From the desk of Jim Snyder
Looking back at UConn
There is no way to sugarcoat it the first half was a disaster for Pitt Saturday night against UConn. It was just as embarrassing at the loss in 2003 at Toledo 35-31, the 2005 loss at Ohio University 16-10 and the double overtime 46-45 loss to UConn last fall. The big difference was those games were on the road. This time the Panthers were embarrassed on their home field. If the coaching staff does not get this turned around they will eventually get a lot of good people fired. UConn and Michigan State are still both undefeated. Who knows they may both turn out to be better than folks initially thought? I was impressed with the Huskies new quarterback. UConn may surprise some others along the way. You cannot turn the ball over 6 times and take dumb penalties. If Pitt continues to do this they won’t beat anyone. In many ways the coaching staff deserves to be taken to the woodshed. We have tried to guide this report so that criticisms remain on target and to try dispel some urban legends.
Looking ahead to Virginia
I got a chance to watch a replay of the Virginia-Georgia Tech game. In some ways Virginia was fortunate to win the game. The Cavaliers jumped out to an early 21-7 lead aided in part by a 25-yard interception return for a score. Georgia Tech bounced back to take a 23-21 lead but fumbled a punt deep in their own end which Virginia quickly converted. Later Georgia Tech was driving for what would have been the winning score when they had a motion plenty on a fourth and one play deep in Virginia territory late in the fourth quarter.
Before the season started this looked like a game Pitt might win on the road. They had hammered Virginia 34-14 last year at Heinz Field. It still possible to beat Virginia if Matt Cavanaugh can put together something that resembles an offense.
Virginia played freshman quarterback Peter Lalich (6’ 5” 250) for a few series last week. He was the No. 5 quarterback prospect in the nation last year according to Rivals.com. Pitt’s Pat Bostick was No. 6. Lalich threw an ill advised interception in the second half so I think you will see Jameel Sewell at quarterback Saturday night.
A look at the defense
I get a kick out of the posters who agonize over why Paul Rhoads does not blitz more. When Coach Rhoads came to Pitt he was a disciple of Larry Coyer and he loved to blitz. However, Pitt is now running Dave Wannstedt’s defense and the head coach believes in putting pressure on the quarterback by using the front four and dropping seven in coverage. Coach Rhoads does not blitz more because his boss does not want him to.
My theory is that many Pitt fans are also Steelers fans and are use to watching the Pittsburgh Steelers and their “Blizburg” defense and many prefer that defense. Both systems are proven winners. Coach Wannstedt has won a couple of national championships with his defense. They are simply different defensive philosophies.
And to be honest the defense has played pretty well so far. Pitt is No. 25 in the country defending the run giving up only 95.5 yards per game. Pitt is No. 12 in pass defense giving up 154.5 yards per game. The Panthers are No. 11 in the country in total defense giving up only 250.0 yards per game. The Panthers are No. 18 in the country in scoring defense giving up 16 points per game. The defense has not given up a second half touchdown all year. The Pitt offense on the other hand went 0-22 in third down conversions. You have to believe that if the offense would stop turning the ball over and make a few first downs Pitt could be ranked in the Top 10 in most defensive categories. The only exception might be they have not created many turnovers.
Last year Pitt made change to their coaching staff on the defensive side of the ball and so far it seems to have worked.
A look at the offense
The past two years the Pitt offense had trouble running the ball. Now they can’t pass it either. If they don’t turn this mess around this fall they should look at making staff changes on the offensive side of the ball during the offseason.
It does help if you have an experienced quarterback. 19 of the teams in the Top 25 have an upperclassman directing their offense.
