From the desk of Jim Snyder
Pitt will be holding their passing camp at the UPMC complex on the Southside today and tomorrow. The Pantherlair will be there.
Text alert system
We had a fair number of our annuals subscribers sign up for text alerts recently. There are still three subscribers listed in the admin section as “pending”. I can’t tell why they are listed in that category. If you have not received a text alert in the past week please contact Customer Service during normal business hours. Call 1-866-274-8257.
National forecasts look similar
I will be attending Rivals annual publisher’s conference today so I will be away from my desk for the day. Prior to attending the conference I had a chance to go through a number of the college football magazines and I thought I would give you a few of my thoughts and solicit your opinions.
Sporting News- National rank No. 55, Conference rank No. 5, record 6-6, bowl bid.
Phil Steele-National rank No. 56, Conference rank No. 5, record 7-5, bowl bid.
Lindy’s –National rank No. 60, Conference rank No. 6, 6-6, no bowl
Athlon-National rank No. 55, Conference rank No. 6, record 6-6, no bowl
As you can see there is a consistency in these projections. Nationally Pitt is predicted to be in the 50-60 range. They are projected to finish 5th or 6th in the conference depending on how they view Cincinnati. They look at Pitt as about a .500 club which is basically where they have been the past two years. Despite the fact that Pitt has been ranked No. 2, No. 1 and No. 1 in recruiting in the conference the past three years by Rivals.com no one seems to see them getting much better in the won-loss column.
Mike Tranghese must be smiling
This will only be the third year of the new Big East. Sporting News has four (4) Big East Conference teams in their Top 25. They have West Virginia at No. 4, Louisville No. 9, Rutgers at No. 19 and South Florida at No. 21.
Who in the world would have guessed only a few short years ago that the Big East would have four teams in the Top 25 while the ACC only has two teams? It is simply amazing.
Mike Tranghese must be smiling from ear to ear in Providence.
New coaches
Most of the national experts give Louisville very high grades for hiring Steve Kragthorpe and Cincinnati for hiring Brian Kelly. You almost get the impression no one misses Bobby Patrino and Mark Dantonio. Folks once wrote that the Bearcats were going to have a very difficult time competing in the Big East. Now some think they are a football program on the rise.
The old Big East was often looked down on because the teams at the bottom were very weak (Temple and Rutgers struggled). Now South Florida, Pitt and Cincy are basically looked at as teams of the future. UConn makes one list as one of the most improved teams in the country this year.
Some still are skeptical of the Big East but no one is talking about taking away a BCS berth anymore. In fact one publication thinks the Big East Conference may get two BCS berths this year.
Athlon ranks the conferences like this:
1) SEC
2) Pac-10
3) Big East
4) Big Ten
5) Big 12
6) ACC
7) Mountain West
In short while a few are still a few skeptical of the Big East many now think there isn’t much difference between the top six conferences.
Some of these analysts only see marginal improvement at Pitt for a few different reasons. The uncertainty at quarterback often has Pitt ranked dead last in the conference at this position. Pitt has three scholarship quarterbacks who ultimately need to grab control in Seton LaSalle’s Bill Stull and freshmen Kevan Smith and Pat Bostick. I still believe Bill Stull will open the year as the Pitt starter although if he does not get the job done the other two will be waiting for their chance. Pitt does not figure to go unbeaten regardless of who starts so if the staff wants to make a change the opportunity will be there.
Bill Stull threw for 3,310 yards to become the first quarterback in the WPIAL to go over the 3,000 yard mark. Seton-LaSalle was 13-1 in his senior season. Stull lacks experience at the college level but he does have a resume suggesting he is capable of performing at this level.
Pitt fans will be watching the progress of the three quarterbacks in fall camp. If one of these three produces Pitt could be better than the preseason forecasts suggest Pitt should move into the bowl picture.
Linebacker is also an area of concern with the graduation of H. B. Blades and Clint Session. The staff brought in three linebackers in 2006. Greg Webster has been battling Chron’s disease and Dan Loyhede got off to a slow start with a knee injury.
