From the Desk of Jim Snyder
During our search for the mysterious fourth commitment Chris Peak talked to a number of area coaches including Bill Cherpak from Thomas-Jefferson. He assured us that his linebacker Nate Nix had not committed yet but he said, “It wouldn’t surprise me if he committed to Pitt by the end of the month.”
Pitt already has a commitment from Gateway linebacker Dan Loheyde. In addition the Pitt staff apparently feels they are still very much in the hunt for Woodland Hills linebacker Greg Webster, who they like a lot.
It does not appear that Pitt is recruiting linebacker Nate Williams from Central Catholic. Williams ran a 4.45 in an electronically timed 40 at the Nike Camp and he was timed running a sub-4.0 at the Metro Index Camp. Williams was a first team all-state selection for the state champions. Williams told the Pantherlair that he is receiving interest from Syracuse. He has been invited to their summer camp and hopes to pick up an offer while there. Apparently Pitt feels good about where they stand with Loheyde, Nix and/or Webster.
Pitt has offered three quarterbacks so far. You have to be very skeptical about Joe Flacco returning to the squad. If he does not we expect the Pitt staff to take two quarterbacks. In fact, that is exactly what they recently told the family of one quarterback recruit.
Quarterback Pat Devlin from Downingtown East had an early offer from Pitt and remains high on their radar. Rivals.com recently ranked him in their Top 100 and has him as the 5th best pro-style quarterback prospect in the country. He has indicated he would like to decide by the end of the summer.
Pitt subsequently offered quarterback Thaddeus Lewis out of Hialeah, Florida. Rivals.com recently named him as one of the Top 100 players in Florida. It is hard to see him committing to Pitt without a visit and that might not come until late this year.
Bishop McDevitt’s Jeremy Ricker told the Pantherlair this week that Pitt has been recruiting him and has recently offered him a scholarship. Ricker is also a Rivals Top 100 selection. He told Harry Psaros that he hopes to decide by the end of the summer. He has Pitt in his top six.
There are a number of local quarterbacks this year that could end up playing at the Division 1 level before it is all said and done. Pitt is still recruiting Perry’s Desmond Brentley, South Park’s Connor Dixon and Seneca Valley’s Kevan Smith. They may have to have a good showing at the Pitt’s summer camp to land an offer. We spoke to Kevan Smith’s family this past week and assistant coach Bob Junko had him on a tour of the Panthers facilities last weekend. Smith only started two games last fall for Seneca Valley due to a snowboard injury. He is receiving plenty of interest after impressive showings at the combine camps but may either have to have a good summer camp showing at Pitt or prove himself on the field this fall. He stock has risen very rapidly in recent weeks.
Pitt may have a better shot at landing Nate Byham that one might think at first blush. He has received offers from across the nation but we have reason to think he might want to stay close to home. He was in Morgantown last weekend checking out the Mountaineers. We like Pitt’s chance with Byham but if they strike out our “birdies” say Pitt may not take a tight end this fall. The staff likes Darrell Strong and Central Catholic’s John Pelusi will join the team in August. This gives them a couple of good young tight ends in the system and Buchess has another year of eligibility.
We interviewed Elijah Fields from Duquesne this week. He told the Pantherlair he now has seven offers. He tells us he has offers from Pitt and West Virginia. Most of the others are from MAC level schools. We asked Fields how he was coming academically. He replied, “I should be OK. I am planning on taking a couple of summer school courses to raise my core grade point average.” We spent some time talking to Fields at the Nike Camp. He passes the “look test”. If he follows through and takes the summer school courses the interest level in Fields could soar this fall.
It is highly unlikely that LeSean McCoy will commit early. The Pitt staff may have to chase him until January. Running back Kevin Collier from the Rochester area has already visited Pitt once. We hear he will also come to their summer camp. If he commits later this summer it could close the door on McCoy. Pitt will have five freshman running backs in camp this fall. If the staff likes what the see in August and they miss on McCoy and Collier it would not surprise us if they passed on a running back this year.
We expect defensive end Tyler Tkach to commit this summer and we like Pitt’s chances of landing him. We also like their chances with Justin Hargrove from Baldwin. The Pitt staff is recruiting Hargrove to play defensive end.
Dave Wannstedt has told alumni groups that he hopes to land a Top 10 recruiting class. The last Pitt coach to talk with this kind if bravado was Jackie Sherrill. Often coaches tend to try lower expectations. Lou Holtz was a master at this. Walt Harris was not nearly as good at this game but he was also constantly trying to lower expectations.
If Coach Wannstedt wants to deliver a Top 10 recruiting class he may have to land Dorin Dickerson and Jason Pinkston. We still like Pitt’s chances with both of these guys. They maybe critical to Pitt having a big recruiting year.
Baldwin’s Cart Kelly dropped us a note to say he pick up an offer from Kent State this past week. He also has an earlier offer from The University of Akron.
Just how many scholarships are available?
The news this week that Kyle Smith, Azzie Beagnyam, Stephan Brinson and Andre Broussard are no longer with the team is a case of good news, bad news. A few of these players were more than capable of providing solid depth to Pitt football team this fall. On the other hand Pitt faced the possibility of being over the 85-scholarship limitation this summer. This helps them get back inside the NCAA limitations. I currently count 64 returning players. There are 20 freshman scheduled to report this summer. This would put Pitt at 84 or one (1) under the limit. If quarterback Joe Flacco does return they will pick up another one.
Pitt has a dozens seniors. This means they could have 14 scholarships available. It is still possible that one or two freshman may not clear the NCAA Clearinghouse. All of them have a good shot at being eligible but you never know for sure until they report to camp. The number of scholarships available is always a moving target.
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.
