The camping season continues
The Nike camps move to Palo Alto, California this weekend. We will set up a page at the top of this message board of a collection of photos take at the two Nike Camps this past weekend by the Pantherlair, the Penn State site and the Rutgers site. We will also link some videos taken by Rivals.com during the camps at State College and Piscataway, New Jersey. You may want to look back at them over the next few weeks. It will take 30 days but over 500 additional photos will also be down loaded into the database. By the middle of June the database should have a much richer look and feel to it.
The analysts listed a Hot 11 for both Nike camps. Brandon Beachum from Youngstown Cardinal Mooney, Mike Yancich from Trinity HS, Reggie Ellis from Washington Dunbar and Leon Mackey from Christiana HS in Delaware made the State College list. They all have offers from Pitt. Wide receiver Vaughn Caraway made the list at the NJ camp. He also has a Pitt offer.
Pitt will hold their annual summer camps in mid-June. They will also host their annual passing camp this summer. If my memory serves me offensive linemen Greg Gaskins, Jordan Gibbs and John Feiger were offered based on Pitt’s summer camp last year and all three ended up committing to Pitt. A similar thing could happen this year. Lucas Nix is the only offensive linemen with an offer and they plan to take three. Today we have articles on Shadyside Academy’s Mike Farrell and Central York’s Wayne Tribue. These two have both said they intend to camp at Pitt in hopes of getting an offer. Some of the folks on the Southside seem high on this pair although they are not the only linemen under consideration.
Congratulations to Bill
Congratulations to Bill Hillgrove. I worked with Bill a couple of decades ago at WTAE-TV. He will be honored with the Chris Schenkle Award by the National Football Foundation at a dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel December 4th. During my years of working in Manhattan I probably went to over a hundred luncheons or dinners at the Waldorf. Bill has done a lot for Pitt over the years. He certainly has come a long ways from his days growing up in Garfield. He will be honored along with a very impressive list of 14 award recipients. The ballroom at the Waldorf has probably hosted more award ceremonies than any other room in America.
Pitt Club events
The folks running the Erie Chapter banquet inform us that they are expecting head basketball coach Jamie Dixon, head baseball coach Joe Jordano, athletic director Jeff Long and a couple of football coaches at their dinner on June 10th. The dinner and program price is $40 per person. Please contact: Jim Fiorenzo @ jim.fiorenzo@ hamot.org or call 814-877-6588. RSVP by June 2nd.
The Big East could be even better this year
The Big East Conference made a statement in football last year by winning a record percentage of non-conference games and by going 5-0 in bowl games. One of the Rivals analyst predicted this past week that West Virginia would play Southern Cal for the national championship this year. That is based primarily on the return of quarterback Pat White and running back Steve Slaton plus a favorable schedule. There are reports out of Morgantown that Noel Devine will be eligible this fall. If true all of the Big East coaches maybe making statements at halftime about running faster. White, Slaton and Devine on the field at the same time could be a defensive coordinator’s worst nightmare.
Rutgers and Louisville will also be ranked to start the season. They both think they will be better on offense this fall with their quarterbacks returning. The folks at South Florida believe this will be the most talented team the Bulls have ever fielded. When you consider they have beaten West Virginia, Louisville, Pitt and Rutgers in the past few years that is saying something. If running back Mike Ford turns out to be the real deal the Bulls will also have a high-powered offense.
Pitt also figures to be better if Paul Rhoads can find a couple of outside linebackers.
It looks like there will be a lot of points put on the scoreboard this year in the Big East. Many of the schools in the conference have offensive weapons and question marks on defense.
Looking for a QB
Jeannette’s Terrelle Pryor has approximately 55 scholarship offers for football. He is No. 1 on Pitt’s list as he is on many other schools. Pitt would like to take a quarterback this year. (Most schools bring at least one in every year). Unless Pryor sends out an early signal it is possible Pitt may take a quarterback from Pennsylvania or Ohio and then keep chasing Pryor. You will recall Pitt took two running backs last year and then kept chasing LeSean McCoy. It would be the same principle. This past week we had articles on Kiski’s Josh Vick and Dublin Coffman’s Zack Stoudt. We have also featured video recently of Ada, Ohio’s Zac Dysert. Those three appear to be at the top of the list although Tino Sunseri, Nolan Kearny and Matt Carroll are also possibilities. Josh Vick and Zack Stoudt were both injured last fall and missed a large portion of their junior year so neither figures to be highly recruited. It reminds me a little of Kevan Smith who is now a redshirt freshman at Pitt. He missed most of his junior year and Pitt offered him after he attended their summer camp.
