From the Desk of Jim Snyder
A few recruiting notes
We received a note this week from wide receiver Wes Lyons (6’ 6”) from Woodland Hills. He indicated he was disappointed that Pitt had not offered him a scholarship. Lyons tells us he now has 15 scholarship offers. His offers include Miami, LSU, Ohio State, Boston College, Iowa, Virginia, West Virginia, and Purdue. If you rolled the clock back one year this is about the time that many Pitt alums would forget how to spell Coach Harris’ first name (it is Walt not Wlat). Lyons is a big guy at six feet 6 inches. He is hard to miss. At the end of the day every staff only has so many scholarships. It is not always about finding the best players. Sometimes it is about filling your needs. (The new Coach is Wannstedt not “Wanny”).
As most of you are aware, Woodland Hills High School has been a power in Western Pennsylvania for a number of years and often has a number of Division 1 prospects. They have four again this year and Pitt has already offered two of them (Darrin Walls and Greg Webster). Coach Novak has sent eight or nine players to Pitt over the years. He is a friend of Pitt’s and will always make sure the Pitt staff gets a fair hearing. Coach Novak once won a WPIAL AAA championship while he was a coach at Steel Valley. Bill Cherpak was a sophomore on his championship team at Steel Valley and later played for Pitt. He is now the head coach at Thomas-Jefferson. Coach Novak also sent Pitt Adam Walker who later played for the San Francisco 49’ers. Of more recent vintage fullback Lousaka Polite is a Woodland Hills grad who is now with the Dallas Cowboys.
Talking about Bill Cherpak; rumors continue that his linebacker Nate Nix is a heavy Pitt lean and could commit in the near future.
Baldwin’s Cart Kelly ran the 20-yard shuttle at Nike in 3.81 seconds. We checked and through the first eight (8) Nike Camps this is the second fastest time in the country. The only guy with a faster time is 5’ 7” tall and is not a Division 1 prospect. This means that he currently has the best time in the country for Division 1 prospects. They have tested almost 2,500 prospects so far. Baldwin’s Cart Kelly is also a little frustrated that another Baldwin alum has not offered. (his name is Wannstedt not Wanny). Cart Kelly is simply a good kid with a 4.0 GPA. Check out his video. Tell us what you think. We were happy to report this week that Akron has offered him a scholarship. We think there will be more.
Pipeline takes a small hit
Some bad news out of Plantation, Florida. Long time Plantation head coach Frank Helper “resigned” after this past season. He sent Pitt H. B. Blades, Darrell Strong and redshirt freshman defensive end Nick Williams. In addition Plantation wide receiver Cedric McGee will enroll at Pitt this summer. Pitt assistant coach Charlie Partridge had played for Coach Hepler at Plantation. It helped establish a pipeline to Pitt. His “retirement” cannot be good news for the Pitt staff. The Colonials were 9-1 last year and have been a South Florida power almost every year. Coach Steven Davis, who comes from Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach, will replace him. This school sent Clint Session to Pitt but it is not quite the same connection.
Offer is a false alarm
There was a report from the New Jersey prep site that Pitt had offered wide receiver Zach Luckett from Holy Spirit High School in Absecon, NJ (near Atlantic City). We spoke to Luckett and he is not aware of any offer. He does have offers from Virginia Tech, Virginia, Syracuse, Boston College, Connecticut, Iowa and North Carolina. His favorites at this point are the two Virginia schools.
Another false alarm
There was also report from the Penn State site that Bishop McDevitt’s Aaron Berry had an offer from Pitt. Berry is not aware of an offer. Pitt has visited his school per our article today but has not yet offered. I have talked to a number of McDevitt players who talked about visiting colleges on a Midwest swing. Aaron Berry said there has been talk of that but there is none currently planned and he sounded a little skeptical that it would ever occur.
Pantherlair got caught on an omission
This week we published an article on quarterbacks. We discussed several quarterbacks in the Tri-state area. We got a note from one of our readers that we omitted Matt Marshall from Spring Grove High School near York, PA. We debated putting him in the article but were trying to put the focus on Western PA quarterbacks that Pitt is looking at. While we were at the Nike Camp we heard the Rutgers coaches liked Matt Marshall.
