From the desk of Jim Snyder
Greatest players poll
It looks like Tony Dorsett will easily run away from Dan Marino in Rivals.com Greatest Player’s poll. Tony D. was the best college running back I have ever seen. Because of his size there may have been better runners in the NFL but at the college level he was something special to watch. He could change directions with any apparent loss of speed. Pitt went through three quarterbacks his senior year. In many cases the opponent knew what was coming but few could stop him or even slow him down for that matter. John Majors moved him to fullback at halftime of the Penn State game at Three Rivers Stadium and it resulted in Tony gaining 224 yards and scoring 2 touchdowns as Pitt beat Penn State 24-7 in 1976.
In our poll on the bottom of the Pantherlair Home Page Larry Fitzgerald has a lead over Bill Fralic. Joe Schmidt, Mark May and Bill Fralic have all has their numbers retired by Pitt but Fitzgerald is leading at the present time. Please vote if you have not already done so.
The Greatest Player’s poll has exceeded the expectations of Rivals.com management so I expect you will see similar efforts in the future as a part of an overall strategy to get more participation by subscribers.
Pop-up ads
We have had an inquiry regarding pop-up ads. Rivals.com does not sell ads targeted at its subscribers. I have written before that Rivals.com leads the internet among sport sites in “stickiness”. A pattern has developed over the past few years where in 10 out of 12 months of each year Rivals.com is the leader in time spent on its network. It does not want to jeopardize their position as the industry leader. It does not sell ads targeted at subscribers.
On the other hand if you spend much time on the internet or use e-mail a lot you are subject to Spyware and viruses. I have two computers at home. Both use different configurations. One has PC-cillin another has AVG.I have also owned one with McAfee anti-virus on it. So far they have worked and I have encountered few problems.
This week USA Today had an article indicating Microsoft sells info for data mining purposes. It is a big business. I wish it were not. I wish Congress would step in but I would not hold my breath waiting. Please make sure you computers have some kind of virus and Sypware protection.
Rivals continues their software upgrades. The commitment list was the latest to be modified. It is a page by page rebuild of the entire network. One change that takes some getting use to is that old articles are stored in the players profile under Updates. Keep in mind you can still change the font size for reading articles. In the right hand margin under Latest Headlines you will find a toggle options to change font sizes.
Some hoops talk
As indicated in the War Room last week we are now in an evaluation period for basketball. College basketball coaches are hard at work. Last week Rivals.com gave you extensive coverage of the ABCD Camp in New Jersey and the Nike Camp in Indianapolis. This weekend they have reporters at the Peach Jam Festival in Georgia.
Last weekend Pitt got a commitment from swingman Darnell Dodson(6’ 7”). I spoke to his head coach, his father (who is an assistant coach) and Darnell himself. All three of them look at him as a small forward. He maybe capable of playing the off guard spot but I think Pitt recruited him as a small forward. It was good to break through with the DC Assault AAU team. Maybe it will bring more going forward. Julian Vaughn (6’ 9”) looks like someone who might thrive in Pitt’s system.
Coach Dixon still has four scholarships to give. You would like to see two or three of these used to bring in some size to replace Aaron Gray and Levon Kendall. I think one could be used on a guard. I would love to see them get 5-star point guard Chris Wright but I am not so sure it won’t be easier to sell someone who looks at himself as a combo guard. Levance Fields and Ronald Ramon both figure to be back next year. On the other hand Antonio Graves graduates and Benjamin and Ronald Ramon would both be seniors next fall. Playing time is generally more important to basketball players than it is to football recruits.
The Big East Conference
The Big East Conference received more good news yesterday with the announcement that Louisville had signed a long term deal with their football coach Bobby Patrino. West Virginia, UConn, Rutgers and South Florida all appear to have stable coaching situations as does Pitt. I guess the only two school where they jury is still out is Syracuse and Cincinnati. Louisville also has plans in various stages to build a new basketball arena and to expand their football stadium.
Chris Peak will stop by the UPMC complex today and next week. We hope to give you a few photos of the Panthers working out in preparation for the 2006 season. It won’t be long. This Wednesday the Big East Conference will hold their annual Media Day at Newport, Rhodes Island. Dave Wannstedt should be there with a couple of players (probably Tyler Palko and H.B. Blades). Dallas Jackson from Rivals.com will also be there. He is the Big East editor and is from Western Pa. If he comes back with a lot of stories on West Virginia and Louisville we may disown him.
Football recruiting
The Rivals.com database shows approximately 72 football prospects with an offer. Last year approximately 80 signed Division 1 Letters of Intent so it looks like we are right on track again this year. As of this writing 30 have made verbal commitments so there are number of prospects out there that have not made decisions.
