From the desk of Jim Snyder
Rankings and ratings
Rivals.com is scheduled to roll out their rankings over the next 30 days. Here is a tentative schedule:
Tuesday May 30st – Five stars (only 25 prospects)
Wednesday May 31st – Rivals100 ranked
Thursday June 1st – Rivals100 positions ranked
Monday June 5th – Rivals250
Tuesday June 6th – Rivals250 positions ranked
Tuesday June 13th – Three stars and position rankings
Monday June 19th – First state rankings released (some every day)
The Pantherlair is also working on their PA Top 50 and will see if we cannot get ours rolled out by the end of the month. The Rivals.com rankings will be updated throughout the year so this is their first pass.
There is a competing service out there (Scout.com), which also uses a star system but passes out twice as many stars to high-ranked players so there is an apples and oranges comparison. If have spoken to Rivals.com about this on a number of occasions but so far it has fallen on deaf ears. People love those stars. Double the number to high ranked players. Unfortunately Rivals has been using their system for several years now and is not yet motivated to change for some new kid on the block. In their defense it does mess up year-to year-comparisons.
A look at wide receiver
Last fall Pitt signed Dorin Dickerson, Tamarcus Porter, Aaron Smith and Elijah Fields to play wide receiver. In addition Pitt has a couple of other young wide receivers in the system in Oderick Turner and Cedric McGee who are both redshirt freshman. With a lot of young receivers in the system Dave Wannstedt often wonders out loud if Elijah Fields will end up playing safety before it is over. He keeps mumbling about things looking pretty crowded at the wide receiver spot.
Pitt now has offers out to at least nine (9) wide receivers but I suspect they will probably only take a pair. We keep hearing that Pitt will probably only take 20 players this year with a small senior class. They have already passed out three scholarships and we hear they would like five offensive linemen if possible. So four more could be soaked up there. We see them taking a fullback (hopefully Hynoski) and another running back. Linebacker and defensive end look like other areas that still need to be addressed.
Pitt has offers out to five Pa. wideouts in Nick Sukay, Moe Williams, Derek Moye, Jon Ditto and Toney Clemons. Any two off these would be just fine. They all have their strengths and the potential to make good receivers. What you don’t want to see is for a couple of these to drift out of state to places like Michigan and then see Penn State scoop up a couple.
There is a third rating service out there called Scout, Inc, which is either owned by ESPN or is being acquired by ESPN (not sure if their acquisition has been completed yet). They have already ranked a few players and they have currently have Moe Williams ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the state of Pennsylvania with a score of 83. They have Pat Bostick tied for second with Myles Caragein with a score of 80. Several weeks ago we told you one of our contacts heard a report saying Moe Williams might be the best athlete in the state. Apparently the folks at Scout, Inc agree. Here is what the Student Sports staff had to say about Moe Williams after watching him at the Nike Camp -“An athlete who plays mostly safety and QB for his high school team but worked out with the WRs at State College and had a very impressive day. Has better than average speed and a big body with pretty good hands. Not yet a natural pass-catcher, but understands routes and was good with the ball in the air.” They also liked Gateway’s Jon Ditto.
Keep in mind these players are the best of the best. It gets pretty subjective at times. Separate one very good player from another very good player is not an easy task. Student Sports has selected three quarterbacks so far for their Elite 11 camp. Ryan Mallet (6’ 6”) –Michigan commit from Texas, Keith Nichol –Michigan State commit from Michigan and Tyrod Taylor from Hampton Virginia are the first three selected. Taylor went head to head with Pat Bostick at the Elite Camp at Randolph, New Jersey and then again at the regional Elite Camp at State College and impressed the coaches on both occasions.
Speaking of Pat Bostick we hope you got to see the excellent AMP piece on him. They have video of Bostick working out at the camp at Randolph, New Jersey. Also quotes from his teammates and high school coach. Pat and Nick Sukay often clicked on passes at this camp. The AMP pierces are available to annual ticketholders and Gold Members. The annual subscription will save you money in the long run and gives you access to the AMP features and the recruiting yearbook.
Nike Camps this weekend
There is a Nike Camp at the University of Florida this weekend. It is being held in an Evaluation Period and college coaches are allowed to attend. This should result in a large turnout. The camp at Miami was held outside of the Evaluation Period and a result the turnout was probably depressed. Hopefully this camp at Gainesville will give us some data on some potential Pitt recruits.
Metro Index Camp
Quarterback Adam DeMichelle (6’ 1” 170) from Sto-Rox signed a Letter of Intent with Penn State a couple of years back but then opted to play baseball. Apparently he has given up on his baseball dreams. Tony Greco reports that West Allegheny football coach Bob Palko is working with him trying to get him hooked up with a college so he can resume his football career.
Spyware
Spyware if you spend much time on the Internet you will eventually be infected with Spyware. The end result is you will be annoyed by a lot of pop-ups or your response time will slow. There are a number of products out there. I recommend Ad-Aware by Lavasoft because it is free. There are many good products but you need to run them at least once per week. Rivals.com is very conscience of response time and kills many good ideas for fear of slowing your response time while traveling their network. Rivals will not do anything intentionally to degrade your experience on the network.
