ESPN.com’s weekly power rankings moved Pitt from the top of the 3 seeds from last week to the bottom of the 2 seeds (effectively swapping places with Florida).

Earned national brownie points for gutsy effort at UConn; must regroup in a hurry though with visit to G’town on tap Saturday.

Could someone in the Pitt Athletic Department please let ESPN.com and SI.com that the panther/grendel logo with “Pittsburgh” underneath is not the logo any longer. Maybe send them some samples?

I saw this yesterday on the Pitt site:

As part of its men’s basketball Centennial Celebration, the University of Pittsburgh Athletic Department will conduct an online fan vote to select its All-Centennial Basketball Team.

Beginning on Wednesday, Feb. 1, fans have the opportunity to vote for their all-time favorite Pitt players by Clicking Here. Fans may vote one time per computer. Voting concludes on Sunday, Feb. 19.

Fans may choose 15 names from a list of 65 players. Information on each of the 65 players is provided online, including a bio, list of accomplishments, photo and year-by-year statistics. Criteria for the initial 65-player list includes members of Pitt’s Member of Pitt’s 1,000 Point Club, All-America Selection, Retired Jersey, Professional Player, International Competitor, All Conference or All-Region Player and other special accomplishments.

I started doing a vote yesterday, then realized I was weighting my vote a little too heavily towards the 80s era Pitt teams I saw in high school and as a student.

I mean, some are easy and obvious choices (at least to me): Charles Smith, Billy Knight, Don Hennon, Brandin Knight, Clyde Vaughan, Demetreus Gore, Sam Clancy, Sean Miller and Carl Krauser.

That’s 9 spots, and that leaves 6 more.

Then it starts getting difficult. Where do Chevon Troutman, Julius Page and Jaron Brown rank all-time?

What about Darrelle Porter, Jerome Lane, Bobby Martin, Jason Matthews and Brian Shorter.

Then there are the guys that were the only ones on some bad teams, or just plain sentimental favorites: Vonteego Cummings, Ricardo Greer, Jerry McCullough, and Orlando Antigua.

I’m crossing off the ones that weren’t here long enough: Mark Blount and Chris Taft.

You have to consider Curtis Aiken, and there a slew of players simply before my time that deserve some consideration.

I’m going to need some more time on this one. I will consider all arguments.

Pitt’s website has a press release stating that Tamarcus Porter is signed with Pitt. It also has some short bio info. Porter plays Safety and Wide Receiver. He is going to be tried at both positions.

Over at ESPN.com, Tom Lugnibill grades the top-25 recruiting classes (Insider Subs.). The letter grades are kind of meaningless, since #1-5 get an “A”; 6-10 an “A-“; 11-12 a “B+”; 13-16 a “B”; then 17-25 all got “B-“. Rather unremarkable summary of Pitt at #16

The Panthers weathered the storm of a disappointing early season and were able to keep key early commits that came with the hype of Dave Wannstedt returning home to coach. DT John Malecki is a potential sleeper.

Malecki is a “potential sleeper?”

That’s weak. Malecki had a fantastic season that had top schools coming after him after his early verbal to Pitt and his stock rose throughout the year. That’s pretending to spot something for those not paying attention.

Signing day isn’t just a relief and a sort of bizarre exhilaration for the fans. It means something to the players some more than others it would seem.

With one sweep of a pen, Lowell Robinson felt his life completely change.

The Mount Vernon native had months ago given his oral commitment to play football at the University of Pittsburgh. But what Robinson felt after simply signing his name to the national letter of intent yesterday was different.

It was the gateway opening to a life that so many told him he couldn’t live.

“I had the pen in my hand and when I saw the national letter of intent, it was the greatest feeling in the world,” he said yesterday afternoon from Erie Community College in Buffalo. “It was the same feeling Larry Fitzgerald probably got when he signed with Pittsburgh, or Tony Dorsett. By signing my name, I proved all my critics wrong.”
…
“There was never a question about his athletic ability. People told him he could never do the academic part of it,” said Erie coach Dennis Greene, who insists Robinson is the best player he’s had in 20 years. “They told him he’ll never make it because he’s not as committed to the classroom as he is on the football field. Today he shut those people up. It’s been a long time coming.”

Robinson, who’ll have two years of eligibility at Pittsburgh, could barely sleep Tuesday night and was up and out before 7 a.m. Wanting to get his signed letter out of the way quickly, he met with Greene and a few other Erie coaches at the athletic offices, signed and immediately faxed it to his father in Mount Vernon so he could sign, too.