Some hoops talk
Last year the Pac 10 played an 18 game conference schedule in basketball. The Big East and Big Ten are planning on doing the same. It kind of makes you wonder how many tough non-conference games coaches will be willing to schedule going forward. My guess is probably not many unless a TV deal is part of their consideration.
Georgetown has hired Pitt’s Director of Basketball Operations David Cox. It had been hoped that his connections to the DC Assault program would result in a recruit or two but it did not payoff. Still Jamie Dixon must be doing something right. Other programs seem to want the people he hires. It is a good tribute to the Pitt program. It would seem a promotion from within could fill his spot.
Football recruiting summary
Mike Farrell has indicated that he expects Terrelle Pryor to attend an Elite 11 regional quarterback camp in Las Vegas. He skipped the one at State College for a prom. My guess is the Las Vegas camp is tied to an AAU basketball tournament. There are a couple of basketball tournaments this summer in Las Vegas.
From the first time I saw video of Trinity’s Mike Yancich I was impressed. I hope you read Chris Peak’s interview with Mike this week. He impressed all that watched him this past weekend at Nike. The big question is does his stock rise so fast that he also becomes another highly-recruited played from Western Pa. Mike grabbed a MVP award at Nike and is at the top of my wish list.
Landing Aliquippa’s Jonathan Baldwin will not be easy. Notre Dame and Michigan top an impressive list. He has plenty of options. However, the fact that Aliquippa’s Darrelle Revis was drafted as the No. 14 pick overall in the first round certainly did not hurt Pitt chances.
Last week we reported that Isaiah Pead (5’ 10” 185) from Columbus Eastmoor was told Pitt would offer him a scholarship. It is our understanding that he now has the offer. He is listed in the database as a running back but we think Pitt looks at him as a defensive back. He was a two-way starter a year ago and was the state Offensive Player of the Year in Ohio in Division IV.
Pitt has now offered defensive back Donnie Fletcher from Cleveland Glenville. Each summer Glenville head coach Ted Ginn loads up the bus and takes a group of Cleveland area football players to summer camps throughout the Midwest. The good news is with Fletcher on the bus we will get to follow the Ginn tour. The bad news is you never know how many offers these guys will get until after the tour is over. This would be a good program for Pitt to score a break through and grab a recruit.
Washington Dunbar’s Reggie Ellis impressed many at Stat College and grabbed a MVP award at Nike as he did a week earlier at the Elite Camp. Pitt has offered but so have many others. It might take a while to see how his recruitment shakes out. He looks like a guy that may look forward to the text message ban that goes into effect August.
Now that the Nike Camps are over in our area we will publish the Pantherlair’s PA Top 50 early next week. Keep in mind it is simply a part of the recruiting process. It is not the finished product. We will update it again later this summer and then again after the football season.
We need to hear a little more singing
Coach Greg Gattusso recently told the Mon Valley Pitt Club that the Panthers will do more singing next year. He was referring to the tradition of the team sing in the fight song with the band after a win. One of my memorable moments was the Pitt team singing after a double overtime win at Rutgers in 1997. Most fans had left the stadium but the Pitt team seemed very proud to be singing that day. My wife and I were standing near the band after that game. The scene brought tears of joy to my eyes.
I received the disc that Pitt AD Jeff Long sent out of the Pitt band playing Hail to Pitt and a number of other songs. It was a nice gesture to season ticket holders. I will be leaving for a vacation in Florida next week. I told my wife we may listen to it the entire way. I might have to hide it until we leave or it may disappear before we leave.
There will be no War Room next week as the result of a vacation my family will take in Orlando.