Only six teams ranked in the AP's Top 25 did not start an upperclassman at quarterback last week. The six are:
? Florida sophomore Tim Tibow
? Georgia sophomore Matthew Stafford
? Oklahoma redshirt freshman Sam Bradford
? Texas sophomore Colt McCoy
? USF redshirt sophomore Matt Grothe
? Virginia Tech true freshman Tyrod Taylor
The Pitt staff had hoped to redshirt Pat Bostick this year but circumstances have forced them to use the young quarterback. He has to be given a little time to make decisions Saturday night. You have to figure Virginia will turn up the heat.
One of the things that helps keep my sanity right now is that Notre Dame is 0-4 right now under Charlie Weis. Notre Dame is starting a freshman quarterback and has a head coach that came in at the same time as Coach Wannstedt. Notre Dame is a 22-point underdog to Purdue this weekend.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed Pitt can start to generate some offensive Saturday night. They have to get the ball to LeSean McCoy 25 times and Pat Bostick needs to find TE Nate Byham. Pitt cannot get themselves into a position where Pat Bostick has to throw the ball 41 times as he did in the second half on Saturday.
Folks are excited around the Big East Conference
When Cincinnati joined the conference many observers questioned if they could compete in the Big East. Cincinnati is now 4-0 for the first time since 1958. The Bearcats have shocked everyone by winning 9 of their last 10 games. The result is that fans in the Queen City are starting to get very excited. Cincinnati drew a sellout crowd of 35,097 to see them beat Marshall. This is the largest crowd ever to watch the Bearcats play on campus at Nippert Stadium which seats 35,000. Reports out of Cincinnati suggest the Bearcats are also likely to sellout their remaining three home games.
Friday night the West Virginia Mountaineers (4-0) play at South Florida (3-0). WVU is a one touchdown favorite. The winner of this game could be in the driver’s seat to win the Big East and grab the BCS bowl berth. It will be televised on ESPN2 Friday night at 8:00 pm EST so the nation will be watching. Students have camped out overnight this week to get their hands on the 12,000 student tickets at USF. They are expecting a sellout crowd of 65,657 Friday night in Tampa. It will be a record crowd for USF.
Rutgers will also have a sellout crowd for their game against Maryland this weekend.
This is probably just a knee jerk reaction by Cincinnati seems to have made a very good hire in Brian Kelly and over in the Ville I am starting to have my doubts about their hire.
Looking for a new AD
A few weeks ago we indicated in the War Room that it took 6-8 months to find a new athletic director the last time around. As far as we can tell they are in no hurry again this time around and as far as we can tell no one has been interviewed. If it takes 6-8 months again (and it looks like it might) you can be sure this coaching staff will be back next year. To be honest they probably would have been given at least another year even if Jeff Long were still here.
If you go back in ancient history to the days of the Golden Panthers, Pitt had often weak athletic directors and alums occasionally had undue influence.
That all changed when Steve Pederson was hired and Chancellor Nordenberg came on board. Steve Pederson seldom consulted alums before making decisions. As far as I know he hired Walt Harris as head without consulting anyone. Pedersen alienated alums for a lot of reasons (i.e. Pitt Stadium & dropping the name Pitt) but he also alienated some alums simply because he would not listen to them. One of our posters made death threats against him and it resulted in Steve having the campus police escort him around campus for a time.
Jeff Long interviewed several candidates once Walt Harris left. One of the interviews was with Bo Pelini, who is now the defensive coordinator at LSU. Apparently Pelini blew his interview by being very abrasive and arrogant. He was not blacked balled by alums. He turned off Jeff Long who was in fact the decision maker. I do not know Bo Pelini but I have heard one story that Pelini later admitted it was his fault and that he said things that he wishes he had not. He has been considered for several head coaching jobs since that time and they picked other candidates. Perhaps Bo has learned his lesson and he will be a better interview the next time around. Who knows if Pitt has to make another change he could be a candidate again?
It has been well publicized that Jeff Long got his final list down to Dave Wannstedt, Matt Cavanaugh and Paul Rhoads. Who knows maybe Jeff got out of town before he got blamed for the situation we find ourselves in today?
