From the desk of Jim Snyder
The home stretch
I would love to see Pitt pull an upset in one of the three remaining football games and be at least competitive in the other two. Their best shot might come at Rutgers this Saturday afternoon. Pitt is a 12-point underdog but I still think this is one Pitt can steal a win on the road if their young quarterback can handle the crowd. I have not given up hope that Matt Cavanaugh will find tight end Nate Byham one of these days.
Arizona upset No. 2 Oregon last night 34-24. If Tennessee can beat LSU in the SEC title game it could open the door for the West Virginia Mountaineers to slip into the national title game. The three ranked teams in the Big 12 have to face each other and only one can emerge from that group.
Redshirts
It appears Pitt will redshirt 17 true freshmen this fall. Wideout Aaron Smith, cornerback Buddy Jackson, fullback Henry Hynoski, cornerback Sherrod Murdock, linebacker Brandon Lindsey, running back Greg Williams, running back Shariff Harris, linebacker Max Gruder, offensive lineman Greg Gaskins, defensive lineman Wayne Jones, offensive lineman Jordan Gibbs, offensive lineman John Fieger, wideout Aundre Wright, defensive end Tony Tucker, defensive tackle Myles Caragein and defensive end Justin Hargrove all look like they will get redshirts.
Two other freshmen, offensive linemen Dan Matha and Chris Jacobson, had season-ending injuries in training camp and were redshirted. Sophomore tailback Kevin Collier (broken wrist), sophomore offensive tackle Jason Pinkston (shoulder), senior wideout Derek Kinder (knee), junior defensive tackle Gus Mustakas (knee) and junior quarterback Bill Stull (thumb) needed surgery and were fortunate to have redshirts available. Elijah Fields played some as a freshman in 2006 and was redshirted this season while under suspension for disciplinary reasons. That gives Pitt a total of 24 redshirts. They will also try and get defensive end Doug Fulmer another year so it could be 25.
Pitt might lead the country in players redshirted this year. It could be good news for next year. We keep hearing that folks on the Southside like Jordan Gibbs a lot.
Still searching
Apparently the search committee looking for a new athletic director has met once. They have reviewed resumes but as far as I know have not interviewed anyone yet. As indicated earlier the general feeling is that they have all their coaches in place for next year and Donna Sanft is acting as interim athletic director so there is no rush to find a replacement. In many ways the search committee acts primarily as an advisory board. The ultimate selection and decisions will be made by the administration (ie. Chancellor Nordenberg and Jerry Cochran). Based on the last time Pitt was in this situation it is hard to see anyone in place until January (at the earliest). There is also a possibility the holiday season will slow the search.
There were posts on a couple of our message boards that Dan Radakovich from Georgia Tech was the leading contender for the athletic director’s job at Pitt. Our sources quickly said that was not true. Quite frankly I think it is still too earlier for anyone to be considered a leading contender. They are still gathering names.
Some hoops talk
There is nothing less satisfying than being runner-up in a recruiting race. Pitt came very close with forward Eloy Vargas out of Florida only to see him sign with the Gators. That put them a little behind in recruiting Kevin Jones and it appears they could not make up all the ground. We will now have to watch him play Big East basketball for West Virginia.
Our sources say Pitt will now target forward Dwight Miller (6’ 8”) out of Houston, Texas. One of our “birdies” pointed out he had better numbers at the ReebokU Camp in Philadelphia than Eloy Vargas or Kevin Jones. There was an article on Dwight Miller on the Ticker last night from the Kentucky site. We also spoke to Dwight last night and will have an article later today. Miller said he talked to Coach Dixon on Tuesday night and Coach Herrion on Wednesday night. Coach Dixon said last night he would take advantage of the off days to recruit. I suspect he is on his way to Houston today.
DeJuan Blair is turning out to be everything you could have hoped for. He has shown he has good hands and good feel for the game of basketball. The Pitt training staff is slowly reshaping his body. He was making 70% of his shots from the field coming into last night’s game although most were from short range. Blair figures to get better as time goes on. Let’s hope the back injury suffered last night is not a problem.
