From the desk of Jim Snyder
It’s almost springtime
Dave Wannstedt and his staff are tentatively scheduled to start spring football practice on March 15th and the Pantherlair.com will be there to keep you up to date. Hopefully some of the younger players will step up. Pitt does not have a large number of seniors. This will be a relatively young team although they do have a veteran quarterback. Getting back to a bowl game, any bowl game, should be the goal for this year’s team.
There had been rumors of a major shake up in the coaching staff but we hear that will not be the case. There may be some changes in duties as a result of Bob Junko’s recent health problems. They should be announced shortly.
Pitt is scheduled to hold scrimmages at two area high schools. Out understanding is that they will be at Thomas Jefferson and Center on a Friday night. On the surface Thomas Jefferson is easy to understand. TJ coach Bill Cherpak is a former Panther and remains close o the Pitt program. He also runs one of the better AAA programs in Western PA that figures to pump out one or two Division 1 prospects every year. Chris Drager and Dom DeCicco are certainly both Division 1 prospects this year. Offensive lineman Lucas Nix is a promising prospect for 2008.
Far more interesting is the selection of Center High School. Last year Coach Larry Taddio’s program did send Ashton Cobb to Kentucky in the Class of 2006. This year, however, Center has Evan Blankenship. Blankenship has been down at Pitt a number of times for basketball games and Coach Wannstedt seldom allows him to stray far from his side. With this spring scrimmage he will be taking the entire team out to Blankenship’s high school for a few hours. It just could be they think he is a must get recruit.
Pitt has scholarships out to a couple of out of state quarterbacks in Peter Lalich from Springfield, Virginia and to David Paulus from Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse New York. Both of these prospects are big kids with strong arms. In addition Pitt had several other quarterbacks in for Junior Day this past weekend.
Despite the fact that Pitt is recruiting other quarterbacks Pat Bostick from Manheim Twp is Pitt’s No. 1 target and so far they seem to be getting a favorable response. Coach Wannstedt, Greg Gattuso and Matt Cavanaugh have been recruiting him since they came on board at Pitt. This staff has already invested a lot of calories into recruiting him. I spoke briefly to his father this week. He did not make it into Junior Day because business kept him away but he felt his son had a good visit. Pat will be back in Pittsburgh tomorrow for a combine at the UPMC complex. He expects him to throw some but not go through the full workout. His father indicated that Pat might not attend any other camps with the exception of the Elite 11 quarterback camp, which is put on by Student Sports (which is an affiliate of the Rivals network). We still believe Pitt is the leader at this point although Letter of Intent Day is still eleven months away. If Michigan offers they will also be a player. There had been a rumor about Pat’s sister going to Pitt. As one of readers pointed he does not have a sister. Actually it was Pat’s girl friend’s sister that attends Pitt. We will have an article later today on Pat Bostick.
We were talking to Coach Jim Roth from Southern Columbia this week. He felt Pitt had done a very good job of recruiting running back Henry Hynoski during his Junior Day visit and felt the Panthers had a good chance of landing him. He compares him to Rutger’s fullback Brian Leonard. He feels he is more than just a blocking fullback and needs his share of carries. Pitt made a similar pitch to Hampton’s Steve Paskorz. This past week we have had articles on both prospects. It would be good if Pitt lands one of these two backs. Pitt is very thin behind Conredge Collins.
We are still not sure of the total number scholarships Pitt will issue this year. As you know this is always a moving target. We do hear, however, they hope to land five offensive linemen.
We are now just slightly over a month away from Letter of Intent Day for the Class of 2006. This time of year the folks at Rivals.com must spend a lot of time just building the database on juniors. There is still much work to be done before over 4,000 prospects are entered into the system. It is slow in the early going of the process with stats to be entered. Phone number, photos and video must also be collected. It is a very big project. Despite this the Pantherlair has published 98 articles the past 30 days and most have been on recruiting but we have also included articles on men’s basketball, women’s basketball and baseball. There have been approximate 195 articles crossing the “Ticker” in the last 30 days on players that Pitt has recruited or is in the process of recruiting.
The coaching staff had approximately 80 players in for a Junior Day. There were others that were invited but could not attend because of conflicts. Virtually all of the ones we have talked to seemed to be very impressed by the Pitt coaching staff and the athletic facilities. No one committed but we think the staff did a good job of getting their story out there. We show that approximately two dozen prospects currently have scholarship offers. That number should grow to two or three times that number over the next eleven months. Rivals.com has now set the default to 2007 for the football database so it should be easier for you to track juniors. The football database now goes back to 2002 so you should be able to go back and research virtually all players currently on the current roster.
Of the 80 or so players that visited for Junior Day 20 were from outside of the area covered by the WPIAL. Pitt was pleased with the number that traveled that far. We hear the staff may shift their focus in recruiting slightly this year. They apparently will recruit Florida a little less but will hit Eastern PA, New Jersey and Maryland harder. There only so many hours in the day and you only have so many resources to recruit. Each staff must pick the area they want to hit hard and it looks like Pitt will go east a little more this time around.