Scott McKillop should be more than adequate in the middle but there is a lot of concern about both outside positions. If Dorin Dickerson and Nate Nix from the Class of 2006 step forward on the outside all of the angst maybe for naught.
There is some irony that the offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh and the defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads also happen to be the position coach at the positions of most concern right now. Hopefully they will find the answers before we are too deep into the football season.
Pitt opens the season with Eastern Michigan and Grambling so their search could extend beyond fall camp. Rivals.com recently rated Pitt’s schedule the No. 23 toughest schedule in the country. This is in part because all five of their away games are potential losses.
Pitt is slowly building depth at a number of positions but it might take one more recruiting class to get them where they need to be. In 2005 Pitt was a Top 25 preseason selection and finished 5-6. It is a nice compliment to be highly thought of before the season. It is even better if they think you are on the rise after the season.
Running back coach Dave Walker will have at his disposal LeSean McCoy, LaRod Stephens-Howling, Kevin Collier, Conredge Collins, Shane Brooks and Henry Hynoski. From a depth standpoint this might be as good as Pitt has enjoyed in a couple of decades. In some ways the pressure is on Coach Paul Dunn and Buddy Morris to get if they can develop a front capable of getting a little push up front. It seems like we have been saying this for a decade but Pitt needs to prove it can run the ball. If Pitt can run the ball it would take the pressure of an inexperienced quarterback.
I am not so sure you will see a big name school replace Clemson in 2010 and 2011. The Big East Conference has rebuilt itself much quicker than most folks thought. I suspect the staff feels playing Notre Dame and Miami in 2010 and Notre Dame and Iowa in 2011 is enough. With four Big East teams now ranked in the Top 25 my guess is Jeff Long will be looking for home games or at least someone you have a good chance of beating. He was in spin control yesterday in Paul Zeise’s column in the Post-Gazette.
Traditionally the Pitt coaches take a couple of weeks vacation after their passing camp this weekend before gearing up for fall camp. They usually leave a couple behind to man the phones in case a recruit wants to communicate with them.
Since our War Room article last week the basketball program landed Top 150 basket prospect Ashton Gibbs. He comes from a very good program at Seton Hall Prep which was 30-1 last year and their only loss was to nationally ranked St Patrick’s in the Tournament of Champions. Pitt also has commitment from St. Anthony’s Travon Woodall and Chester’s Nasir Robinson. All three of these players come from winning programs. They should be fun to follow in their senior year in high school.
The Pitt football program has landed Greensburg CC’s Chris Hayden-Martin and Clairton’s Manny Williams since last Friday’s War Room. These two are also both from winning programs. I saw both Greensburg Central Catholic and Clairton play at Heinz Field in the WPIAL championship games although to be honest my eyes were not focused on Manny Williams. I was surprised they upset a good Rochester team that day which featured Derek Moye.
There had been rumors swirling around the UPMC complex all week that Lucas Nix would commit to Pitt at this weekend’s passing camp. Thomas Jefferson coach Bill Cherpak advised the Pantherlair yesterday that Lucas Nix would announce today at the Pitt passing camp that he will attend the University of Pittsburgh. Lucas is a Rival.com’s Top 100 selection. Rivals.com ranks Nix as the No. 3 prospect in the state of Pennsylvania. It was only a matter of time on this one.
Tight end Mike DiLillo has told Clemson he has reopened his recruitment. He told them he was considering Pitt and Purdue. The Boilermakers have already landed a tight end so hopefully Hubie Graham will not scare him away. They were both at the Pitt camp the same day.
You have to think that there is a very good chance Dublin Coffman quarterback Zack Stoudt will commit to Pitt before too long unless another school jumps into the recruiting race quickly. Will Pitt continue to recruit Terrelle Pryor or Star Jackson if the land Stoudt?