While it is true that committees are formed these days to assist in the search for an AD it is the athletic director’s job to hire head coaches. This responsibility is not farmed out to committees and even when it comes to hiring an AD the decision will also be made by the Pitt administration.
The new athletic director needs to be qualified to make an honest assessment of the football program.
Former Panther is honored
Former Pitt linebacker Tom Tumulty will be inducted into the East Boros Sports Hall of Fame at a dinner at Edgewood Country Club on October 11th. He is one of eight inductees being honored.
Hoops talk
Justin Young from Rivals.com reported Eloy Vargas committed to Florida this week. Justin also reports they brought Pitt’s Orlando Antigua to Florida to tell him to his face. That had to be a tough one for both parties.
The longer this thing dragged out the less you liked Pitt’s chances. Pitt started to recruiting him when analysts were still questioning his ability. The longer he was in the United State the better he got. Eventually many schools were recruiting him and it appears Florida could promise him early playing time.
There had been a report that four-star forward Kevin Jones (6’ 7”) from Mount Vernon New York visited Pittsburgh recently. We spoke yesterday to his brother, Gerard, who seems to be orchestrating his recruitment.
He said Kevin recently visited Ohio State recently and that he has official visits scheduled with Indiana on October 12th and West Virginia on October 20th. He will also take an official visit to UMass although no date has yet been set.
He told me Coach Jamie Dixon visited yesterday and that Pitt is battling with others for the fifth visit.
Kevin Jones did make an unofficial visit to Pitt several months ago. His brother could not remember the exact date but he said it was around an AAU tournament so I suspect it was at the Jam Fest in April.
They did checkout the entire Pitt campus at that time including the dormitories, ect. He had a lot of nice things to say about the Pitt coaches and Keith Benjamin who is also from Mount Vernon but right now Pitt is still battling for his fifth visit.
Football recruiting roundup
We now hear that Pitt might take two quarterbacks in the class of 2008 and that one of them could be a junior college quarterback. Dexter Davidson’s knee injuries and Bill Stull’s thumb injury has left Pitt short of scholarship quarterbacks. It appears they don’t want to be caught in this position again.
We reported on kicker Kevin Harper this week. Harper visited Pitt last Sunday. Pitt is offering him a greyshirt/redshirt. I think Pitt’s chances are good of landing him unless some school comes off with a clean deal. Of the schools that are currently recruiting him I guess Penn State might offer the biggest threat.
Chris Peak reported on Hubie Graham’s official visit. He reportedly had a very good visit despite the Pitt loss to UConn Saturday night. I still like Pitt’s chances if they can salvage something from this season.
We reported on a group of big lineman at Milford Academy this week. To be honest the Pitt staff has been busy trying to scratch out a few wins so it is too early to tell which player they will focus on.
We had Ticker articles on Jarred Holley who has Pitt in his top five and running back Ryan Williams. Both are four-star prospects and Pitt is still in it with both but I like Pitt’s chances with Holley better than I do with Williams.
We also reported on Central Catholic’s Dan Vaughan. We like the fact that his father is a coach. I like Pitt’s chances if they can keep the entire season from going into the dumper. Boston College has not offered but would be of concern if they did. Vaughan has plenty of family ties to Pitt.
The All the Way to Friday series featured the University school in Cleveland this week. It is archived if you want to watch it. The University school is still unbeaten. Their defensive end Jake Stoller has an offer from Pitt.
We will have a report today on Averin Collier who has Pitt and Clemson in his top two. Again I like Pitt’s chances if they can salvage something from this season.
We will also have a report today on Altoona’s A.J. Alexander.
Pitt has seven verbal commitments at this point.
We thought we would put together our wish list trying to balance ability with Pitt’s chances of landing the prospect.
