy” (pointing to Lewis). The reporter printed the story and the NCAA compliance officer at Pitt slapped coach Wannstedt on the wrists. Lewis told us that he planned to visit both Pitt and Michigan State but our “birdies” say Pitt will try to close the deal this weekend. Lewis might be your best bet for being the next commitment.
Let’s talk about offensive tackle because this one has got really interesting. Pitt had Valley Forge’s Jeff Otah in for a visit in late October and our sources felt Pitt was the clear leader at that time. Pitt was recruiting against Michigan State and Maryland at that time. However, Otah dropped those two schools and now has visits set up with West Virginia and South Carolina. One of our contacts this week told us that Valley Forge coach Jim Burner has deep ties into the West Virginia football program. We have a feeling that the folks at the UPMC complex figured this one out before we did. Pitt quickly offered Trinity’s Andy Miller. Here is the wild part. This weekend Andy Miller and Jeff Otah both visit Morgantown, West Virginia. In an ideal world Pitt will get one of these two and West Virginia will get the other one. If West Virginia gets both we will be ordering lots of cool aid and advising Rivals.com to add a couple of computer servers because our message boards will melt down.
Let’s now talk about the worst-case scenario. Let’s assume Otah and Miller both end up being Mountaineers. It appears Pitt would then turn to offensive tackle Chris Daino from Neshaminy High School in Bucks County. We talked to Oliver coach about his big tackle Kevin Macon (6’ 7” 315). He said there has been plenty of activity from Maryland, North Carolina and others for his big guy but Pitt seems to be moving in slow gear. I took this to mean that Pitt feels they will land Miller, Otah or Daino.
Moving onto defensive ends Pitt has McKenzie Mathews from Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse in this weekend. He has offers from Pitt, Michigan, Miami and Ohio State. One of our “birdies” felt this might come down to Pitt or Ohio State. Pitt is moving in tall company on this one. It is probably unreasonable to expect a commitment this weekend. Still it is his second visit to Pitt. Mathews was in Pittsburgh on an unofficial visit Labor Day weekend when the Panthers hosted Notre Dame.
Should they fail to land Mathews Pitt is still recruiting defensive Audie Augustine and Geno Atkins from Florida. We believe they are also still pitching Eric Latimore who has committed to Penn State.
If Pitt recruits an offensive tackle, a quarterback and a defensive end they may have filled their most pressing needs and will have passed out 22 scholarships. Once you get beyond that it could be the best athlete available. We like Duquesne’s Elijah Fields or Pahokee’s Tamarcus Porter. On the defensive line there is Jared Martin and possibly Damion Hollman. Florida wide receiver Carlton Mitchell is also a possibility.
The Pantherlair had an article this week on Perry wide receiver Aundre Wright. Folks keep calling this speed burner the next Santa Moss. We are not sure who hung that handle on him but he may have lived in South Florida at one point in his career. It appears if he makes grades Pitt will offer him a scholarship. If he does not don’t be surprised if he ends up in a prep school of some sort.
We are not sure just where Pitt stands with Elijah Fields. If he makes grades it looks like Pitt, West Virginia, Penn State and Ohio State will battle it out. Fields plays basketball. Fields will not be able to take all of his visits. Just getting a visit from the talented wide receiver would be a first big step. He is another guy you might think about signing. If he does not make it through the NCAA Clearinghouse he might love marching in the snow at Valley Forge next year. He is a very talented athlete that Rivals has undervalued (big time).
Nate Byham’s official visit is a little up in the air. He was to visit this weekend but has basketball obligations. His team is in the Franklin Elks tip-off tournament this weekend. He said he will try to make it next weekend but he has another basketball commitment. He said he might visit Sunday and Monday (December 11th & 12th). The Franklin Knights had a very good basketball team a year ago. Nate thinks they will be very good again this year. They have some height to go along with Nate who was good enough to play for the Pittsburgh Jots on the AAU circuit.
We spoke to Baldwin’s Justin Hargrove. He will be visiting this weekend with Jason Pinkston. Hargrove has been cleared to play next year and he tells us that the Pitt coaching staff has not discussed a grayshirt with him. He is someone that is easy to speculate on because on his injury but so far no grayshirt has been discussed.
We will continually be updating the visit list. You can access in the football database. It is often a moving target as schools try to jockey for visits. It gets particularly complicated with prospects that also play basketball. Andy Miller indicated he would make a mid-week visit to Pitt next week. He is not yet on the visit list. We will check with him to see which day he expects to visit.
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.