I also like what I see of freshmen Brad Wanamaker and Gilbert Brown. Coach Dixon has a tendency to believe in the senior system so I fear I will not see as much of these two as I would like. Freshman Gary McGhee has a Big East body although it takes time for most big men to develop.
Speaking of the senior system Coach Wannstedt also grasps this concept.
There are two Big East programs that are recruiting on another level right now in Georgetown and Louisville. John Thompson has a natural recruiting base in the Washington-Baltimore corridor (which Pitt does not). The Hoyas have recently signed him to a long-term contract. It is like old times. If you want to win the Big East Conference you will have to beat Georgetown.
When I was living in Princeton I had partial season ticket package to the Princeton basketball games so I have followed John Thompson’s career for a long time. I am not sure I envisioned the success he is having today when I was watching those Princeton games.
Georgetown landed five-star forward Greg Monroe and three four-star players.
Rick Pitino has established a national reputation. His NBA experience also helps him as does the success Louisville has enjoyed over a long period of time. Louisville landed two five-star players in Samardo Samuels and Terrance Jennings.
We have link three articles on forward Kevin Jones committing to WVU and a video of the press conference if you can bear to watch them please see the Center Court at the Pete message board.
Save money
The majority of Rivals subscribers have annual subscriptions. This allows you to save some money over the long run. We lag slightly behind the national average and the Big East average. It is probably my fault for not bring this subject up more often.
It has been a busy couple of days on the Pantherlair. Before the day is over we expect we will have 15 separate content items over a two-day period. That is in addition to any articles that come across the Ticker or is provide by the national writers at Rivals.com. If you miss any of these articles go look under Latest News. It will be a very busy day on the Pantherlair.
Recruiting summary
Gateway’s Cameron Saddler is scheduled for an official visit the weekend that Pitt plays South Florida. Saddler might be limited in college to kick returning because of his size but I would love to see Pitt land him because he is an outgoing quote machine. We had two Ticker articles on Saddler this week. Rivals.com is in the process or updating their rankings and Saddler is now in their Top 250.
This week we updated you on JUCO center Robb Houser. I think Pitt is the leader but he now has an offer from Syracuse and will visit them first. I like Pitt’s chances in this one although I guess there is a small chance he could commit to Syracuse before he ever gets to Pittsburgh.
We reported on Clairton’s Manny Williams knee injury yesterday. He is out for the balance of the season. It is too bad. I was looking forward to watching him play at Heinz Field next weekend. It is always a tough situation when a player gets a serious injury in their senior year.
We had a Ticker report on QB Wayne Warren. He too had a knee injury. Pitt had been recruiting him and was trying to get a visit. The knee injury probably puts him in the “B” plan category.
We spoke to Coach George Novak at Woodland Hills. He tells us that his senior Noah Taylor broke his leg early in the year. He returned late in the season. He tells me Pitt’s Bob Junko recently requested video and we asked him to send us a copy too. I always thought he might be good “B” plan gamble. His brother Jason Taylor took a long time to fill out. Some players mature earlier than others.
We had an article this week on West Boca Raton defensive end Jeff Hutchison. His official visit has been moved back until December 14th. It is the second time the coach staff has pushed back his visit which may indicate he is not at the top of the priority list.
We also had Ticker articles on DE Jake Stoller and Altoona’s A.J. Alexander. It looks like Pitt is out of the running for Stoller but could still get a visit from Alexander.
Mike Farrell had an article on the Ticker yesterday on Trinity linebacker Brandon Weaver and Tony Greco from the Pantherlair will have one today.
Sleeping with the enemy
It appears I may be sitting with Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley when Pitt plays South Florida. I have my fingers crossed that Michigan State finds a way to beat their long time rival Penn State this weekend. The Spartans need another win to insure they will go to a bowl. Love to see them win the coveted Land Grant Trophy.
There will be no War Room next week due to the Thanksgiving holiday. I have a ton of football and basketball games to go to and a few family obligations too.
Top ten in Pick’em contest
Here are the top ten in our Pick’em contest after week 11
1) Bkm67
2) UP#1
3) Fan101
4) Gburgess1300
5) Panth#1
6) paaron
7) dukebball3581
8) Last Call
9) Pitt/Robb
10) Fitzgerald#1
If you have not made your selections for this week’s Pick’em game please do so today.
