From the desk of Jim Snyder
A little hoops talk
Hopefully you have had a chance to read Chris Peak’s interview yesterday with the Panthers’ new assistant basketball coach Mike Rice. He tells Chris he has the phone number for every AAU coach from Boston to Northern Virginia plugged into his cell phone. His experience as the Director of the Hoops Group Camp means that he knows a lot of coaches, which should be a big benefit when it comes to recruiting. Chris plans to follow up with an interview with Orlando Antigua now that he has been officially promoted from Director of Basketball Operations to assistant coach.
Mike Rice told Chris Peak that he was familiar with the Rivals network and the Pantherlair from his work while he was an assistant coach at St. Joseph’s so he is familiar with our service.
One of my uncles was involved in the Duquesne basketball program many years ago when the Dukes were very competitive. He supplied summer jobs to two Duquesne basketball players every summer (it was legal in those days) and to two assistant coaches. John Cinicola and Al Bailey spent a few summer working for him but I am not sure about Mike Rice, Sr. In any event, if he were a live today he would be thrilled Pitt has hired his son. His father was a solid coach, had a great personality and a very good recruiter.
July will be an Evaluation Period in college basketball. This means college coaches will be hitting as many AAU tournaments as possible. You can expect see Jamie Dixon, Mike Rice and Orlando Antigua on the road next month. Hopefully they will lineup a few players for official visits.
Forward Dan Werner visited Seton Hall this week. He will now go to North Carolina State. NC State wants a last chance to pitch him before they will give him a release. He has visited Notre Dame, Pitt, Kentucky, Florida, Seton Hall, Rutgers and St Joseph’s. I have no idea where he is leaning. Mike Rice coming to Pitt from St Joe’s certainly can’t hurt because he was also being recruited by St Joe’s but is it enough?
Bowls
It is looking more and more like the Houston Bowl will have to take a year off. It appears there is only a 50/50 chance it will ever return and if it does the payment will be reduced to $750,000 per team. If it comes back the Big 12 Conference would have to take it over. Houston is an important market for the Big 12 Conference so it may rise from the ashes.
Nick Sukay and Muzzy Colosimo
Yesterday we spoke to Greensburg Central Catholic coach Muzzy Colosimo. This guy is a joy to talk to. He has a sense of humor and does not take himself too seriously.
Coach Colosimo told me that he believes his wide receiver Nick Sukay now has 35 or 36 scholarship offers. He said that there are still coaches recruiting him who did not see him at the combines so that number could easily grow.
His quarterback, Cody Catalina, now has offers from Syracuse, Rutgers, Vanderbilt, Temple, Buffalo, Tulane, Toledo, New Hampshire, Akron, Toledo, Delaware and New Hampshire. It would not surprise me to see him at Syracuse along with his teammate Max Suter.
Coach Colosimo said, “I also have a running back, Max Suter, that has committed to Syracuse. I am the kind of coach that likes to run the football. Historically we did not throw it much. I went out a hired a young man that use to play for me. He played for Tulsa when they threw a lot. We will throw the ball more this year. I am guy who like to run the ball but you have to be fair to these guys. We will throw it a little more this year.”
This weekend Greensburg Central Catholic will travel to Louisville for a 7 on 7 passing camp. There will be about a 100 teams there. On June 22nd & 23rd Muzzy takes them to Notre Dame where 100 teams are also expected to participate. In July they head to the University of Akron for another passing camp and they have already been to Youngstown State for a passing camp. It appears the coach is serious about allow Catalina to throw the ball to Sukay this fall.
He said that Nick had narrowed his choices to Pitt, Penn State and Notre Dame although he also liked West Virginia and Syracuse too. He would be talking again to Nick while they are in Louisville and then to his parents to see if he is ready to make an announcement. He said they should know more next week although the coach will be on vacation.
I told the coach that I thought he could end up playing Seton LaSalle in the WPIAL finals this fall. He said, “You watch they will workout so we do not play each other in the finals”. Coach Colosimo indicated the Greensburg Central Catholic offensive line should average 283 pounds this fall.
