From the desk of Jim Snyder
Rivals Junior Days
Rivals.com will hold a series of Junior Days around the country. These are classroom sessions. They are not workout sessions. The closest one to Western Pa. will be held at the University of Akron on March 25th. That might seem like a long drive but last year four-star defensive end Tony Tucker drove from Washington, D.C. to Akron to attend the session. It worked out for him and he eventually committed to Pitt.
Nike camps and combines
The NCAA changed the rules prohibiting testing on college campuses in front of college coaches. So this year Student Sports will conduct will conduct tests off campus and training session on campus. Student Sports will hold 15 combines off campus and a dozen training sessions on campus. I am not sure if this is what the NCAA had in mind. It now appears there will be twice as many Nike sessions. You can find details on our post at the top of this message board if you know someone who would like to attend.
My Fan Pages
Based on the data on the top of our Home Page well over 92,000 registered posters have already set up their own Home Page. This will certainly well go north of 100,000 fairly fast. I promise to get mine cleaned up after Letter of Intent Day. In the meantime get yours set up. Rivals.com has plans to add a number of new features in this area in 2007.
The Knight Commision
Bobby Burton from Rivals.com testified recently in front of the Knight Commission. There was an article this week in USA Today. Maybe you saw it. Burton told the committee Rivals.com expects 75 million page views on Letter of Intent day.
New and improved
For several years now Rivals.com has contracted with a third party to deliver scores, schedules, standings and stats. They have experienced one technical issue after another in accepting data from this source. Sometime after Letter of Intent Day they will begin the process of taking this info from a new provider. It will take several months to complete the transition. It will take a major software rewrite. All they will promise right now is that the transition will be completed in time for the fall football season. This is a slick concept when it works. Hopefully the new service will provide a much better product.
National basketball message board
The national basketball message board has been made a premium site. You must be an Ultimate Ticket holder to one of the team sites to gain access. They will have a series of chats with basketball experts. If want you to join one of their chats check it out. Yesterday Seth Davis from SI.com was on the message board. Andrew Skwara and Jerry Meyer from Rivals.com will be regulars.
Some hoops talk
Last week Mike Rice landed guards Travon Woodall and Nasir Robinson for the Class of 2008. It could be Orlando Antigua’s turn next. Yesterday we reported on forward Eloy Vargas(6’ 10). He hails originally from Santiago in the Dominican Republic. Orlando Antigua’s family was from the same town. This fact has not been lost on Vargas or perhaps more importantly his guardian.
St Anthony’s has sent many basketball players to Division 1 programs over the years. Two juniors have already committed from St Anthony’s. A.J. Rodgers has committed to St Joseph’s and Travon Woodall has committed to Pitt. I read somewhere in my travels that these are the first two juniors ever to commit out of this program. Coach Bobby Hurley usually makes them wait until they are seniors so there are no second thoughts.
The Pitt basketball team is now 18-3 overall and 6-1 in the conference. They are off to their best start in conference play since joining the Big East some 25 years ago. The Panthers have ten regular season games left and it is not an easy schedule. They must still travel to Villanova, West Virginia, Georgetown and Marquette.
Overall the Panthers have played well. Marquette and Oklahoma State did a better job at the free throw line than the Panthers did or Pitt might have won a couple of the games they lost in overtime. Sophomore point guard Levance Fields struggled against the quick guards he saw in games against UConn and Marquette. It was nice to see him bounce back against Cincinnati.
If Pitt is to kick it up a notch they need to get sophomore Sam Young to be more consistent. He showed a little spark at Cincinnati after a false start or two. Maybe that game will get him jump started. Pitt needs the three sophomores to contribute down the stretch. Coach Dixon said yesterday at the Big East teleconference that he thought Sam was healthy now and that he has been a little too aggressive on defense. It has resulted in him being foul trouble lately at that has held him back.
Next up for Pitt is St John’s this Saturday at the Pete. The Red Storm has beaten both Syracuse and Notre Dame in the last two games. I asked Coach Norm Roberts what has caused the turn around. He replied that his team has been playing better defense and rebounding better. He also thought a few of his players were finally stepping up and making plays late in the game.
