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.
From the Desk of Jim Snyder
The television schedule for this fall
In case you missed it, Pitt will now have six (6) football games televised this fall and that number will certainly grow before the season is over. You can be fairly certain the Furman and Ohio University games at Heinz Field will NOT be televised. The road games at Temple and Syracuse could still be televised, as could the home game with Rutgers. At a minimum you would think Pitt would be the Big East Game of the Week for at least two of these games. Who knows? If Pitt and Syracuse surprise people early and put together a few wins, the game from the Carrier Dome might still make its way on to ESPN or ESPN2. There is also talk of moving this to Wednesday night.
ABC, ESPN or ESPN2 will televise the home games with Nebraska and Boston College. The same people operate all these networks and they have guaranteed Pitt, these games will be telecast. They simply have not decided which one of their networks will carry the game. Here is how it looks so far.
September 6th (Mon).....@ South Florida (ESPN).............4:30 PM
September 11th..............Ohio University............................7:00 PM
September 18th..............Nebraska (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2).....TBA
September 25th..............Furman.......................................TBA
September 30th (Thurs)...@UConn (ESPN2)........................7:30 PM
October 9th....................@Temple.....................................TBA
October 16th...................Boston College............................(ABC/ESPN/ESPN2) TBA
October 23rd..................Rutgers........................................TBA
Nov 6th..........................@Syracuse..................................TBA
Nov 13th........................@ Notre Dame (NBC)....................TBA
Nov 25th........................West Virginia (ESPN)....................7:30 PM
Nike Camp weekend at Penn State
According to the advanced list available to the Pantherlair perhaps two dozen players that Pitt is looking at will attend the Nike Camp at State College this weekend. Pitt has not offered all of these players but is looking at them. It does not appear that the two Pitt players that have already committed to Pitt will attend (LaRod Stephens and John Brown).
Rivals is a sponsor of the Nike Camps this year. Players that Pitt is recruiting have already attended camps at Miami, Columbus and Blacksburg. At least three are scheduled to attend camps later at Palo Alto, CA and Eugene, Oregon. There will also be a Nike Camp at Iowa City, Iowa this Sunday with at least one prospect that has offered attending this session.
New and improved database on the way
Rivals has been developing new software to enhance the football and basketball databases. We have not seen it yet but it is now in a “beta” testing and should be available shortly. My understanding is that this will allow them to down load the data from the Nike Camps. We are as anxious to see it as you are.
In the meantime please remember to go the football and basketball databases periodically and click on “Offers”. This will give you a list alphabetically of the players Pitt has offered. There are 3-4 prospects that Pitt has offered and are no longer listed because they have named a top 6 and Pitt has not made the cut. Justin King of Gateway High School remains on the list for two reasons. He is from Western PA and many of our readers would like to follow him for a while. Justin also has not named his top 6 or 7 yet but when he does he probably will no longer be shown in the Pitt database. He was quoted as saying Pitt is currently sitting 7th or 8th.
Could Memphis be added to the Big East?
Last fall we tried to keep you on the right path as the “New Big East” was evolving. It was a bumpy ride and for better or worse it evolved as our sources indicated it would. We were fortunate to have “birdies” that kept us informed as best they could.
Starting next year the Big East will expand to 16 schools. The football only schools contemplated going it alone but could not find a way to do it without taking a financial beating. Questions like--Who gets to use the Big East name? Who gets to use Madison Square Garden for their tournament? and Who gets the “credits” for past appearances in the NCAA basketball tournament? could not easily be resolved.
Something tells me there are simply too many mouths to feed and not enough money to go around. At some point this thing will collapse under its own weight. It may take 6-7 years but I suspect unless some television network steps forward with a basket full of money this two-headed monster may not survive over the long run. We hope it does but remain very skeptical. Perhaps they only thing that might save it is Notre Dame joining in football but so far I see there are no signs this will happen. In fact it is hard to see Notre Dame playing any member of the new Big East Conference in football going forward (after next year). Notre Dame’s schedule is set for the next decade and they’re no members of the new Big East on it. We also have no reason to believe Penn State has any interest in leaving the Big Ten.
This brings me around to Memphis University. The dynamics of the Big East Conference will change once Louisville, South Florida, Cincinnati, DePaul and Marquette are sitting at the table with votes.
If the football schools do break away they should add a 9th school for scheduling purposes. Nine is the ideal number for scheduling both football and basketball.
Over the years I have had the opportunity to visit Memphis various times. To be honest there were times that I was very concerned about the future of the city. It seemed stuck in the past and unable to move forward.