Rivals.com is usually a leader in time spent on the network. It is in part because of the sheer volume of content generated each day but it is also a function of the navigational features. Shown below is the leader for sports site last month for time spent on the network.
Rivals.com 48:06 minute
Yahoo Sports 45:30 minutes
ESPN 42:03 minutes
WWE 35:57 minutes
CBS Sportsline 33:56
That’s a nice profit
I was out in my car listening to a sports radio show a couple of weeks ago and the host read from a report that the University of Georgia reports an operating profit of $29.6 million each year on their sports programs. Many, many schools lose money but some of the big stadium schools actually make money and then plow it back into facilities. The rich get richer.
Basketball schedule
One of our subscribers reports that Pitt is concerned that ESPN and the Big East will load them up with a very tough conference schedule this year. Pitt plays Wisconsin and Auburn on the road in non-conference play and the folks at the “Pete” are afraid to beef up the non-conference schedule beyond those road games. Pitt could play UConn, Georgetown, Louisville and Marquette twice. The Pitt basketball coaches have generally been given a free rein in scheduling. This report does not surprise me. Not sure how many tough road games you can play and come out whole.
Josh Marks to announce
We reported in last week that we did not feel this one would go Pitt’s way based on our conversations with others around Josh. Josh Marks is scheduled to announce at 7:00PM tonight. An internet blog now reports we had it right last week and that he will announce he will go to Penn State. I sure wish it were not the case but there is an old rule in recruiting. When a player has strong feelings for two schools geography often wins. Big linemen that can play are often hard to find. Fortunately there are quite a few in Pennsylvania this year but it appears two have gotten away already. (Pitt does have a commitment from Chris Jacobson). Speaking of linemen we will have an article today on offensive lineman Evan Blankenship from Center High School. Recruiting often ebbs and flows but it looks like Pitt may also have lost a little ground here too.
We will also have an article on running back Marcell Farrish from woodland Hills. He does not yet have an offer but Pitt is recruiting him. It would not surprise us if he picked up a few offers before the recruiting season is over. Farrish is not a big back but he is not afraid to run between the tackles.
We will also have an article on Keystone Oaks Myles Caragein today.
Hopefully you have been following the articles and video this week on defensive tackle Uriah Grant. He is a Floridian we should follow closely.
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.
Rankings and ratings
Rivals.com is scheduled to roll out their rankings over the next 30 days. Here is a tentative schedule:
Tuesday May 30st – Five stars (only 25 prospects)
Wednesday May 31st – Rivals100 ranked
Thursday June 1st – Rivals100 positions ranked
Monday June 5th – Rivals250
Tuesday June 6th – Rivals250 positions ranked
Tuesday June 13th – Three stars and position rankings
Monday June 19th – First state rankings released (some every day)
The Pantherlair is also working on their PA Top 50 and will see if we cannot get ours rolled out by the end of the month. The Rivals.com rankings will be updated throughout the year so this is their first pass.
There is a competing service out there (Scout.com), which also uses a star system but passes out twice as many stars to high-ranked players so there is an apples and oranges comparison. If have spoken to Rivals.com about this on a number of occasions but so far it has fallen on deaf ears. People love those stars. Double the number to high ranked players. Unfortunately Rivals has been using their system for several years now and is not yet motivated to change for some new kid on the block. In their defense it does mess up year-to year-comparisons.
A look at wide receiver
Last fall Pitt signed Dorin Dickerson, Tamarcus Porter, Aaron Smith and Elijah Fields to play wide receiver. In addition Pitt has a couple of other young wide receivers in the system in Oderick Turner and Cedric McGee who are both redshirt freshman. With a lot of young receivers in the system Dave Wannstedt often wonders out loud if Elijah Fields will end up playing safety before it is over. He keeps mumbling about things looking pretty crowded at the wide receiver spot.
Pitt now has offers out to at least nine (9) wide receivers but I suspect they will probably only take a pair. We keep hearing that Pitt will probably only take 20 players this year with a small senior class. They have already passed out three scholarships and we hear they would like five offensive linemen if possible. So four more could be soaked up there. We see them taking a fullback (hopefully Hynoski) and another running back. Linebacker and defensive end look like other areas that still need to be addressed.
Pitt has offers out to five Pa. wideouts in Nick Sukay, Moe Williams, Derek Moye, Jon Ditto and Toney Clemons. Any two off these would be just fine. They all have their strengths and the potential to make good receivers. What you don’t want to see is for a couple of these to drift out of state to places like Michigan and then see Penn State scoop up a couple.