A look at the fullback position
This week we interviewed fullback Henry Hynoski and here is our read. Rutgers continues to recruit him very hard but he continues to lean heavily to Pitt. He appears to be waiting to see what Ohio State and Penn State are going to do. Ohio State is recruiting harder than Penn State right now. I suspect if they do not offer in the next couple of weeks he will schedule another unofficial trip to Pitt. If everything goes well he will probably commit to Pitt when he visits. Fullbacks and tight end are often recruited a little less than some other positions. So many teams go with 3 and 4 wideouts these days that some teams do not use them a lot in their offense. Hynoski seems to fit the mold of Conredge Collins. Neither one of them looks like a guard disguised as a fullback. Both have legitimate ball carrying skills that might be best be used in a split back formation.
Summer Camps
If it is June it must be time for colleges to hold summer camps. College coaches are not permitted to recruit off campus for the balance of the summer. However if you can get the prospects to visit your campus you can give prospects your best pitch. It is one of the many reasons for the summer camps.
Here are a few of the players that have indicated they will attend the Pitt summer camp.
Defensive back Daryl Robinson from Philadelphia, lineman Cameron Holland from Pittsburgh Perry, linebacker C.J. Marck from Pennsbury, DE Greg Meisner from Hempfield, OL Weston Banks from Hempfield, tight end Rob Reiland from Perry HS in Ohio, RB Macell Farrish from Woodland Hills, defensive back Rontez Miles from Woodland Hills, Vondre Griffin from Woodland Hills, LB Devan Johnson from Woodland Hills, Zac Kasparek from New Brighton, OL John Feiger from Upper Perkiomen, OL Gary Bardzak from Pottsville, DE Justin Young from Maryland, LB Joel Younkins from Hubbard, Matt Balasavage from Lancaster Catholic and OL Evan Blankenship from Center High School.
This list is only a sample. Many of these prospects do not yet have an offer although some may have few offers. They are not the most highly recruited group as a general rule. Often 3-4 of these players will be offered scholarships after attending the camp and it is not unusual to see them quickly accept the offer. One of my colleagues has noted over the years that kids that are offered at camp seem top workout and become contributors at Pitt. These camps often give the coaches a very good look at the player’s physical ability and his ability to follow instructions. They may not always be the highly recruited kids but those offer seem have a high rate succeeding.
Offensive linemen
A week or so ago Bill Kurelic of Rivals.com wrote an article quoting offensive tackle Dan Matha from Erie as saying Pitt and West Virginia were his favorites. Many weeks ago his high school coach told me he had an unstable home situation or something to that effect. I don’t recall his exact words right now. Apparently there is an adult that is a West Virginia grad that has some parental responsibilities and he is trying to steer Dan to WVU. Matha has a world of upside potential. Despite this recruiting hurdles Pitt should stay after him.
Wide receivers
Pitt has scholarship offers out to 8 or 9 wide receiver candidates that we are aware of. Five of those are from in state. Nick Sukay, Jon Ditto, Toney Clemons, Derek Moye and Maurice Williamsall have their good attributes and all have several Division 1 scholarship offers. We would take any one of them in a heartbeat although our favorites are Toney Clemons and Nick Sukay. As long as these players stay in state both Pitt and Penn State will be fine. If they start drifting away to places like South Bend, Indiana; Columbus, Ohio or Morgantown, West Virginia things would get a bit more complicated. Jon Ditto committing yesterday to Penn State was a little disappointing but it would have been a whole lot worse if he had gone out of state. This may put Pitt in a little better position with Nick Sukay.
Toney Clemons is scheduled to visit Pitt this weekend.
One individual who works on the Southside was so impressed after watching incoming freshman Tamarcus Porter workout at the UPMC complex that he proclaimed that Tamarcus Porter and Dorin Dickerson would open the season as the starting wide receivers against Virginia. We are not so sure it is a good idea to have two freshmen starting at wide receiver but we are very happy to hear the glowing reports on wide receiver Tamarcus Porter. He could turn out to be a big contributor.
A few new offers
Pitt has offered several players this week. Yesterday we had an article on TE/DE Vincent Browne (see the ticker) from Lisbon, Ohio. This morning Chris Peak has an article on TE/DE Kyle Hubbard from Lakewood St. Edward’s. Later today we will have an article on DE Justin Young from Northwest High School in Maryland. There are a few others we will report on next week.