Take a mulligan
The Panthers (5-6) ended their season in Morgantown Thanksgiving night with a 45-13 beating at the hands of West Virginia. Pitt had 20 first downs to 22 by West Virginia and had over 400 yards of offense. Some of the stats suggested it should have been a closer game but the contest with the Mountaineers was a microcosm of the Pitt season. The Panthers had five turnovers, a blocked field goal, dropped passes, missed tackles and a couple of really dumb penalties. The low point of the season was certainly the loss to Ohio University in the second week of season. That loss was down right embarrassing and has set the program back. The Bobcats went onto to finish a disappointing 4-7, which sent poor Frank Solich into a drinking binge. The current Pitt coaching staff gets to take a mulligan in their first season.
Rich Rodriquez and Pete Carroll both struggled in their first season at WVU and USC. Both schools bounced back the following year and maybe the same will happen to Pitt. Next fall they play Toledo, Virginia, Michigan State, Rutgers, West Virginia and Louisville at home. All of these teams with the exception of Michigan State are in bowls this year. Dave Wannstedt has maintained a positive attitude. He is working the recruiting circuit hard. A big part of the answer is to get better players. The Panthers need help upfront where games are often won and lost. They often were not able to put enough pressure on the opposing quarterback.
It will be interesting to see if all the Pitt coaches will be back next season. Tennessee finished 5-6 and got rid of three assistant coaches on the offensive side of the ball including two that had been with the program for over two decades. Sometimes you can have ten good coaches but they simply are not the right mix. They do not always compliment each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
The next step is to keep on recruiting.
Football recruiting hits high gear
This past week college coaches from around the country were out visiting recruits. You are permitted to have seven coaches on the road at anyone time. The Pitt coaches were out in force not only kicking tires for new prospects trying to shore up recruits that have already given verbal commitments. Franklin’s Nate Byham was expecting a visit yesterday (Thursday), as was Woodland Hills’ Greg Webster.
Pitt will entertain recruits the weekend of December 2nd and December 9th. Once we get to December 19th we will enter a “Dead Period” where no school may contact a recruit. This is done so teams can practice for bowls and not fear that schools that are not in bowls are not out there stealing their prospects. The “Dead Period” runs through January 1st.
Pitt already has 19 verbal commitments and offensive lineman Kevin Hughes goes on full scholarship in January with the start of the new semester so hopefully a lot of the heavy lifting is already done. There are a few more prospects the Pitt staff would like to add to round out the recruiting class of 2006.
Let’s take a look at a few positions that might still be of some interest to Pitt fans. Running back Kevin Collier gave Pitt a verbal commitment but then went on an official visit to Syracuse. This has not only caused Pitt fans some anxious moments but I am sure they Pitt staff was concerned. Our “birdies” say the Pitt staff asked him if he was coming to Pitt or not? He was told they stopped recruiting a running back and needed to start looking again if he was not coming. It is our understanding that he reassured the coaches he was coming to Pitt. In addition we talked to Churchville-Chili coach Paul Dick this week. He said, “Syracuse wined him and dined him but at the end of the day he will be coming to Pitt.” Quite frankly I have been reasonably confident for six months he was coming to Pitt. Even prior to his verbal commitment. That does not mean that Syracuse, Southern Cal, South Carolina and UConn will stop recruiting him. Quite frankly there another recruit that has committed that creates more anxiety for me than Kevin Collier. Joe Thomas from St Edward’s has picked up offers from Ohio state and Michigan since he gave Pitt a verbal. Now we hear he will visit Ohio State this weekend. You are never comfortable when a couple of 2000-pound gorillas are hanging around your neighborhood. Joe Thomas fills a Pitt need. He told me this week that he is a far better lineman this year than he was last. He has promised to send us some senior video.
Coach Paul Dick at Churchville-Chili reminded me that Pitt has offered sophomore Averin Collier a scholarship and told me he would put senior video of Kevin Collier in the mail. He is also to send me video of the younger brother, which I am most anxious to see.
Let talk about quarterbacks. Pitt has verbal commitments from Kevan Smith from Seneca Valley and Dexter Davidson from North Broward Prep in Florida. Pitt tried to schedule Kevan Smith for December 9th but he has a wedding to attend so he will visit sometime in January. So why didn’t they schedule him for December 2nd. Thaddeus Lewis will be visiting December 2nd and I am not sure they wanted two future quarterbacks eyeballing each other the entire weekend.
