From the desk of Jim Snyder
The start of the football season is not far away. The Big East Conference holds their annual Media Day Monday and Tuesday of next week in Newport, Rhodes Island. It is a very nice seaside resort to help insure the media shows up. Rivals.com is sending a crew. Other media outlets will be there too. If you are starved for a little football coverage you should start seeing some next week. We expect Dave Wannstedt, wide receiver Derek Kinder and defensive end Joe Clermond to represent Pitt.
The past few years the Big East has held their Media Day first and then the rest of the BCS conferences fall into line shortly thereafter so you should see some reporting on college football over the next couple of weeks leading up to fall practice in August. Yeah!
As we mentioned last week many of the Pitt football coaches try to grab some vacation time in July. Recruiting activity slows a bit. This slight pause sometimes gets players thinking about where they want to go to college. Eventually a few will get anxious and pull the trigger before they are into their senior season.
We had an article on Averin Collier this week. I have always thought that this would come down to Pitt and Syracuse. I guess at this point I would be very disappointed if he did not select Pitt. He is listed as an athlete in the database. My guess he probably will end up playing strong safety at the college level.
If Pitt lands Averin Collier I think their chances improve of getting Marcus Sales from CBA in Syracuse. Grabbing the No. 1 & No. 2 prospects in New York could certainly help create a little recruiting buzz.
The Dream Team-Give me wideouts Marcus Sales from CBA and Jonathan Baldwin from Aliquippa plus tight Hubie Graham from West Scranton. It could make a nifty trio of pass catchers down the road. All three players currently have four-star rankings. Add to these three tight end Nic DiLillo who has already committed to Pitt and you might really have something.
This week we reported on a couple of linebackers in Lakewood St Edward’s Justin Staples and Chaminade Madonna’s Tarik Rollins. Both have offers from Pitt but I like Pitt’s chances better with Staples. This could come down to Pitt and Michigan State.
Justin Staples played basketball on the Eagles nationally-ranked team this past winter. He played with Pitt’s incoming freshman defensive end Kyle Hubbard but he also played with five-star forward Delvon Roe who will be a freshman Michigan State this fall. It might be a good idea to beat the Spartans in East Lansing in mid-September.
Back in mid-May we reported to you that a reporter that covers Purdue for the Rivals network told us that Jason Kacinko would be transferring to Pitt. Yesterday we published an article on Kacinko.
Pitt has verbal commitments from Lucas Nix and Ryan Turnley. We initially heard they would take three offensive linemen and later there was a report they might take four. Not sure if the transfer of Kacinko takes a little pressure off recruiting additional offensive linemen. If you look at our Big Board now it is hard to see where they might pick up another commitment with offering additional scholarships.
Jason Kacinko was a highly recruited lineman coming out of high school. It did not workout for him at Purdue. Who really knows if he will help Pitt? Sometimes it takes longer for offensive lineman to develop. The big question will be does the fire still burn inside to put in the work it will take to be a contributor? He certainly has the size you look for. It would be a huge boost if Paul Dunn and Buddy Morris can turn him around. Keep your fingers crossed.
I was speaking to Clairton head football coach Tom Nola about Pitt commit Manny Williams this week. Last year Williams played tight end and outside linebackers for the Bears who won the WPIAL Class A championship. Coach Nola said he would use him a little differently this year. He will be moved to fullback. He said he is a very good blocker and wants to take advantage of his blocking abilities. He also said they occasionally give the ball to the fullback and he has enough speed to break a long run. Of defense he will again be used at outside linebacker but he did say he will also play a little at strong safety. Coach Nola said he has quite a few players back this year so long at Clairton to make another playoff run.
We have reported on several players this week we do not think are leaning to Pitt. Defensive end Pete Massaro, defensive back Donnie Fletcher and wide receiver Vaughn Caraway all fall into this category. We covered them as a part of the due diligence process but will slow our rotation on reporting on them for now and let others in the network cover them. We will jump back in if things appear to change.