I hope you got to watch Mike Farrell’s AMP piece this week. It featured a number of Pitt commits including Pat Bostick and Dan Matha. Mike makes the point that offensive lineman are the strength of this class in Pennsylvania. We count 21 offensive linemen with offers and 10 that have have accepted offers.
Three Pennsylvania highly ranked linemen did not make the Nike Camp at State College. Chris Jacobson, Josh Marks and Central’s Stefan Wisniewski did not attend.
Student Sports, which is located in California, runs the Nike Camps. The same coaches also are often used to run the Elite Camps. You might find this one uninteresting. They have watched over 3,300 players including 600 prospects at State College. They have Seton LaSalle’s Gino Gradkowski and Latrobe’s Paul Smikovich as first team All-Americans based on their performances at the Nike Camp. Both had great workouts in shorts and t-shirts. I thought the one coach was going to adopt Gradkowski. He fell in love with him.
Here are a number of other players from Pennsylvania or players that Pitt is recruiting that also made their first or second team All-American squads.
Pitt commit Dan Matha was a second team All-American pick. Also on the offensive side of the ball are WR Alphonso Bryant (Pitt offer) and WR Jon Ditto (Penn State).
Of the defensive side are LB Maurice Harris (Pitt offer), Chaz Powell (Penn State), Jordan Bernstine (Pitt offer) and Pat Lazear (Pitt offer) and Joe Haden (Pitt offer).
Sometimes beauty is in the eye of the beholder. These selections were made solely on the basis of watching them workout at camps. They do not ranked prospects except for their own purpose and generally do not watch much film. I bring this up only to illustrate that few in the recruiting process have all the information that they would like and that includes the Pitt coaching staff who is hampered by NCAA recruiting regulations.
It appears that when Eric Haw decided to transfer out of Ohio State an individual close to the Pitt program suggested the staff take a look at him. Last week Chris Peak reported that Pitt is up against scholarship limitations. We also hear from a “birdie” that off the field problems also complicated the matter. Our sources say it is appears to be too complicated a situation and that it is highly unlikely that Eric Haw will be headed to Pitt.
We have video in house on Pitt commit Nick Krupa. He may remind you a little of Nate Byham. The video also shows him playing some at defensive end although Coach Betherick indicated to me this week that he will build his offense around him this fall so he does not plan on playing him much on defense this season. Krupa has a 4.0 GPA. It’s actually higher than that with advanced placement courses but you get the idea. He is ranked No. 1 in his class academically. The video states he plans to graduate in December, 2006 so he should be available for spring practice. Rivals.com is scheduled to release the video for your viewing this morning.
This weekend Perry guard Cameron Holland travels to North Carolina along with offensive guard Mike Dykes from Woodland Hills. Unless Holland falls in love with Chapel Hill we expect him to commit to Pitt. Perhaps as early as next week. Holland almost committed to me last weekend when we spoke. My guess is that he will pick Pitt next week and we understand some folks on the Southside will be very happy if he does.
If he does not commit its back to the drawing board. Caleb Ruch from Quakertown is a possibility. So is Center’s Evan Blankenship. Brandon Curry out of Lauderdale Lakes, Florida is also in the mix. There are others. However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, right now the focus is on Perry’s Holland.
Henry Hynoski is visiting Iowa this weekend. We expect him to make a decision once he gets back and has chance to digest things.
We also expect Nordonia’s Jordan Mabin and Mount Lebanon Andrew Devlin to make decisions this summer.
Pitt has nine verbal commitments. A home run for Pitt is for them to land Holland, Hynoski, Mabin and Devlin within the next 30 days. This would give them 13 commitments out of the 20 scholarships we expect them to award this year.
Not sure what to make of running back Doug Hogue I was started to get a little excited about this sleeper until his coach started telling me he could end up being 6’ 4” or 6’ 5” tall. If that happens he looks like a linebacker or defensive end. If not maybe he could be a big back if Pitt fails to land Hynoski?
My dream list
Let’s assume for a moment that Pitt gets commitments from Holland, Devlin, Mabin and Hynoski. Who would we take with Pitt’s remaining seven scholarships?
1) Toney Clemons-WR-Valley
2) Mo Williams or Joe Haden-athlete
3) Bryan Williams-safety-Valley Forge
4) Bo Williams-running back-Florida
5) Xavier Stinson-running back-Florida
6) Cameron Heyward-defensive line-Georgia
7) Brandon Lindsey-LB-Aliquippa
You will note we took two running backs in addition to Henry Hynoski. Pitt has been left thin with the unexpected departure of Rashad Jennings. They are particularly thin with big backs. We will take two thank you.
If you had seven picks left who would you take?