It is almost time for March Madness
When we checked yesterday Pitt was ranked No. 7 in the RPI rankings. If the Panthers can put together a three-game win streak starting with Seton Hall tonight they could end up with a two or three seed in the NCAA tournament despite the loss at West Virginia earlier this week. If I am looking at this right the Panthers could get Notre Dame in the first round in New York. Nobody in the country has lost more close games this season then the Fighting Irish. I sure hope their luck is not about to change.
Tonight is Senior Night at the Pete. Despite a tough performance at West Virginia Carl Krauser has helped the Panthers to one of their best periods of basketball in the 100 years the school has been participating in the sport. Jamie Dixon and Ben Howland before him have often credited Carl Krauser for much of the success Pitt has enjoyed in recent years. Carl has his flaws but his competitive attitude has helped the Panthers to far more wins than losses. I have my fingers crossed that he is treated with respect tonight. It was only a couple of years ago that a few Pitt fans booed seniors when they lost the final home game.
Sports Illustrated this week name the Petersen Events Center on of the toughest places to play on the country. It is part because of the Panthers home record since they open this facility a couple of years ago and it is in part due to the support of the “Zoo”. However, there are more than a few Pitt alums that are not happy because once you get by the student body many in the arena tend to sit quietly on their hands as though they are afraid to spend much in the way of emotional capital. It could be the demographics make up of the Pitt fans.
Pitt, Penn State, Bob Smizik and a fifth game
Let me say up front that I for one would love to see Pitt play Penn State in all sports. Iowa and Iowa Sate seem to make it work, as do Georgia and Georgia Tech. Schools in the same state often play each other even though they are in different conferences. Joe Paterno does not believe he needs Pitt in football and he may be right. With an expanded Big East Pitt really does not need Penn State for other sports. It is time for Jeff Long to drop them in all sports if they are not willing to talk seriously about football. The time for talking may be over.
Paul Zeise reported this week the Big East was again looking to add a football only school to the Big East. To be honest only Navy makes a shred of sense. The Big East football schools desperately need another home game. The current setup only gives them three every other year. Unless they can solve this problem the football school will be forced to go their own way after the fifth year of the new conference agreement. Pitt makes well over a million dollars on a home football game as do West Virginia, UConn, Louisville and others. Financially they simply must solve this problem.
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.
It’s almost springtime
Dave Wannstedt and his staff are tentatively scheduled to start spring football practice on March 15th and the Pantherlair.com will be there to keep you up to date. Hopefully some of the younger players will step up. Pitt does not have a large number of seniors. This will be a relatively young team although they do have a veteran quarterback. Getting back to a bowl game, any bowl game, should be the goal for this year’s team.
There had been rumors of a major shake up in the coaching staff but we hear that will not be the case. There may be some changes in duties as a result of Bob Junko’s recent health problems. They should be announced shortly.
Pitt is scheduled to hold scrimmages at two area high schools. Out understanding is that they will be at Thomas Jefferson and Center on a Friday night. On the surface Thomas Jefferson is easy to understand. TJ coach Bill Cherpak is a former Panther and remains close o the Pitt program. He also runs one of the better AAA programs in Western PA that figures to pump out one or two Division 1 prospects every year. Chris Drager and Dom DeCicco are certainly both Division 1 prospects this year. Offensive lineman Lucas Nix is a promising prospect for 2008.
Far more interesting is the selection of Center High School. Last year Coach Larry Taddio’s program did send Ashton Cobb to Kentucky in the Class of 2006. This year, however, Center has Evan Blankenship. Blankenship has been down at Pitt a number of times for basketball games and Coach Wannstedt seldom allows him to stray far from his side. With this spring scrimmage he will be taking the entire team out to Blankenship’s high school for a few hours. It just could be they think he is a must get recruit.
Pitt has scholarships out to a couple of out of state quarterbacks in Peter Lalich from Springfield, Virginia and to David Paulus from Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse New York. Both of these prospects are big kids with strong arms. In addition Pitt had several other quarterbacks in for Junior Day this past weekend.
Despite the fact that Pitt is recruiting other quarterbacks Pat Bostick from Manheim Twp is Pitt’s No. 1 target and so far they seem to be getting a favorable response. Coach Wannstedt, Greg Gattuso and Matt Cavanaugh have been recruiting him since they came on board at Pitt. This staff has already invested a lot of calories into recruiting him. I spoke briefly to his father this week. He did not make it into Junior Day because business kept him away but he felt his son had a good visit. Pat will be back in Pittsburgh tomorrow for a combine at the UPMC complex. He expects him to throw some but not go through the full workout. His father indicated that Pat might not attend any other camps with the exception of the Elite 11 quarterback camp, which is put on by Student Sports (which is an affiliate of the Rivals network). We still believe Pitt is the leader at this point although Letter of Intent Day is still eleven months away. If Michigan offers they will also be a player. There had been a rumor about Pat’s sister going to Pitt. As one of readers pointed he does not have a sister. Actually it was Pat’s girl friend’s sister that attends Pitt. We will have an article later today on Pat Bostick.
