From the Desk of Jim Snyder
LOI is coming up fast
We are a little over a week away from Letter of Intent Day. History tells us that 95% of the players that give a verbal commitment do in fact sign a Letter of Intent with that school. There are always a few surprises and last year Pitt was involved in more than its fair share under the cloud of the Big East Conference going through a major transformation. Very late in the process Anthony Morrelli switched to Penn State and Andrew Johnson went to Miami. In addition Reading’s James Bryant did not decide until the last minute and picked Miami over Pitt. Many forget that Pitt was also the beneficiary of a late switch. Only 48 hours before Letter of Intent Day, Darrell Strong announced he would go to Auburn. In the last 48 hours Coach Partridge flipped him back to Pitt.
Pitt had three players enroll in January. Running back Rashad Jennings, defensive lineman Craig Bokor and linebacker Steve Dell are all enrolled at Pitt and will all participate in spring practice. Often these players that enroll at mid-year end up making the two-deep chart. Hopefully these three will end up giving Coach Dave Wannstedt and his new staff more options.
Legacy to join brother or father
We reported this week that the Pitt staff had Cody Grimm in for a visit. They are trying to persuade him to attend Pitt as a preferred walk-on. It will be no slam-dunk. Virginia Tech is also “recruiting” him. His older brother attends Virginia Tech and plays linebacker. He is also a special teams player that played in seven games as a true freshman in 2003. If you know the attention Frank Beamer places on special teams this is no small achievement for a walk-on that is true freshman. Cody Grimm will visit Virginia Tech this weekend. I guess he will have to decide if he wants to go to school with his brother or come to Pittsburgh and spend sometime with his father, Russ Grimm.
Walker moves to WA
In case you missed our post earlier this week we spoke to former Central Catholic coach Art Walker, Jr a day before he was hired as the new coach at North Allegheny High School. We told him were heard a rumor he was leaving Central and he more or less confirmed it. Coach Walker has been teaching at West Allegheny and coaching at Central Catholic. The job at North Allegheny simply paid more money.
Coach Walker confirmed that his tight end John Pelusi has been taking his visits and confirmed he was at Northwestern last weekend. The Rivals network has provided a dozen articles on John Pelusi. We wish it were more but his family has gotten pretty good at saying “no comment”. As a result we have tried to go slow with him. Many members of the Pelusi family have attended Pitt over the years and his sister is currently enrolled and plays soccer. One of our readers posted he may be leaning to Boston College. The poster works on the Southside and is well-positioned to hear rumors so his reports should not be discounted. We will just have to see how this one plays out.
Quarterback targets
We have reported in earlier War Rooms the Pitt staff would like to land another quarterback prospect with Luke Getsy gone. They have targeted Craig Carey from Cincinnati Elder and Greg Boone from Virginia. Both were scheduled to get in-home visits this week. Hopefully they will make progress with one of them. Craig Carey is scheduled to visit Indiana this weekend while Greg Boone is scheduled to visit North Carolina.
Snooze you lose
We have reported in the last several days that Pitt has told offensive lineman Roben Lindor, defensive end Gary Watts and linebacker Garret White there is no room left at the inn. These were all offered at one time but have been told that Pitt is no longer recruiting them. Pitt is running short on scholarships. It appears they are holding one for a quarterback (maybe Craig Carey) and one for a tight end (hopefully John Pelusi). They may have one or two more to give beyond that. They are still involved with several players that appear to be competing for a limited number of scholarships.
Yesterday we reported that Tommie Duhart committed to Pitt. Both Durhart and Pelusi could be tight ends or defensive ends so taking one does not necessarily mean you can’t take both. They may have one or two more to give beyond that. They are still involved with several players that appear to be competing for a very limited number of scholarships.
Rivals Radio and other Gold bennies
Rivals Radio is now a little over two weeks old. It airs from 10:00 AM to Noon EST. If you are not able to listen to it live it will be archived so you can check it out later. They are also segmenting the archived shows so that if you only want to listen to one of the guests you will be able to do that as well. Some of the guests the first part of this week included several current college coaches including Phil Fulmer (Tennessee), Sylvester Croom (Mississippi State), Chuck Long (Oklahoma Assistant Head Coach), Mark Gottfried (Alabama) and Mike Leach (Texas Tech). They also interviewed several former college coaches for their insight including Barry Switzer (Oklahoma), Jim Donnan (Georgia), Gerry Faust (Notre Dame), John Cooper (Ohio State) and Lou Holtz (South Carolina).
Rivals Radio has been talking to Pitt about having Dave Wannstedt on. It is our understanding that he will be on sometime after Letter of Intent Day.
Rivals will be sending the Recruiting Yearbook to all “annual” Ultimate Ticket subscribers. If you are an “annual” subscriber make sure we have your current address on file. Annual subscribers will also have free access to the AMP service and save 20%.
Rivals.com is also making the AMP service available free to a Gold Members as a way of saying thank you for your continues support. There are now three ways to get the AMP service. You will have it available if you are a Gold Member. You will receive this service if you purchase an annual membership or you can purchase separately. Customer Service can give you all the details at 866-2-Rivals.
In an earlier War Room I indicated that plans were being made to phase out the old “Team Ticket”. A very successful marketing campaign converted over 9,000 Team Ticket holders to the Ultimate Ticket last fall. In 2005 the Team Ticket will be phased out. Rivals.com will notify those of you that still hold the Team Ticket shortly of the phase out plan.
