From the desk of Jim Snyder
As indicated in a couple of previous War Rooms we will be discontinue thing Pantherlair e-mail system in about two weeks. If you are still using this system please make other arrangements. There are better products on the market that will help protect you from viruses and spams.
Chris Peak has attended football practice every day (that is open to the media) this year from the beginning of fall camp and throughout the season. No other reporter can make that statement. Paul Zeise of the Post-Gazette was matching Chris practice for practice until he was recently called for jury duty and had to miss a couple of days. Paul Zeise does a very good job of covering Pitt for the PG and part because he is there every day. The same is true of Chris Peak from the Pantherlair. The radio and television guys are not there every day. No other Internet site covers the Panthers. Chris’ coverage may be helping to keep the other two beat writers on their toes. Paul Zeise and Rob Biertempfel must help keep their readers informed because they both know Chris will keep our readers up to date. Good job Chris.
You can still play Pick’em this week. They have substituted in a “national game” with Pitt off which happens to be Minnesota hosting Ohio State.
We will have more video up today on linebacker Greg Webster who has committed to Pitt and fullback Adam Beauchamp who Pitt has been evaluating.
Some recruiting talk
Gateway’s Aaron Smith finished the regular season by completing 81 o 161 passes for 1,410 yards and 12 touchdowns. These are not bad figures for a guy that most feel will play wide receiver at the next level.
Burrell’s Aaron Brown has helped the Bucs get back in the playoffs. Aaron has caught 25 passes for 731 yards and 11 touchdowns. He has scored 19 touchdowns in total this season and has become a dangerous kick returner. He has not been getting a lot of looks this season but many schools could do much worse. He is a good athlete.
Pitt had Jason Diehl from Milford Academy in for a visit to Pittsburgh last weekend. He has narrowed his choices to Pitt and Michigan State but we hear he is leaning to Michigan State.
We think Pitt may simply have been too late with offensive tackle Lee Tilley from Columbus, Ohio. We are skeptical at this point that Pitt will get a visit but will follow him in case we have read this wrong.
Pitt also had offensive tackle Jeff Otah from Valley Forge in for a visit last weekend. We think he is leaning heavily to Pitt. He might take a visit or two to get away from the military school for a weekend or two but we think in the end the Panthers have an excellent shot of landing him. Larry Fitzgerald did a similar thing while at Valley Forge.
We spoke to one of the assistant coaches at Erie CC, which is located outside of Buffalo. He simply raved about free safety Lowell Robinson. Apparently he leads the conference in many categories including interceptions and punt returns. He said Robinson is averaging 40 yards a return on his interceptions. Robinson is starting at both wide receiver and safety for his school. He also returns punts and kickoffs. He would probably play free safety in college. From everything we have heard he is a terrific athlete who still has some work to do academically. We have rung him up as a commitment but we will have to watch him closely to see if he still on the list in December. We think he will be but we are not 100% certain. He certainly is excited about the prospect of becoming a Panther. He is scheduled to make his official visit December 2nd. Erie Community College is 5-2 on the season and 3-2 in their conference. They opened their season by beating Lackawanna Junior College 41-12. This weekend the host Morrisville State on Saturday at 1:00 PM.
We recently were talking to some of our colleagues at Rivals.com. They are amazed that Pitt has been able to hold on to their commitments. Expectations were very high at Pitt when these guys committed and then Pitt got off to a horrible start on the football field. Despite that we think the local players are still secure. The ones you have to have some concern with are the out of state players. Lakewood St Edward’s Joe Thomas is still be heavily recruited by Ohio State. Anytime the Buckeyes set their sights on an Ohio player it is a potential problem. Joe is having a good year and as we have been reporting in our Prospects play Under the Lights series so is his team. As most Pitt fans know Pitt is lacking depth up front. Losing Joe Thomas would be a blow to this recruiting class. We will continue to monitor him. So far he remains in the fold.
The other player of concern might be Ricky Gary from Pahokee, Florida. Two years ago Pitt had a verbal commitment from Alphonso Smith of Pahokee. At the last minute he bailed out and joined a couple of his teammates at Wake Forest. Gary has something like 25+ offers so he has plenty of options. Chris has an article today in which he says he is committed to Pitt but we hear rumblings that he might want to take some other official visits. We will continue to monitor him.
A Pahokee teammate Tamarcus Porter seems to narrowed his choices to Pitt and Boston College. This could go either way but we like Pitt’s chances. We understand a few staffers might have been rooting for Virginia Tech to beat Boston College last night. The Hokies did their part beating BC 30-10.
Next week we start the month of November. It is the best time of year and it is not because my birthday is in November. It is because it begins a period when college football and basketball overlap and we get to enjoy both of them.
Fan Fest
FAN FEST, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2005 (4-7 p.m., Petersen Events Center)
Pitt will host its annual 2005-06 Basketball Fan Fest and Blue-Gold Scrimmages at the Petersen Events Center on Saturday, Oct. 29, from 4-7 p.m. Fan Fest offers fans their first glimpse of the Pitt men’s and women’s basketball teams. The event will feature both Pitt teams, a combined autograph session for both squads and team scrimmages. ADMISSION IS FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
Event Timeline
3:45 p.m.—Doors open
4:00 p.m.—Autograph session with both teams (Petersen Events Center lobby)
5:45 p.m.—Women’s Blue-Gold Game (20-minute scrimmage)
6:20 p.m.—Men’s Blue-Gold Game (32-minute scrimmage)
7:00 p.m.—Fan Fest ends
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.