Throughout much of the spring the coaches were telling recruits that they will only take three offensive linemen but they are now saying four. The fact that Kevin Hughes left the program is probably the reason they are now looking at one more. We now show offers for Thomas Jefferson’s Lucas Nix (6’ 6” 295), Hopewell’s Ryan Turnley (6’ 5” 296), Boyertown’s Tyler Sands (6’ 5” 290) and Jimmy Bennett (6’ 8” 270) from Alexandria, Virginia. You have to figure you are going to have to offer more than four to get four so some of the linemen we have been reporting on without offers could still get a call.
On the hoops front forward Brian Oliver (6’ 6”) from Delaware is scheduled to attend a camp in Morgantown this weekend. He is supposed to use the opportunity to make an unofficial visit to Pitt today. He is a 2009 prospect.
Justin Young from Rivals.com reported yesterday that forward Eloy Vargas (6’ 10”) will now visit Pitt, Ohio State, Indiana and Louisville. Vargas is in the Class of 2008.
As mentioned earlier I will be attending a Rivals conference in downtown Nashville today. They are widening a road near my home. I would be without power or internet for a few hours today anyhow. It will save me the frustration of not having internet service.
Yahoo! purchases Rivals.com
As reported yesterday on the Between Fifth & Forbes Message Board, Yahoo! has acquired Rivals.com. I am sure this will be a major subject of conversation at Rivals.com publisher conference today.
My guess is you will not see many major changes. I think Rivals.com will continue to be operated as a separate business unit. The senior management at Rivals.com has agreed to stay on and continue to operate the Rivals network.
ESPN has been the No. 1 sports destination on the internet. Once Yahoo and Rivals.com are merged they will be right there with ESPN and the merged companies should actually enjoy a slight lead.
My guess is they are looking to drive traffic to both companies. In the long run Yahoo! has technical expertise which should allow Rivals.com to push the envelop. You could see more video and audio going forward.
Both companies are profitable and should have combined revenues over well over $6.8 billion per year so the network now looks very stable and secure.
You can tell that Rivals reporters were headed to a conference. There were 75 articles on the Ticker in the past four days. I am exhausted trying to read them all.
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.
Pitt will be holding their passing camp at the UPMC complex on the Southside today and tomorrow. The Pantherlair will be there.
Text alert system
We had a fair number of our annuals subscribers sign up for text alerts recently. There are still three subscribers listed in the admin section as “pending”. I can’t tell why they are listed in that category. If you have not received a text alert in the past week please contact Customer Service during normal business hours. Call 1-866-274-8257.
National forecasts look similar
I will be attending Rivals annual publisher’s conference today so I will be away from my desk for the day. Prior to attending the conference I had a chance to go through a number of the college football magazines and I thought I would give you a few of my thoughts and solicit your opinions.
Sporting News- National rank No. 55, Conference rank No. 5, record 6-6, bowl bid.
Phil Steele-National rank No. 56, Conference rank No. 5, record 7-5, bowl bid.
Lindy’s –National rank No. 60, Conference rank No. 6, 6-6, no bowl
Athlon-National rank No. 55, Conference rank No. 6, record 6-6, no bowl
As you can see there is a consistency in these projections. Nationally Pitt is predicted to be in the 50-60 range. They are projected to finish 5th or 6th in the conference depending on how they view Cincinnati. They look at Pitt as about a .500 club which is basically where they have been the past two years. Despite the fact that Pitt has been ranked No. 2, No. 1 and No. 1 in recruiting in the conference the past three years by Rivals.com no one seems to see them getting much better in the won-loss column.
Mike Tranghese must be smiling
This will only be the third year of the new Big East. Sporting News has four (4) Big East Conference teams in their Top 25. They have West Virginia at No. 4, Louisville No. 9, Rutgers at No. 19 and South Florida at No. 21.
Who in the world would have guessed only a few short years ago that the Big East would have four teams in the Top 25 while the ACC only has two teams? It is simply amazing.
Mike Tranghese must be smiling from ear to ear in Providence.