We also reported on linebacker Tarik Rollins from Chaminade Madonna in Florida. We also do not like Pitt’s chances here. I would feel better if Mark Guandolo were still the head coach at Chaminade Madonna. Coach Guandolo is originally from the Beaver Falls area. His brother I believe is Superintendent of the Blackhawk School District. Coach Guandolo has no desire to move back north but he does maintain a soft spot for Western Pa. Hopefully he can help Pitt out in the future by sending them a few players from Cypress Bay. I got to meet the old Cypress Bay coach at the South Florida game. Billy Hobbs seemed like he was a nice guy. I think he was the defensive coordinator at Plantation High school a few years ago. That was Charlie Partridge’s old school.
If you saw our post on the Elite 11 Quarterback Camp yesterday you will find that 11 of the top 13 quarterbacks in the country have already committed. The exceptions are Terrelle Pryor and Star Jackson and both have an offer from Pitt. Right now it looks like an uphill battle for either player. It looks like the Pitt coaches are still trying evaluate their chances before deciding if they should move forward.
Last month we told you in the War Room we thought Pitt would continue to recruit Altoona’s A.J. Alexander. We heard the Pitt coaches weren’t convinced that he was sold on Florida State. In fact we also heard he might come into Pittsburgh for another official visit. We didn’t like the article on the Ticker yesterday but we will follow up to see just where he stands with Pitt.
We saw an article on the new Big Ten Network. It indicated that ESPN will lose its Big Ten regional games. It said that in many cases ESPN will simply expand over the air coverage of Big East Games of the Week. So you have a better chance of seeing Big East games this fall in the Noon time slot. The Big Ten Network could actually have some good news for the Big East.
Some Hoops talk
The month of July continues to be an Evaluation Period in basketball. This means college coaches are allowed to watch players but they are not allowed to participate in face to face recruiting. It is a time to make sure the school logo is on every possible piece of clothing and paraphernalia to make sure recruits know which schools are watching them play.
Last week we had reports from several sites with the LeBron James Skills Camp in Akron and the RBK U Camp in Philadelphia drawing many of the top prospects. This weekend the action moves to the Nike Peach Jam Fest in North Augusta, SC. In addition you have the Harley Davidson Jam Fest in Morgantown, West Virginia.
After the July Evaluation Period is over players will quickly get a sense of who is recruiting them and who has dropped out. Already 27 of the Top 50 players for 2008 have committed. The rest will get a better sense of where they are headed in the recruiting process once the Evaluation Period ends. Eloy Vargas is one of those still uncommitted.
It was good to see that all five members of the Class of 2007 are now enrolled at Pitt now that Darnell Dodson is on board. Pitt should have their full complement of 13 scholarship players available this year. In many cases schools operate with less. Paul Evans and Ralph Willard seemed to look down the bench a lot and find only a couple of scholarship players and a couple of walk-ons. Occasionally the manger would dress for games.
Jamie Dixon often used a nine man rotation last year. Most coaches prefer an eight man rotation. Even if Pitt stays with their wide rotation there figures to be at least four players sitting near the water cooler. Pitt fans will be watching to see who looks unhappy with the situation. Pitt is over recruiting for the Class of 2008 so the Pitt coaches seemed resigned to seeing a transfer or two.
In case you missed it Pitt will open their season with an exempt tournament (The Hispanic College Fund Classic). Pitt will play Houston Baptist, North Carolina A&T and St Louis at the Pete on November 9th, 10 & 11th.. Pitt season ticketholders are not likely to be too excited about the first two games. Jamie Dixon has top find a way to break seven new players into the rotation. From the coaches point of view scheduling the Little Sisters of the Poor (twice) probably makes sense.
Rick Majerus is the new head coach at St Louis. Ben Howland use to say Rick Majerus was his mentor and a very good friend so scheduling St. Louis is not a big surprise. My guess is Pitt will travel to St. Louis at some point down the road.
Pitt versus Duke at the Garden on December 20th. This game will certainly be televised but it could be a quick fun trip in to New York for last minute Christmas shoppers. If Coach Dixon can figure out a way to win this one it would almost guarantee you stay in the national polls for the balance of the regular season.
If you have not had a chance please vote in Rivals.com’s Ultimate Team poll please do so. It is designed to be a fun thing during this summer doldrums period. There are several former Panthers you can vote for. They have it set up in a neat format.
