From the desk of Jim Snyder
Hoops talk
Last week McKeesport’s Zeke Marshall surprised many folks by committing early to Akron. I have been hoping Pitt would land a power forward that could play early once Sam Young and Tyrell Biggs graduate. If the coaching staff “found” a second scholarship Marshall would have been an intriguing prospect who appeared to have long range potential as a center. Pitt might have had the luxury of redshirting him.
Akron coach Keith Dambrot has averaged 25 wins per year for the last three years and had the Zips in the NIT this past year. He also has a little star power because of his connections to LeBron James but this was still out of left field.
This week we had articles on the Ticker on power forward Andrew Fitzgerald who has Pitt in his top three and on sophomore guard Isaiah Epps out of Plainfield, New Jersey. Epps picked up an offer from Pitt this past week.
Rivals.com released their Top 150 for 2009 and Lamar Patterson is now ranked no. 15 in the country and has a five-star rating. A few Pitt fans have hung on the myth that Coach Dixon just picks up the first five guys he finds hanging out at Sutherland Hall with nothing better to do and then out coaches his colleagues to once again end up in the Big East finals each year. Patterson’s ranking will give them something to think about this summer.
The folks that subscribe to the Sutherland Hall theory ignore that Sam Young, Levance Fields, Tyrell Biggs, DeJuan Blair, Brad Wanamaker and Gilbert Brown were all top 150 recruits but the Sutherland Hall theory is a more interesting story line.
Power forward Dante Taylor is ranked No. 26 in the country which puts him just outside the five-star category. He has Pitt in his top two or three.
I don’t know if you saw the article about Pitt commit Ashton Gibbs making 9 in a row from beyond the 3-point arc in a recent game with the Playaz senior team. That is a lot of 3-pointers in a row regardless of the level of competition.
We had a couple of articles on the Ticker this week on Kevin Parrom punching St Raymond’s coach Oliver Antigua. If Parrom was on your wish list I think we can scratch him.
Nike Camp wrap up
This week Mike Farrell had a video report from the Nike Camp. It featured linebacker Dan Mason, defensive back Corey Brown and quarterback Emmanuel Yeager. Pitt is recruiting all three of these players. Mason and Brown have offers. I have linked this video to the Between Fifth & Forbes message board and will also leave a link in the Home Page inserts for the weekend in case you missed it.
Chris Peak also had three photo galleries this week taken at the Nike Camp with a total of 60 photos. Most of these were of players that Pitt is recruiting.
The PantherLair and the Penn State site also had several interviews that were conducted at the Nike Camp between the two you are well covered. Sean Fitz has been breaking down approximately six players by position in his Six Packs series.
Over the next 30 days several hundred additional photos will be downloaded from the Nike Camp into the football database which will make this a richer experience when you use it.
Mike Farrell put together a Hot 11 list from the Nike Camp for Student Sports. Three players from Western Pa. made the list. Penn Hills linebacker Dan Mason got high marks as did Dorian Bell and Corey Brown from Gateway. In a separate category Hampton’s Jordan Paskorz was singled out as a sophomore to watch.
Recruiting roundup
I might add there were 67 quarterbacks at State College. They were holding an Elite 11 quarterback tryout camp that day which helped draw a large number of quarterbacks.
There have been reports that quarterbacks Emmanuel Yeager and Clayton Moore have offers from Pitt. Chris Peak reports neither player has a written offer. Yeager was recruited by Aubrey Hill last year. Almost every player Aubrey Hill recruited thought he had an offer from Pitt.
As reported in an earlier War Room Pitt has five quarterbacks on scholarship and all five should be back in 2009. I think Pitt will recruit quarterbacks but they are unlikely to sign anyone unless one of the five decides to transfer. (As we saw with Luke Getsy and Joe Flacco that is always a possibility.)
