I know, by now many of you have read almost all of the articles I’m about to link. Sorry.
My DSL connection went kablooie this morning and spent an hour plus with a stereotypical India-based outsourced tech support person who kept having me do the same damn thing on my script and maintaining that I was somehow doing it wrong. Then to get me off the phone she lied about there being servers down in my area. I called back a while later, and somehow got connected with someone from real tech support who corrected the problem (mostly). There are some other things, but they are minor compared to not being able to use the net. But I digress, and likely no one really cares.
As to yesterday’s press conference by Jason Pinkston and Justin Hargrove, courtesy of the Pittsburgh Sports Report e-mail (no link, but here’s their archive page if they put it up there later):
Donning Baldwin’s sharp new game-day jerseys, teammates Jason Pinkston and Justin Hargrove stood in front of a packed South Hills Country Club last night and announced to a room full of Baldwin alumni and supporters that they plan to play college football at the University of Pittsburgh. The teammates then pulled off their game jerseys to reveal t-shirts featuring their new team’s not-so-new “Pitt” logo.
Pinkston, a 6’4-½”, 280-pound defensive tackle, and the 6’4″, 240-pound Hargrove, a linebacker/defensive end, are Pitt’s eighth and ninth commitments to the class of 2006.
“It’s just the best fit,” said Pinkston, rated as the fourth best player in the state by Keystone Recruiting. “I’ve been to the campuses at Penn State, South Bend, West Virginia and Akron, and Pitt is the best place for me.” Pinkston was also offered scholarships by Ohio State, Michigan, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida, LSU, Louisville, Iowa, and Wisconsin, in addition the aforementioned programs.
Have I mentioned the domino-thing yet today? Sure seems that way.
Woodland Hills linebacker Greg Webster is expected to give the Panthers a verbal commitment today, and Gateway receiver Aaron Smith and Seneca Valley quarterback Kevan Smith might not be far behind.
“It was real important because when Pitt gets good athletes like (West Allegheny receiver) Dorin Dickerson, Justin and myself, it’s going to make other good players want to come with us,” Pinkston said. “We need to keep Pittsburgh kids in Pittsburgh.”
Then there was the quieter announcement of Tyler Tkach:
Tyler Tkach made sure his dad didn’t have just another birthday on Sunday.
After Jim Tkach, his wife Sandi and their three kids, Tyler, Bo and Tristin, went bowling, the family headed to Ice Cream World in Walnutport per Jim’s request.
While Jim and Tyler were standing in line, Tyler, who’ll be a senior defensive end at Northern Lehigh, turned to his father and nonchalantly spouted out the biggest news of his young life.
”He turned to me and said, ‘So am I supposed to call these other coaches and tell them I’m going to Pitt?”’ Jim recalled. ”I said, ‘So you’re going to Pitt?’ He said, ‘Yes,’ and I just started laughing because that’s Tyler. He doesn’t like to make a big deal out of things.”
Tyler’s commitment to the University of Pittsburgh, coached by Dave Wannstedt, an ex-NFL player and head coach, is only oral. However, Tyler said he definitely won’t change his mind, even though he only visited two other schools (North Carolina State and Penn State).
”I just knew that was the place I wanted to be,” Tyler said. ”I felt comfortable and my dad (Northern Lehigh’s football coach) said, ‘Why go to these other places if you know that’s where you want to be? You may end up getting more confused.”’
The other full scholarship offers made to Tyler came from North Carolina State, Georgia Tech, University of Virginia, University of North Carolina and Rutgers. He also had conversations with coaches from Penn State, Notre Dame, Syracuse and Stanford.
Tkach was really impressed when Wannstedt visited his school in May, and it made a difference.
“The first thing coach Wannstedt said to me was he really wanted to recruit Pennsylvania hard, both Eastern and Western Pennsylvania,” Tkach said. “When the head coach comes to your school, that really says something.”
And Mike Prisuta is going with the domino effect.
“The reason it’s gone better than what I think anybody would have imagined is it’s an easy sell for me,” said Wannstedt, prevented by NCAA regulations from discussing verbal commitments in particular but limited only by his boundless enthusiasm when discussing recruiting in general.
“I couldn’t do this at any other school,” he continued. “How could I sit there and talk to a set of parents or a top prospect and really convince them this is the place he needs to be when I might not believe it in my heart?
“There’s a difference between selling something when you believe it in your heart and when you’re trying to sell something because it’s your job. I think that’s coming through. I think people see that and I think people want to be a part of that.”
Wannstedt’s first recruiting class was respectable, given the limitations of his late start.
His second, already highlighted by the verbals from Dickerson and Pinkston, the equivalent of landing a Tyler Palko and a Steve Breaston in the same class, has a chance to be resplendent.
Particularly if Wannstedt convinces Darrin Walls of Woodland Hills to join the Pitt Parade.
“It doesn’t make any difference if it’s Notre Dame, Penn State, Ohio State or who it is,” Wannstedt said. “If we’re going to be a Top 10 program, we have to make sure we control Western Pennsylvania.”
Wannstedt’s sincere belief in Pitt and the energy that generates is already winning friends and influencing people. But he’s also ahead of schedule in recruiting because of where he’s coming from most recently, as opposed to where he’s coming from while recounting his vision of what Pitt was and can be again.
Perhaps a bit early on hyperbole of comparing the new recruits to some of the best college players. Seems unfair to both.
Still, heady and exciting. Even more so when it is only the end of June.