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 7/13 9:03 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
The start of the football season is not far away. The Big East Conference holds their annual Media Day Monday and Tuesday of next week in Newport, Rhodes Island. It is a very nice seaside resort to help insure the media shows up. Rivals.com is sending a crew. Other media outlets will be there too. If you are starved for a little football coverage you should start seeing some next week. We expect Dave Wannstedt, wide receiver Derek Kinder and defensive end Joe Clermond to represent Pitt.
The past few years the Big East has held their Media Day first and then the rest of the BCS conferences fall into line shortly thereafter so you should see some reporting on college football over the next couple of weeks leading up to fall practice in August. Yeah!
As we mentioned last week many of the Pitt football coaches try to grab some vacation time in July. Recruiting activity slows a bit. This slight pause sometimes gets players thinking about where they want to go to college. Eventually a few will get anxious and pull the trigger before they are into their senior season.
We had an article on Averin Collier this week. I have always thought that this would come down to Pitt and Syracuse. I guess at this point I would be very disappointed if he did not select Pitt. He is listed as an athlete in the database. My guess he probably will end up playing strong safety at the college level.
If Pitt lands Averin Collier I think their chances improve of getting Marcus Sales from CBA in Syracuse. Grabbing the No. 1 & No. 2 prospects in New York could certainly help create a little recruiting buzz.
The Dream Team-Give me wideouts Marcus Sales from CBA and Jonathan Baldwin from Aliquippa plus tight Hubie Graham from West Scranton. It could make a nifty trio of pass catchers down the road. All three players currently have four-star rankings. Add to these three tight end Nic DiLillo who has already committed to Pitt and you might really have something.
This week we reported on a couple of linebackers in Lakewood St Edward’s Justin Staples and Chaminade Madonna’s Tarik Rollins. Both have offers from Pitt but I like Pitt’s chances better with Staples. This could come down to Pitt and Michigan State.
Justin Staples played basketball on the Eagles nationally-ranked team this past winter. He played with Pitt’s incoming freshman defensive end Kyle Hubbard but he also played with five-star forward Delvon Roe who will be a freshman Michigan State this fall. It might be a good idea to beat the Spartans in East Lansing in mid-September.
Back in mid-May we reported to you that a reporter that covers Purdue for the Rivals network told us that Jason Kacinko would be transferring to Pitt. Yesterday we published an article on Kacinko.
Pitt has verbal commitments from Lucas Nix and Ryan Turnley. We initially heard they would take three offensive linemen and later there was a report they might take four. Not sure if the transfer of Kacinko takes a little pressure off recruiting additional offensive linemen. If you look at our Big Board now it is hard to see where they might pick up another commitment with offering additional scholarships.
Jason Kacinko was a highly recruited lineman coming out of high school. It did not workout for him at Purdue. Who really knows if he will help Pitt? Sometimes it takes longer for offensive lineman to develop. The big question will be does the fire still burn inside to put in the work it will take to be a contributor? He certainly has the size you look for. It would be a huge boost if Paul Dunn and Buddy Morris can turn him around. Keep your fingers crossed.
I was speaking to Clairton head football coach Tom Nola about Pitt commit Manny Williams this week. Last year Williams played tight end and outside linebackers for the Bears who won the WPIAL Class A championship. Coach Nola said he would use him a little differently this year. He will be moved to fullback. He said he is a very good blocker and wants to take advantage of his blocking abilities. He also said they occasionally give the ball to the fullback and he has enough speed to break a long run. Of defense he will again be used at outside linebacker but he did say he will also play a little at strong safety. Coach Nola said he has quite a few players back this year so long at Clairton to make another playoff run.
We have reported on several players this week we do not think are leaning to Pitt. Defensive end Pete Massaro, defensive back Donnie Fletcher and wide receiver Vaughn Caraway all fall into this category. We covered them as a part of the due diligence process but will slow our rotation on reporting on them for now and let others in the network cover them. We will jump back in if things appear to change.
