From the desk of Jim Snyder
Pitt-Syracuse on television
The Pitt-Syracuse game at Noon on Saturday is the Big East Game of the Week. It will be carried locally on WTAE-TV. If you live out of the area please check your local listings. It is also being carried as a part of the ESPN Game Plan and is available on Channel 778 on DirecTV so it can be accessed nationally.
New photos in roster
This week we put another batch of photos in the roster of the Pitt football team. You can access it through the Football label in the gold border or through one of the hyperlinks in Chris Peak’s articles. Sometimes it is nice to refresh you memory on what a player looks like. A number of these players like Tyler Palko have more than one photo. Just click on photo gallery under the player’s picture.
Pick’em game
In case you missed my post Forbes Avenue Panther is No. 2 nationally in the Pick’em Game. Congratulations! When you consider the numbers playing this game it is a nice honor for him. He is with striking distance of winning a 50” plasma television set although there is still a long way to go. The Pantherlair is also giving away six month subscriptions and Rivals.com has a weekly prize so if you got off to a bad start keep playing. You still could be a winner.
Injuries slowly adding up
During fall camp Pitt lost Aaron Smith and Dan Loheyde for the year due to injuries. Both players are from Gateway High School. In addition Baldwin’s Justin Hargrove did not get medical clearance to play and neither did place kicker David Abdul. Tight end John Pelusi is still recovering from knee surgery and is being redshirted.
Since the year began Pitt has lost offensive guard John Simonitis and offensive tackle John Bachman. They have also lost defensive end Doug Fulmer for the year. In addition junior linebacker Derron Thomas has left the team.
So far these losses have not hurt Pitt but this is not a deep team at this point and these things can slowly add up over time. Let’s keep our fingers crossed we do not see any more season ending injuries.
Football recruiting summary
So far this year quarterback Pat Bostick has completed 93 of 139 for a 66.9% completion rate. Bostick has thrown for 1,093 yards in five games. He has thrown 11 touchdown passes and has only thrown 1 interception. The Manheim Township Blue Streaks are 4-1 and play at Reading tonight.
Hopefully you saw our post on Matt Clements from Naples Barron Collier. Clements missed a weightlifting session to help out a friend. The misunderstanding with his coach seemed to spin out of control. The good news is he is back with the team although I do not know if he will play this weekend.
Pitt got verbal commitments from Tommie Duhart and Xavier Stinson this past weekend. The good thing about Duhart is that he has three years of eligibility which makes him a little different than your typical junior college transfer. He hopes to graduate in May from Coffeyville Community college.
I hate it when players commit without visiting. I think Xavier Stinson is relying heavily on guidance from former Steelers running back Tim Lester. Hopefully you got to see the video of him working out at the Nike Camp produced by Rivals.com for our site. For a long time I thought Pitt had a good chance of landing Stinson. I think he compliments LaRod Stephens and Kevin Collier’s style. He is a bowling ball type of runner. Several players of this style have enjoyed successful college careers.
Does this mean Pitt will stop recruiting running backs? My guess is not if they can get a Bo Williams or LeSean McCoy. Bo Williams has indicated he might visit West Virginia and they already have commitments from three running backs. High schools often put their best athletes at running back or quarterback. These players are often capable of playing one position as we are finding with Pitt wideout Derek Kinder. He was a running back in high school. Bo continues to say he plans visit Pitt in early December.
We have put a Pitt an offer in the database for LeSean McCoy (6’ 0” 200) in part because we continue to hear from multiple sources that Pitt continues to recruit him. There are some think the Pitt staff has a good chance of landing him before it is all over although officially he is still a Miami commit. In an earlier War Room we reported Craig Cooper was the featured back at Milford Academy. He is also committed to Miami. He is out of Memphis, TN. This week we read that Cooper still does not have a qualifying SAT score. Not sure if Shady does either. If he qualifies Pitt could still be in this hunt before we get to February. McCoy will play against the Robert Morris JV’s in Moon Township on Monday October 16th at 3:00 PM. Milford Academy is 4-0 right now. They play the Dartmouth JV’s on Sunday.
Pitt is on the road at Syracuse and Central Florida the next two weeks so there are no visitors scheduled. The weekend of the Rutgers game Xavier Stinson and safety Eain Smith are scheduled to visit. Both come out of a very good Chaminade Madonna program that sent Pitt Gus Mustakas. The Miami Herald currently ranks them No. 3 in South Florida. St. Thomas Aquinas is ranked No. 2. The Chaminade Madonna coach Mark Guandolo is originally from Western PA. This might be a good pipeline to get started.
Defensive end Adewale Ojomo (6’ 2” 217) will also visit the weekend of the Rutgers game. Ojomo is a well spoken prospect who still has a visit scheduled with the Miami Hurricanes.
