From the desk of Jim Snyder
Rosters and depth charts
The rosters and depth charts have been updated to conform to those released by Pitt to the Big East Conference. We will need to update them again when Pitt releases their press guides to the media and once the “Ticker” service has released some internal coding. The players’ profiles also went through a software upgrade this week.
We all know this will not be what the depth chart looks like later this fall but this chart tells you who the coaches feel the freshmen must beat out to work their way on to the two-deep chart. It should be the basis for some fun discussions in the next couple of weeks before camp officially starts. They move to 12 games this year could mean that all colleges redshirt fewer players this year. Traditionally most schools redshirt about 15 players each year. Maybe that number will move down to 12 or13?
Paul Zeise of the Post-Gazette reported this week that for the first few days freshmen will practice separately from upper classmen. It is a signal the coaches feel they need to find out quickly who they think can be ready for the opener with Virginia by giving the freshman a few more reps early. For the first four practice days colleges are not permitted to schedule two-a-days. It did not take Paul Zeise and Chris Peak long to figure out that having two practices (one for veterans and one for freshmen) sessions means they will be doing two-a-days right from day one.
New poll on the Home Page
In the last few weeks before the start of fall camp we thought we would hold a new poll on the Home Page. Which freshman do you think has the best chart of being on the two-deep chart? We have excluded a few of the highly ranked local players like Dorin Dickerson, Elijah Fields, John Malecki and Jason Pinkston but have given you a choice of six others. Tell us which one of these is most like to find his way on to the two-deep chart before we are too far along into the 2006 football season? Will it be Aaron Berry, Nate Byham, Kevin Collier, Tamarcus Porter, Greg Webster or Joe Thomas?
Big East Media Day
Hopefully you had a chance to listen to radio replay of Rivals.com Big East editor Dallas Jackson from Newport, Rhodes Island. He had some interesting things to say on how Pitt got off to a bad start last year and then turned it around over the last half season in 2005 based in part on his conversation with Chris McKillop. Incidentally both Dallas and Chris graduated from Kiski High School. An audio replay is pinned to the top of this message board for those that missed it.
Houston Bowl
The Big East Conference will send a representative to the Houston Bowl every other year. The Big East gets even numbered years and Conference USA gets odd numbered years. The game will be televised by the NFL Network. This network is carried by DirecTV and the Dish Network but is still trying to find a home on many cable systems. It looks like the NFL Network is trying to use a couple of bowl games to create pressure on some cable systems to carry them.
Pitt (finally) hires David Cox
Hopefully you have had a chance to read Chris Peak’s interview with David Cox earlier this week. Perhaps it will help Pitt open some doors with the DC Assault AAU team. Cox has been the assistant principal at St. John’s Prep High School in Washington, DC the past seven (7) years. Justin Young from Rivals.com had an article this week on 5-star point guard Chris Wright and Chris Peak had an article defensive end Tony Tucker this week. Both players attend St John’s Prep. Hopefully Cox will help Pitt get official visits from a football and a basketball prospect from his old school.
Some recruiting odds and ends
This past week the Pantherlair had published articles on tight end Mat Williams out of Ft. Meyers, Florida and [/B]Kyle Hubbard[/B] out of Lakewood St Edward’s. In addition the Virginia site published an article on tight end Cameron Joplin. A Michigan State reporter once told me Joplin loved both Pitt and Virginia and the first one to offer probably gets him. He is still waiting on offers from both schools. Pitt is waiting to hear from Mount Lebanon’s Andrew Devlin. They already have a tight end commit in Nick Krupa. I guess the big question is if Pitt does not get Devlin will they still try to sign a second tight end?
If Michigan does not offer Andrew Devlin soon it should get down to Pitt and Virginia. Both parents are Pitt grads but this might not help as much as one would think. We should have an answer within a couple of weeks on this one.
Ohio State got a commitment from Evan Blankenship this past week. You will recall Pitt once hauled the entire football team on a bus to Center High School to chase this guy. On the other hand his stocked seemed to be falling the past several weeks. Blankenship went to a camp at Ohio State a year ago. It got him a very quick offer early this year from the Buckeyes. Pitt followed quickly with an offer of their own. We have heard too many warning signs from many different sources over the past several weeks. He will be in our next PA Top 50 but will be moved down a little. We are happy for Evan. He got a scholarship to a school he likes. We hope it works out for him.
At last count we saw approximately 74 players in state with scholarship offers. 32 have made verbal commitments.
