From the desk of Jim Snyder
Where are those crazy stars?
Last year Rivals.com rolled out their three-star ratings in June. It appears there are so many computer software upgrades going on the have pushed it back to July this year. In some prior years they were also released in July so they are not running that far behind. In some ways they were simply a little early last year.
Today the Pantherlair releases an updated version of the PA Top 50. We were one of the first to release an initial version and it soon became pretty obvious we need an update. In theory everyone on this list should end up at a Division 1 school if there academic status is in order. Last year about 80 players from Pennsylvania signed Letters of Intent. In some ways we had to leave several players of this list that we thought deserved to be there. We still think 70 or 80 could be signed again this year. Check the new Pantherlair Top 50 when you have had a chance at the top of the Between Fifth & Forbes Message Board.
Annual subscriptions take a nice jump
Rivals.com has been asking publishers to mention annual subscriptions. The result has been a significant jump across the entire network. If you are a Gold Member and have not converted you should. In the long run you will save money. See Chris Peak’s post at the top of the Center Court at the Pete Message Board for more details.
Greatest Player’s Poll
Rivals is running a greatest players poll. The four Pitt candidates are Tony Dorsett, Mike Ditka, Hugh Green and Dan Marino. Just think they had to leave Mark May, Ricky Jackson, Joe Schmidt, Bill Fralic and Jimbo Covert out of the poll when they only took four from each school. There are few other schools in the country the have this kind of depth when he comes to quality high visibility players. The moderator at the Rivals.com convention could only shake his head when talking about the group of players Pitt fans had to choose from. Rivals.com had about a hundred thousand votes in the first day. Vote early. Vote often. Don’t let those Mountaineer fans sway the poll for former Pitt players.
Some Hoops talk
In some ways football recruiting often slows somewhat during the month of July. Many college coaches take the opportunity to take some well-deserved vacation time. Once they take the team to fall camp in August they often work seven days weeks until after Letter of Intent Day in early February. Recruiting for basketball on the other hand heats up in July.
July is an Evaluation Period. Recently many of the top players attended the NBA Camp in Virginia. Rivals.com was there covering it for you but college coaches were not able to attend. There will be camps or tournaments in July in places like New Jersey, Atlanta, West Virginia, Orlando, Indianapolis, Las Vegas and California. I am sure I am forgetting a few. Jamie Dixon, Orlando Antigua and Mike Rice will pack their suitcases and hit they road. Eating hot dogs, hamburgers or some other sandwich while sitting in bleachers will become a way of life for them. Hopefully this trio will target several recruits for official visits this fall. Unless something happens late as it did a few years ago with Ontario Lett it appears Pitt will have five scholarships to give for the Class of 2007. Bringing in some height to ease the loss of Aaron Gray and Levon Kendal after this season will be very important.
Hopefully you have read the article which came through late yesterday afternoon on the “Ticker” from GoPowerCats.com. They have an interview with J.O. Stright of the Pittsburgh JOTS. Pittsburgh has not put out a lot of Division 1 basketball prospects in recent years. Just when it looked like life might get easier for the Pitt coaching staff J.O. Stright and Bob Huggins muddle the recruiting picture. Kansas State hired Bob Huggins to coach their basketball team this year. In addition Bill Snyder retired and the Kansas State hired a new football coach. The net result is that GoPowerCat.com is the fastest growing site on the entire Rivals.com network. Those guys are taking no prisoners. I am in absolute awe of their growth pattern.
There was an article posted to the basketball message board which said former DC Assault coach David Cox was “poised to accept” the position of Director of Basketball Operations at Pitt. A “birdie” told us a few days ago that Pitt interviewed him last Friday but could not confirm that he had been hired. Yesterday we check back with the “birdie” who said they still had not filled the position and the article was premature. I kind of like what I read about the guy. I hope they are able to put the deal together.
The ups in downs of recruiting
Since we wrote the War Room a week ago Gino Gradkowski committed to West Virginia and Nick Sukay committed to Penn State. These two have been leaning this way for a long time. Pitt worked there way into their top two or three but it was not enough. Sukay turned down Notre Dame and 37 other offers and with Gradkowski it appears there were extended family issues.
This week Chris Peak broke the story that offensive tackle John Fieger had committed to Pitt. Fieger was somewhat of a sleeper coming into the recruiting process. John comes from Upper Perkiomen, which is a AAA school. I hope you had a chance to read Tony Greco’s follow-up article in which he interviews his coach Keith Leamer. It will give you a better understanding of John. Upper Perkiomen plays in the Pioneer Athletic Conference, which has Lansdale Catholic and Pottstown as members.
Chris also broke the story last night that Myles Caragein had committed to Pitt. A nice job by Chris and a thank you to his “birdie”. It was also a very good job by the Pitt coaching staff. Caragein had about 30 offers. The Pantherlair has him as the No. 15 prospect overall in the state of Pennsylvania.