We spoke to the Mabin family last night. The current thinking is to have a press conference at his high school Monday morning. I wish I had some good vibes about Jordan Mabin. He will decide between Pitt and Northwestern. Not sure this one will go Pitt’s way. I hope I am wrong.
Basketball recruiting summary
Center "Dele" Coker is scheduled to visit St John’s this weekend. We were hearing reports from his visit last weekend that went like this. He is the type of guy that can take Pitt to the next level. He does not realize how good he really can be. I would love to see Pitt land the big guy and then have the fifth scholarship for DeJuan Blair, Herb Pope, Michael Beasley or Chris Wright.
Chris Dokish is reporting guard Chris Wright will hold a press conference on Tuesday to announce between Pitt, NC State and Georgetown. He had committed to NC State earlier in the process but opened it back up when Herb Sendek left to take the head coaching job at Arizona State.
As reported on the Center Court at the Pete Board a couple of Rivals reporters spoke to Michael Beasley this week about a possible visit to Pitt. Beasley denied it but as one of them told me afterwards we will keep watching the situation. Often where there is smoke there is fire. Beasley has already committed to Charlotte and Kansas State. I would be a little cautious about making statement about yet another school. You would have to think if Pitt does get a visit their chances of landing him would be very high.
The last time we talked to him Aaron Pogue (6’ 9”) from Dayton, Ohio was scheduled to visit this weekend. Schenley’s DeJuan Blair is also supposed to visit Pitt this weekend.
Philly guard Brad Wanamaker visited last weekend. We will have an article on him today.
We are only a week away from the basketball team officially starting practice. Pitt figures to be nationally ranked this year. They have a tough schedule with a lot of television coverage. It should be a fun season.
Pitt-Syracuse
Syracuse has a number of promising young running backs. The one that looks like he is ready to breakout is freshman Delone Carter. He is from Copley, Ohio near Akron. In his junior and senior years in high school he rushed for 71 touchdowns. After watching him in the Big 33 game I wrote Syracuse has found a running back. Pitt should cheat and stop the run and force Perry Paterson to throw the ball. Syracuse is dead last in the conference in pass defense. Look for Tyler Palko to have a big day in the Dome.
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.
This post was edited on 10/6 9:31 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
This post was edited on 10/6 9:32 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
Pitt-Syracuse on television
The Pitt-Syracuse game at Noon on Saturday is the Big East Game of the Week. It will be carried locally on WTAE-TV. If you live out of the area please check your local listings. It is also being carried as a part of the ESPN Game Plan and is available on Channel 778 on DirecTV so it can be accessed nationally.
New photos in roster
This week we put another batch of photos in the roster of the Pitt football team. You can access it through the Football label in the gold border or through one of the hyperlinks in Chris Peak’s articles. Sometimes it is nice to refresh you memory on what a player looks like. A number of these players like Tyler Palko have more than one photo. Just click on photo gallery under the player’s picture.
Pick’em game
In case you missed my post Forbes Avenue Panther is No. 2 nationally in the Pick’em Game. Congratulations! When you consider the numbers playing this game it is a nice honor for him. He is with striking distance of winning a 50” plasma television set although there is still a long way to go. The Pantherlair is also giving away six month subscriptions and Rivals.com has a weekly prize so if you got off to a bad start keep playing. You still could be a winner.
Injuries slowly adding up
During fall camp Pitt lost Aaron Smith and Dan Loheyde for the year due to injuries. Both players are from Gateway High School. In addition Baldwin’s Justin Hargrove did not get medical clearance to play and neither did place kicker David Abdul. Tight end John Pelusi is still recovering from knee surgery and is being redshirted.
Since the year began Pitt has lost offensive guard John Simonitis and offensive tackle John Bachman. They have also lost defensive end Doug Fulmer for the year. In addition junior linebacker Derron Thomas has left the team.
So far these losses have not hurt Pitt but this is not a deep team at this point and these things can slowly add up over time. Let’s keep our fingers crossed we do not see any more season ending injuries.
Football recruiting summary
So far this year quarterback Pat Bostick has completed 93 of 139 for a 66.9% completion rate. Bostick has thrown for 1,093 yards in five games. He has thrown 11 touchdown passes and has only thrown 1 interception. The Manheim Township Blue Streaks are 4-1 and play at Reading tonight.
Hopefully you saw our post on Matt Clements from Naples Barron Collier. Clements missed a weightlifting session to help out a friend. The misunderstanding with his coach seemed to spin out of control. The good news is he is back with the team although I do not know if he will play this weekend.