As we move deeper into the spring Evaluation Period we continue to add names to the database of players with Pitt offers. Over the past ten days we have added eleven players from New Jersey, Florida or Ohio. Here is a list of players that have been added in recent days:
Malcolm Bush TE Hackensack, New Jersey
Cornelius Carradine DE Cincinnati Taft, Ohio
Dan Fox LB Cleveland St. Ignatius
Bud Golden RB Cincinnati Sycamore, Ohio
Aaron Hayward WR Pennsgrove HS, New Jersey
Gerald Hodges-safety-Paulsboro, New Jersey
Zeke Motta DB Vero Beach, Florida
Nyshier Oliver Ath St Peter’s Prep, New Jersey
Donald Russell RB Palm Beach, Florida
Tyree Watkins WR Camden, New Jersey
Rantavious Wooten WR Belle Glades, Florida
Since the offer from Pitt is fairly new to this group when we asked what they know about Pitt they often respond, “Not much. I know they are in the Big East.” For this group it is the beginning of the recruiting process as far as Pitt is concerned and now we will see if the assistant coach in charge of recruiting them can get them on campus. By the time the day is over we will have reported on most of this group. We will catch the balance next week.
We still have some time left in the spring Evaluation Period so the list should continue to grow. The next big bump should come in June when Pitt holds their annual summer camp.
We spoke to both Juantez Hollins and Terry Patrick of Aliquippa this week. Hollins has picked up an offer from Buffalo. We expect both to commit to Pitt at some point although Aliquippa kids often wait. At this point most of the interest for both players comes at the MAC level.
We will have an article on Neshaminy tight end Paul Carrezola today plus a couple of the new prospects with recent offers. One has a nifty connection to Pitt.
Last week we reported heavy activity on the Ticker which was averaging 16 stories per day. It looks at least that heavy this week and that does not include a dozen content items from Nike which do not come across the Ticker (photos & videos ect.). Keep check the Ticker for players that may be of interest to you.
Big Board
Chris Peak has set up the 2009 Big Board for you at the top of the Between Fifth & Forbes message board. One of the many advantages of this report is that it allows you to drill down into the database saving you navigation time when you want to know more about a player.
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.
Hoops talk
Last week McKeesport’s Zeke Marshall surprised many folks by committing early to Akron. I have been hoping Pitt would land a power forward that could play early once Sam Young and Tyrell Biggs graduate. If the coaching staff “found” a second scholarship Marshall would have been an intriguing prospect who appeared to have long range potential as a center. Pitt might have had the luxury of redshirting him.
Akron coach Keith Dambrot has averaged 25 wins per year for the last three years and had the Zips in the NIT this past year. He also has a little star power because of his connections to LeBron James but this was still out of left field.
This week we had articles on the Ticker on power forward Andrew Fitzgerald who has Pitt in his top three and on sophomore guard Isaiah Epps out of Plainfield, New Jersey. Epps picked up an offer from Pitt this past week.
Rivals.com released their Top 150 for 2009 and Lamar Patterson is now ranked no. 15 in the country and has a five-star rating. A few Pitt fans have hung on the myth that Coach Dixon just picks up the first five guys he finds hanging out at Sutherland Hall with nothing better to do and then out coaches his colleagues to once again end up in the Big East finals each year. Patterson’s ranking will give them something to think about this summer.
The folks that subscribe to the Sutherland Hall theory ignore that Sam Young, Levance Fields, Tyrell Biggs, DeJuan Blair, Brad Wanamaker and Gilbert Brown were all top 150 recruits but the Sutherland Hall theory is a more interesting story line.
Power forward Dante Taylor is ranked No. 26 in the country which puts him just outside the five-star category. He has Pitt in his top two or three.
I don’t know if you saw the article about Pitt commit Ashton Gibbs making 9 in a row from beyond the 3-point arc in a recent game with the Playaz senior team. That is a lot of 3-pointers in a row regardless of the level of competition.
We had a couple of articles on the Ticker this week on Kevin Parrom punching St Raymond’s coach Oliver Antigua. If Parrom was on your wish list I think we can scratch him.