The home stretch
I would love to see Pitt pull an upset in one of the three remaining football games and be at least competitive in the other two. Their best shot might come at Rutgers this Saturday afternoon. Pitt is a 12-point underdog but I still think this is one Pitt can steal a win on the road if their young quarterback can handle the crowd. I have not given up hope that Matt Cavanaugh will find tight end Nate Byham one of these days.
Arizona upset No. 2 Oregon last night 34-24. If Tennessee can beat LSU in the SEC title game it could open the door for the West Virginia Mountaineers to slip into the national title game. The three ranked teams in the Big 12 have to face each other and only one can emerge from that group.
Redshirts
It appears Pitt will redshirt 17 true freshmen this fall. Wideout Aaron Smith, cornerback Buddy Jackson, fullback Henry Hynoski, cornerback Sherrod Murdock, linebacker Brandon Lindsey, running back Greg Williams, running back Shariff Harris, linebacker Max Gruder, offensive lineman Greg Gaskins, defensive lineman Wayne Jones, offensive lineman Jordan Gibbs, offensive lineman John Fieger, wideout Aundre Wright, defensive end Tony Tucker, defensive tackle Myles Caragein and defensive end Justin Hargrove all look like they will get redshirts.
Two other freshmen, offensive linemen Dan Matha and Chris Jacobson, had season-ending injuries in training camp and were redshirted. Sophomore tailback Kevin Collier (broken wrist), sophomore offensive tackle Jason Pinkston (shoulder), senior wideout Derek Kinder (knee), junior defensive tackle Gus Mustakas (knee) and junior quarterback Bill Stull (thumb) needed surgery and were fortunate to have redshirts available. Elijah Fields played some as a freshman in 2006 and was redshirted this season while under suspension for disciplinary reasons. That gives Pitt a total of 24 redshirts. They will also try and get defensive end Doug Fulmer another year so it could be 25.
Pitt might lead the country in players redshirted this year. It could be good news for next year. We keep hearing that folks on the Southside like Jordan Gibbs a lot.
Still searching
Apparently the search committee looking for a new athletic director has met once. They have reviewed resumes but as far as I know have not interviewed anyone yet. As indicated earlier the general feeling is that they have all their coaches in place for next year and Donna Sanft is acting as interim athletic director so there is no rush to find a replacement. In many ways the search committee acts primarily as an advisory board. The ultimate selection and decisions will be made by the administration (ie. Chancellor Nordenberg and Jerry Cochran). Based on the last time Pitt was in this situation it is hard to see anyone in place until January (at the earliest). There is also a possibility the holiday season will slow the search.
There were posts on a couple of our message boards that Dan Radakovich from Georgia Tech was the leading contender for the athletic director’s job at Pitt. Our sources quickly said that was not true. Quite frankly I think it is still too earlier for anyone to be considered a leading contender. They are still gathering names.
Some hoops talk
There is nothing less satisfying than being runner-up in a recruiting race. Pitt came very close with forward Eloy Vargas out of Florida only to see him sign with the Gators. That put them a little behind in recruiting Kevin Jones and it appears they could not make up all the ground. We will now have to watch him play Big East basketball for West Virginia.
Our sources say Pitt will now target forward Dwight Miller (6’ 8”) out of Houston, Texas. One of our “birdies” pointed out he had better numbers at the ReebokU Camp in Philadelphia than Eloy Vargas or Kevin Jones. There was an article on Dwight Miller on the Ticker last night from the Kentucky site. We also spoke to Dwight last night and will have an article later today. Miller said he talked to Coach Dixon on Tuesday night and Coach Herrion on Wednesday night. Coach Dixon said last night he would take advantage of the off days to recruit. I suspect he is on his way to Houston today.
DeJuan Blair is turning out to be everything you could have hoped for. He has shown he has good hands and good feel for the game of basketball. The Pitt training staff is slowly reshaping his body. He was making 70% of his shots from the field coming into last night’s game although most were from short range. Blair figures to get better as time goes on. Let’s hope the back injury suffered last night is not a problem.
I also like what I see of freshmen Brad Wanamaker and Gilbert Brown. Coach Dixon has a tendency to believe in the senior system so I fear I will not see as much of these two as I would like. Freshman Gary McGhee has a Big East body although it takes time for most big men to develop.