Pitt got verbal commitments from Tommie Duhart and Xavier Stinson this past weekend. The good thing about Duhart is that he has three years of eligibility which makes him a little different than your typical junior college transfer. He hopes to graduate in May from Coffeyville Community college.
I hate it when players commit without visiting. I think Xavier Stinson is relying heavily on guidance from former Steelers running back Tim Lester. Hopefully you got to see the video of him working out at the Nike Camp produced by Rivals.com for our site. For a long time I thought Pitt had a good chance of landing Stinson. I think he compliments LaRod Stephens and Kevin Collier’s style. He is a bowling ball type of runner. Several players of this style have enjoyed successful college careers.
Does this mean Pitt will stop recruiting running backs? My guess is not if they can get a Bo Williams or LeSean McCoy. Bo Williams has indicated he might visit West Virginia and they already have commitments from three running backs. High schools often put their best athletes at running back or quarterback. These players are often capable of playing one position as we are finding with Pitt wideout Derek Kinder. He was a running back in high school. Bo continues to say he plans visit Pitt in early December.
We have put a Pitt an offer in the database for LeSean McCoy (6’ 0” 200) in part because we continue to hear from multiple sources that Pitt continues to recruit him. There are some think the Pitt staff has a good chance of landing him before it is all over although officially he is still a Miami commit. In an earlier War Room we reported Craig Cooper was the featured back at Milford Academy. He is also committed to Miami. He is out of Memphis, TN. This week we read that Cooper still does not have a qualifying SAT score. Not sure if Shady does either. If he qualifies Pitt could still be in this hunt before we get to February. McCoy will play against the Robert Morris JV’s in Moon Township on Monday October 16th at 3:00 PM. Milford Academy is 4-0 right now. They play the Dartmouth JV’s on Sunday.
Pitt is on the road at Syracuse and Central Florida the next two weeks so there are no visitors scheduled. The weekend of the Rutgers game Xavier Stinson and safety Eain Smith are scheduled to visit. Both come out of a very good Chaminade Madonna program that sent Pitt Gus Mustakas. The Miami Herald currently ranks them No. 3 in South Florida. St. Thomas Aquinas is ranked No. 2. The Chaminade Madonna coach Mark Guandolo is originally from Western PA. This might be a good pipeline to get started.
Defensive end Adewale Ojomo (6’ 2” 217) will also visit the weekend of the Rutgers game. Ojomo is a well spoken prospect who still has a visit scheduled with the Miami Hurricanes.
We spoke to the Mabin family last night. The current thinking is to have a press conference at his high school Monday morning. I wish I had some good vibes about Jordan Mabin. He will decide between Pitt and Northwestern. Not sure this one will go Pitt’s way. I hope I am wrong.
Basketball recruiting summary
Center "Dele" Coker is scheduled to visit St John’s this weekend. We were hearing reports from his visit last weekend that went like this. He is the type of guy that can take Pitt to the next level. He does not realize how good he really can be. I would love to see Pitt land the big guy and then have the fifth scholarship for DeJuan Blair, Herb Pope, Michael Beasley or Chris Wright.
Chris Dokish is reporting guard Chris Wright will hold a press conference on Tuesday to announce between Pitt, NC State and Georgetown. He had committed to NC State earlier in the process but opened it back up when Herb Sendek left to take the head coaching job at Arizona State.
As reported on the Center Court at the Pete Board a couple of Rivals reporters spoke to Michael Beasley this week about a possible visit to Pitt. Beasley denied it but as one of them told me afterwards we will keep watching the situation. Often where there is smoke there is fire. Beasley has already committed to Charlotte and Kansas State. I would be a little cautious about making statement about yet another school. You would have to think if Pitt does get a visit their chances of landing him would be very high.
The last time we talked to him Aaron Pogue (6’ 9”) from Dayton, Ohio was scheduled to visit this weekend. Schenley’s DeJuan Blair is also supposed to visit Pitt this weekend.
Philly guard Brad Wanamaker visited last weekend. We will have an article on him today.
We are only a week away from the basketball team officially starting practice. Pitt figures to be nationally ranked this year. They have a tough schedule with a lot of television coverage. It should be a fun season.
Pitt-Syracuse
Syracuse has a number of promising young running backs. The one that looks like he is ready to breakout is freshman Delone Carter. He is from Copley, Ohio near Akron. In his junior and senior years in high school he rushed for 71 touchdowns. After watching him in the Big 33 game I wrote Syracuse has found a running back. Pitt should cheat and stop the run and force Perry Paterson to throw the ball. Syracuse is dead last in the conference in pass defense. Look for Tyler Palko to have a big day in the Dome.
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.
This post was edited on 10/6 9:31 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
This post was edited on 10/6 9:32 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