1) Averin Collier RB/DB Churchville-Chili, NY (4 stars)
2) Jonathan Baldwin WR Aliquippa (4 stars)
3) Hubie Graham TE west Scranton (4 stars)
4) Marcus Sales WR Syracuse, NY (4 stars)
5) Dan Vaughn DE central Catholic (2 stars)
6) Mike Cruz TE/DT Johnstown Bishop McCort (3 stars)
7) Kevin Harper K Mentor, OH (2 stars)
8) Jarred Holley DB Easton (4 stars)
9) Steve Gardiner LB Dublin Coffman (3 stars)
10) Quarterbacks (2)
11) Offensive lineman (2)
Pitt is unlikely to land all of these players and might only have 18 scholarships to give. It appears they could take a high school quarterback and a JUCO quarterback. Zack Stoudt and Josh Vick still look to be at the top of the list for a high school quarterback although Mike Farrell reported yesterday they are talking to a quarterback out of Maryland by the name of Warren Warren. At least it suggests they may be starting to expand their list. I don’t have a clue whom the JUCO QB might be at this point.
I would like to see them land at least one more offensive lineman and two if possible. Pitt doesn’t have anyone with an offer yet who we think could commit to Pitt so we will just have to wait and see which way the staff goes on this one. We reported this week on some possibilities at Milford Academy.
Top ten in the Pick’em contest
The past two weeks have not been easy for Pitt fans. Here are the top ten after four weeks.
1) Fitzgerald#1
2) pitt2005
3) pittparty
4) UP#1
5) gburgess1300
6) TiredRam97
7) BKM67
8) WVU is gay
9) mak1734
10) MtLeboPanther
If you have not already done so please get your selections in for the Pick’em game.
The coaching staff spent the entire spring and fall camps trying to get QB Bill Stull ready to be their starter. He took virtually all of the snaps with the first team. We are still early in the season and Pitt is now starting their third quarterback. This is a tough way for any staff to make a living.
There is an old football proverb that says you seldom as good as you look when you win. You are seldom as bad as you look when you lose. I have repeated that to myself several times this 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.
This post was edited on 9/28 12:09 PM by Jim Pantherlair
Looking back at UConn
There is no way to sugarcoat it the first half was a disaster for Pitt Saturday night against UConn. It was just as embarrassing at the loss in 2003 at Toledo 35-31, the 2005 loss at Ohio University 16-10 and the double overtime 46-45 loss to UConn last fall. The big difference was those games were on the road. This time the Panthers were embarrassed on their home field. If the coaching staff does not get this turned around they will eventually get a lot of good people fired. UConn and Michigan State are still both undefeated. Who knows they may both turn out to be better than folks initially thought? I was impressed with the Huskies new quarterback. UConn may surprise some others along the way. You cannot turn the ball over 6 times and take dumb penalties. If Pitt continues to do this they won’t beat anyone. In many ways the coaching staff deserves to be taken to the woodshed. We have tried to guide this report so that criticisms remain on target and to try dispel some urban legends.
Looking ahead to Virginia
I got a chance to watch a replay of the Virginia-Georgia Tech game. In some ways Virginia was fortunate to win the game. The Cavaliers jumped out to an early 21-7 lead aided in part by a 25-yard interception return for a score. Georgia Tech bounced back to take a 23-21 lead but fumbled a punt deep in their own end which Virginia quickly converted. Later Georgia Tech was driving for what would have been the winning score when they had a motion plenty on a fourth and one play deep in Virginia territory late in the fourth quarter.
Before the season started this looked like a game Pitt might win on the road. They had hammered Virginia 34-14 last year at Heinz Field. It still possible to beat Virginia if Matt Cavanaugh can put together something that resembles an offense.
Virginia played freshman quarterback Peter Lalich (6’ 5” 250) for a few series last week. He was the No. 5 quarterback prospect in the nation last year according to Rivals.com. Pitt’s Pat Bostick was No. 6. Lalich threw an ill advised interception in the second half so I think you will see Jameel Sewell at quarterback Saturday night.