This past weekend I was able to visit the city again for the first time in almost a decade. Memphis is finally moving forward as a city. A new basketball arena in the heart of the downtown is almost complete for the Memphis Grizzlies. The Memphis Tigers will share this state of the art facility located one block of Beale Street and two blocks from the new Peabody Place mall.
The city has also hired the architect that designed PNC Park to help modernize the Liberty Bowl. It is very possible that Memphis University will have at it disposal facilities that will compare very favorably with others in the Big East Conference within a few years. It is a city school with state support as is Pitt, Louisville, South Florida and Cincinnati. In addition Rutgers and UConn are located close to large metropolitan areas and are state schools. Despite its Southern heritage it does have things in common with the other football schools. It is also located in a mid-sized television market that is unlikely ever to have a NFL team (a big plus).
Memphis would also bring the Liberty Bowl with it. This city is a far better tourist attraction today that it was only 5 or 10 years ago. The Big East Conference has struggled keeping the second tiered bowl games and this is one they should explore.
The speculation on Memphis is just that at this point but it is beginning to look like a viable option to me. Notre Dame would be the ideal choice but Memphis appears to this writer as the one that is actually doable.
A list of wideouts
Last weekend we indicated that Pitt would probably take 2 wide receivers. We also said that only David Harvey from Penn Hills is from Western PA. They rest are all from out of state.
Nyan Boateng.............6’ 2”...Brooklyn, NY
Marcellus Bowman......6’ 3”...Youngstown, OH
Jesse Canada.............6’ 3”...Azusa, CA
Michael Ray Garvin.....5’ 8”...Ramsey, NJ
Brian Hartline..............6’ 2”...Canton, OH
David Harvey...............6’ 1”...Penn Hills, PA
DeSean Jackson........5’ 11”...Long Beach, CA
Lavar Lobdell..............6’ 3”...Syracuse, NY
James McDonald........6’ 3”...Washington, DC
Cedrick McGee..........6’ 1”...Plantation, FL
Danny Oquendo.........6’ 3”...Hackensack, NJ
Kitt Pommels............6’ 3”...Paterson, NJ
Note: Some schools look at Garvin and Oquendo as potential defensive backs. You can find more about all of the prospects by going to the database and click on the tab marked “Offers”.
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.
From the Desk of Jim Snyder
The television schedule for this fall
In case you missed it, Pitt will now have six (6) football games televised this fall and that number will certainly grow before the season is over. You can be fairly certain the Furman and Ohio University games at Heinz Field will NOT be televised. The road games at Temple and Syracuse could still be televised, as could the home game with Rutgers. At a minimum you would think Pitt would be the Big East Game of the Week for at least two of these games. Who knows? If Pitt and Syracuse surprise people early and put together a few wins, the game from the Carrier Dome might still make its way on to ESPN or ESPN2. There is also talk of moving this to Wednesday night.
ABC, ESPN or ESPN2 will televise the home games with Nebraska and Boston College. The same people operate all these networks and they have guaranteed Pitt, these games will be telecast. They simply have not decided which one of their networks will carry the game. Here is how it looks so far.
September 6th (Mon).....@ South Florida (ESPN).............4:30 PM
September 11th..............Ohio University............................7:00 PM
September 18th..............Nebraska (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2).....TBA
September 25th..............Furman.......................................TBA
September 30th (Thurs)...@UConn (ESPN2)........................7:30 PM
October 9th....................@Temple.....................................TBA
October 16th...................Boston College............................(ABC/ESPN/ESPN2) TBA
October 23rd..................Rutgers........................................TBA
Nov 6th..........................@Syracuse..................................TBA
Nov 13th........................@ Notre Dame (NBC)....................TBA
Nov 25th........................West Virginia (ESPN)....................7:30 PM
Nike Camp weekend at Penn State
According to the advanced list available to the Pantherlair perhaps two dozen players that Pitt is looking at will attend the Nike Camp at State College this weekend. Pitt has not offered all of these players but is looking at them. It does not appear that the two Pitt players that have already committed to Pitt will attend (LaRod Stephens and John Brown).
Rivals is a sponsor of the Nike Camps this year. Players that Pitt is recruiting have already attended camps at Miami, Columbus and Blacksburg. At least three are scheduled to attend camps later at Palo Alto, CA and Eugene, Oregon. There will also be a Nike Camp at Iowa City, Iowa this Sunday with at least one prospect that has offered attending this session.