There is a third rating service out there called Scout, Inc, which is either owned by ESPN or is being acquired by ESPN (not sure if their acquisition has been completed yet). They have already ranked a few players and they have currently have Moe Williams ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the state of Pennsylvania with a score of 83. They have Pat Bostick tied for second with Myles Caragein with a score of 80. Several weeks ago we told you one of our contacts heard a report saying Moe Williams might be the best athlete in the state. Apparently the folks at Scout, Inc agree. Here is what the Student Sports staff had to say about Moe Williams after watching him at the Nike Camp -“An athlete who plays mostly safety and QB for his high school team but worked out with the WRs at State College and had a very impressive day. Has better than average speed and a big body with pretty good hands. Not yet a natural pass-catcher, but understands routes and was good with the ball in the air.” They also liked Gateway’s Jon Ditto.
Keep in mind these players are the best of the best. It gets pretty subjective at times. Separate one very good player from another very good player is not an easy task. Student Sports has selected three quarterbacks so far for their Elite 11 camp. Ryan Mallet (6’ 6”) –Michigan commit from Texas, Keith Nichol –Michigan State commit from Michigan and Tyrod Taylor from Hampton Virginia are the first three selected. Taylor went head to head with Pat Bostick at the Elite Camp at Randolph, New Jersey and then again at the regional Elite Camp at State College and impressed the coaches on both occasions.
Speaking of Pat Bostick we hope you got to see the excellent AMP piece on him. They have video of Bostick working out at the camp at Randolph, New Jersey. Also quotes from his teammates and high school coach. Pat and Nick Sukay often clicked on passes at this camp. The AMP pierces are available to annual ticketholders and Gold Members. The annual subscription will save you money in the long run and gives you access to the AMP features and the recruiting yearbook.
Nike Camps this weekend
There is a Nike Camp at the University of Florida this weekend. It is being held in an Evaluation Period and college coaches are allowed to attend. This should result in a large turnout. The camp at Miami was held outside of the Evaluation Period and a result the turnout was probably depressed. Hopefully this camp at Gainesville will give us some data on some potential Pitt recruits.
Metro Index Camp
Quarterback Adam DeMichelle (6’ 1” 170) from Sto-Rox signed a Letter of Intent with Penn State a couple of years back but then opted to play baseball. Apparently he has given up on his baseball dreams. Tony Greco reports that West Allegheny football coach Bob Palko is working with him trying to get him hooked up with a college so he can resume his football career.
Spyware
Spyware if you spend much time on the Internet you will eventually be infected with Spyware. The end result is you will be annoyed by a lot of pop-ups or your response time will slow. There are a number of products out there. I recommend Ad-Aware by Lavasoft because it is free. There are many good products but you need to run them at least once per week. Rivals.com is very conscience of response time and kills many good ideas for fear of slowing your response time while traveling their network. Rivals will not do anything intentionally to degrade your experience on the network.
Rivals.com is usually a leader in time spent on the network. It is in part because of the sheer volume of content generated each day but it is also a function of the navigational features. Shown below is the leader for sports site last month for time spent on the network.
Rivals.com 48:06 minute
Yahoo Sports 45:30 minutes
ESPN 42:03 minutes
WWE 35:57 minutes
CBS Sportsline 33:56
That’s a nice profit
I was out in my car listening to a sports radio show a couple of weeks ago and the host read from a report that the University of Georgia reports an operating profit of $29.6 million each year on their sports programs. Many, many schools lose money but some of the big stadium schools actually make money and then plow it back into facilities. The rich get richer.
Basketball schedule
One of our subscribers reports that Pitt is concerned that ESPN and the Big East will load them up with a very tough conference schedule this year. Pitt plays Wisconsin and Auburn on the road in non-conference play and the folks at the “Pete” are afraid to beef up the non-conference schedule beyond those road games. Pitt could play UConn, Georgetown, Louisville and Marquette twice. The Pitt basketball coaches have generally been given a free rein in scheduling. This report does not surprise me. Not sure how many tough road games you can play and come out whole.
Josh Marks to announce
We reported in last week that we did not feel this one would go Pitt’s way based on our conversations with others around Josh. Josh Marks is scheduled to announce at 7:00PM tonight. An internet blog now reports we had it right last week and that he will announce he will go to Penn State. I sure wish it were not the case but there is an old rule in recruiting. When a player has strong feelings for two schools geography often wins. Big linemen that can play are often hard to find. Fortunately there are quite a few in Pennsylvania this year but it appears two have gotten away already. (Pitt does have a commitment from Chris Jacobson). Speaking of linemen we will have an article today on offensive lineman Evan Blankenship from Center High School. Recruiting often ebbs and flows but it looks like Pitt may also have lost a little ground here too.
We will also have an article on running back Marcell Farrish from woodland Hills. He does not yet have an offer but Pitt is recruiting him. It would not surprise us if he picked up a few offers before the recruiting season is over. Farrish is not a big back but he is not afraid to run between the tackles.
We will also have an article on Keystone Oaks Myles Caragein today.
Hopefully you have been following the articles and video this week on defensive tackle Uriah Grant. He is a Floridian we should follow closely.
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.
