From the Desk of Jim Snyder
Around the recruiting circuit
Duke may be serious about football. One thing that is a little different this year is that Duke offers scholarships early and often. I have not seen one of their written offers but it has to have a pile of disclaimers in it. You occasionally see them making offers to players of questionable academic standing. It looks like they have taken the approach they want to get their name out there and they will sort the details out later. I asked one coach how one of his players could possibly have an offer from Duke and he said, “I have not sent them his transcript yet.” That about sums up the new strategy at Duke. Offer early to get your name out there and then check him out later. One high school coach told me the Georgia Tech offers are loaded with disclaimers.
One disturbing trend you find primarily at high schools in Pennsylvania is that the coach does not always teach in the same school district. The WPIAL AAAA and AAA champions were both coached by individuals that did not work for Central Catholic or Seton-LaSalle last fall. Both left after the year for schools that could offer them full-time employment. The Rochester coach works in the Freedom School District and the Plymouth-Whitemarsh coach works in the Norristown School District. I could cite many examples. It is not a good trend. This is not just a private school matter but extends to many public schools. I have seldom run into this in another state.
Rivals.com is in the process of upgrading the format of the football database. Part of their hope is to make it a little more intuitive for subscribers to read a player’s profile while at the same time providing you with more information. One of the changes will be to add which assistant coach is recruiting a player. Around the country fans are often interested in which coaches are landing prospects. Dave Wannstedt has changed the recruiting territories of his assistants in an attempt to put a greater focus on in-state players. We are still trying to sort out which coaches are calling on which high schools although it is coming into a little better focus with each passing day. In South Florida Aubrey Hill has joined Charlie Partridge. It looks like Hill has the Miami area while Partridge has the areas closer to West Palm Beach. Coach Wannstedt’s ties to South Florida make this an area that is getting increased attention.
If you go to the tab of Pitt commitments in the football database you find that linebacker coach Curtis Bray was the assistant coach assigned to Gateway, Franklin and Johnstown high schools. These schools are sending linebacker Dan Loheyde, John Malecki and Scott Corson. Coach Bray gets the first three verbals.
Most schools, including Pitt, would like to take one quarterback every year. In theory you could have five in the system at one time since many are redshirted. Last summer Luke Getsy transferred to the University of Akron. There is now a strong possibility that Joe Flacco will also transfer instead of waiting behind Tyler Palko for two more years. There is a real chance that Pitt may take two quarterbacks this year. The Pantherlair recently reported that Dave Wannstedt offered Thaddeus Lewis on a recent swing through Florida. Pitt also has recently showed interest in Jeremy Ricker of Bishop McDevitt and in Kevan Smith of Seneca Valley (Chris Peak has an article today on the Pantherlair Home Page). In addition they continue to recruit Desmond Brentley of Perry and Connor Dixon of South Park. One could make a case that the staff is growing very concerned that Flacco might not be back and they may feel the necessity to bring in two quarterbacks this year.
We spoke to Coach Butschle at Seneca Valley who told us that his quarterback Kevan Smith did not play last year until the final two games. He had been out with a wrist injury that dated back to a snowboarding accident early last year. Coach Butschle
said, “A month ago nobody heard of this guy. He then went to the Nike Camp, the Metro Index Camp and the Elite Camp in Michigan and now the phone is ringing off the hook. He could end up being one of the more heavily recruited players in Western PA because of the camps.”
I was talking to North Penn coach Dave Beck this week. Dave Wannstedt had been by last week and I wanted to see if they had any players that Pitt had offered. I asked him if Pitt was recruiting any of his players and he replied, “I sure hope so.” North Penn has three Division 1 prospects. Running back Pete Stoll, defensive end Alex Johnson (offers from Duke and Toledo) and defensive end Josh Nuebert (offers from Boston College and Northwestern) are all prospects with very good board scores. The one Pitt seems to have a little interest in is Pete Stoll. The coach claims he ran a sub-4.4 in the 40 at a combine at Valley Forge but he was clocked electronically in 4.58 seconds at the Nike Camp at State College. He has an impressive 1450 on his SAT’s (old system). North Penn won the state championship two years ago and went 10-3 a year ago, losing to state finalist Neshaminy in the playoffs. Coach Beck was quick to point out North Penn was the last team to beat Central Catholic.
If you go to the gray tab marked “Videos” on the right hand side of the football database you will now find two pages of videos of players that are interested in Pitt. There are also over 40 videos already in the system of players from Pennsylvania. We have another dozen or so at Rivals for editing. You should see them over the next few weeks. Hopefully by the time we are done with the 2006 recruiting season we will have video on all of the players that Pitt actually signs.