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 6/9 10:15 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
A little hoops talk
Hopefully you have had a chance to read Chris Peak’s interview yesterday with the Panthers’ new assistant basketball coach Mike Rice. He tells Chris he has the phone number for every AAU coach from Boston to Northern Virginia plugged into his cell phone. His experience as the Director of the Hoops Group Camp means that he knows a lot of coaches, which should be a big benefit when it comes to recruiting. Chris plans to follow up with an interview with Orlando Antigua now that he has been officially promoted from Director of Basketball Operations to assistant coach.
Mike Rice told Chris Peak that he was familiar with the Rivals network and the Pantherlair from his work while he was an assistant coach at St. Joseph’s so he is familiar with our service.
One of my uncles was involved in the Duquesne basketball program many years ago when the Dukes were very competitive. He supplied summer jobs to two Duquesne basketball players every summer (it was legal in those days) and to two assistant coaches. John Cinicola and Al Bailey spent a few summer working for him but I am not sure about Mike Rice, Sr. In any event, if he were a live today he would be thrilled Pitt has hired his son. His father was a solid coach, had a great personality and a very good recruiter.
July will be an Evaluation Period in college basketball. This means college coaches will be hitting as many AAU tournaments as possible. You can expect see Jamie Dixon, Mike Rice and Orlando Antigua on the road next month. Hopefully they will lineup a few players for official visits.
Forward Dan Werner visited Seton Hall this week. He will now go to North Carolina State. NC State wants a last chance to pitch him before they will give him a release. He has visited Notre Dame, Pitt, Kentucky, Florida, Seton Hall, Rutgers and St Joseph’s. I have no idea where he is leaning. Mike Rice coming to Pitt from St Joe’s certainly can’t hurt because he was also being recruited by St Joe’s but is it enough?
Bowls
It is looking more and more like the Houston Bowl will have to take a year off. It appears there is only a 50/50 chance it will ever return and if it does the payment will be reduced to $750,000 per team. If it comes back the Big 12 Conference would have to take it over. Houston is an important market for the Big 12 Conference so it may rise from the ashes.
Nick Sukay and Muzzy Colosimo
Yesterday we spoke to Greensburg Central Catholic coach Muzzy Colosimo. This guy is a joy to talk to. He has a sense of humor and does not take himself too seriously.
Coach Colosimo told me that he believes his wide receiver Nick Sukay now has 35 or 36 scholarship offers. He said that there are still coaches recruiting him who did not see him at the combines so that number could easily grow.
His quarterback, Cody Catalina, now has offers from Syracuse, Rutgers, Vanderbilt, Temple, Buffalo, Tulane, Toledo, New Hampshire, Akron, Toledo, Delaware and New Hampshire. It would not surprise me to see him at Syracuse along with his teammate Max Suter.
Coach Colosimo said, “I also have a running back, Max Suter, that has committed to Syracuse. I am the kind of coach that likes to run the football. Historically we did not throw it much. I went out a hired a young man that use to play for me. He played for Tulsa when they threw a lot. We will throw the ball more this year. I am guy who like to run the ball but you have to be fair to these guys. We will throw it a little more this year.”
This weekend Greensburg Central Catholic will travel to Louisville for a 7 on 7 passing camp. There will be about a 100 teams there. On June 22nd & 23rd Muzzy takes them to Notre Dame where 100 teams are also expected to participate. In July they head to the University of Akron for another passing camp and they have already been to Youngstown State for a passing camp. It appears the coach is serious about allow Catalina to throw the ball to Sukay this fall.
He said that Nick had narrowed his choices to Pitt, Penn State and Notre Dame although he also liked West Virginia and Syracuse too. He would be talking again to Nick while they are in Louisville and then to his parents to see if he is ready to make an announcement. He said they should know more next week although the coach will be on vacation.
I told the coach that I thought he could end up playing Seton LaSalle in the WPIAL finals this fall. He said, “You watch they will workout so we do not play each other in the finals”. Coach Colosimo indicated the Greensburg Central Catholic offensive line should average 283 pounds this fall.