Nike Camp wrap up
This week Mike Farrell had a video report from the Nike Camp. It featured linebacker Dan Mason, defensive back Corey Brown and quarterback Emmanuel Yeager. Pitt is recruiting all three of these players. Mason and Brown have offers. I have linked this video to the Between Fifth & Forbes message board and will also leave a link in the Home Page inserts for the weekend in case you missed it.
Chris Peak also had three photo galleries this week taken at the Nike Camp with a total of 60 photos. Most of these were of players that Pitt is recruiting.
The PantherLair and the Penn State site also had several interviews that were conducted at the Nike Camp between the two you are well covered. Sean Fitz has been breaking down approximately six players by position in his Six Packs series.
Over the next 30 days several hundred additional photos will be downloaded from the Nike Camp into the football database which will make this a richer experience when you use it.
Mike Farrell put together a Hot 11 list from the Nike Camp for Student Sports. Three players from Western Pa. made the list. Penn Hills linebacker Dan Mason got high marks as did Dorian Bell and Corey Brown from Gateway. In a separate category Hampton’s Jordan Paskorz was singled out as a sophomore to watch.
Recruiting roundup
I might add there were 67 quarterbacks at State College. They were holding an Elite 11 quarterback tryout camp that day which helped draw a large number of quarterbacks.
There have been reports that quarterbacks Emmanuel Yeager and Clayton Moore have offers from Pitt. Chris Peak reports neither player has a written offer. Yeager was recruited by Aubrey Hill last year. Almost every player Aubrey Hill recruited thought he had an offer from Pitt.
As reported in an earlier War Room Pitt has five quarterbacks on scholarship and all five should be back in 2009. I think Pitt will recruit quarterbacks but they are unlikely to sign anyone unless one of the five decides to transfer. (As we saw with Luke Getsy and Joe Flacco that is always a possibility.)
As we move deeper into the spring Evaluation Period we continue to add names to the database of players with Pitt offers. Over the past ten days we have added eleven players from New Jersey, Florida or Ohio. Here is a list of players that have been added in recent days:
Malcolm Bush TE Hackensack, New Jersey
Cornelius Carradine DE Cincinnati Taft, Ohio
Dan Fox LB Cleveland St. Ignatius
Bud Golden RB Cincinnati Sycamore, Ohio
Aaron Hayward WR Pennsgrove HS, New Jersey
Gerald Hodges-safety-Paulsboro, New Jersey
Zeke Motta DB Vero Beach, Florida
Nyshier Oliver Ath St Peter’s Prep, New Jersey
Donald Russell RB Palm Beach, Florida
Tyree Watkins WR Camden, New Jersey
Rantavious Wooten WR Belle Glades, Florida
Since the offer from Pitt is fairly new to this group when we asked what they know about Pitt they often respond, “Not much. I know they are in the Big East.” For this group it is the beginning of the recruiting process as far as Pitt is concerned and now we will see if the assistant coach in charge of recruiting them can get them on campus. By the time the day is over we will have reported on most of this group. We will catch the balance next week.
We still have some time left in the spring Evaluation Period so the list should continue to grow. The next big bump should come in June when Pitt holds their annual summer camp.
We spoke to both Juantez Hollins and Terry Patrick of Aliquippa this week. Hollins has picked up an offer from Buffalo. We expect both to commit to Pitt at some point although Aliquippa kids often wait. At this point most of the interest for both players comes at the MAC level.
We will have an article on Neshaminy tight end Paul Carrezola today plus a couple of the new prospects with recent offers. One has a nifty connection to Pitt.
Last week we reported heavy activity on the Ticker which was averaging 16 stories per day. It looks at least that heavy this week and that does not include a dozen content items from Nike which do not come across the Ticker (photos & videos ect.). Keep check the Ticker for players that may be of interest to you.
Big Board
Chris Peak has set up the 2009 Big Board for you at the top of the Between Fifth & Forbes message board. One of the many advantages of this report is that it allows you to drill down into the database saving you navigation time when you want to know more about a player.
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.