We were talking to Coach Jim Roth from Southern Columbia this week. He felt Pitt had done a very good job of recruiting running back Henry Hynoski during his Junior Day visit and felt the Panthers had a good chance of landing him. He compares him to Rutger’s fullback Brian Leonard. He feels he is more than just a blocking fullback and needs his share of carries. Pitt made a similar pitch to Hampton’s Steve Paskorz. This past week we have had articles on both prospects. It would be good if Pitt lands one of these two backs. Pitt is very thin behind Conredge Collins.
We are still not sure of the total number scholarships Pitt will issue this year. As you know this is always a moving target. We do hear, however, they hope to land five offensive linemen.
We are now just slightly over a month away from Letter of Intent Day for the Class of 2006. This time of year the folks at Rivals.com must spend a lot of time just building the database on juniors. There is still much work to be done before over 4,000 prospects are entered into the system. It is slow in the early going of the process with stats to be entered. Phone number, photos and video must also be collected. It is a very big project. Despite this the Pantherlair has published 98 articles the past 30 days and most have been on recruiting but we have also included articles on men’s basketball, women’s basketball and baseball. There have been approximate 195 articles crossing the “Ticker” in the last 30 days on players that Pitt has recruited or is in the process of recruiting.
The coaching staff had approximately 80 players in for a Junior Day. There were others that were invited but could not attend because of conflicts. Virtually all of the ones we have talked to seemed to be very impressed by the Pitt coaching staff and the athletic facilities. No one committed but we think the staff did a good job of getting their story out there. We show that approximately two dozen prospects currently have scholarship offers. That number should grow to two or three times that number over the next eleven months. Rivals.com has now set the default to 2007 for the football database so it should be easier for you to track juniors. The football database now goes back to 2002 so you should be able to go back and research virtually all players currently on the current roster.
Of the 80 or so players that visited for Junior Day 20 were from outside of the area covered by the WPIAL. Pitt was pleased with the number that traveled that far. We hear the staff may shift their focus in recruiting slightly this year. They apparently will recruit Florida a little less but will hit Eastern PA, New Jersey and Maryland harder. There only so many hours in the day and you only have so many resources to recruit. Each staff must pick the area they want to hit hard and it looks like Pitt will go east a little more this time around.
It is almost time for March Madness
When we checked yesterday Pitt was ranked No. 7 in the RPI rankings. If the Panthers can put together a three-game win streak starting with Seton Hall tonight they could end up with a two or three seed in the NCAA tournament despite the loss at West Virginia earlier this week. If I am looking at this right the Panthers could get Notre Dame in the first round in New York. Nobody in the country has lost more close games this season then the Fighting Irish. I sure hope their luck is not about to change.
Tonight is Senior Night at the Pete. Despite a tough performance at West Virginia Carl Krauser has helped the Panthers to one of their best periods of basketball in the 100 years the school has been participating in the sport. Jamie Dixon and Ben Howland before him have often credited Carl Krauser for much of the success Pitt has enjoyed in recent years. Carl has his flaws but his competitive attitude has helped the Panthers to far more wins than losses. I have my fingers crossed that he is treated with respect tonight. It was only a couple of years ago that a few Pitt fans booed seniors when they lost the final home game.
Sports Illustrated this week name the Petersen Events Center on of the toughest places to play on the country. It is part because of the Panthers home record since they open this facility a couple of years ago and it is in part due to the support of the “Zoo”. However, there are more than a few Pitt alums that are not happy because once you get by the student body many in the arena tend to sit quietly on their hands as though they are afraid to spend much in the way of emotional capital. It could be the demographics make up of the Pitt fans.
Pitt, Penn State, Bob Smizik and a fifth game
Let me say up front that I for one would love to see Pitt play Penn State in all sports. Iowa and Iowa Sate seem to make it work, as do Georgia and Georgia Tech. Schools in the same state often play each other even though they are in different conferences. Joe Paterno does not believe he needs Pitt in football and he may be right. With an expanded Big East Pitt really does not need Penn State for other sports. It is time for Jeff Long to drop them in all sports if they are not willing to talk seriously about football. The time for talking may be over.
Paul Zeise reported this week the Big East was again looking to add a football only school to the Big East. To be honest only Navy makes a shred of sense. The Big East football schools desperately need another home game. The current setup only gives them three every other year. Unless they can solve this problem the football school will be forced to go their own way after the fifth year of the new conference agreement. Pitt makes well over a million dollars on a home football game as do West Virginia, UConn, Louisville and others. Financially they simply must solve this problem.
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.