We also reported on linebacker Tarik Rollins from Chaminade Madonna in Florida. We also do not like Pitt’s chances here. I would feel better if Mark Guandolo were still the head coach at Chaminade Madonna. Coach Guandolo is originally from the Beaver Falls area. His brother I believe is Superintendent of the Blackhawk School District. Coach Guandolo has no desire to move back north but he does maintain a soft spot for Western Pa. Hopefully he can help Pitt out in the future by sending them a few players from Cypress Bay. I got to meet the old Cypress Bay coach at the South Florida game. Billy Hobbs seemed like he was a nice guy. I think he was the defensive coordinator at Plantation High school a few years ago. That was Charlie Partridge’s old school.
If you saw our post on the Elite 11 Quarterback Camp yesterday you will find that 11 of the top 13 quarterbacks in the country have already committed. The exceptions are Terrelle Pryor and Star Jackson and both have an offer from Pitt. Right now it looks like an uphill battle for either player. It looks like the Pitt coaches are still trying evaluate their chances before deciding if they should move forward.
Last month we told you in the War Room we thought Pitt would continue to recruit Altoona’s A.J. Alexander. We heard the Pitt coaches weren’t convinced that he was sold on Florida State. In fact we also heard he might come into Pittsburgh for another official visit. We didn’t like the article on the Ticker yesterday but we will follow up to see just where he stands with Pitt.
We saw an article on the new Big Ten Network. It indicated that ESPN will lose its Big Ten regional games. It said that in many cases ESPN will simply expand over the air coverage of Big East Games of the Week. So you have a better chance of seeing Big East games this fall in the Noon time slot. The Big Ten Network could actually have some good news for the Big East.
Some Hoops talk
The month of July continues to be an Evaluation Period in basketball. This means college coaches are allowed to watch players but they are not allowed to participate in face to face recruiting. It is a time to make sure the school logo is on every possible piece of clothing and paraphernalia to make sure recruits know which schools are watching them play.
Last week we had reports from several sites with the LeBron James Skills Camp in Akron and the RBK U Camp in Philadelphia drawing many of the top prospects. This weekend the action moves to the Nike Peach Jam Fest in North Augusta, SC. In addition you have the Harley Davidson Jam Fest in Morgantown, West Virginia.
After the July Evaluation Period is over players will quickly get a sense of who is recruiting them and who has dropped out. Already 27 of the Top 50 players for 2008 have committed. The rest will get a better sense of where they are headed in the recruiting process once the Evaluation Period ends. Eloy Vargas is one of those still uncommitted.
It was good to see that all five members of the Class of 2007 are now enrolled at Pitt now that Darnell Dodson is on board. Pitt should have their full complement of 13 scholarship players available this year. In many cases schools operate with less. Paul Evans and Ralph Willard seemed to look down the bench a lot and find only a couple of scholarship players and a couple of walk-ons. Occasionally the manger would dress for games.
Jamie Dixon often used a nine man rotation last year. Most coaches prefer an eight man rotation. Even if Pitt stays with their wide rotation there figures to be at least four players sitting near the water cooler. Pitt fans will be watching to see who looks unhappy with the situation. Pitt is over recruiting for the Class of 2008 so the Pitt coaches seemed resigned to seeing a transfer or two.
In case you missed it Pitt will open their season with an exempt tournament (The Hispanic College Fund Classic). Pitt will play Houston Baptist, North Carolina A&T and St Louis at the Pete on November 9th, 10 & 11th.. Pitt season ticketholders are not likely to be too excited about the first two games. Jamie Dixon has top find a way to break seven new players into the rotation. From the coaches point of view scheduling the Little Sisters of the Poor (twice) probably makes sense.
Rick Majerus is the new head coach at St Louis. Ben Howland use to say Rick Majerus was his mentor and a very good friend so scheduling St. Louis is not a big surprise. My guess is Pitt will travel to St. Louis at some point down the road.
Pitt versus Duke at the Garden on December 20th. This game will certainly be televised but it could be a quick fun trip in to New York for last minute Christmas shoppers. If Coach Dixon can figure out a way to win this one it would almost guarantee you stay in the national polls for the balance of the regular season.
If you have not had a chance please vote in Rivals.com’s Ultimate Team poll please do so. It is designed to be a fun thing during this summer doldrums period. There are several former Panthers you can vote for. They have it set up in a neat format.
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 7/13 9:03 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