New and improved database on the way
Rivals has been developing new software to enhance the football and basketball databases. We have not seen it yet but it is now in a “beta” testing and should be available shortly. My understanding is that this will allow them to down load the data from the Nike Camps. We are as anxious to see it as you are.
In the meantime please remember to go the football and basketball databases periodically and click on “Offers”. This will give you a list alphabetically of the players Pitt has offered. There are 3-4 prospects that Pitt has offered and are no longer listed because they have named a top 6 and Pitt has not made the cut. Justin King of Gateway High School remains on the list for two reasons. He is from Western PA and many of our readers would like to follow him for a while. Justin also has not named his top 6 or 7 yet but when he does he probably will no longer be shown in the Pitt database. He was quoted as saying Pitt is currently sitting 7th or 8th.
Could Memphis be added to the Big East?
Last fall we tried to keep you on the right path as the “New Big East” was evolving. It was a bumpy ride and for better or worse it evolved as our sources indicated it would. We were fortunate to have “birdies” that kept us informed as best they could.
Starting next year the Big East will expand to 16 schools. The football only schools contemplated going it alone but could not find a way to do it without taking a financial beating. Questions like--Who gets to use the Big East name? Who gets to use Madison Square Garden for their tournament? and Who gets the “credits” for past appearances in the NCAA basketball tournament? could not easily be resolved.
Something tells me there are simply too many mouths to feed and not enough money to go around. At some point this thing will collapse under its own weight. It may take 6-7 years but I suspect unless some television network steps forward with a basket full of money this two-headed monster may not survive over the long run. We hope it does but remain very skeptical. Perhaps they only thing that might save it is Notre Dame joining in football but so far I see there are no signs this will happen. In fact it is hard to see Notre Dame playing any member of the new Big East Conference in football going forward (after next year). Notre Dame’s schedule is set for the next decade and they’re no members of the new Big East on it. We also have no reason to believe Penn State has any interest in leaving the Big Ten.
This brings me around to Memphis University. The dynamics of the Big East Conference will change once Louisville, South Florida, Cincinnati, DePaul and Marquette are sitting at the table with votes.
If the football schools do break away they should add a 9th school for scheduling purposes. Nine is the ideal number for scheduling both football and basketball.
Over the years I have had the opportunity to visit Memphis various times. To be honest there were times that I was very concerned about the future of the city. It seemed stuck in the past and unable to move forward.
This past weekend I was able to visit the city again for the first time in almost a decade. Memphis is finally moving forward as a city. A new basketball arena in the heart of the downtown is almost complete for the Memphis Grizzlies. The Memphis Tigers will share this state of the art facility located one block of Beale Street and two blocks from the new Peabody Place mall.
The city has also hired the architect that designed PNC Park to help modernize the Liberty Bowl. It is very possible that Memphis University will have at it disposal facilities that will compare very favorably with others in the Big East Conference within a few years. It is a city school with state support as is Pitt, Louisville, South Florida and Cincinnati. In addition Rutgers and UConn are located close to large metropolitan areas and are state schools. Despite its Southern heritage it does have things in common with the other football schools. It is also located in a mid-sized television market that is unlikely ever to have a NFL team (a big plus).
Memphis would also bring the Liberty Bowl with it. This city is a far better tourist attraction today that it was only 5 or 10 years ago. The Big East Conference has struggled keeping the second tiered bowl games and this is one they should explore.
The speculation on Memphis is just that at this point but it is beginning to look like a viable option to me. Notre Dame would be the ideal choice but Memphis appears to this writer as the one that is actually doable.
A list of wideouts
Last weekend we indicated that Pitt would probably take 2 wide receivers. We also said that only David Harvey from Penn Hills is from Western PA. They rest are all from out of state.
Nyan Boateng.............6’ 2”...Brooklyn, NY
Marcellus Bowman......6’ 3”...Youngstown, OH
Jesse Canada.............6’ 3”...Azusa, CA
Michael Ray Garvin.....5’ 8”...Ramsey, NJ
Brian Hartline..............6’ 2”...Canton, OH
David Harvey...............6’ 1”...Penn Hills, PA
DeSean Jackson........5’ 11”...Long Beach, CA
Lavar Lobdell..............6’ 3”...Syracuse, NY
James McDonald........6’ 3”...Washington, DC
Cedrick McGee..........6’ 1”...Plantation, FL
Danny Oquendo.........6’ 3”...Hackensack, NJ
Kitt Pommels............6’ 3”...Paterson, NJ
Note: Some schools look at Garvin and Oquendo as potential defensive backs. You can find more about all of the prospects by going to the database and click on the tab marked “Offers”.
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.