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 7/14 9:42 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
Greatest players poll
It looks like Tony Dorsett will easily run away from Dan Marino in Rivals.com Greatest Player’s poll. Tony D. was the best college running back I have ever seen. Because of his size there may have been better runners in the NFL but at the college level he was something special to watch. He could change directions with any apparent loss of speed. Pitt went through three quarterbacks his senior year. In many cases the opponent knew what was coming but few could stop him or even slow him down for that matter. John Majors moved him to fullback at halftime of the Penn State game at Three Rivers Stadium and it resulted in Tony gaining 224 yards and scoring 2 touchdowns as Pitt beat Penn State 24-7 in 1976.
In our poll on the bottom of the Pantherlair Home Page Larry Fitzgerald has a lead over Bill Fralic. Joe Schmidt, Mark May and Bill Fralic have all has their numbers retired by Pitt but Fitzgerald is leading at the present time. Please vote if you have not already done so.
The Greatest Player’s poll has exceeded the expectations of Rivals.com management so I expect you will see similar efforts in the future as a part of an overall strategy to get more participation by subscribers.
Pop-up ads
We have had an inquiry regarding pop-up ads. Rivals.com does not sell ads targeted at its subscribers. I have written before that Rivals.com leads the internet among sport sites in “stickiness”. A pattern has developed over the past few years where in 10 out of 12 months of each year Rivals.com is the leader in time spent on its network. It does not want to jeopardize their position as the industry leader. It does not sell ads targeted at subscribers.
On the other hand if you spend much time on the internet or use e-mail a lot you are subject to Spyware and viruses. I have two computers at home. Both use different configurations. One has PC-cillin another has AVG.I have also owned one with McAfee anti-virus on it. So far they have worked and I have encountered few problems.
This week USA Today had an article indicating Microsoft sells info for data mining purposes. It is a big business. I wish it were not. I wish Congress would step in but I would not hold my breath waiting. Please make sure you computers have some kind of virus and Sypware protection.
Rivals continues their software upgrades. The commitment list was the latest to be modified. It is a page by page rebuild of the entire network. One change that takes some getting use to is that old articles are stored in the players profile under Updates. Keep in mind you can still change the font size for reading articles. In the right hand margin under Latest Headlines you will find a toggle options to change font sizes.
Some hoops talk
As indicated in the War Room last week we are now in an evaluation period for basketball. College basketball coaches are hard at work. Last week Rivals.com gave you extensive coverage of the ABCD Camp in New Jersey and the Nike Camp in Indianapolis. This weekend they have reporters at the Peach Jam Festival in Georgia.
Last weekend Pitt got a commitment from swingman Darnell Dodson(6’ 7”). I spoke to his head coach, his father (who is an assistant coach) and Darnell himself. All three of them look at him as a small forward. He maybe capable of playing the off guard spot but I think Pitt recruited him as a small forward. It was good to break through with the DC Assault AAU team. Maybe it will bring more going forward. Julian Vaughn (6’ 9”) looks like someone who might thrive in Pitt’s system.
Coach Dixon still has four scholarships to give. You would like to see two or three of these used to bring in some size to replace Aaron Gray and Levon Kendall. I think one could be used on a guard. I would love to see them get 5-star point guard Chris Wright but I am not so sure it won’t be easier to sell someone who looks at himself as a combo guard. Levance Fields and Ronald Ramon both figure to be back next year. On the other hand Antonio Graves graduates and Benjamin and Ronald Ramon would both be seniors next fall. Playing time is generally more important to basketball players than it is to football recruits.
The Big East Conference
The Big East Conference received more good news yesterday with the announcement that Louisville had signed a long term deal with their football coach Bobby Patrino. West Virginia, UConn, Rutgers and South Florida all appear to have stable coaching situations as does Pitt. I guess the only two school where they jury is still out is Syracuse and Cincinnati. Louisville also has plans in various stages to build a new basketball arena and to expand their football stadium.
Chris Peak will stop by the UPMC complex today and next week. We hope to give you a few photos of the Panthers working out in preparation for the 2006 season. It won’t be long. This Wednesday the Big East Conference will hold their annual Media Day at Newport, Rhodes Island. Dave Wannstedt should be there with a couple of players (probably Tyler Palko and H.B. Blades). Dallas Jackson from Rivals.com will also be there. He is the Big East editor and is from Western Pa. If he comes back with a lot of stories on West Virginia and Louisville we may disown him.
Football recruiting
The Rivals.com database shows approximately 72 football prospects with an offer. Last year approximately 80 signed Division 1 Letters of Intent so it looks like we are right on track again this year. As of this writing 30 have made verbal commitments so there are number of prospects out there that have not made decisions.