Coach Roberts said that the Big East is very balanced this year. It was all about match-ups. He said the other team may have a better record but sometimes you just create match-up problems for the other team.
Some lessons in new math
On the first Wednesday in February Coach Dave Wannstedt will sign Letters of Intent with his third recruiting Class. In many ways the Class of 2005 was simply all about holding on to some of Walt Harris’ recruits but he did add several of his own including Bill Stull, C.J. Davis and Conredge Collins.
Coach Wannstedt signed 23 players in the Class of 2005 although Tommie Duhart and Bryan Williams did not qualify and headed off to junior college programs leaving 21 players.
Coach Wannstedt signed 26 players in the Class of 2006. Defensive end McKenzie Mathews left the program recently so you must only account for 25.
Coach Wannstedt currently has 23 commits for the Class of 2007.
In addition a scholarship has been awarded to walk-on kicker Conor Lee and we expect one to be given to punter Dave Brytus.
If you total this group you get 71 players on scholarship. The NCAA only allows 85 players on scholarship. What this probably means is that you will have a smaller class at some point. We have heard numbers tossed around for the Class of 2008 in the 15-17 range. As you know this is always a flexible number but at some point you will need a smaller class to stay within the 85 limitation.
Pitt already has a verbal from Johnstown’s Antwuan Reed for the Class of 2008. As reported to you earlier we expect a couple of more to commit once we clear Letter of Intent Day in February.
Football recruiting recap
Pitt has 23 verbal commitments now that Tampa cornerback Sherod Murdock. I got a kick out of him telling me he planned on plying tennis this spring just so he could have some fun in his senior year. I think he may have the right idea.
Murdock committed to Pitt late last week with plans to hold a press conference this week. By the time Valley Forge’s Bryan Williams arrived at Pitt this past weekend the decision had been made to not to take another defensive back.
On Monday of this week we reported that the Coffeyville Community College coach told us Tommie Duhart would visit Florida this weekend. Yesterday Florida picked up four-star defensive end Justin Trattau. He has previously committed to Notre Dame. The Gators now have 25 commitments. They are on a roll right now but at some point they had to run out of scholarships. Early this morning Tommie Duhart called Chris Peak to say his visit to Florida had been cancelled.
With Tommie Duhart now safely back in the fold Pitt really has 23+2 prospects to be charged to the Class of 2007. They must also account for grayshirt Justin Hargrove and punter Dave Brytus.
It is quite possible the staff could call it a day if the keep all of the 23 players that have committed so far. It may depend on where they feel this group stands academically. They should have received new data this month as student complete their fall semester. The may also have received new test scores.
Kicker Brandon Walker is visiting Notre Dame this weekend. He told the Notre Dame site it will probably come down to Notre Dame and Louisville. He is a good kicker but it is not really an area of need right now for Pitt. He is probably a long shot for Pitt right now.
I might add that Rochester’s Derek Moye was a nifty looking wide receiver prospect but wide receiver is also not an area of great need.
There are several others out there that are possibilities. Many of them have academic issues. Jabaal Sheard might be in the most interesting with defensive end[/B]McKenzie Mathews[/B] having left the program. Of those that have taken visits and not committed he might be the one to watch. Sheard visits Miami this weekend. If they offer he is a Cane. If not it could come down to Pitt and Rutgers.
Johnstown’s Bishop McCort’s Wayne Jones was scheduled to stop by Pitt yesterday on his visit to Akron. Pitt has been talking to him about taking a grayshirt and enrolling in January of 2008. As we have reported earlier he did not have a firm offer on the table the last we checked but Pitt has been in conversations with him.
Much of the hard work lately has been visiting players that have already committed to insure they do not wonder from the rest of the flock. We will have to wait and see if there might be one late surprise.
Technical problems today
Rivals.com had scheduled some routine maintenance from 2:00 AM until 5:00 AM last night. During this planned outage they had major equipment failures on the server that host the message board posts. Rather then bring the system back up with clean message boards the decided to try and transfer that data to another server. The immense size of the files resulted in the delays in transferring the information this morning. Sorry for the inconvenience. As you can imagine folks at Rivals were very frustrated today.