ESPN has a recruiting rating service as a part of their Insider pay service. They are about at the same stage in the process as Rivals.com is right now in ranking players. Here are their top prospects in the state so far.
1) Mo Williams-83
2) Pat Bostick-80
3) Stefen Wisneski-80
4) Chris Jacobson –79
5) Myles Caragein 79
6) Josh Marks-79
7) Jon Ditto-79
8) Toney Clemons –78
9) Nick Sukay-78
10) Andrew Devlin-78
You can see that no matter which system you use. Myles Caragein was a very nice pickup for the Pitt coaching staff. Note that the ESPN service has not ranked all the prospects in the state so these rankings could change a little. They have many of the top players done so it should not change much.
Pitt now has commitments from two offensive linemen. They should take 2 or 3 more. William Penn’s Greg Gaskins, Perry Cameron Holland and Center’s Evan Blankenship are all very viable candidates. The first two interior linemen to raise their hand will probably get the scholarships.
At offensive tackle Erie’s Dan Matha (6’ 6” 311) and Braden Curry (6’ 6” 300) out of Florida are the two leading candidates at the moment. There are other candidates out there that Pitt has not yet offered which could still get offers once the staff has a better read on where they stand with these two. Pitt is recruiting Mount Lebanon’s Andrew Devlin as a tight end but he could also be a tackle some day if he continues to grow.
The Class of 2007 in state is strong at wide receiver and on the offense line. There are a few like prospects like Chris Jacobson, Stefen Weisnewski and Dan Matha and maybe one or two others that are a little ahead of the rest of the group but most of them are a case of beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You could have grabbed five of the top dozen at the Nike camp at random and probably have come out just fine. This is the toughest position to evaluate. It is often about the willingness to work hard in the weight-room and the heart to take a certain amount punishment that separates these guys.
As an example Pitt has offered Greg Gaskins (6’ 2” 280) from William Penn High School in York has a scholarship offer from Pitt but they not yet offered his teammate Richard Muldrow (6’ 6” 290). The big tackle has offers from West Virginia, BC and Maryland but Pitt has not offered although he still says he likes the Panthers (see the article on yesterday’s Ticker). Mike Dykes from Woodland Hills has a half dozen offers and looks like he is headed to North Carolina right now but still has no offer from Pitt.
It is our understanding that Pitt would like to bring in two running backs. In an ideal world it would be Henry Hynoski from Southern Columbia and either Bo Williams or maybe LeSean McCoy. Tony Greco spoke to the Milford Academy coach this week. He told Tony the family does not want him doing interviews until things calm down in August. Many reporters have been calling him to get a better read on the situation with McCoy as rumors run wild on his recruitment. The Milford Academy coach told Tony he would have 25 Division 1 prospects this year.
We played telephone tag with Henry Hynoski for almost a week before tracking him down. (sometimes it happens). He visited Pitt this week and will visit Iowa next month. Pitt coaches had hoped he would skip the Iowa visit but it looks like he will now make the trip (See Chris Peak’s article which went on the Ticker yesterday). The visit to Pitt went well and I still think at the end of the day Hynoski will be a Panther.
Last week we wrote about running back [db]Bo Williams[/db]. I am not sure I have ever interviewed a guy who was so pumped up about Pitt. It could simply be his personality but he was over the top in his praise for Pitt and Pittsburgh. Hopefully you saw the post where he and his teammates went on to my MySpace.com and posted Hail to Pitt in their message to Coach Partridge. Williams did not breakout cheering Let’s Go Pitt but just about everything else was covered. The only thing that slowed me up from irrational enthusiasm (to borrow a phrase from former Federal Reserve Chairman Allan Greenspan) was that he did not commit on his trip to Pittsburgh. Still he is a guy we all need to watch. Bo likes Pitt.
There are other running back candidates out there from the state of Florida. Xavier Stinson is built like a bowling ball at 5’ 8” but he weighs 214 so he should be able to protect himself. His uncle Tim Lester played for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Yesterday Rivals Recruiting analyst J.C. Shurburt reported that Stinson had Pitt in his top three. I kind of like this guy. I hope they can work him into the mix.
In addition running Florida running backs Zac Brown (5’ 10” 198) from Royal Palm Beach, Greg Williams from Naples (6’ 2” 205) and Chicon Lee (5’ 11” 196) all hold Pitt offers and seem to like the Panthers program.
Finally we have had two articles this week on Nordonia’s Jordan Mabin. We like this guy. He tested well at the Nike Camp in Columbus and has some speed. He is Dorin Dickerson’s cousin, which is good enough for me. We think he will also probably commit this summer to Pitt.