Speaking of the senior system Coach Wannstedt also grasps this concept.
There are two Big East programs that are recruiting on another level right now in Georgetown and Louisville. John Thompson has a natural recruiting base in the Washington-Baltimore corridor (which Pitt does not). The Hoyas have recently signed him to a long-term contract. It is like old times. If you want to win the Big East Conference you will have to beat Georgetown.
When I was living in Princeton I had partial season ticket package to the Princeton basketball games so I have followed John Thompson’s career for a long time. I am not sure I envisioned the success he is having today when I was watching those Princeton games.
Georgetown landed five-star forward Greg Monroe and three four-star players.
Rick Pitino has established a national reputation. His NBA experience also helps him as does the success Louisville has enjoyed over a long period of time. Louisville landed two five-star players in Samardo Samuels and Terrance Jennings.
We have link three articles on forward Kevin Jones committing to WVU and a video of the press conference if you can bear to watch them please see the Center Court at the Pete message board.
Save money
The majority of Rivals subscribers have annual subscriptions. This allows you to save some money over the long run. We lag slightly behind the national average and the Big East average. It is probably my fault for not bring this subject up more often.
It has been a busy couple of days on the Pantherlair. Before the day is over we expect we will have 15 separate content items over a two-day period. That is in addition to any articles that come across the Ticker or is provide by the national writers at Rivals.com. If you miss any of these articles go look under Latest News. It will be a very busy day on the Pantherlair.
Recruiting summary
Gateway’s Cameron Saddler is scheduled for an official visit the weekend that Pitt plays South Florida. Saddler might be limited in college to kick returning because of his size but I would love to see Pitt land him because he is an outgoing quote machine. We had two Ticker articles on Saddler this week. Rivals.com is in the process or updating their rankings and Saddler is now in their Top 250.
This week we updated you on JUCO center Robb Houser. I think Pitt is the leader but he now has an offer from Syracuse and will visit them first. I like Pitt’s chances in this one although I guess there is a small chance he could commit to Syracuse before he ever gets to Pittsburgh.
We reported on Clairton’s Manny Williams knee injury yesterday. He is out for the balance of the season. It is too bad. I was looking forward to watching him play at Heinz Field next weekend. It is always a tough situation when a player gets a serious injury in their senior year.
We had a Ticker report on QB Wayne Warren. He too had a knee injury. Pitt had been recruiting him and was trying to get a visit. The knee injury probably puts him in the “B” plan category.
We spoke to Coach George Novak at Woodland Hills. He tells us that his senior Noah Taylor broke his leg early in the year. He returned late in the season. He tells me Pitt’s Bob Junko recently requested video and we asked him to send us a copy too. I always thought he might be good “B” plan gamble. His brother Jason Taylor took a long time to fill out. Some players mature earlier than others.
We had an article this week on West Boca Raton defensive end Jeff Hutchison. His official visit has been moved back until December 14th. It is the second time the coach staff has pushed back his visit which may indicate he is not at the top of the priority list.
We also had Ticker articles on DE Jake Stoller and Altoona’s A.J. Alexander. It looks like Pitt is out of the running for Stoller but could still get a visit from Alexander.
Mike Farrell had an article on the Ticker yesterday on Trinity linebacker Brandon Weaver and Tony Greco from the Pantherlair will have one today.
Sleeping with the enemy
It appears I may be sitting with Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley when Pitt plays South Florida. I have my fingers crossed that Michigan State finds a way to beat their long time rival Penn State this weekend. The Spartans need another win to insure they will go to a bowl. Love to see them win the coveted Land Grant Trophy.
There will be no War Room next week due to the Thanksgiving holiday. I have a ton of football and basketball games to go to and a few family obligations too.
Top ten in Pick’em contest
Here are the top ten in our Pick’em contest after week 11
1) Bkm67
2) UP#1
3) Fan101
4) Gburgess1300
5) Panth#1
6) paaron
7) dukebball3581
8) Last Call
9) Pitt/Robb
10) Fitzgerald#1
If you have not made your selections for this week’s Pick’em game please do so today.