Thaddeus Lewis is an interest prospect. You may recall Dave Wannstedt was in Miami early last spring to watch Lewis practice. He turned to a reporter who was interviewing him and said, “we are going to offer that guy” (pointing to Lewis). The reporter printed the story and the NCAA compliance officer at Pitt slapped coach Wannstedt on the wrists. Lewis told us that he planned to visit both Pitt and Michigan State but our “birdies” say Pitt will try to close the deal this weekend. Lewis might be your best bet for being the next commitment.
Let’s talk about offensive tackle because this one has got really interesting. Pitt had Valley Forge’s Jeff Otah in for a visit in late October and our sources felt Pitt was the clear leader at that time. Pitt was recruiting against Michigan State and Maryland at that time. However, Otah dropped those two schools and now has visits set up with West Virginia and South Carolina. One of our contacts this week told us that Valley Forge coach Jim Burner has deep ties into the West Virginia football program. We have a feeling that the folks at the UPMC complex figured this one out before we did. Pitt quickly offered Trinity’s Andy Miller. Here is the wild part. This weekend Andy Miller and Jeff Otah both visit Morgantown, West Virginia. In an ideal world Pitt will get one of these two and West Virginia will get the other one. If West Virginia gets both we will be ordering lots of cool aid and advising Rivals.com to add a couple of computer servers because our message boards will melt down.
Let’s now talk about the worst-case scenario. Let’s assume Otah and Miller both end up being Mountaineers. It appears Pitt would then turn to offensive tackle Chris Daino from Neshaminy High School in Bucks County. We talked to Oliver coach about his big tackle Kevin Macon (6’ 7” 315). He said there has been plenty of activity from Maryland, North Carolina and others for his big guy but Pitt seems to be moving in slow gear. I took this to mean that Pitt feels they will land Miller, Otah or Daino.
Moving onto defensive ends Pitt has McKenzie Mathews from Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse in this weekend. He has offers from Pitt, Michigan, Miami and Ohio State. One of our “birdies” felt this might come down to Pitt or Ohio State. Pitt is moving in tall company on this one. It is probably unreasonable to expect a commitment this weekend. Still it is his second visit to Pitt. Mathews was in Pittsburgh on an unofficial visit Labor Day weekend when the Panthers hosted Notre Dame.
Should they fail to land Mathews Pitt is still recruiting defensive Audie Augustine and Geno Atkins from Florida. We believe they are also still pitching Eric Latimore who has committed to Penn State.
If Pitt recruits an offensive tackle, a quarterback and a defensive end they may have filled their most pressing needs and will have passed out 22 scholarships. Once you get beyond that it could be the best athlete available. We like Duquesne’s Elijah Fields or Pahokee’s Tamarcus Porter. On the defensive line there is Jared Martin and possibly Damion Hollman. Florida wide receiver Carlton Mitchell is also a possibility.
The Pantherlair had an article this week on Perry wide receiver Aundre Wright. Folks keep calling this speed burner the next Santa Moss. We are not sure who hung that handle on him but he may have lived in South Florida at one point in his career. It appears if he makes grades Pitt will offer him a scholarship. If he does not don’t be surprised if he ends up in a prep school of some sort.
We are not sure just where Pitt stands with Elijah Fields. If he makes grades it looks like Pitt, West Virginia, Penn State and Ohio State will battle it out. Fields plays basketball. Fields will not be able to take all of his visits. Just getting a visit from the talented wide receiver would be a first big step. He is another guy you might think about signing. If he does not make it through the NCAA Clearinghouse he might love marching in the snow at Valley Forge next year. He is a very talented athlete that Rivals has undervalued (big time).
Nate Byham’s official visit is a little up in the air. He was to visit this weekend but has basketball obligations. His team is in the Franklin Elks tip-off tournament this weekend. He said he will try to make it next weekend but he has another basketball commitment. He said he might visit Sunday and Monday (December 11th & 12th). The Franklin Knights had a very good basketball team a year ago. Nate thinks they will be very good again this year. They have some height to go along with Nate who was good enough to play for the Pittsburgh Jots on the AAU circuit.
We spoke to Baldwin’s Justin Hargrove. He will be visiting this weekend with Jason Pinkston. Hargrove has been cleared to play next year and he tells us that the Pitt coaching staff has not discussed a grayshirt with him. He is someone that is easy to speculate on because on his injury but so far no grayshirt has been discussed.
We will continually be updating the visit list. You can access in the football database. It is often a moving target as schools try to jockey for visits. It gets particularly complicated with prospects that also play basketball. Andy Miller indicated he would make a mid-week visit to Pitt next week. He is not yet on the visit list. We will check with him to see which day he expects to visit.
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.