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This post was edited on 6/12 9:13 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
During our search for the mysterious fourth commitment Chris Peak talked to a number of area coaches including Bill Cherpak from Thomas-Jefferson. He assured us that his linebacker Nate Nix had not committed yet but he said, “It wouldn’t surprise me if he committed to Pitt by the end of the month.”
Pitt already has a commitment from Gateway linebacker Dan Loheyde. In addition the Pitt staff apparently feels they are still very much in the hunt for Woodland Hills linebacker Greg Webster, who they like a lot.
It does not appear that Pitt is recruiting linebacker Nate Williams from Central Catholic. Williams ran a 4.45 in an electronically timed 40 at the Nike Camp and he was timed running a sub-4.0 at the Metro Index Camp. Williams was a first team all-state selection for the state champions. Williams told the Pantherlair that he is receiving interest from Syracuse. He has been invited to their summer camp and hopes to pick up an offer while there. Apparently Pitt feels good about where they stand with Loheyde, Nix and/or Webster.
Pitt has offered three quarterbacks so far. You have to be very skeptical about Joe Flacco returning to the squad. If he does not we expect the Pitt staff to take two quarterbacks. In fact, that is exactly what they recently told the family of one quarterback recruit.
Quarterback Pat Devlin from Downingtown East had an early offer from Pitt and remains high on their radar. Rivals.com recently ranked him in their Top 100 and has him as the 5th best pro-style quarterback prospect in the country. He has indicated he would like to decide by the end of the summer.
Pitt subsequently offered quarterback Thaddeus Lewis out of Hialeah, Florida. Rivals.com recently named him as one of the Top 100 players in Florida. It is hard to see him committing to Pitt without a visit and that might not come until late this year.
Bishop McDevitt’s Jeremy Ricker told the Pantherlair this week that Pitt has been recruiting him and has recently offered him a scholarship. Ricker is also a Rivals Top 100 selection. He told Harry Psaros that he hopes to decide by the end of the summer. He has Pitt in his top six.
There are a number of local quarterbacks this year that could end up playing at the Division 1 level before it is all said and done. Pitt is still recruiting Perry’s Desmond Brentley, South Park’s Connor Dixon and Seneca Valley’s Kevan Smith. They may have to have a good showing at the Pitt’s summer camp to land an offer. We spoke to Kevan Smith’s family this past week and assistant coach Bob Junko had him on a tour of the Panthers facilities last weekend. Smith only started two games last fall for Seneca Valley due to a snowboard injury. He is receiving plenty of interest after impressive showings at the combine camps but may either have to have a good summer camp showing at Pitt or prove himself on the field this fall. He stock has risen very rapidly in recent weeks.
Pitt may have a better shot at landing Nate Byham that one might think at first blush. He has received offers from across the nation but we have reason to think he might want to stay close to home. He was in Morgantown last weekend checking out the Mountaineers. We like Pitt’s chance with Byham but if they strike out our “birdies” say Pitt may not take a tight end this fall. The staff likes Darrell Strong and Central Catholic’s John Pelusi will join the team in August. This gives them a couple of good young tight ends in the system and Buchess has another year of eligibility.
We interviewed Elijah Fields from Duquesne this week. He told the Pantherlair he now has seven offers. He tells us he has offers from Pitt and West Virginia. Most of the others are from MAC level schools. We asked Fields how he was coming academically. He replied, “I should be OK. I am planning on taking a couple of summer school courses to raise my core grade point average.” We spent some time talking to Fields at the Nike Camp. He passes the “look test”. If he follows through and takes the summer school courses the interest level in Fields could soar this fall.
It is highly unlikely that LeSean McCoy will commit early. The Pitt staff may have to chase him until January. Running back Kevin Collier from the Rochester area has already visited Pitt once. We hear he will also come to their summer camp. If he commits later this summer it could close the door on McCoy. Pitt will have five freshman running backs in camp this fall. If the staff likes what the see in August and they miss on McCoy and Collier it would not surprise us if they passed on a running back this year.
We expect defensive end Tyler Tkach to commit this summer and we like Pitt’s chances of landing him. We also like their chances with Justin Hargrove from Baldwin. The Pitt staff is recruiting Hargrove to play defensive end.
Dave Wannstedt has told alumni groups that he hopes to land a Top 10 recruiting class. The last Pitt coach to talk with this kind if bravado was Jackie Sherrill. Often coaches tend to try lower expectations. Lou Holtz was a master at this. Walt Harris was not nearly as good at this game but he was also constantly trying to lower expectations.
If Coach Wannstedt wants to deliver a Top 10 recruiting class he may have to land Dorin Dickerson and Jason Pinkston. We still like Pitt’s chances with both of these guys. They maybe critical to Pitt having a big recruiting year.
Baldwin’s Cart Kelly dropped us a note to say he pick up an offer from Kent State this past week. He also has an earlier offer from The University of Akron.
Just how many scholarships are available?
The news this week that Kyle Smith, Azzie Beagnyam, Stephan Brinson and Andre Broussard are no longer with the team is a case of good news, bad news. A few of these players were more than capable of providing solid depth to Pitt football team this fall. On the other hand Pitt faced the possibility of being over the 85-scholarship limitation this summer. This helps them get back inside the NCAA limitations. I currently count 64 returning players. There are 20 freshman scheduled to report this summer. This would put Pitt at 84 or one (1) under the limit. If quarterback Joe Flacco does return they will pick up another one.
Pitt has a dozens seniors. This means they could have 14 scholarships available. It is still possible that one or two freshman may not clear the NCAA Clearinghouse. All of them have a good shot at being eligible but you never know for sure until they report to camp. The number of scholarships available is always a moving target.
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 6/10 10:40 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
This post was edited on 6/12 9:13 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
