No, this is not a top-20 class. It wasn’t expected to be. No, Pitt isn’t having its recruiting class discussed in the national media (though, given the context in which it was discussed last year, that could be considered a good thing). No, Pitt didn’t win the recruiting wars in Pennsylvania, or just Western Pennsylvania — they forgot to show up for several key battles. Despite that, this recruiting class seemed to leave people feeling pretty good.
Average is the word used mostly to describe this class. But it could have been worse. Former coach Walt Harris had an OK start with this class, but it seemed to pick up a little more steam with Wannstedt.
“I think he made some strides late in the recruiting process,” said Jeremy Crabtree, national recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. “Obviously, he was recruiting against the calendar. He was behind the eight ball as far as time. But I think you have to be impressed with what he did lately.”
Allen Wallace, publisher of Super Prep and national recruiting editor of Scout.com also said Pitt’s class is ranked around 40th.
“I think they cleaned up some excellent athletes lately. Pitt’s class is behind Penn State’s, but I don’t know if it’s all that far behind,” Wallace said. “I would say Pitt is probably second in the Big East behind West Virginia.”
The article says two of Pitt’s recruits — Marlon Terry of Akron, Ohio and Shawn Simmons from New Jersey are still committed to Pitt, but haven’t signed a letter of intent at this time. There are no requirements for high schoolers to sign today, but it has become such an event that most do. Actually, you never have to sign the letter of intent to take a scholarship and come play at a school. The schools and coaches like it because it gives control back to them. I am kind of surprised Terry didn’t sign, since he was dressed to the nines yesterday for signing day.
At Buchtel, Carlos Parish and Marlon Terry were dressed as if they were ready for an NFL Draft party.
Parish, a defensive lineman for the Griffins who will play at the Cincinnati next season, was sporting an ivory-colored double-breasted suit with tan alligator shoes, while Terry, a 6-1, 275-pound defensive end who will play at Pittsburgh next year, sported a black silk suit with purple alligator shoes.
“I couldn’t sleep at all last night,” Parish said. “It was like going to school on the first day. I couldn’t wait to put on my new clothes.”
Said Terry: “This was an important day so I just wanted to look good.”
They were two of six Griffins players who sealed their college choices by signing Wednesday.
Maybe he mailed his?
It wasn’t just in Western Pennsylvania that Wannstedt left his mark. He left a good impression in Florida in a short time.
Scout.com analyst Scott Kennedy’s ranking of the five new coaches who did the best jobs on the recruiting trail: 1. Urban Meyer, Florida; 2. Charlie Weis, Notre Dame; 3. Steve Spurrier, South Carolina; 4. Dave Wannstedt, Pitt; 5. Ed Orgeron, Ole Miss.
The fact that nothing went wrong, and that recruiting ended on an upswing was enough to leave most (including me) feeling pretty good. The incoming class will be given a chance to win jobs, where needed or they excel, but…
Pitt returns nine starters on offense and seven on defense from last year’s Fiesta Bowl team. A couple of the newcomers could make an immediate impact, notably Bokor and Collins (who could improve a running game that managed just 2.6 yards per carry). A good portion of the class likely will redshirt, though Wannstedt made it clear that every position is open.
The Panthers are looking to beef up their lines and solidify a running game that hasn’t produced a 1,000-yard rusher since 2000. That’s why Wannstedt brought in five offensive linemen, five running backs and four defensive linemen.
My feeling is that most of the O-line is an open competition (or should be). The D-line definitely has holes.
The excitement Wannstedt has created in the area is noticeable even from outside. Hits on this site have picked up, as have e-mails. People are curious and are dreaming of big things. Optimism and Pitt. What a scary mix.
Wannstedt has done this. He keeps saying and doing the right things. Things that keep generating the positive energy. He’s already talking about the next class.
Better still, Wannstedt and his coaches were comfortable enough and confident enough with the whole process to get a head start on 2006 while catching up in 2005.
“We’ve already offered scholarships to juniors,” Wannstedt said. “We ran out of seats at the basketball game, the Syracuse game, last weekend. We’ll have another junior day at the end of the month when we play the University of Connecticut here.
“There were half-dozen or so, I talked to a kid today and offered him a scholarship, a junior today, on the phone.”
No juniors have committed yet, but “I wouldn’t expect them to right now,” Wannstedt said. “They just need to know we’re going to be aggressive with you, we want you, we really think you can help our program.”
Kevin Gorman identifies the juniors expected to be pursued in the WPIAL.
During the press conference yesterday, Wannstedt denied that he had to mend and soothe hurt feelings of high school coaches in the area post-Walt Harris. There is some logic to it, or why would he have kept Bob Junko on staff to work Western Pennsylvania.
As for the recruiting coordinator position that Coach Wannstedt needs to fill. It looks like the favorite is Duquesne University head football coach Greg Gattuso.
According to several sources close to the situation, Gattuso has interviewed for the job and is near the top of the list, but several other candidates are expected to be interviewed in the next few days.
…
In order to make room for the new recruiting coordinator, Wannstedt had to release tight ends coach Bill Bleil, one of two assistants from former coach Walt Harris’ staff whose status had been in limbo.
…Gattuso has built Duquesne into one of the most successful Division I-AA mid-major programs. He has posted a 97-32 record while leading the Dukes to eight of the past 10 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference titles, five bowl appearances and the 2003 mid-major Division I-AA national championship.
He has been named the MAAC coach of the year seven times and the national mid-major I-AA coach of the year twice. Duquesne finished 7-3 (4-0 in the MAAC) last season and won its sixth consecutive conference championship while extending its conference winning streak to 33 games.
Gattuso played at Penn State and was a member of the 1982 national championship team. He was the Post-Gazette Class AA player of the year in 1979 after a stellar senior season at Seton-LaSalle High.
Gattuso’s name has been tossed around a couple times after Wannstedt was hired by sportswriters who speculated that he would fit well on the new staff. They may have been correct.