Rivals100 is scheduled to release a revised Top 100 early next week. There should only be about 25 players in the country with a 5 star rating.
Odds and ends
Rivals.com has added a site to cover the Cincinnati Bearcats. I think this was the only BCS school without a Rivals site. Once they gear up it will help the entire network with better coverage of the Big East Conference. It will also help give us better coverage of prospects from Ohio. I might add the addition of South Florida will help give us better coverage of prospects from Florida. There are simply so many Division 1 players in Florida that the “Big Three” could not give them adequate coverage and many players slipped through the cracks only to pop up near Letter of Intent Day.
Pitt released the women’s basketball schedule this week. We have posted it on the Olympic message board. It is interesting on two levels. One it gives you a peak at what a conference basketball schedule will look like now that Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, Marquette, and DePaul have joined the Big East Conference. It also reveals that Pitt will travel to State College to play Penn State. We are big fans of Jay Leno Show. He runs a regular feature called, “Point. What’s the Point?” You might ask why would Pitt spend good money on gas sending a team to Penn State? It beats us. All we can say is “Point. What's the Point?”
One of our “birdies” tells us Pitt is talking to a Big Ten school about a two-year home and home deal. Not it is not with the Golden Gophers but it is with a school that will start the 2005 season in the Top 25. Let’s hope they get the deal done. It would be a nice boost to their Future Schedules.
I will be on vacation next week so there will be no War Room next week. I am joining my family at Ft. Walton Beach, Florida, which is east of Destin. It has some of the best beaches in the world. They advertise the beaches as being like sugar and it is not too far from being accurate. Harry, Steve, Marky and Chris will carry on while I am gone. Hopefully I will find Internet access to check in once in a while to keep myself up to date but most of my time will hopefully be spent lying on the beach.
Dave Wannstedt has been out pounding the recruiting circuit hard the past six weeks. He told a colleague it was not uncommon for him to hit 6-8 high schools in one day. Coach Wannstedt is heading for California this weekend for a little R&R. He will be golfing at a tournament at Pebble Beach next week. Who knows maybe by the time Dave and I return from our R&R there we will have another verbal commitment.
Drive safely over the holiday week. I will be having fun in the sun next week.
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.
This post was edited on 5/27 9:52 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
Around the recruiting circuit
Duke may be serious about football. One thing that is a little different this year is that Duke offers scholarships early and often. I have not seen one of their written offers but it has to have a pile of disclaimers in it. You occasionally see them making offers to players of questionable academic standing. It looks like they have taken the approach they want to get their name out there and they will sort the details out later. I asked one coach how one of his players could possibly have an offer from Duke and he said, “I have not sent them his transcript yet.” That about sums up the new strategy at Duke. Offer early to get your name out there and then check him out later. One high school coach told me the Georgia Tech offers are loaded with disclaimers.
One disturbing trend you find primarily at high schools in Pennsylvania is that the coach does not always teach in the same school district. The WPIAL AAAA and AAA champions were both coached by individuals that did not work for Central Catholic or Seton-LaSalle last fall. Both left after the year for schools that could offer them full-time employment. The Rochester coach works in the Freedom School District and the Plymouth-Whitemarsh coach works in the Norristown School District. I could cite many examples. It is not a good trend. This is not just a private school matter but extends to many public schools. I have seldom run into this in another state.
Rivals.com is in the process of upgrading the format of the football database. Part of their hope is to make it a little more intuitive for subscribers to read a player’s profile while at the same time providing you with more information. One of the changes will be to add which assistant coach is recruiting a player. Around the country fans are often interested in which coaches are landing prospects. Dave Wannstedt has changed the recruiting territories of his assistants in an attempt to put a greater focus on in-state players. We are still trying to sort out which coaches are calling on which high schools although it is coming into a little better focus with each passing day. In South Florida Aubrey Hill has joined Charlie Partridge. It looks like Hill has the Miami area while Partridge has the areas closer to West Palm Beach. Coach Wannstedt’s ties to South Florida make this an area that is getting increased attention.
If you go to the tab of Pitt commitments in the football database you find that linebacker coach Curtis Bray was the assistant coach assigned to Gateway, Franklin and Johnstown high schools. These schools are sending linebacker Dan Loheyde, John Malecki and Scott Corson. Coach Bray gets the first three verbals.