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 1/21 3:35 PM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
This post was edited on 1/21 3:36 PM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
LOI is coming up fast
We are a little over a week away from Letter of Intent Day. History tells us that 95% of the players that give a verbal commitment do in fact sign a Letter of Intent with that school. There are always a few surprises and last year Pitt was involved in more than its fair share under the cloud of the Big East Conference going through a major transformation. Very late in the process Anthony Morrelli switched to Penn State and Andrew Johnson went to Miami. In addition Reading’s James Bryant did not decide until the last minute and picked Miami over Pitt. Many forget that Pitt was also the beneficiary of a late switch. Only 48 hours before Letter of Intent Day, Darrell Strong announced he would go to Auburn. In the last 48 hours Coach Partridge flipped him back to Pitt.
Pitt had three players enroll in January. Running back Rashad Jennings, defensive lineman Craig Bokor and linebacker Steve Dell are all enrolled at Pitt and will all participate in spring practice. Often these players that enroll at mid-year end up making the two-deep chart. Hopefully these three will end up giving Coach Dave Wannstedt and his new staff more options.
Legacy to join brother or father
We reported this week that the Pitt staff had Cody Grimm in for a visit. They are trying to persuade him to attend Pitt as a preferred walk-on. It will be no slam-dunk. Virginia Tech is also “recruiting” him. His older brother attends Virginia Tech and plays linebacker. He is also a special teams player that played in seven games as a true freshman in 2003. If you know the attention Frank Beamer places on special teams this is no small achievement for a walk-on that is true freshman. Cody Grimm will visit Virginia Tech this weekend. I guess he will have to decide if he wants to go to school with his brother or come to Pittsburgh and spend sometime with his father, Russ Grimm.
Walker moves to WA
In case you missed our post earlier this week we spoke to former Central Catholic coach Art Walker, Jr a day before he was hired as the new coach at North Allegheny High School. We told him were heard a rumor he was leaving Central and he more or less confirmed it. Coach Walker has been teaching at West Allegheny and coaching at Central Catholic. The job at North Allegheny simply paid more money.
Coach Walker confirmed that his tight end John Pelusi has been taking his visits and confirmed he was at Northwestern last weekend. The Rivals network has provided a dozen articles on John Pelusi. We wish it were more but his family has gotten pretty good at saying “no comment”. As a result we have tried to go slow with him. Many members of the Pelusi family have attended Pitt over the years and his sister is currently enrolled and plays soccer. One of our readers posted he may be leaning to Boston College. The poster works on the Southside and is well-positioned to hear rumors so his reports should not be discounted. We will just have to see how this one plays out.
Quarterback targets
We have reported in earlier War Rooms the Pitt staff would like to land another quarterback prospect with Luke Getsy gone. They have targeted Craig Carey from Cincinnati Elder and Greg Boone from Virginia. Both were scheduled to get in-home visits this week. Hopefully they will make progress with one of them. Craig Carey is scheduled to visit Indiana this weekend while Greg Boone is scheduled to visit North Carolina.
Snooze you lose
We have reported in the last several days that Pitt has told offensive lineman Roben Lindor, defensive end Gary Watts and linebacker Garret White there is no room left at the inn. These were all offered at one time but have been told that Pitt is no longer recruiting them. Pitt is running short on scholarships. It appears they are holding one for a quarterback (maybe Craig Carey) and one for a tight end (hopefully John Pelusi). They may have one or two more to give beyond that. They are still involved with several players that appear to be competing for a limited number of scholarships.
Yesterday we reported that Tommie Duhart committed to Pitt. Both Durhart and Pelusi could be tight ends or defensive ends so taking one does not necessarily mean you can’t take both. They may have one or two more to give beyond that. They are still involved with several players that appear to be competing for a very limited number of scholarships.
Rivals Radio and other Gold bennies
Rivals Radio is now a little over two weeks old. It airs from 10:00 AM to Noon EST. If you are not able to listen to it live it will be archived so you can check it out later. They are also segmenting the archived shows so that if you only want to listen to one of the guests you will be able to do that as well. Some of the guests the first part of this week included several current college coaches including Phil Fulmer (Tennessee), Sylvester Croom (Mississippi State), Chuck Long (Oklahoma Assistant Head Coach), Mark Gottfried (Alabama) and Mike Leach (Texas Tech). They also interviewed several former college coaches for their insight including Barry Switzer (Oklahoma), Jim Donnan (Georgia), Gerry Faust (Notre Dame), John Cooper (Ohio State) and Lou Holtz (South Carolina).
Rivals Radio has been talking to Pitt about having Dave Wannstedt on. It is our understanding that he will be on sometime after Letter of Intent Day.
Rivals will be sending the Recruiting Yearbook to all “annual” Ultimate Ticket subscribers. If you are an “annual” subscriber make sure we have your current address on file. Annual subscribers will also have free access to the AMP service and save 20%.
Rivals.com is also making the AMP service available free to a Gold Members as a way of saying thank you for your continues support. There are now three ways to get the AMP service. You will have it available if you are a Gold Member. You will receive this service if you purchase an annual membership or you can purchase separately. Customer Service can give you all the details at 866-2-Rivals.
In an earlier War Room I indicated that plans were being made to phase out the old “Team Ticket”. A very successful marketing campaign converted over 9,000 Team Ticket holders to the Ultimate Ticket last fall. In 2005 the Team Ticket will be phased out. Rivals.com will notify those of you that still hold the Team Ticket shortly of the phase out plan.
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 1/21 3:35 PM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
This post was edited on 1/21 3:36 PM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