I hope you got to watch Mike Farrell’s AMP piece this week. It featured a number of Pitt commits including Pat Bostick and Dan Matha. Mike makes the point that offensive lineman are the strength of this class in Pennsylvania. We count 21 offensive linemen with offers and 10 that have have accepted offers.
Three Pennsylvania highly ranked linemen did not make the Nike Camp at State College. Chris Jacobson, Josh Marks and Central’s Stefan Wisniewski did not attend.
Student Sports, which is located in California, runs the Nike Camps. The same coaches also are often used to run the Elite Camps. You might find this one uninteresting. They have watched over 3,300 players including 600 prospects at State College. They have Seton LaSalle’s Gino Gradkowski and Latrobe’s Paul Smikovich as first team All-Americans based on their performances at the Nike Camp. Both had great workouts in shorts and t-shirts. I thought the one coach was going to adopt Gradkowski. He fell in love with him.
Here are a number of other players from Pennsylvania or players that Pitt is recruiting that also made their first or second team All-American squads.
Pitt commit Dan Matha was a second team All-American pick. Also on the offensive side of the ball are WR Alphonso Bryant (Pitt offer) and WR Jon Ditto (Penn State).
Of the defensive side are LB Maurice Harris (Pitt offer), Chaz Powell (Penn State), Jordan Bernstine (Pitt offer) and Pat Lazear (Pitt offer) and Joe Haden (Pitt offer).
Sometimes beauty is in the eye of the beholder. These selections were made solely on the basis of watching them workout at camps. They do not ranked prospects except for their own purpose and generally do not watch much film. I bring this up only to illustrate that few in the recruiting process have all the information that they would like and that includes the Pitt coaching staff who is hampered by NCAA recruiting regulations.
It appears that when Eric Haw decided to transfer out of Ohio State an individual close to the Pitt program suggested the staff take a look at him. Last week Chris Peak reported that Pitt is up against scholarship limitations. We also hear from a “birdie” that off the field problems also complicated the matter. Our sources say it is appears to be too complicated a situation and that it is highly unlikely that Eric Haw will be headed to Pitt.
We have video in house on Pitt commit Nick Krupa. He may remind you a little of Nate Byham. The video also shows him playing some at defensive end although Coach Betherick indicated to me this week that he will build his offense around him this fall so he does not plan on playing him much on defense this season. Krupa has a 4.0 GPA. It’s actually higher than that with advanced placement courses but you get the idea. He is ranked No. 1 in his class academically. The video states he plans to graduate in December, 2006 so he should be available for spring practice. Rivals.com is scheduled to release the video for your viewing this morning.
This weekend Perry guard Cameron Holland travels to North Carolina along with offensive guard Mike Dykes from Woodland Hills. Unless Holland falls in love with Chapel Hill we expect him to commit to Pitt. Perhaps as early as next week. Holland almost committed to me last weekend when we spoke. My guess is that he will pick Pitt next week and we understand some folks on the Southside will be very happy if he does.
If he does not commit its back to the drawing board. Caleb Ruch from Quakertown is a possibility. So is Center’s Evan Blankenship. Brandon Curry out of Lauderdale Lakes, Florida is also in the mix. There are others. However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, right now the focus is on Perry’s Holland.
Henry Hynoski is visiting Iowa this weekend. We expect him to make a decision once he gets back and has chance to digest things.
We also expect Nordonia’s Jordan Mabin and Mount Lebanon Andrew Devlin to make decisions this summer.
Pitt has nine verbal commitments. A home run for Pitt is for them to land Holland, Hynoski, Mabin and Devlin within the next 30 days. This would give them 13 commitments out of the 20 scholarships we expect them to award this year.
Not sure what to make of running back Doug Hogue I was started to get a little excited about this sleeper until his coach started telling me he could end up being 6’ 4” or 6’ 5” tall. If that happens he looks like a linebacker or defensive end. If not maybe he could be a big back if Pitt fails to land Hynoski?
My dream list
Let’s assume for a moment that Pitt gets commitments from Holland, Devlin, Mabin and Hynoski. Who would we take with Pitt’s remaining seven scholarships?
1) Toney Clemons-WR-Valley
2) Mo Williams or Joe Haden-athlete
3) Bryan Williams-safety-Valley Forge
4) Bo Williams-running back-Florida
5) Xavier Stinson-running back-Florida
6) Cameron Heyward-defensive line-Georgia
7) Brandon Lindsey-LB-Aliquippa
You will note we took two running backs in addition to Henry Hynoski. Pitt has been left thin with the unexpected departure of Rashad Jennings. They are particularly thin with big backs. We will take two thank you.
If you had seven picks left who would you take?
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 7/14 9:42 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