New coaches
Most of the national experts give Louisville very high grades for hiring Steve Kragthorpe and Cincinnati for hiring Brian Kelly. You almost get the impression no one misses Bobby Patrino and Mark Dantonio. Folks once wrote that the Bearcats were going to have a very difficult time competing in the Big East. Now some think they are a football program on the rise.
The old Big East was often looked down on because the teams at the bottom were very weak (Temple and Rutgers struggled). Now South Florida, Pitt and Cincy are basically looked at as teams of the future. UConn makes one list as one of the most improved teams in the country this year.
Some still are skeptical of the Big East but no one is talking about taking away a BCS berth anymore. In fact one publication thinks the Big East Conference may get two BCS berths this year.
Athlon ranks the conferences like this:
1) SEC
2) Pac-10
3) Big East
4) Big Ten
5) Big 12
6) ACC
7) Mountain West
In short while a few are still a few skeptical of the Big East many now think there isn’t much difference between the top six conferences.
Some of these analysts only see marginal improvement at Pitt for a few different reasons. The uncertainty at quarterback often has Pitt ranked dead last in the conference at this position. Pitt has three scholarship quarterbacks who ultimately need to grab control in Seton LaSalle’s Bill Stull and freshmen Kevan Smith and Pat Bostick. I still believe Bill Stull will open the year as the Pitt starter although if he does not get the job done the other two will be waiting for their chance. Pitt does not figure to go unbeaten regardless of who starts so if the staff wants to make a change the opportunity will be there.
Bill Stull threw for 3,310 yards to become the first quarterback in the WPIAL to go over the 3,000 yard mark. Seton-LaSalle was 13-1 in his senior season. Stull lacks experience at the college level but he does have a resume suggesting he is capable of performing at this level.
Pitt fans will be watching the progress of the three quarterbacks in fall camp. If one of these three produces Pitt could be better than the preseason forecasts suggest Pitt should move into the bowl picture.
Linebacker is also an area of concern with the graduation of H. B. Blades and Clint Session. The staff brought in three linebackers in 2006. Greg Webster has been battling Chron’s disease and Dan Loyhede got off to a slow start with a knee injury.
Scott McKillop should be more than adequate in the middle but there is a lot of concern about both outside positions. If Dorin Dickerson and Nate Nix from the Class of 2006 step forward on the outside all of the angst maybe for naught.
There is some irony that the offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh and the defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads also happen to be the position coach at the positions of most concern right now. Hopefully they will find the answers before we are too deep into the football season.
Pitt opens the season with Eastern Michigan and Grambling so their search could extend beyond fall camp. Rivals.com recently rated Pitt’s schedule the No. 23 toughest schedule in the country. This is in part because all five of their away games are potential losses.
Pitt is slowly building depth at a number of positions but it might take one more recruiting class to get them where they need to be. In 2005 Pitt was a Top 25 preseason selection and finished 5-6. It is a nice compliment to be highly thought of before the season. It is even better if they think you are on the rise after the season.
Running back coach Dave Walker will have at his disposal LeSean McCoy, LaRod Stephens-Howling, Kevin Collier, Conredge Collins, Shane Brooks and Henry Hynoski. From a depth standpoint this might be as good as Pitt has enjoyed in a couple of decades. In some ways the pressure is on Coach Paul Dunn and Buddy Morris to get if they can develop a front capable of getting a little push up front. It seems like we have been saying this for a decade but Pitt needs to prove it can run the ball. If Pitt can run the ball it would take the pressure of an inexperienced quarterback.
I am not so sure you will see a big name school replace Clemson in 2010 and 2011. The Big East Conference has rebuilt itself much quicker than most folks thought. I suspect the staff feels playing Notre Dame and Miami in 2010 and Notre Dame and Iowa in 2011 is enough. With four Big East teams now ranked in the Top 25 my guess is Jeff Long will be looking for home games or at least someone you have a good chance of beating. He was in spin control yesterday in Paul Zeise’s column in the Post-Gazette.
Traditionally the Pitt coaches take a couple of weeks vacation after their passing camp this weekend before gearing up for fall camp. They usually leave a couple behind to man the phones in case a recruit wants to communicate with them.
