From the desk of Jim Snyder
Getting to know you
This week we started a series we call Getting to know you. We will feature the 24 football players that signed Letters of Intent with Pitt earlier this month. It is designed to be a fun series. We will ask the players similar answers and hope we get different answers. So far we have featured Greg Williams, Tristan Roberts, Chris Jacobson and Sherod Murdock. Today we feature running back Shariff Harris. This series is designed to help you to get to know the incoming freshman a little better. Please check out any of these articles that you may have missed.
If you have been following the series did you really think Quaker Steak and Lube was going to get a vote as the most impressive thing about the Pitt campus?
Some hoops talk
To say the first half of the Louisville game was really disappointing is really understating the matter. The Panthers have a group of players with average Division 1 speed surrounded by a couple of players with below average speed. It makes them vulnerable to teams that like to trap a lot on defense. Pitt turned the ball over early and often. Their self confidence went down the drain with each turnover and they end up shooting 3 for 21 from 3-point range. You are not going to win many games taking that many three-point shots and making only 14% on them.
The loss to Louisville makes the game with Washington even more important. You can not expect to lose two in a row on your home floor in February and harbor hope of a high seed come tournament time. It takes on added meaning with a large group of junior football prospects on hand to watch the game. Taking the crowd out of the game early would be bad news on many fronts.
I got a chance to watch the St Anthony’s game with Linden this past week on MSG. Junior Anthony Woodall is a good dribbler. He looks like he is quicker than any guard Pitt has on the rooster. He also has some hops. On a give and go play late in the game he dunked it. It has been a while since I watched a Pitt point guard dunk it as a part of the natural flow of the game. There is video of the dunk on the Center Court at the Pete board. It is well into the video before you see Woodall so you have to stay with it.
During the broadcast they indicated that players at St. Anthony’s can not have long hair or get tattoos. In short they are not allowed to do things to call attention to themselves or exert peer pressure on others. If they make through Coach Hurley’s program they know how to play the game of basketball. He has had five first round draft choices by the NBA. If you think about how many Pitt has had you will know how impressive it is for a high school to pull this feat off.
Many of the players that Pitt has recruited for 2007 and 2008 are having big years. It is what you would hope for and expect of a high level Division 1 prospects. Pitt has five seniors signed for 2007. They have two committed for 2007. Without many scholarships to give to juniors or seniors it looks like Pitt is checking out sophomores.
I was talking to the Oak Hill Academy Coach Steve Smith about his sophomore Terrance Boyd. He praised his player but then said he can score but he can not shoot yet. I told him he was describing a scouting report we had on another Pitt prospect. He then talked about playing Montrose next which had just been beaten by Roman Catholic. I laughed and told him they were led by Brad Wanamaker and that was the Pitt recruit I was referring to earlier in my conversation.
Sophomore Terrance Boyd is a player to watch. He is often the 6th man at Oak Hill. The programs is usually loaded with junior and senior Division 1 prospects so it is unusual to see a sophomore get as much playing time. He has a tie to David Cox and the DC Assault AAU program so he is a player to watch. We hope you saw our article earlier this week.
We will also feature Pennsbury sophomore Dalton Pepper today.
When Coach Howland left Pitt Seth Greenburg would have killed for the head coaching job at Pitt. He was an assistant at Pitt at one time. I do not think he got any serious consideration. My guess is the folks at Virginia Tech are glad Pitt passed. The Hokies sweep North Carolina this year. This guy knows how to find recruits that fly under the radar. I always get excited if Pitt is recruiting a guy that Seth Greenburg is recruiting. I simply figure the guy can play if Seth is recruiting him.
Agnus Berenato looks like she has the women’s basketball team at Pitt on the verge of their first ever NCAA tournament berth. Pitt now has won 20 games which should put them in. They have four regular season games left plus the Big East Tournament. A couple more wins just to be on the safe side would not hurt. They will have their hands full on the road this weekend against nationally ranked UConn.
Eight Panthers are Big East All-Academic squad members
Congratulation to Tyler Palko, Brian Bennett, Mark Estemyer, Adam Gunn, LaRod Stephens-Howling, Conor Lee, Gus Mustakas, and Joe Villiani.
Nike combine at Media, Ohio
Nike will hold a combine at the Pinnacle Sports Complex in Media, Ohio (near Akron) on February 25th. They will accept walk-ups but it is a good idea to register in advance. See the link at the top of this board if you know a Division 1 prospect that would like to attend. There will be testing in the 40 and other events.
Top 250 to watch list
Rivals.com released a list of 250 prospects to watch for the recruiting Class of 2008. They also refer to the list their Pre-evaluation Top 250. Their analyst will attend approximately three dozen camps and pour over miles of video and then they will try to rank them this summer. The will not get them all right. A number of new prospects will be discovered and jump on to the list. Unfortunately the law of mathematics means some of these will also drop off the list.