A look at the defense
I get a kick out of the posters who agonize over why Paul Rhoads does not blitz more. When Coach Rhoads came to Pitt he was a disciple of Larry Coyer and he loved to blitz. However, Pitt is now running Dave Wannstedt’s defense and the head coach believes in putting pressure on the quarterback by using the front four and dropping seven in coverage. Coach Rhoads does not blitz more because his boss does not want him to.
My theory is that many Pitt fans are also Steelers fans and are use to watching the Pittsburgh Steelers and their “Blizburg” defense and many prefer that defense. Both systems are proven winners. Coach Wannstedt has won a couple of national championships with his defense. They are simply different defensive philosophies.
And to be honest the defense has played pretty well so far. Pitt is No. 25 in the country defending the run giving up only 95.5 yards per game. Pitt is No. 12 in pass defense giving up 154.5 yards per game. The Panthers are No. 11 in the country in total defense giving up only 250.0 yards per game. The Panthers are No. 18 in the country in scoring defense giving up 16 points per game. The defense has not given up a second half touchdown all year. The Pitt offense on the other hand went 0-22 in third down conversions. You have to believe that if the offense would stop turning the ball over and make a few first downs Pitt could be ranked in the Top 10 in most defensive categories. The only exception might be they have not created many turnovers.
Last year Pitt made change to their coaching staff on the defensive side of the ball and so far it seems to have worked.
A look at the offense
The past two years the Pitt offense had trouble running the ball. Now they can’t pass it either. If they don’t turn this mess around this fall they should look at making staff changes on the offensive side of the ball during the offseason.
It does help if you have an experienced quarterback. 19 of the teams in the Top 25 have an upperclassman directing their offense.
Only six teams ranked in the AP's Top 25 did not start an upperclassman at quarterback last week. The six are:
? Florida sophomore Tim Tibow
? Georgia sophomore Matthew Stafford
? Oklahoma redshirt freshman Sam Bradford
? Texas sophomore Colt McCoy
? USF redshirt sophomore Matt Grothe
? Virginia Tech true freshman Tyrod Taylor
The Pitt staff had hoped to redshirt Pat Bostick this year but circumstances have forced them to use the young quarterback. He has to be given a little time to make decisions Saturday night. You have to figure Virginia will turn up the heat.
One of the things that helps keep my sanity right now is that Notre Dame is 0-4 right now under Charlie Weis. Notre Dame is starting a freshman quarterback and has a head coach that came in at the same time as Coach Wannstedt. Notre Dame is a 22-point underdog to Purdue this weekend.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed Pitt can start to generate some offensive Saturday night. They have to get the ball to LeSean McCoy 25 times and Pat Bostick needs to find TE Nate Byham. Pitt cannot get themselves into a position where Pat Bostick has to throw the ball 41 times as he did in the second half on Saturday.
Folks are excited around the Big East Conference
When Cincinnati joined the conference many observers questioned if they could compete in the Big East. Cincinnati is now 4-0 for the first time since 1958. The Bearcats have shocked everyone by winning 9 of their last 10 games. The result is that fans in the Queen City are starting to get very excited. Cincinnati drew a sellout crowd of 35,097 to see them beat Marshall. This is the largest crowd ever to watch the Bearcats play on campus at Nippert Stadium which seats 35,000. Reports out of Cincinnati suggest the Bearcats are also likely to sellout their remaining three home games.
Friday night the West Virginia Mountaineers (4-0) play at South Florida (3-0). WVU is a one touchdown favorite. The winner of this game could be in the driver’s seat to win the Big East and grab the BCS bowl berth. It will be televised on ESPN2 Friday night at 8:00 pm EST so the nation will be watching. Students have camped out overnight this week to get their hands on the 12,000 student tickets at USF. They are expecting a sellout crowd of 65,657 Friday night in Tampa. It will be a record crowd for USF.
Rutgers will also have a sellout crowd for their game against Maryland this weekend.
