The squads for the “Big 33” game were announced. It includes 7 current Pitt commits and a couple other possibilities.
Over the weekend, it was noted that Pitt was still in contention for a few more kids from Florida and others.
Pitt is a finalist for three Florida players — defensive end Audie Augustine of Northeast High, defensive end Geno Atkins of St. Thomas Aquinas and quarterback Thaddeus Lewis of Miami Lakes.
Pitt’s best shot might be at Augustine, who is visiting Pitt this weekend.
“It’s come down to North Carolina State and Pitt,” Northeast coach Adam Ratkevich said. “Ever since last spring, Audie has been very impressed with coach [Dave] Wannstedt.
“Pitt already got [a commitment from] Jared Martin in this area. He’s probably the best defensive tackle in Broward County. By most people’s account, Audie is the best defensive end in the county. That would be two nice players for them.”
Pitt has commitments from 22 players. The Panthers are battling Auburn, Georgia, North Carolina State and Michigan State for Atkins. He is visiting Michigan State this weekend.
Pitt, South Florida, Duke and TCU are the finalists for Lewis.
Pitt also is in the running for receiver-defensive back Aaron Berry of Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg. West Virginia and Minnesota are his other choices.
There’s the continuing wondering about what Kevin Collier is doing. The Syracuse football beat writer doesn’t even know, but he likes to speculate/hope.
Churchville-Chili High School running back Kevin Collier says he’s committed to Pittsburgh, but he is clearly sending mixed messages with his actions. If Collier is such a Pitt lock, why was he at the SU-Connecticut basketball game at the Dome the other night? Why is he still talking regularly with SU coaches, who were at his basketball game this week? If you weren’t interested in the Orange and wanted to push away, wouldn’t you say, “thanx guys, I’ve made my decision?” Lot of pressure on the kid, who seems to be trying to make everyone happy. He’s not the first and won’t be the last. It’s a tough game being played. Stories keep coming out about tiny issues with Syracuse, but don’t you think there must be underlying issues with Pittsburgh if Collier is having this much difficulty getting to Feb. 1 with his commitment? Just a thought.
And members of the mainstream media like to complain about speculation and trying to pressure high school kids from recruiting sites, message boards and blogs?
I’ve tried not to pay too much attention or bother worrying about Penn State’s fantastic finish in recruiting. It’s been hard to ignore with almost daily e-mail updates from Pittsburgh Sports Report on yet another blue-chipper choosing PSU or decommitting from another school to opt for Penn State. The latest today was that QB Pat Devlin has decommitted from Miami to choose PSU.
Mike Farrell from Rivals.com for Sporting News dredged up Pitt’s Morelli stuff in talking about Devlin.
Devlin, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound record breaker from Downington East High
School, took an official visit to PSU this past weekend and is expected to
choose between the Nittany Lions and Hurricanes this week. You see, Penn State
isn’t exactly sold on Morelli being the long-term solution to replace Michael
Robinson and are pushing hard for Devlin despite a commitment from New Jersey
signal-caller Brett Brackett. Just two years after taking Morelli from Pitt, Joe
Paterno and company could do the same to Miami. How ironic that it’s Miami, the
team that stole Johnson away the same day, could now be the victim.Recruiting is a cut-throat business and when someone is down, you don’t
help them up — you put your foot on their face and squish. Penn State has been
good as the squisher in the past and hopes Devlin allows it to play that role
again.
This finish to NLI day is astounding. Sure they had the fantastic season, but the way they have come hard to get all these name recruits has been extremely impressive. (Damn it.)
The thing I have noticed, though, and the reason why I could ignore for so long without commenting is the fact that most of them were not the ones Pitt was really in contention to get. So what they are doing isn’t actually weakening Pitt’s recruiting, especially locally.
PSU this year, whether it is just for this year or might be a shift in planning, has been focusing and cleaning up on the Eastern seaboard. I mean more than before. They haven’t hit Western PA like the last few years. Instead, most of their damage has been to the ACC schools as they are plucking kids not just from Eastern PA and NJ, but Maryland and Virginia. This means big losses for Maryland, UVA, VT, Miami, BC (which has gotten some top talent out of NJ) and NC State. If so, the ACC could be in for a rough time despite its size.
Just some idle thoughts.