Some that made the Top250 watch list that could be of interest to Pitt fans include:
Johnny Adams DB Akron Buchtel
A.J. Alexander Ath Altoona
Jonathan Baldwin WR Aliquippa
Brandon Beachum LB Youngstown Cardinal Mooney
Averin Collier Ath Churchville, NY
Teddy Dargan DT Baltimore, MD
Shayne Hale LB Gateway HS
Will Hill QB/DB St Peter’s Prep
Jarred Holley DB Easton
Nick Lepak OL Auburn, NY
Sal Maneri-TE-Saddle Brook, NJ
Nick Moody DB Roman Catholic
Latavius Murray RB Nedrow, NY
Lucas Nix OL Thomas Jefferson
Terrrelle Pryor QB Jeannette
Demetrius Richardson QB Marlton, NJ
Marcus Sales, WR Syracuse, NY
Cordall Scott WR Cleveland, OH
Brandon Smith Ath New Brunswick, NJ
Kenny Tate WR DeMatha HS
Rashad White RB Teaneck, NJ
Christian Wilson LB Montour
Marcus Weatherspoon LB Absecon, NJ
I could make a case that Trinity LB Andrew Sweat and Bishop McCort’s TE Mike Cruz should also be on this watch list.
It really is too early to tell about Florida players. The low hanging fruit usually will stay in-state going to one of the Big Three. The Pitt coaching staff will visit Florida schools later this spring and it will give us a better idea. It is simply too early in the process to tell much about the Florida prospects.
Junior Day
Pitt will hold a Junior Day on Saturday. They are hoping that approximately 70 prospects will take up their offer to attend. Recruits will be give quick tour of the campus and then attend the Pitt-Washington basketball game at the Pete. These players must pay their own way so most will come within easy driving distance of Pittsburgh. Not all of these prospects will end up with an offer from Pitt. It is one of the early steps in recruiting the Class of 2007.
Most of the players listed below have written or verbal offers from Pitt. You would hope most of them would show up on Saturday.
A.J. Alexander-Altoona
Jonathan Baldwin-Aliquippa
Brandon Beachum -Youngstown Cardinal Mooney
Averin Collier-Churchville, NY
Mike Cruz-Bishop McCort
Nic Dillo-Madison, OH
Hubbie Graham TE West Scranton
Leon Green-Ath West Mifflin
Shayne Hale-LB-Gateway
Jarred Holley-CB-Easton
Lucas Nix-OL-Thomas Jefferson
Terrelle Pryor-QB-Jeannette
Kaleb Ramsey-DE-Laurel Highlands
Antwuan Reed-Ath-Altoona
Cameron Saddler-Ath-Gateway
Andrew Sweat-LB-LB-Trinity
Ed Tinker-WR-Brashear
Christian Wilson-LB-Montour
Recruiting summary
Hopefully you got a chance to watch the AMP pieces earlier this week on defensive ends Tony Tucker and Jabaal Sheard. They should help you to get to know both players a little better. I was talking to Tony Tucker on Letter of Intent Day and he told me he would sign his Letter of Intent at the ESPN Zone with five-star prospect Marvin Austin (North Carolina). Rivals.com had a crew there that day so I asked them to interview Tucker while they were there. They did a good job. Thanks to Greg Ladky and his crew.
Jeannette Terrelle Pryor has been given a five-star basketball rating by Rivals.com and is currently ranked as their No. 1 prospect in football. He will have dozens of offers before it is over. He can go to virtually any school in the country. At the end of the day I think it will come down to Pitt, Penn State and Ohio State. There is an old rule in recruiting that geography usually rules in these situations. He has folks close to him that will try to persuade him to go to Penn State but he also has folks close to him that would like to see him to Pitt. The biggest negative Pitt may have going for it is he sees himself running a spread offense as he does at Jeannette. He has said he would also like to play a little basketball and then could give Pitt a slight edge. I think he likes Jamie Dixon and he has already committed to Pitt once in basketball. I interviewed him at that time. I could be wrong but I don’t see this one being decided for a long time.
Gateway High School has three Division 1 prospects in Shayne Hale, Cameron Saddler and Eric Livsey. We have had articles and video on all three recently. Their recruitment got off to a bumpy start when Pitt replaced Curtis Bray. Gateway coach Terry Smith and Curtis Bray go back to when they played football together at Gateway. This is not insurmountable but it is a bump in the road as it would be anytime you change coaches that have been recruiting a player. We expect them at the basketball game tomorrow. Hopefully you got a chance to see the AMP interview with Shayne Hale entitled a Hale-storm of offers. It crossed the Ticker late yesterday.