Pitt now waits on Perry Cameron Holland to make a decision. There are other guard possibilities out there like Quakertown’s Caleb Ruch and Woodland Hills’ Mike Dykes. Not so sure I would not look at another tackle instead. Pitt has players like John Bachman that can been moved inside but still could use some more depth at tackle.
Chris and I both talked to Zane Parr out of Williamsport High School. He is listed in the database as a defensive tackle although it is our understanding that Pitt was looking at him as an offensive guard. Parr has offers from UConn and Temple but it looks like Pitt has backed off for now. We have removed Pitt from his profile and will allow other reporters on the Rivals network to cover him.
This week there were two (2) articles on the “Ticker” on running back Malcolm Harris (5’ 9” 168) out of Patterson, New Jersey. He said Maryland is his leader but Pitt was in his top five and could get an official visit. Quite frankly we would like to see Pitt land a couple of big backs to replace Rashad Jennings who has left the program for personal reasons. Harris is out there and in the mix if they fail in this attempt. Pitt ready has LaRod Stevens and Kevin Collier on the roster.
Chris Peak spoke to Florida running back Armando Allen this week. He has offers from Florida, Florida State, Notre Dame and Southern Cal. He apparently does not have much interest in Pitt so the Pitt coaches have stopped recruiting him for the time being. We have removed Pitt from his profile and will let other reporters on the Rivals network cover him.
Yesterday the Pantherlair had an article on Maryland defensive lineman Justin Young (6’ 5” 255). The Virginia Tech site also had one on Young yesterday. He told both of us that Pitt and Virginia Tech were his top two. He told me there is no team in third place it will be one of these two. Hopefully he does not commit on his trip to Virginia Tech this weekend and makes his way to Pittsburgh next week. If that happens Coach Wannstedt gets the last shot at him.
Wannstedt on Rivals Radio today
Pitt head football coach Dave Wannstedt is scheduled to be on Rivals Radio this morning. If you miss it live we should have a replay available later in the day. Rivals Radio is scheduled to preview Pitt today.
Photo gallery coming
Chris Peak is scheduled to attend the Pitt workout sessions today at the UPMC complex on the Southside. We should have a photo gallery up later 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.
Rosters and depth charts
The rosters and depth charts have been updated to conform to those released by Pitt to the Big East Conference. We will need to update them again when Pitt releases their press guides to the media and once the “Ticker” service has released some internal coding. The players’ profiles also went through a software upgrade this week.
We all know this will not be what the depth chart looks like later this fall but this chart tells you who the coaches feel the freshmen must beat out to work their way on to the two-deep chart. It should be the basis for some fun discussions in the next couple of weeks before camp officially starts. They move to 12 games this year could mean that all colleges redshirt fewer players this year. Traditionally most schools redshirt about 15 players each year. Maybe that number will move down to 12 or13?
Paul Zeise of the Post-Gazette reported this week that for the first few days freshmen will practice separately from upper classmen. It is a signal the coaches feel they need to find out quickly who they think can be ready for the opener with Virginia by giving the freshman a few more reps early. For the first four practice days colleges are not permitted to schedule two-a-days. It did not take Paul Zeise and Chris Peak long to figure out that having two practices (one for veterans and one for freshmen) sessions means they will be doing two-a-days right from day one.
New poll on the Home Page
In the last few weeks before the start of fall camp we thought we would hold a new poll on the Home Page. Which freshman do you think has the best chart of being on the two-deep chart? We have excluded a few of the highly ranked local players like Dorin Dickerson, Elijah Fields, John Malecki and Jason Pinkston but have given you a choice of six others. Tell us which one of these is most like to find his way on to the two-deep chart before we are too far along into the 2006 football season? Will it be Aaron Berry, Nate Byham, Kevin Collier, Tamarcus Porter, Greg Webster or Joe Thomas?
Big East Media Day
Hopefully you had a chance to listen to radio replay of Rivals.com Big East editor Dallas Jackson from Newport, Rhodes Island. He had some interesting things to say on how Pitt got off to a bad start last year and then turned it around over the last half season in 2005 based in part on his conversation with Chris McKillop. Incidentally both Dallas and Chris graduated from Kiski High School. An audio replay is pinned to the top of this message board for those that missed it.