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.
The Nike camps move to Palo Alto, California this weekend. We will set up a page at the top of this message board of a collection of photos take at the two Nike Camps this past weekend by the Pantherlair, the Penn State site and the Rutgers site. We will also link some videos taken by Rivals.com during the camps at State College and Piscataway, New Jersey. You may want to look back at them over the next few weeks. It will take 30 days but over 500 additional photos will also be down loaded into the database. By the middle of June the database should have a much richer look and feel to it.
The analysts listed a Hot 11 for both Nike camps. Brandon Beachum from Youngstown Cardinal Mooney, Mike Yancich from Trinity HS, Reggie Ellis from Washington Dunbar and Leon Mackey from Christiana HS in Delaware made the State College list. They all have offers from Pitt. Wide receiver Vaughn Caraway made the list at the NJ camp. He also has a Pitt offer.
Pitt will hold their annual summer camps in mid-June. They will also host their annual passing camp this summer. If my memory serves me offensive linemen Greg Gaskins, Jordan Gibbs and John Feiger were offered based on Pitt’s summer camp last year and all three ended up committing to Pitt. A similar thing could happen this year. Lucas Nix is the only offensive linemen with an offer and they plan to take three. Today we have articles on Shadyside Academy’s Mike Farrell and Central York’s Wayne Tribue. These two have both said they intend to camp at Pitt in hopes of getting an offer. Some of the folks on the Southside seem high on this pair although they are not the only linemen under consideration.
Congratulations to Bill
Congratulations to Bill Hillgrove. I worked with Bill a couple of decades ago at WTAE-TV. He will be honored with the Chris Schenkle Award by the National Football Foundation at a dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel December 4th. During my years of working in Manhattan I probably went to over a hundred luncheons or dinners at the Waldorf. Bill has done a lot for Pitt over the years. He certainly has come a long ways from his days growing up in Garfield. He will be honored along with a very impressive list of 14 award recipients. The ballroom at the Waldorf has probably hosted more award ceremonies than any other room in America.
Pitt Club events
The folks running the Erie Chapter banquet inform us that they are expecting head basketball coach Jamie Dixon, head baseball coach Joe Jordano, athletic director Jeff Long and a couple of football coaches at their dinner on June 10th. The dinner and program price is $40 per person. Please contact: Jim Fiorenzo @ jim.fiorenzo@ hamot.org or call 814-877-6588. RSVP by June 2nd.
The Big East could be even better this year
The Big East Conference made a statement in football last year by winning a record percentage of non-conference games and by going 5-0 in bowl games. One of the Rivals analyst predicted this past week that West Virginia would play Southern Cal for the national championship this year. That is based primarily on the return of quarterback Pat White and running back Steve Slaton plus a favorable schedule. There are reports out of Morgantown that Noel Devine will be eligible this fall. If true all of the Big East coaches maybe making statements at halftime about running faster. White, Slaton and Devine on the field at the same time could be a defensive coordinator’s worst nightmare.
Rutgers and Louisville will also be ranked to start the season. They both think they will be better on offense this fall with their quarterbacks returning. The folks at South Florida believe this will be the most talented team the Bulls have ever fielded. When you consider they have beaten West Virginia, Louisville, Pitt and Rutgers in the past few years that is saying something. If running back Mike Ford turns out to be the real deal the Bulls will also have a high-powered offense.
Pitt also figures to be better if Paul Rhoads can find a couple of outside linebackers.
It looks like there will be a lot of points put on the scoreboard this year in the Big East. Many of the schools in the conference have offensive weapons and question marks on defense.
Looking for a QB
Jeannette’s Terrelle Pryor has approximately 55 scholarship offers for football. He is No. 1 on Pitt’s list as he is on many other schools. Pitt would like to take a quarterback this year. (Most schools bring at least one in every year). Unless Pryor sends out an early signal it is possible Pitt may take a quarterback from Pennsylvania or Ohio and then keep chasing Pryor. You will recall Pitt took two running backs last year and then kept chasing LeSean McCoy. It would be the same principle. This past week we had articles on Kiski’s Josh Vick and Dublin Coffman’s Zack Stoudt. We have also featured video recently of Ada, Ohio’s Zac Dysert. Those three appear to be at the top of the list although Tino Sunseri, Nolan Kearny and Matt Carroll are also possibilities. Josh Vick and Zack Stoudt were both injured last fall and missed a large portion of their junior year so neither figures to be highly recruited. It reminds me a little of Kevan Smith who is now a redshirt freshman at Pitt. He missed most of his junior year and Pitt offered him after he attended their summer camp.