We mentioned a quarterback out of Bellaire, Ohio by the name of Nate Davis. At the end of the day we don’t think this will be the quarterback Pitt will sign but he is very talented. We talked to the Bellaire coach this week. Coach Magistro had been up at Pitt visiting as a part of a seminar he was attending. Coach Bob Junko told him he would be down for a visit this coming week.
The schedule and the 12th game
We liked the concept of a 12th game. Playing 12 games in some years and only playing 11 in other years did not make much sense to us. Unfortunately it is becoming increasingly apparent that a long-term deal with Penn State may not be in the cards. It might take pressure from the politicians in Harrisburg to pull this together and we do not see that happening.
The Harrisburg Patriot-News took a shot at PSU Athletic Director Tim Curley and Joe Paterno this week (they deserve it). If these two small-minded individuals are not willing to make a deal, Pitt AD Jeff Long should move on and make the best deals available. Everyone knew for many months the 12th game was in the works. It did not sneak up on anyone.
Jeff Long must do what is in the best interest of the University of Pittsburgh. He has a responsibility to put the best possible schedule together. Waiting to out live JoePa is not a good option. It may be time for Pitt to move on. If they are forced to do this in football they should also move on in all other sports. One can make a case that it might be better to isolate them in Happy Valley.
Odds and ends
One of our readers asked about wide receiver Jason Gaffney. Pitt listed him on their spring roster but it is our understanding that he is no longer with the team. He was recruited despite coming off a knee injury. It is our understanding that he battled his way back from the injury problem but he may have run into some off the field problems. While that does free up a scholarship it still does not get them down to the 85-scholarship limit they must hit by August.
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.
Note to Pantherlair.com Fans: The staff at Pantherlair.com works diligently to bring you the best information on University of Pittsburgh football and basketball recruiting (in addition to game coverage). Thousands of Panther fans visit our site on a daily basis. We have received a tremendous amount of e-mail thanking us for our efforts. If you like our site, please feel free to tell other fans about it. “Spread the word” and let’s add to our online family of Panther fans.
A few recruiting notes
We received a note this week from wide receiver Wes Lyons (6’ 6”) from Woodland Hills. He indicated he was disappointed that Pitt had not offered him a scholarship. Lyons tells us he now has 15 scholarship offers. His offers include Miami, LSU, Ohio State, Boston College, Iowa, Virginia, West Virginia, and Purdue. If you rolled the clock back one year this is about the time that many Pitt alums would forget how to spell Coach Harris’ first name (it is Walt not Wlat). Lyons is a big guy at six feet 6 inches. He is hard to miss. At the end of the day every staff only has so many scholarships. It is not always about finding the best players. Sometimes it is about filling your needs. (The new Coach is Wannstedt not “Wanny”).
As most of you are aware, Woodland Hills High School has been a power in Western Pennsylvania for a number of years and often has a number of Division 1 prospects. They have four again this year and Pitt has already offered two of them (Darrin Walls and Greg Webster). Coach Novak has sent eight or nine players to Pitt over the years. He is a friend of Pitt’s and will always make sure the Pitt staff gets a fair hearing. Coach Novak once won a WPIAL AAA championship while he was a coach at Steel Valley. Bill Cherpak was a sophomore on his championship team at Steel Valley and later played for Pitt. He is now the head coach at Thomas-Jefferson. Coach Novak also sent Pitt Adam Walker who later played for the San Francisco 49’ers. Of more recent vintage fullback Lousaka Polite is a Woodland Hills grad who is now with the Dallas Cowboys.
Talking about Bill Cherpak; rumors continue that his linebacker Nate Nix is a heavy Pitt lean and could commit in the near future.
Baldwin’s Cart Kelly ran the 20-yard shuttle at Nike in 3.81 seconds. We checked and through the first eight (8) Nike Camps this is the second fastest time in the country. The only guy with a faster time is 5’ 7” tall and is not a Division 1 prospect. This means that he currently has the best time in the country for Division 1 prospects. They have tested almost 2,500 prospects so far. Baldwin’s Cart Kelly is also a little frustrated that another Baldwin alum has not offered. (his name is Wannstedt not Wanny). Cart Kelly is simply a good kid with a 4.0 GPA. Check out his video. Tell us what you think. We were happy to report this week that Akron has offered him a scholarship. We think there will be more.