As indicated in a couple of previous War Rooms we will be discontinue thing Pantherlair e-mail system in about two weeks. If you are still using this system please make other arrangements. There are better products on the market that will help protect you from viruses and spams.
Chris Peak has attended football practice every day (that is open to the media) this year from the beginning of fall camp and throughout the season. No other reporter can make that statement. Paul Zeise of the Post-Gazette was matching Chris practice for practice until he was recently called for jury duty and had to miss a couple of days. Paul Zeise does a very good job of covering Pitt for the PG and part because he is there every day. The same is true of Chris Peak from the Pantherlair. The radio and television guys are not there every day. No other Internet site covers the Panthers. Chris’ coverage may be helping to keep the other two beat writers on their toes. Paul Zeise and Rob Biertempfel must help keep their readers informed because they both know Chris will keep our readers up to date. Good job Chris.
You can still play Pick’em this week. They have substituted in a “national game” with Pitt off which happens to be Minnesota hosting Ohio State.
We will have more video up today on linebacker Greg Webster who has committed to Pitt and fullback Adam Beauchamp who Pitt has been evaluating.
Some recruiting talk
Gateway’s Aaron Smith finished the regular season by completing 81 o 161 passes for 1,410 yards and 12 touchdowns. These are not bad figures for a guy that most feel will play wide receiver at the next level.
Burrell’s Aaron Brown has helped the Bucs get back in the playoffs. Aaron has caught 25 passes for 731 yards and 11 touchdowns. He has scored 19 touchdowns in total this season and has become a dangerous kick returner. He has not been getting a lot of looks this season but many schools could do much worse. He is a good athlete.
Pitt had Jason Diehl from Milford Academy in for a visit to Pittsburgh last weekend. He has narrowed his choices to Pitt and Michigan State but we hear he is leaning to Michigan State.
We think Pitt may simply have been too late with offensive tackle Lee Tilley from Columbus, Ohio. We are skeptical at this point that Pitt will get a visit but will follow him in case we have read this wrong.
Pitt also had offensive tackle Jeff Otah from Valley Forge in for a visit last weekend. We think he is leaning heavily to Pitt. He might take a visit or two to get away from the military school for a weekend or two but we think in the end the Panthers have an excellent shot of landing him. Larry Fitzgerald did a similar thing while at Valley Forge.
We spoke to one of the assistant coaches at Erie CC, which is located outside of Buffalo. He simply raved about free safety Lowell Robinson. Apparently he leads the conference in many categories including interceptions and punt returns. He said Robinson is averaging 40 yards a return on his interceptions. Robinson is starting at both wide receiver and safety for his school. He also returns punts and kickoffs. He would probably play free safety in college. From everything we have heard he is a terrific athlete who still has some work to do academically. We have rung him up as a commitment but we will have to watch him closely to see if he still on the list in December. We think he will be but we are not 100% certain. He certainly is excited about the prospect of becoming a Panther. He is scheduled to make his official visit December 2nd. Erie Community College is 5-2 on the season and 3-2 in their conference. They opened their season by beating Lackawanna Junior College 41-12. This weekend the host Morrisville State on Saturday at 1:00 PM.
We recently were talking to some of our colleagues at Rivals.com. They are amazed that Pitt has been able to hold on to their commitments. Expectations were very high at Pitt when these guys committed and then Pitt got off to a horrible start on the football field. Despite that we think the local players are still secure. The ones you have to have some concern with are the out of state players. Lakewood St Edward’s Joe Thomas is still be heavily recruited by Ohio State. Anytime the Buckeyes set their sights on an Ohio player it is a potential problem. Joe is having a good year and as we have been reporting in our Prospects play Under the Lights series so is his team. As most Pitt fans know Pitt is lacking depth up front. Losing Joe Thomas would be a blow to this recruiting class. We will continue to monitor him. So far he remains in the fold.
The other player of concern might be Ricky Gary from Pahokee, Florida. Two years ago Pitt had a verbal commitment from Alphonso Smith of Pahokee. At the last minute he bailed out and joined a couple of his teammates at Wake Forest. Gary has something like 25+ offers so he has plenty of options. Chris has an article today in which he says he is committed to Pitt but we hear rumblings that he might want to take some other official visits. We will continue to monitor him.
A Pahokee teammate Tamarcus Porter seems to narrowed his choices to Pitt and Boston College. This could go either way but we like Pitt’s chances. We understand a few staffers might have been rooting for Virginia Tech to beat Boston College last night. The Hokies did their part beating BC 30-10.
Next week we start the month of November. It is the best time of year and it is not because my birthday is in November. It is because it begins a period when college football and basketball overlap and we get to enjoy both of them.
Fan Fest
FAN FEST, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2005 (4-7 p.m., Petersen Events Center)
Pitt will host its annual 2005-06 Basketball Fan Fest and Blue-Gold Scrimmages at the Petersen Events Center on Saturday, Oct. 29, from 4-7 p.m. Fan Fest offers fans their first glimpse of the Pitt men’s and women’s basketball teams. The event will feature both Pitt teams, a combined autograph session for both squads and team scrimmages. ADMISSION IS FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
Event Timeline
3:45 p.m.—Doors open
4:00 p.m.—Autograph session with both teams (Petersen Events Center lobby)
5:45 p.m.—Women’s Blue-Gold Game (20-minute scrimmage)
6:20 p.m.—Men’s Blue-Gold Game (32-minute scrimmage)
7:00 p.m.—Fan Fest ends
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.