This is probably just a knee jerk reaction by Cincinnati seems to have made a very good hire in Brian Kelly and over in the Ville I am starting to have my doubts about their hire.
Looking for a new AD
A few weeks ago we indicated in the War Room that it took 6-8 months to find a new athletic director the last time around. As far as we can tell they are in no hurry again this time around and as far as we can tell no one has been interviewed. If it takes 6-8 months again (and it looks like it might) you can be sure this coaching staff will be back next year. To be honest they probably would have been given at least another year even if Jeff Long were still here.
If you go back in ancient history to the days of the Golden Panthers, Pitt had often weak athletic directors and alums occasionally had undue influence.
That all changed when Steve Pederson was hired and Chancellor Nordenberg came on board. Steve Pederson seldom consulted alums before making decisions. As far as I know he hired Walt Harris as head without consulting anyone. Pedersen alienated alums for a lot of reasons (i.e. Pitt Stadium & dropping the name Pitt) but he also alienated some alums simply because he would not listen to them. One of our posters made death threats against him and it resulted in Steve having the campus police escort him around campus for a time.
Jeff Long interviewed several candidates once Walt Harris left. One of the interviews was with Bo Pelini, who is now the defensive coordinator at LSU. Apparently Pelini blew his interview by being very abrasive and arrogant. He was not blacked balled by alums. He turned off Jeff Long who was in fact the decision maker. I do not know Bo Pelini but I have heard one story that Pelini later admitted it was his fault and that he said things that he wishes he had not. He has been considered for several head coaching jobs since that time and they picked other candidates. Perhaps Bo has learned his lesson and he will be a better interview the next time around. Who knows if Pitt has to make another change he could be a candidate again?
It has been well publicized that Jeff Long got his final list down to Dave Wannstedt, Matt Cavanaugh and Paul Rhoads. Who knows maybe Jeff got out of town before he got blamed for the situation we find ourselves in today?
While it is true that committees are formed these days to assist in the search for an AD it is the athletic director’s job to hire head coaches. This responsibility is not farmed out to committees and even when it comes to hiring an AD the decision will also be made by the Pitt administration.
The new athletic director needs to be qualified to make an honest assessment of the football program.
Former Panther is honored
Former Pitt linebacker Tom Tumulty will be inducted into the East Boros Sports Hall of Fame at a dinner at Edgewood Country Club on October 11th. He is one of eight inductees being honored.
Hoops talk
Justin Young from Rivals.com reported Eloy Vargas committed to Florida this week. Justin also reports they brought Pitt’s Orlando Antigua to Florida to tell him to his face. That had to be a tough one for both parties.
The longer this thing dragged out the less you liked Pitt’s chances. Pitt started to recruiting him when analysts were still questioning his ability. The longer he was in the United State the better he got. Eventually many schools were recruiting him and it appears Florida could promise him early playing time.
There had been a report that four-star forward Kevin Jones (6’ 7”) from Mount Vernon New York visited Pittsburgh recently. We spoke yesterday to his brother, Gerard, who seems to be orchestrating his recruitment.
He said Kevin recently visited Ohio State recently and that he has official visits scheduled with Indiana on October 12th and West Virginia on October 20th. He will also take an official visit to UMass although no date has yet been set.
He told me Coach Jamie Dixon visited yesterday and that Pitt is battling with others for the fifth visit.
Kevin Jones did make an unofficial visit to Pitt several months ago. His brother could not remember the exact date but he said it was around an AAU tournament so I suspect it was at the Jam Fest in April.
They did checkout the entire Pitt campus at that time including the dormitories, ect. He had a lot of nice things to say about the Pitt coaches and Keith Benjamin who is also from Mount Vernon but right now Pitt is still battling for his fifth visit.
Football recruiting roundup
We now hear that Pitt might take two quarterbacks in the class of 2008 and that one of them could be a junior college quarterback. Dexter Davidson’s knee injuries and Bill Stull’s thumb injury has left Pitt short of scholarship quarterbacks. It appears they don’t want to be caught in this position again.