Houston Bowl
The Big East Conference will send a representative to the Houston Bowl every other year. The Big East gets even numbered years and Conference USA gets odd numbered years. The game will be televised by the NFL Network. This network is carried by DirecTV and the Dish Network but is still trying to find a home on many cable systems. It looks like the NFL Network is trying to use a couple of bowl games to create pressure on some cable systems to carry them.
Pitt (finally) hires David Cox
Hopefully you have had a chance to read Chris Peak’s interview with David Cox earlier this week. Perhaps it will help Pitt open some doors with the DC Assault AAU team. Cox has been the assistant principal at St. John’s Prep High School in Washington, DC the past seven (7) years. Justin Young from Rivals.com had an article this week on 5-star point guard Chris Wright and Chris Peak had an article defensive end Tony Tucker this week. Both players attend St John’s Prep. Hopefully Cox will help Pitt get official visits from a football and a basketball prospect from his old school.
Some recruiting odds and ends
This past week the Pantherlair had published articles on tight end Mat Williams out of Ft. Meyers, Florida and [/B]Kyle Hubbard[/B] out of Lakewood St Edward’s. In addition the Virginia site published an article on tight end Cameron Joplin. A Michigan State reporter once told me Joplin loved both Pitt and Virginia and the first one to offer probably gets him. He is still waiting on offers from both schools. Pitt is waiting to hear from Mount Lebanon’s Andrew Devlin. They already have a tight end commit in Nick Krupa. I guess the big question is if Pitt does not get Devlin will they still try to sign a second tight end?
If Michigan does not offer Andrew Devlin soon it should get down to Pitt and Virginia. Both parents are Pitt grads but this might not help as much as one would think. We should have an answer within a couple of weeks on this one.
Ohio State got a commitment from Evan Blankenship this past week. You will recall Pitt once hauled the entire football team on a bus to Center High School to chase this guy. On the other hand his stocked seemed to be falling the past several weeks. Blankenship went to a camp at Ohio State a year ago. It got him a very quick offer early this year from the Buckeyes. Pitt followed quickly with an offer of their own. We have heard too many warning signs from many different sources over the past several weeks. He will be in our next PA Top 50 but will be moved down a little. We are happy for Evan. He got a scholarship to a school he likes. We hope it works out for him.
At last count we saw approximately 74 players in state with scholarship offers. 32 have made verbal commitments.
Pitt now waits on Perry Cameron Holland to make a decision. There are other guard possibilities out there like Quakertown’s Caleb Ruch and Woodland Hills’ Mike Dykes. Not so sure I would not look at another tackle instead. Pitt has players like John Bachman that can been moved inside but still could use some more depth at tackle.
Chris and I both talked to Zane Parr out of Williamsport High School. He is listed in the database as a defensive tackle although it is our understanding that Pitt was looking at him as an offensive guard. Parr has offers from UConn and Temple but it looks like Pitt has backed off for now. We have removed Pitt from his profile and will allow other reporters on the Rivals network to cover him.
This week there were two (2) articles on the “Ticker” on running back Malcolm Harris (5’ 9” 168) out of Patterson, New Jersey. He said Maryland is his leader but Pitt was in his top five and could get an official visit. Quite frankly we would like to see Pitt land a couple of big backs to replace Rashad Jennings who has left the program for personal reasons. Harris is out there and in the mix if they fail in this attempt. Pitt ready has LaRod Stevens and Kevin Collier on the roster.
Chris Peak spoke to Florida running back Armando Allen this week. He has offers from Florida, Florida State, Notre Dame and Southern Cal. He apparently does not have much interest in Pitt so the Pitt coaches have stopped recruiting him for the time being. We have removed Pitt from his profile and will let other reporters on the Rivals network cover him.
Yesterday the Pantherlair had an article on Maryland defensive lineman Justin Young (6’ 5” 255). The Virginia Tech site also had one on Young yesterday. He told both of us that Pitt and Virginia Tech were his top two. He told me there is no team in third place it will be one of these two. Hopefully he does not commit on his trip to Virginia Tech this weekend and makes his way to Pittsburgh next week. If that happens Coach Wannstedt gets the last shot at him.
Wannstedt on Rivals Radio today
Pitt head football coach Dave Wannstedt is scheduled to be on Rivals Radio this morning. If you miss it live we should have a replay available later in the day. Rivals Radio is scheduled to preview Pitt today.
Photo gallery coming
Chris Peak is scheduled to attend the Pitt workout sessions today at the UPMC complex on the Southside. We should have a photo gallery up later 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.