Most schools, including Pitt, would like to take one quarterback every year. In theory you could have five in the system at one time since many are redshirted. Last summer Luke Getsy transferred to the University of Akron. There is now a strong possibility that Joe Flacco will also transfer instead of waiting behind Tyler Palko for two more years. There is a real chance that Pitt may take two quarterbacks this year. The Pantherlair recently reported that Dave Wannstedt offered Thaddeus Lewis on a recent swing through Florida. Pitt also has recently showed interest in Jeremy Ricker of Bishop McDevitt and in Kevan Smith of Seneca Valley (Chris Peak has an article today on the Pantherlair Home Page). In addition they continue to recruit Desmond Brentley of Perry and Connor Dixon of South Park. One could make a case that the staff is growing very concerned that Flacco might not be back and they may feel the necessity to bring in two quarterbacks this year.
We spoke to Coach Butschle at Seneca Valley who told us that his quarterback Kevan Smith did not play last year until the final two games. He had been out with a wrist injury that dated back to a snowboarding accident early last year. Coach Butschle
said, “A month ago nobody heard of this guy. He then went to the Nike Camp, the Metro Index Camp and the Elite Camp in Michigan and now the phone is ringing off the hook. He could end up being one of the more heavily recruited players in Western PA because of the camps.”
I was talking to North Penn coach Dave Beck this week. Dave Wannstedt had been by last week and I wanted to see if they had any players that Pitt had offered. I asked him if Pitt was recruiting any of his players and he replied, “I sure hope so.” North Penn has three Division 1 prospects. Running back Pete Stoll, defensive end Alex Johnson (offers from Duke and Toledo) and defensive end Josh Nuebert (offers from Boston College and Northwestern) are all prospects with very good board scores. The one Pitt seems to have a little interest in is Pete Stoll. The coach claims he ran a sub-4.4 in the 40 at a combine at Valley Forge but he was clocked electronically in 4.58 seconds at the Nike Camp at State College. He has an impressive 1450 on his SAT’s (old system). North Penn won the state championship two years ago and went 10-3 a year ago, losing to state finalist Neshaminy in the playoffs. Coach Beck was quick to point out North Penn was the last team to beat Central Catholic.
If you go to the gray tab marked “Videos” on the right hand side of the football database you will now find two pages of videos of players that are interested in Pitt. There are also over 40 videos already in the system of players from Pennsylvania. We have another dozen or so at Rivals for editing. You should see them over the next few weeks. Hopefully by the time we are done with the 2006 recruiting season we will have video on all of the players that Pitt actually signs.
Rivals100 is scheduled to release a revised Top 100 early next week. There should only be about 25 players in the country with a 5 star rating.
Odds and ends
Rivals.com has added a site to cover the Cincinnati Bearcats. I think this was the only BCS school without a Rivals site. Once they gear up it will help the entire network with better coverage of the Big East Conference. It will also help give us better coverage of prospects from Ohio. I might add the addition of South Florida will help give us better coverage of prospects from Florida. There are simply so many Division 1 players in Florida that the “Big Three” could not give them adequate coverage and many players slipped through the cracks only to pop up near Letter of Intent Day.
Pitt released the women’s basketball schedule this week. We have posted it on the Olympic message board. It is interesting on two levels. One it gives you a peak at what a conference basketball schedule will look like now that Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, Marquette, and DePaul have joined the Big East Conference. It also reveals that Pitt will travel to State College to play Penn State. We are big fans of Jay Leno Show. He runs a regular feature called, “Point. What’s the Point?” You might ask why would Pitt spend good money on gas sending a team to Penn State? It beats us. All we can say is “Point. What's the Point?”
One of our “birdies” tells us Pitt is talking to a Big Ten school about a two-year home and home deal. Not it is not with the Golden Gophers but it is with a school that will start the 2005 season in the Top 25. Let’s hope they get the deal done. It would be a nice boost to their Future Schedules.
I will be on vacation next week so there will be no War Room next week. I am joining my family at Ft. Walton Beach, Florida, which is east of Destin. It has some of the best beaches in the world. They advertise the beaches as being like sugar and it is not too far from being accurate. Harry, Steve, Marky and Chris will carry on while I am gone. Hopefully I will find Internet access to check in once in a while to keep myself up to date but most of my time will hopefully be spent lying on the beach.
Dave Wannstedt has been out pounding the recruiting circuit hard the past six weeks. He told a colleague it was not uncommon for him to hit 6-8 high schools in one day. Coach Wannstedt is heading for California this weekend for a little R&R. He will be golfing at a tournament at Pebble Beach next week. Who knows maybe by the time Dave and I return from our R&R there we will have another verbal commitment.
Drive safely over the holiday week. I will be having fun in the sun next week.
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.
This post was edited on 5/27 9:52 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