We reported on kicker Kevin Harper this week. Harper visited Pitt last Sunday. Pitt is offering him a greyshirt/redshirt. I think Pitt’s chances are good of landing him unless some school comes off with a clean deal. Of the schools that are currently recruiting him I guess Penn State might offer the biggest threat.
Chris Peak reported on Hubie Graham’s official visit. He reportedly had a very good visit despite the Pitt loss to UConn Saturday night. I still like Pitt’s chances if they can salvage something from this season.
We reported on a group of big lineman at Milford Academy this week. To be honest the Pitt staff has been busy trying to scratch out a few wins so it is too early to tell which player they will focus on.
We had Ticker articles on Jarred Holley who has Pitt in his top five and running back Ryan Williams. Both are four-star prospects and Pitt is still in it with both but I like Pitt’s chances with Holley better than I do with Williams.
We also reported on Central Catholic’s Dan Vaughan. We like the fact that his father is a coach. I like Pitt’s chances if they can keep the entire season from going into the dumper. Boston College has not offered but would be of concern if they did. Vaughan has plenty of family ties to Pitt.
The All the Way to Friday series featured the University school in Cleveland this week. It is archived if you want to watch it. The University school is still unbeaten. Their defensive end Jake Stoller has an offer from Pitt.
We will have a report today on Averin Collier who has Pitt and Clemson in his top two. Again I like Pitt’s chances if they can salvage something from this season.
We will also have a report today on Altoona’s A.J. Alexander.
Pitt has seven verbal commitments at this point.
We thought we would put together our wish list trying to balance ability with Pitt’s chances of landing the prospect.
1) Averin Collier RB/DB Churchville-Chili, NY (4 stars)
2) Jonathan Baldwin WR Aliquippa (4 stars)
3) Hubie Graham TE west Scranton (4 stars)
4) Marcus Sales WR Syracuse, NY (4 stars)
5) Dan Vaughn DE central Catholic (2 stars)
6) Mike Cruz TE/DT Johnstown Bishop McCort (3 stars)
7) Kevin Harper K Mentor, OH (2 stars)
8) Jarred Holley DB Easton (4 stars)
9) Steve Gardiner LB Dublin Coffman (3 stars)
10) Quarterbacks (2)
11) Offensive lineman (2)
Pitt is unlikely to land all of these players and might only have 18 scholarships to give. It appears they could take a high school quarterback and a JUCO quarterback. Zack Stoudt and Josh Vick still look to be at the top of the list for a high school quarterback although Mike Farrell reported yesterday they are talking to a quarterback out of Maryland by the name of Warren Warren. At least it suggests they may be starting to expand their list. I don’t have a clue whom the JUCO QB might be at this point.
I would like to see them land at least one more offensive lineman and two if possible. Pitt doesn’t have anyone with an offer yet who we think could commit to Pitt so we will just have to wait and see which way the staff goes on this one. We reported this week on some possibilities at Milford Academy.
Top ten in the Pick’em contest
The past two weeks have not been easy for Pitt fans. Here are the top ten after four weeks.
1) Fitzgerald#1
2) pitt2005
3) pittparty
4) UP#1
5) gburgess1300
6) TiredRam97
7) BKM67
8) WVU is gay
9) mak1734
10) MtLeboPanther
If you have not already done so please get your selections in for the Pick’em game.
The coaching staff spent the entire spring and fall camps trying to get QB Bill Stull ready to be their starter. He took virtually all of the snaps with the first team. We are still early in the season and Pitt is now starting their third quarterback. This is a tough way for any staff to make a living.
There is an old football proverb that says you seldom as good as you look when you win. You are seldom as bad as you look when you lose. I have repeated that to myself several times this 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.
This post was edited on 9/28 12:09 PM by Jim Pantherlair