A look at the fullback position
This week we interviewed fullback Henry Hynoski and here is our read. Rutgers continues to recruit him very hard but he continues to lean heavily to Pitt. He appears to be waiting to see what Ohio State and Penn State are going to do. Ohio State is recruiting harder than Penn State right now. I suspect if they do not offer in the next couple of weeks he will schedule another unofficial trip to Pitt. If everything goes well he will probably commit to Pitt when he visits. Fullbacks and tight end are often recruited a little less than some other positions. So many teams go with 3 and 4 wideouts these days that some teams do not use them a lot in their offense. Hynoski seems to fit the mold of Conredge Collins. Neither one of them looks like a guard disguised as a fullback. Both have legitimate ball carrying skills that might be best be used in a split back formation.
Summer Camps
If it is June it must be time for colleges to hold summer camps. College coaches are not permitted to recruit off campus for the balance of the summer. However if you can get the prospects to visit your campus you can give prospects your best pitch. It is one of the many reasons for the summer camps.
Here are a few of the players that have indicated they will attend the Pitt summer camp.
Defensive back Daryl Robinson from Philadelphia, lineman Cameron Holland from Pittsburgh Perry, linebacker C.J. Marck from Pennsbury, DE Greg Meisner from Hempfield, OL Weston Banks from Hempfield, tight end Rob Reiland from Perry HS in Ohio, RB Macell Farrish from Woodland Hills, defensive back Rontez Miles from Woodland Hills, Vondre Griffin from Woodland Hills, LB Devan Johnson from Woodland Hills, Zac Kasparek from New Brighton, OL John Feiger from Upper Perkiomen, OL Gary Bardzak from Pottsville, DE Justin Young from Maryland, LB Joel Younkins from Hubbard, Matt Balasavage from Lancaster Catholic and OL Evan Blankenship from Center High School.
This list is only a sample. Many of these prospects do not yet have an offer although some may have few offers. They are not the most highly recruited group as a general rule. Often 3-4 of these players will be offered scholarships after attending the camp and it is not unusual to see them quickly accept the offer. One of my colleagues has noted over the years that kids that are offered at camp seem top workout and become contributors at Pitt. These camps often give the coaches a very good look at the player’s physical ability and his ability to follow instructions. They may not always be the highly recruited kids but those offer seem have a high rate succeeding.
Offensive linemen
A week or so ago Bill Kurelic of Rivals.com wrote an article quoting offensive tackle Dan Matha from Erie as saying Pitt and West Virginia were his favorites. Many weeks ago his high school coach told me he had an unstable home situation or something to that effect. I don’t recall his exact words right now. Apparently there is an adult that is a West Virginia grad that has some parental responsibilities and he is trying to steer Dan to WVU. Matha has a world of upside potential. Despite this recruiting hurdles Pitt should stay after him.
Wide receivers
Pitt has scholarship offers out to 8 or 9 wide receiver candidates that we are aware of. Five of those are from in state. Nick Sukay, Jon Ditto, Toney Clemons, Derek Moye and Maurice Williamsall have their good attributes and all have several Division 1 scholarship offers. We would take any one of them in a heartbeat although our favorites are Toney Clemons and Nick Sukay. As long as these players stay in state both Pitt and Penn State will be fine. If they start drifting away to places like South Bend, Indiana; Columbus, Ohio or Morgantown, West Virginia things would get a bit more complicated. Jon Ditto committing yesterday to Penn State was a little disappointing but it would have been a whole lot worse if he had gone out of state. This may put Pitt in a little better position with Nick Sukay.
Toney Clemons is scheduled to visit Pitt this weekend.
One individual who works on the Southside was so impressed after watching incoming freshman Tamarcus Porter workout at the UPMC complex that he proclaimed that Tamarcus Porter and Dorin Dickerson would open the season as the starting wide receivers against Virginia. We are not so sure it is a good idea to have two freshmen starting at wide receiver but we are very happy to hear the glowing reports on wide receiver Tamarcus Porter. He could turn out to be a big contributor.
A few new offers
Pitt has offered several players this week. Yesterday we had an article on TE/DE Vincent Browne (see the ticker) from Lisbon, Ohio. This morning Chris Peak has an article on TE/DE Kyle Hubbard from Lakewood St. Edward’s. Later today we will have an article on DE Justin Young from Northwest High School in Maryland. There are a few others we will report on next week.
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 6/9 10:15 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