Pipeline takes a small hit
Some bad news out of Plantation, Florida. Long time Plantation head coach Frank Helper “resigned” after this past season. He sent Pitt H. B. Blades, Darrell Strong and redshirt freshman defensive end Nick Williams. In addition Plantation wide receiver Cedric McGee will enroll at Pitt this summer. Pitt assistant coach Charlie Partridge had played for Coach Hepler at Plantation. It helped establish a pipeline to Pitt. His “retirement” cannot be good news for the Pitt staff. The Colonials were 9-1 last year and have been a South Florida power almost every year. Coach Steven Davis, who comes from Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach, will replace him. This school sent Clint Session to Pitt but it is not quite the same connection.
Offer is a false alarm
There was a report from the New Jersey prep site that Pitt had offered wide receiver Zach Luckett from Holy Spirit High School in Absecon, NJ (near Atlantic City). We spoke to Luckett and he is not aware of any offer. He does have offers from Virginia Tech, Virginia, Syracuse, Boston College, Connecticut, Iowa and North Carolina. His favorites at this point are the two Virginia schools.
Another false alarm
There was also report from the Penn State site that Bishop McDevitt’s Aaron Berry had an offer from Pitt. Berry is not aware of an offer. Pitt has visited his school per our article today but has not yet offered. I have talked to a number of McDevitt players who talked about visiting colleges on a Midwest swing. Aaron Berry said there has been talk of that but there is none currently planned and he sounded a little skeptical that it would ever occur.
Pantherlair got caught on an omission
This week we published an article on quarterbacks. We discussed several quarterbacks in the Tri-state area. We got a note from one of our readers that we omitted Matt Marshall from Spring Grove High School near York, PA. We debated putting him in the article but were trying to put the focus on Western PA quarterbacks that Pitt is looking at. While we were at the Nike Camp we heard the Rutgers coaches liked Matt Marshall.
We mentioned a quarterback out of Bellaire, Ohio by the name of Nate Davis. At the end of the day we don’t think this will be the quarterback Pitt will sign but he is very talented. We talked to the Bellaire coach this week. Coach Magistro had been up at Pitt visiting as a part of a seminar he was attending. Coach Bob Junko told him he would be down for a visit this coming week.
The schedule and the 12th game
We liked the concept of a 12th game. Playing 12 games in some years and only playing 11 in other years did not make much sense to us. Unfortunately it is becoming increasingly apparent that a long-term deal with Penn State may not be in the cards. It might take pressure from the politicians in Harrisburg to pull this together and we do not see that happening.
The Harrisburg Patriot-News took a shot at PSU Athletic Director Tim Curley and Joe Paterno this week (they deserve it). If these two small-minded individuals are not willing to make a deal, Pitt AD Jeff Long should move on and make the best deals available. Everyone knew for many months the 12th game was in the works. It did not sneak up on anyone.
Jeff Long must do what is in the best interest of the University of Pittsburgh. He has a responsibility to put the best possible schedule together. Waiting to out live JoePa is not a good option. It may be time for Pitt to move on. If they are forced to do this in football they should also move on in all other sports. One can make a case that it might be better to isolate them in Happy Valley.
Odds and ends
One of our readers asked about wide receiver Jason Gaffney. Pitt listed him on their spring roster but it is our understanding that he is no longer with the team. He was recruited despite coming off a knee injury. It is our understanding that he battled his way back from the injury problem but he may have run into some off the field problems. While that does free up a scholarship it still does not get them down to the 85-scholarship limit they must hit by August.
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.
Note to Pantherlair.com Fans: The staff at Pantherlair.com works diligently to bring you the best information on University of Pittsburgh football and basketball recruiting (in addition to game coverage). Thousands of Panther fans visit our site on a daily basis. We have received a tremendous amount of e-mail thanking us for our efforts. If you like our site, please feel free to tell other fans about it. “Spread the word” and let’s add to our online family of Panther fans.