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.
Rivals Junior Days
Rivals.com will hold a series of Junior Days around the country. These are classroom sessions. They are not workout sessions. The closest one to Western Pa. will be held at the University of Akron on March 25th. That might seem like a long drive but last year four-star defensive end Tony Tucker drove from Washington, D.C. to Akron to attend the session. It worked out for him and he eventually committed to Pitt.
Nike camps and combines
The NCAA changed the rules prohibiting testing on college campuses in front of college coaches. So this year Student Sports will conduct will conduct tests off campus and training session on campus. Student Sports will hold 15 combines off campus and a dozen training sessions on campus. I am not sure if this is what the NCAA had in mind. It now appears there will be twice as many Nike sessions. You can find details on our post at the top of this message board if you know someone who would like to attend.
My Fan Pages
Based on the data on the top of our Home Page well over 92,000 registered posters have already set up their own Home Page. This will certainly well go north of 100,000 fairly fast. I promise to get mine cleaned up after Letter of Intent Day. In the meantime get yours set up. Rivals.com has plans to add a number of new features in this area in 2007.
The Knight Commision
Bobby Burton from Rivals.com testified recently in front of the Knight Commission. There was an article this week in USA Today. Maybe you saw it. Burton told the committee Rivals.com expects 75 million page views on Letter of Intent day.
New and improved
For several years now Rivals.com has contracted with a third party to deliver scores, schedules, standings and stats. They have experienced one technical issue after another in accepting data from this source. Sometime after Letter of Intent Day they will begin the process of taking this info from a new provider. It will take several months to complete the transition. It will take a major software rewrite. All they will promise right now is that the transition will be completed in time for the fall football season. This is a slick concept when it works. Hopefully the new service will provide a much better product.
National basketball message board
The national basketball message board has been made a premium site. You must be an Ultimate Ticket holder to one of the team sites to gain access. They will have a series of chats with basketball experts. If want you to join one of their chats check it out. Yesterday Seth Davis from SI.com was on the message board. Andrew Skwara and Jerry Meyer from Rivals.com will be regulars.
Some hoops talk
Last week Mike Rice landed guards Travon Woodall and Nasir Robinson for the Class of 2008. It could be Orlando Antigua’s turn next. Yesterday we reported on forward Eloy Vargas(6’ 10). He hails originally from Santiago in the Dominican Republic. Orlando Antigua’s family was from the same town. This fact has not been lost on Vargas or perhaps more importantly his guardian.
St Anthony’s has sent many basketball players to Division 1 programs over the years. Two juniors have already committed from St Anthony’s. A.J. Rodgers has committed to St Joseph’s and Travon Woodall has committed to Pitt. I read somewhere in my travels that these are the first two juniors ever to commit out of this program. Coach Bobby Hurley usually makes them wait until they are seniors so there are no second thoughts.
The Pitt basketball team is now 18-3 overall and 6-1 in the conference. They are off to their best start in conference play since joining the Big East some 25 years ago. The Panthers have ten regular season games left and it is not an easy schedule. They must still travel to Villanova, West Virginia, Georgetown and Marquette.
Overall the Panthers have played well. Marquette and Oklahoma State did a better job at the free throw line than the Panthers did or Pitt might have won a couple of the games they lost in overtime. Sophomore point guard Levance Fields struggled against the quick guards he saw in games against UConn and Marquette. It was nice to see him bounce back against Cincinnati.
If Pitt is to kick it up a notch they need to get sophomore Sam Young to be more consistent. He showed a little spark at Cincinnati after a false start or two. Maybe that game will get him jump started. Pitt needs the three sophomores to contribute down the stretch. Coach Dixon said yesterday at the Big East teleconference that he thought Sam was healthy now and that he has been a little too aggressive on defense. It has resulted in him being foul trouble lately at that has held him back.
Next up for Pitt is St John’s this Saturday at the Pete. The Red Storm has beaten both Syracuse and Notre Dame in the last two games. I asked Coach Norm Roberts what has caused the turn around. He replied that his team has been playing better defense and rebounding better. He also thought a few of his players were finally stepping up and making plays late in the game.