Some hoops talk
Last year the Pac 10 played an 18 game conference schedule in basketball. The Big East and Big Ten are planning on doing the same. It kind of makes you wonder how many tough non-conference games coaches will be willing to schedule going forward. My guess is probably not many unless a TV deal is part of their consideration.
Georgetown has hired Pitt’s Director of Basketball Operations David Cox. It had been hoped that his connections to the DC Assault program would result in a recruit or two but it did not payoff. Still Jamie Dixon must be doing something right. Other programs seem to want the people he hires. It is a good tribute to the Pitt program. It would seem a promotion from within could fill his spot.
Football recruiting summary
Mike Farrell has indicated that he expects Terrelle Pryor to attend an Elite 11 regional quarterback camp in Las Vegas. He skipped the one at State College for a prom. My guess is the Las Vegas camp is tied to an AAU basketball tournament. There are a couple of basketball tournaments this summer in Las Vegas.
From the first time I saw video of Trinity’s Mike Yancich I was impressed. I hope you read Chris Peak’s interview with Mike this week. He impressed all that watched him this past weekend at Nike. The big question is does his stock rise so fast that he also becomes another highly-recruited played from Western Pa. Mike grabbed a MVP award at Nike and is at the top of my wish list.
Landing Aliquippa’s Jonathan Baldwin will not be easy. Notre Dame and Michigan top an impressive list. He has plenty of options. However, the fact that Aliquippa’s Darrelle Revis was drafted as the No. 14 pick overall in the first round certainly did not hurt Pitt chances.
Last week we reported that Isaiah Pead (5’ 10” 185) from Columbus Eastmoor was told Pitt would offer him a scholarship. It is our understanding that he now has the offer. He is listed in the database as a running back but we think Pitt looks at him as a defensive back. He was a two-way starter a year ago and was the state Offensive Player of the Year in Ohio in Division IV.
Pitt has now offered defensive back Donnie Fletcher from Cleveland Glenville. Each summer Glenville head coach Ted Ginn loads up the bus and takes a group of Cleveland area football players to summer camps throughout the Midwest. The good news is with Fletcher on the bus we will get to follow the Ginn tour. The bad news is you never know how many offers these guys will get until after the tour is over. This would be a good program for Pitt to score a break through and grab a recruit.
Washington Dunbar’s Reggie Ellis impressed many at Stat College and grabbed a MVP award at Nike as he did a week earlier at the Elite Camp. Pitt has offered but so have many others. It might take a while to see how his recruitment shakes out. He looks like a guy that may look forward to the text message ban that goes into effect August.
Now that the Nike Camps are over in our area we will publish the Pantherlair’s PA Top 50 early next week. Keep in mind it is simply a part of the recruiting process. It is not the finished product. We will update it again later this summer and then again after the football season.
We need to hear a little more singing
Coach Greg Gattusso recently told the Mon Valley Pitt Club that the Panthers will do more singing next year. He was referring to the tradition of the team sing in the fight song with the band after a win. One of my memorable moments was the Pitt team singing after a double overtime win at Rutgers in 1997. Most fans had left the stadium but the Pitt team seemed very proud to be singing that day. My wife and I were standing near the band after that game. The scene brought tears of joy to my eyes.
I received the disc that Pitt AD Jeff Long sent out of the Pitt band playing Hail to Pitt and a number of other songs. It was a nice gesture to season ticket holders. I will be leaving for a vacation in Florida next week. I told my wife we may listen to it the entire way. I might have to hide it until we leave or it may disappear before we leave.
There will be no War Room next week as the result of a vacation my family will take in Orlando.
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.