Since our War Room article last week the basketball program landed Top 150 basket prospect Ashton Gibbs. He comes from a very good program at Seton Hall Prep which was 30-1 last year and their only loss was to nationally ranked St Patrick’s in the Tournament of Champions. Pitt also has commitment from St. Anthony’s Travon Woodall and Chester’s Nasir Robinson. All three of these players come from winning programs. They should be fun to follow in their senior year in high school.
The Pitt football program has landed Greensburg CC’s Chris Hayden-Martin and Clairton’s Manny Williams since last Friday’s War Room. These two are also both from winning programs. I saw both Greensburg Central Catholic and Clairton play at Heinz Field in the WPIAL championship games although to be honest my eyes were not focused on Manny Williams. I was surprised they upset a good Rochester team that day which featured Derek Moye.
There had been rumors swirling around the UPMC complex all week that Lucas Nix would commit to Pitt at this weekend’s passing camp. Thomas Jefferson coach Bill Cherpak advised the Pantherlair yesterday that Lucas Nix would announce today at the Pitt passing camp that he will attend the University of Pittsburgh. Lucas is a Rival.com’s Top 100 selection. Rivals.com ranks Nix as the No. 3 prospect in the state of Pennsylvania. It was only a matter of time on this one.
Tight end Mike DiLillo has told Clemson he has reopened his recruitment. He told them he was considering Pitt and Purdue. The Boilermakers have already landed a tight end so hopefully Hubie Graham will not scare him away. They were both at the Pitt camp the same day.
You have to think that there is a very good chance Dublin Coffman quarterback Zack Stoudt will commit to Pitt before too long unless another school jumps into the recruiting race quickly. Will Pitt continue to recruit Terrelle Pryor or Star Jackson if the land Stoudt?
Throughout much of the spring the coaches were telling recruits that they will only take three offensive linemen but they are now saying four. The fact that Kevin Hughes left the program is probably the reason they are now looking at one more. We now show offers for Thomas Jefferson’s Lucas Nix (6’ 6” 295), Hopewell’s Ryan Turnley (6’ 5” 296), Boyertown’s Tyler Sands (6’ 5” 290) and Jimmy Bennett (6’ 8” 270) from Alexandria, Virginia. You have to figure you are going to have to offer more than four to get four so some of the linemen we have been reporting on without offers could still get a call.
On the hoops front forward Brian Oliver (6’ 6”) from Delaware is scheduled to attend a camp in Morgantown this weekend. He is supposed to use the opportunity to make an unofficial visit to Pitt today. He is a 2009 prospect.
Justin Young from Rivals.com reported yesterday that forward Eloy Vargas (6’ 10”) will now visit Pitt, Ohio State, Indiana and Louisville. Vargas is in the Class of 2008.
As mentioned earlier I will be attending a Rivals conference in downtown Nashville today. They are widening a road near my home. I would be without power or internet for a few hours today anyhow. It will save me the frustration of not having internet service.
Yahoo! purchases Rivals.com
As reported yesterday on the Between Fifth & Forbes Message Board, Yahoo! has acquired Rivals.com. I am sure this will be a major subject of conversation at Rivals.com publisher conference today.
My guess is you will not see many major changes. I think Rivals.com will continue to be operated as a separate business unit. The senior management at Rivals.com has agreed to stay on and continue to operate the Rivals network.
ESPN has been the No. 1 sports destination on the internet. Once Yahoo and Rivals.com are merged they will be right there with ESPN and the merged companies should actually enjoy a slight lead.
My guess is they are looking to drive traffic to both companies. In the long run Yahoo! has technical expertise which should allow Rivals.com to push the envelop. You could see more video and audio going forward.
Both companies are profitable and should have combined revenues over well over $6.8 billion per year so the network now looks very stable and secure.
You can tell that Rivals reporters were headed to a conference. There were 75 articles on the Ticker in the past four days. I am exhausted trying to read them all.
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.