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.
Getting to know you
This week we started a series we call Getting to know you. We will feature the 24 football players that signed Letters of Intent with Pitt earlier this month. It is designed to be a fun series. We will ask the players similar answers and hope we get different answers. So far we have featured Greg Williams, Tristan Roberts, Chris Jacobson and Sherod Murdock. Today we feature running back Shariff Harris. This series is designed to help you to get to know the incoming freshman a little better. Please check out any of these articles that you may have missed.
If you have been following the series did you really think Quaker Steak and Lube was going to get a vote as the most impressive thing about the Pitt campus?
Some hoops talk
To say the first half of the Louisville game was really disappointing is really understating the matter. The Panthers have a group of players with average Division 1 speed surrounded by a couple of players with below average speed. It makes them vulnerable to teams that like to trap a lot on defense. Pitt turned the ball over early and often. Their self confidence went down the drain with each turnover and they end up shooting 3 for 21 from 3-point range. You are not going to win many games taking that many three-point shots and making only 14% on them.
The loss to Louisville makes the game with Washington even more important. You can not expect to lose two in a row on your home floor in February and harbor hope of a high seed come tournament time. It takes on added meaning with a large group of junior football prospects on hand to watch the game. Taking the crowd out of the game early would be bad news on many fronts.
I got a chance to watch the St Anthony’s game with Linden this past week on MSG. Junior Anthony Woodall is a good dribbler. He looks like he is quicker than any guard Pitt has on the rooster. He also has some hops. On a give and go play late in the game he dunked it. It has been a while since I watched a Pitt point guard dunk it as a part of the natural flow of the game. There is video of the dunk on the Center Court at the Pete board. It is well into the video before you see Woodall so you have to stay with it.
During the broadcast they indicated that players at St. Anthony’s can not have long hair or get tattoos. In short they are not allowed to do things to call attention to themselves or exert peer pressure on others. If they make through Coach Hurley’s program they know how to play the game of basketball. He has had five first round draft choices by the NBA. If you think about how many Pitt has had you will know how impressive it is for a high school to pull this feat off.
Many of the players that Pitt has recruited for 2007 and 2008 are having big years. It is what you would hope for and expect of a high level Division 1 prospects. Pitt has five seniors signed for 2007. They have two committed for 2007. Without many scholarships to give to juniors or seniors it looks like Pitt is checking out sophomores.
I was talking to the Oak Hill Academy Coach Steve Smith about his sophomore Terrance Boyd. He praised his player but then said he can score but he can not shoot yet. I told him he was describing a scouting report we had on another Pitt prospect. He then talked about playing Montrose next which had just been beaten by Roman Catholic. I laughed and told him they were led by Brad Wanamaker and that was the Pitt recruit I was referring to earlier in my conversation.
Sophomore Terrance Boyd is a player to watch. He is often the 6th man at Oak Hill. The programs is usually loaded with junior and senior Division 1 prospects so it is unusual to see a sophomore get as much playing time. He has a tie to David Cox and the DC Assault AAU program so he is a player to watch. We hope you saw our article earlier this week.
We will also feature Pennsbury sophomore Dalton Pepper today.
When Coach Howland left Pitt Seth Greenburg would have killed for the head coaching job at Pitt. He was an assistant at Pitt at one time. I do not think he got any serious consideration. My guess is the folks at Virginia Tech are glad Pitt passed. The Hokies sweep North Carolina this year. This guy knows how to find recruits that fly under the radar. I always get excited if Pitt is recruiting a guy that Seth Greenburg is recruiting. I simply figure the guy can play if Seth is recruiting him.
Agnus Berenato looks like she has the women’s basketball team at Pitt on the verge of their first ever NCAA tournament berth. Pitt now has won 20 games which should put them in. They have four regular season games left plus the Big East Tournament. A couple more wins just to be on the safe side would not hurt. They will have their hands full on the road this weekend against nationally ranked UConn.
Eight Panthers are Big East All-Academic squad members
Congratulation to Tyler Palko, Brian Bennett, Mark Estemyer, Adam Gunn, LaRod Stephens-Howling, Conor Lee, Gus Mustakas, and Joe Villiani.
Nike combine at Media, Ohio
Nike will hold a combine at the Pinnacle Sports Complex in Media, Ohio (near Akron) on February 25th. They will accept walk-ups but it is a good idea to register in advance. See the link at the top of this board if you know a Division 1 prospect that would like to attend. There will be testing in the 40 and other events.
Top 250 to watch list
Rivals.com released a list of 250 prospects to watch for the recruiting Class of 2008. They also refer to the list their Pre-evaluation Top 250. Their analyst will attend approximately three dozen camps and pour over miles of video and then they will try to rank them this summer. The will not get them all right. A number of new prospects will be discovered and jump on to the list. Unfortunately the law of mathematics means some of these will also drop off the list.