Coach Roberts said that the Big East is very balanced this year. It was all about match-ups. He said the other team may have a better record but sometimes you just create match-up problems for the other team.
Some lessons in new math
On the first Wednesday in February Coach Dave Wannstedt will sign Letters of Intent with his third recruiting Class. In many ways the Class of 2005 was simply all about holding on to some of Walt Harris’ recruits but he did add several of his own including Bill Stull, C.J. Davis and Conredge Collins.
Coach Wannstedt signed 23 players in the Class of 2005 although Tommie Duhart and Bryan Williams did not qualify and headed off to junior college programs leaving 21 players.
Coach Wannstedt signed 26 players in the Class of 2006. Defensive end McKenzie Mathews left the program recently so you must only account for 25.
Coach Wannstedt currently has 23 commits for the Class of 2007.
In addition a scholarship has been awarded to walk-on kicker Conor Lee and we expect one to be given to punter Dave Brytus.
If you total this group you get 71 players on scholarship. The NCAA only allows 85 players on scholarship. What this probably means is that you will have a smaller class at some point. We have heard numbers tossed around for the Class of 2008 in the 15-17 range. As you know this is always a flexible number but at some point you will need a smaller class to stay within the 85 limitation.
Pitt already has a verbal from Johnstown’s Antwuan Reed for the Class of 2008. As reported to you earlier we expect a couple of more to commit once we clear Letter of Intent Day in February.
Football recruiting recap
Pitt has 23 verbal commitments now that Tampa cornerback Sherod Murdock. I got a kick out of him telling me he planned on plying tennis this spring just so he could have some fun in his senior year. I think he may have the right idea.
Murdock committed to Pitt late last week with plans to hold a press conference this week. By the time Valley Forge’s Bryan Williams arrived at Pitt this past weekend the decision had been made to not to take another defensive back.
On Monday of this week we reported that the Coffeyville Community College coach told us Tommie Duhart would visit Florida this weekend. Yesterday Florida picked up four-star defensive end Justin Trattau. He has previously committed to Notre Dame. The Gators now have 25 commitments. They are on a roll right now but at some point they had to run out of scholarships. Early this morning Tommie Duhart called Chris Peak to say his visit to Florida had been cancelled.
With Tommie Duhart now safely back in the fold Pitt really has 23+2 prospects to be charged to the Class of 2007. They must also account for grayshirt Justin Hargrove and punter Dave Brytus.
It is quite possible the staff could call it a day if the keep all of the 23 players that have committed so far. It may depend on where they feel this group stands academically. They should have received new data this month as student complete their fall semester. The may also have received new test scores.
Kicker Brandon Walker is visiting Notre Dame this weekend. He told the Notre Dame site it will probably come down to Notre Dame and Louisville. He is a good kicker but it is not really an area of need right now for Pitt. He is probably a long shot for Pitt right now.
I might add that Rochester’s Derek Moye was a nifty looking wide receiver prospect but wide receiver is also not an area of great need.
There are several others out there that are possibilities. Many of them have academic issues. Jabaal Sheard might be in the most interesting with defensive end[/B]McKenzie Mathews[/B] having left the program. Of those that have taken visits and not committed he might be the one to watch. Sheard visits Miami this weekend. If they offer he is a Cane. If not it could come down to Pitt and Rutgers.
Johnstown’s Bishop McCort’s Wayne Jones was scheduled to stop by Pitt yesterday on his visit to Akron. Pitt has been talking to him about taking a grayshirt and enrolling in January of 2008. As we have reported earlier he did not have a firm offer on the table the last we checked but Pitt has been in conversations with him.
Much of the hard work lately has been visiting players that have already committed to insure they do not wonder from the rest of the flock. We will have to wait and see if there might be one late surprise.
Technical problems today
Rivals.com had scheduled some routine maintenance from 2:00 AM until 5:00 AM last night. During this planned outage they had major equipment failures on the server that host the message board posts. Rather then bring the system back up with clean message boards the decided to try and transfer that data to another server. The immense size of the files resulted in the delays in transferring the information this morning. Sorry for the inconvenience. As you can imagine folks at Rivals were very frustrated today.
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.