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.
Where are those crazy stars?
Last year Rivals.com rolled out their three-star ratings in June. It appears there are so many computer software upgrades going on the have pushed it back to July this year. In some prior years they were also released in July so they are not running that far behind. In some ways they were simply a little early last year.
Today the Pantherlair releases an updated version of the PA Top 50. We were one of the first to release an initial version and it soon became pretty obvious we need an update. In theory everyone on this list should end up at a Division 1 school if there academic status is in order. Last year about 80 players from Pennsylvania signed Letters of Intent. In some ways we had to leave several players of this list that we thought deserved to be there. We still think 70 or 80 could be signed again this year. Check the new Pantherlair Top 50 when you have had a chance at the top of the Between Fifth & Forbes Message Board.
Annual subscriptions take a nice jump
Rivals.com has been asking publishers to mention annual subscriptions. The result has been a significant jump across the entire network. If you are a Gold Member and have not converted you should. In the long run you will save money. See Chris Peak’s post at the top of the Center Court at the Pete Message Board for more details.
Greatest Player’s Poll
Rivals is running a greatest players poll. The four Pitt candidates are Tony Dorsett, Mike Ditka, Hugh Green and Dan Marino. Just think they had to leave Mark May, Ricky Jackson, Joe Schmidt, Bill Fralic and Jimbo Covert out of the poll when they only took four from each school. There are few other schools in the country the have this kind of depth when he comes to quality high visibility players. The moderator at the Rivals.com convention could only shake his head when talking about the group of players Pitt fans had to choose from. Rivals.com had about a hundred thousand votes in the first day. Vote early. Vote often. Don’t let those Mountaineer fans sway the poll for former Pitt players.
Some Hoops talk
In some ways football recruiting often slows somewhat during the month of July. Many college coaches take the opportunity to take some well-deserved vacation time. Once they take the team to fall camp in August they often work seven days weeks until after Letter of Intent Day in early February. Recruiting for basketball on the other hand heats up in July.
July is an Evaluation Period. Recently many of the top players attended the NBA Camp in Virginia. Rivals.com was there covering it for you but college coaches were not able to attend. There will be camps or tournaments in July in places like New Jersey, Atlanta, West Virginia, Orlando, Indianapolis, Las Vegas and California. I am sure I am forgetting a few. Jamie Dixon, Orlando Antigua and Mike Rice will pack their suitcases and hit they road. Eating hot dogs, hamburgers or some other sandwich while sitting in bleachers will become a way of life for them. Hopefully this trio will target several recruits for official visits this fall. Unless something happens late as it did a few years ago with Ontario Lett it appears Pitt will have five scholarships to give for the Class of 2007. Bringing in some height to ease the loss of Aaron Gray and Levon Kendal after this season will be very important.
Hopefully you have read the article which came through late yesterday afternoon on the “Ticker” from GoPowerCats.com. They have an interview with J.O. Stright of the Pittsburgh JOTS. Pittsburgh has not put out a lot of Division 1 basketball prospects in recent years. Just when it looked like life might get easier for the Pitt coaching staff J.O. Stright and Bob Huggins muddle the recruiting picture. Kansas State hired Bob Huggins to coach their basketball team this year. In addition Bill Snyder retired and the Kansas State hired a new football coach. The net result is that GoPowerCat.com is the fastest growing site on the entire Rivals.com network. Those guys are taking no prisoners. I am in absolute awe of their growth pattern.
There was an article posted to the basketball message board which said former DC Assault coach David Cox was “poised to accept” the position of Director of Basketball Operations at Pitt. A “birdie” told us a few days ago that Pitt interviewed him last Friday but could not confirm that he had been hired. Yesterday we check back with the “birdie” who said they still had not filled the position and the article was premature. I kind of like what I read about the guy. I hope they are able to put the deal together.
The ups in downs of recruiting
Since we wrote the War Room a week ago Gino Gradkowski committed to West Virginia and Nick Sukay committed to Penn State. These two have been leaning this way for a long time. Pitt worked there way into their top two or three but it was not enough. Sukay turned down Notre Dame and 37 other offers and with Gradkowski it appears there were extended family issues.
This week Chris Peak broke the story that offensive tackle John Fieger had committed to Pitt. Fieger was somewhat of a sleeper coming into the recruiting process. John comes from Upper Perkiomen, which is a AAA school. I hope you had a chance to read Tony Greco’s follow-up article in which he interviews his coach Keith Leamer. It will give you a better understanding of John. Upper Perkiomen plays in the Pioneer Athletic Conference, which has Lansdale Catholic and Pottstown as members.
Chris also broke the story last night that Myles Caragein had committed to Pitt. A nice job by Chris and a thank you to his “birdie”. It was also a very good job by the Pitt coaching staff. Caragein had about 30 offers. The Pantherlair has him as the No. 15 prospect overall in the state of Pennsylvania.