Some that made the Top250 watch list that could be of interest to Pitt fans include:
Johnny Adams DB Akron Buchtel
A.J. Alexander Ath Altoona
Jonathan Baldwin WR Aliquippa
Brandon Beachum LB Youngstown Cardinal Mooney
Averin Collier Ath Churchville, NY
Teddy Dargan DT Baltimore, MD
Shayne Hale LB Gateway HS
Will Hill QB/DB St Peter’s Prep
Jarred Holley DB Easton
Nick Lepak OL Auburn, NY
Sal Maneri-TE-Saddle Brook, NJ
Nick Moody DB Roman Catholic
Latavius Murray RB Nedrow, NY
Lucas Nix OL Thomas Jefferson
Terrrelle Pryor QB Jeannette
Demetrius Richardson QB Marlton, NJ
Marcus Sales, WR Syracuse, NY
Cordall Scott WR Cleveland, OH
Brandon Smith Ath New Brunswick, NJ
Kenny Tate WR DeMatha HS
Rashad White RB Teaneck, NJ
Christian Wilson LB Montour
Marcus Weatherspoon LB Absecon, NJ
I could make a case that Trinity LB Andrew Sweat and Bishop McCort’s TE Mike Cruz should also be on this watch list.
It really is too early to tell about Florida players. The low hanging fruit usually will stay in-state going to one of the Big Three. The Pitt coaching staff will visit Florida schools later this spring and it will give us a better idea. It is simply too early in the process to tell much about the Florida prospects.
Junior Day
Pitt will hold a Junior Day on Saturday. They are hoping that approximately 70 prospects will take up their offer to attend. Recruits will be give quick tour of the campus and then attend the Pitt-Washington basketball game at the Pete. These players must pay their own way so most will come within easy driving distance of Pittsburgh. Not all of these prospects will end up with an offer from Pitt. It is one of the early steps in recruiting the Class of 2007.
Most of the players listed below have written or verbal offers from Pitt. You would hope most of them would show up on Saturday.
A.J. Alexander-Altoona
Jonathan Baldwin-Aliquippa
Brandon Beachum -Youngstown Cardinal Mooney
Averin Collier-Churchville, NY
Mike Cruz-Bishop McCort
Nic Dillo-Madison, OH
Hubbie Graham TE West Scranton
Leon Green-Ath West Mifflin
Shayne Hale-LB-Gateway
Jarred Holley-CB-Easton
Lucas Nix-OL-Thomas Jefferson
Terrelle Pryor-QB-Jeannette
Kaleb Ramsey-DE-Laurel Highlands
Antwuan Reed-Ath-Altoona
Cameron Saddler-Ath-Gateway
Andrew Sweat-LB-LB-Trinity
Ed Tinker-WR-Brashear
Christian Wilson-LB-Montour
Recruiting summary
Hopefully you got a chance to watch the AMP pieces earlier this week on defensive ends Tony Tucker and Jabaal Sheard. They should help you to get to know both players a little better. I was talking to Tony Tucker on Letter of Intent Day and he told me he would sign his Letter of Intent at the ESPN Zone with five-star prospect Marvin Austin (North Carolina). Rivals.com had a crew there that day so I asked them to interview Tucker while they were there. They did a good job. Thanks to Greg Ladky and his crew.
Jeannette Terrelle Pryor has been given a five-star basketball rating by Rivals.com and is currently ranked as their No. 1 prospect in football. He will have dozens of offers before it is over. He can go to virtually any school in the country. At the end of the day I think it will come down to Pitt, Penn State and Ohio State. There is an old rule in recruiting that geography usually rules in these situations. He has folks close to him that will try to persuade him to go to Penn State but he also has folks close to him that would like to see him to Pitt. The biggest negative Pitt may have going for it is he sees himself running a spread offense as he does at Jeannette. He has said he would also like to play a little basketball and then could give Pitt a slight edge. I think he likes Jamie Dixon and he has already committed to Pitt once in basketball. I interviewed him at that time. I could be wrong but I don’t see this one being decided for a long time.
Gateway High School has three Division 1 prospects in Shayne Hale, Cameron Saddler and Eric Livsey. We have had articles and video on all three recently. Their recruitment got off to a bumpy start when Pitt replaced Curtis Bray. Gateway coach Terry Smith and Curtis Bray go back to when they played football together at Gateway. This is not insurmountable but it is a bump in the road as it would be anytime you change coaches that have been recruiting a player. We expect them at the basketball game tomorrow. Hopefully you got a chance to see the AMP interview with Shayne Hale entitled a Hale-storm of offers. It crossed the Ticker late yesterday.
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.