ESPN has a recruiting rating service as a part of their Insider pay service. They are about at the same stage in the process as Rivals.com is right now in ranking players. Here are their top prospects in the state so far.
1) Mo Williams-83
2) Pat Bostick-80
3) Stefen Wisneski-80
4) Chris Jacobson –79
5) Myles Caragein 79
6) Josh Marks-79
7) Jon Ditto-79
8) Toney Clemons –78
9) Nick Sukay-78
10) Andrew Devlin-78
You can see that no matter which system you use. Myles Caragein was a very nice pickup for the Pitt coaching staff. Note that the ESPN service has not ranked all the prospects in the state so these rankings could change a little. They have many of the top players done so it should not change much.
Pitt now has commitments from two offensive linemen. They should take 2 or 3 more. William Penn’s Greg Gaskins, Perry Cameron Holland and Center’s Evan Blankenship are all very viable candidates. The first two interior linemen to raise their hand will probably get the scholarships.
At offensive tackle Erie’s Dan Matha (6’ 6” 311) and Braden Curry (6’ 6” 300) out of Florida are the two leading candidates at the moment. There are other candidates out there that Pitt has not yet offered which could still get offers once the staff has a better read on where they stand with these two. Pitt is recruiting Mount Lebanon’s Andrew Devlin as a tight end but he could also be a tackle some day if he continues to grow.
The Class of 2007 in state is strong at wide receiver and on the offense line. There are a few like prospects like Chris Jacobson, Stefen Weisnewski and Dan Matha and maybe one or two others that are a little ahead of the rest of the group but most of them are a case of beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You could have grabbed five of the top dozen at the Nike camp at random and probably have come out just fine. This is the toughest position to evaluate. It is often about the willingness to work hard in the weight-room and the heart to take a certain amount punishment that separates these guys.
As an example Pitt has offered Greg Gaskins (6’ 2” 280) from William Penn High School in York has a scholarship offer from Pitt but they not yet offered his teammate Richard Muldrow (6’ 6” 290). The big tackle has offers from West Virginia, BC and Maryland but Pitt has not offered although he still says he likes the Panthers (see the article on yesterday’s Ticker). Mike Dykes from Woodland Hills has a half dozen offers and looks like he is headed to North Carolina right now but still has no offer from Pitt.
It is our understanding that Pitt would like to bring in two running backs. In an ideal world it would be Henry Hynoski from Southern Columbia and either Bo Williams or maybe LeSean McCoy. Tony Greco spoke to the Milford Academy coach this week. He told Tony the family does not want him doing interviews until things calm down in August. Many reporters have been calling him to get a better read on the situation with McCoy as rumors run wild on his recruitment. The Milford Academy coach told Tony he would have 25 Division 1 prospects this year.
We played telephone tag with Henry Hynoski for almost a week before tracking him down. (sometimes it happens). He visited Pitt this week and will visit Iowa next month. Pitt coaches had hoped he would skip the Iowa visit but it looks like he will now make the trip (See Chris Peak’s article which went on the Ticker yesterday). The visit to Pitt went well and I still think at the end of the day Hynoski will be a Panther.
Last week we wrote about running back [db]Bo Williams[/db]. I am not sure I have ever interviewed a guy who was so pumped up about Pitt. It could simply be his personality but he was over the top in his praise for Pitt and Pittsburgh. Hopefully you saw the post where he and his teammates went on to my MySpace.com and posted Hail to Pitt in their message to Coach Partridge. Williams did not breakout cheering Let’s Go Pitt but just about everything else was covered. The only thing that slowed me up from irrational enthusiasm (to borrow a phrase from former Federal Reserve Chairman Allan Greenspan) was that he did not commit on his trip to Pittsburgh. Still he is a guy we all need to watch. Bo likes Pitt.
There are other running back candidates out there from the state of Florida. Xavier Stinson is built like a bowling ball at 5’ 8” but he weighs 214 so he should be able to protect himself. His uncle Tim Lester played for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Yesterday Rivals Recruiting analyst J.C. Shurburt reported that Stinson had Pitt in his top three. I kind of like this guy. I hope they can work him into the mix.
In addition running Florida running backs Zac Brown (5’ 10” 198) from Royal Palm Beach, Greg Williams from Naples (6’ 2” 205) and Chicon Lee (5’ 11” 196) all hold Pitt offers and seem to like the Panthers program.
Finally we have had two articles this week on Nordonia’s Jordan Mabin. We like this guy. He tested well at the Nike Camp in Columbus and has some speed. He is Dorin Dickerson’s cousin, which is good enough for me. We think he will also probably commit this summer to Pitt.
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.