They then faxed the papers to Pittsburgh and, within an hour, Robinson got a phone call from Panthers head coach Dave Wannstedt.

It’s been a truly remarkable year for Robinson. After a breakout freshman season, he became a father in April to a baby girl, Laniya, whom he plans to go home to Mount Vernon and see in three weeks.

Robinson, is definitely expected to make an immediate impact on the team. It reads like someone who knows he has earned a tremendous opportunity.

The article also suggests that Coach Wannstedt is toying with using Robinson on offense occasionally. I think he is just thinking about ways to generate speed as much and as often as possible on all sides of the ball.

Okay, earlier, I linked to some individual player stories, now for the class as a “whole.”

Here’s the AP Wire article.

Pitt Coach Dave Wannstedt signed 25 players Wednesday, including several highly rated players like West Allegheny running back/receiver Dorin Dickerson and Franklin tight end Nate Byham.

The Panthers, coming off a disappointing 5-6 record in Wannstedt’s first season, still managed to sign a full 25-player recruiting class that was rated 16th by ESPN and 21st by Rivals.com. The Panthers’ recruiting class was considered the best in the Big East by most scouting services.

Now that’s some silly hedging. What scouting service didn’t have Pitt with the best recruiting class in the Big East? Really. I want to know.

“Our goal here is to build a top-10 football program at the University of Pittsburgh,” Wannstedt said. “For us to reach that level, it’s important that our first full recruiting class provides a strong foundation for future success, both on and off the field. So, that’s what we tried to do.”

Expect to see that quote many more times in all articles about Pitt’s recruiting class in the coming week or two.

There was, apparently something of a press conference by Coach Wannstedt yesterday.

When Pitt’s football coach held a news conference to discuss his recruiting class in past years, it usually brought out many members of the media. But when Dave Wannstedt spoke about Pitt’s 2006 recruiting class yesterday at the team’s South Side offices, the throng of reporters and TV personalities was much smaller than usual.

Apparently, some event in Detroit this week has attracted many members of the local sports media.

How ironic, because this Pitt recruiting class commands more attention than possibly any Panthers’ group in the past 20 years.

Not for the right reasons, but I’d say what happened with the recruiting class in 2003 got a lot of attention.

The thing that stands out both for the job that Pitt’s coaches did and the players they recruited, is that there were no reports on wavering based on the season Pitt had. The talent Pitt had gotten to commit, and do it early, were not exactly being left alone. They continued to get calls and contacted. They remained firm almost to a man.

“They didn’t lose anybody to Michigan. They didn’t lose anybody to Penn State,” said Bob Lichtenfels of Scout.com. “I would challenge anyone to tell me when that’s ever happened before. I don’t think it ever has. To me, that’s the most surprising thing.”

The jewel of the class is West Allegheny’s Dorin Dickerson, the state player of the year in Class AAA. Dickerson led the WPIAL with 38 touchdowns last season and played receiver, running back, quarterback, defensive back and kick returner.

Even before Greg Lee declared for the NFL Draft, Dickerson was slotted for a significant role in Pitt’s receiving corps this fall. But with the recent departure of tailback Rashad Jennings, Wannstedt hinted that Dickerson will get some time at running back.

“We’ve got to find a way to get the ball in his hands eight or 10 times a game,” Wannstedt said.

Dickerson committed to Pitt last year and never wavered, even as the team struggled through a 5-6 season that included humiliating losses against Ohio and West Virginia. Other local players also did not seem to be disturbed by the Panthers’ down year.

“It’s encouraging that everybody hung strong,” Wannstedt said.

As for Dickerson seeing lots of touches, I want to hear OC Cavanaugh talk about it as well. Conservatism on offense is also a trait of his as well as Coach Wannstedt.

So with the Steelers getting all the ink in Pittsburgh, Coach Wannstedt is only seeing positives from it.

Former Bears coach and current University of Pittsburgh boss Dave Wannstedt says his recruiting benefited from the success of the Super Bowl-bound Steelers.

“We share the same stadium–Heinz Field. What’s a better recruiting tool than that?” Wannstedt said Wednesday on the first day recruits could sign a national letter of intent. “This is a football town. The Steelers’ success is the best thing that has happened to us.”

The Panthers finished 5-6 in his initial year of coaching his alma mater.

Wannstedt and Steelers coach Bill Cowher have offices across the hall from each other in the infrastructure at Heinz Field.

“He’s a hero in Pittsburgh. We talk quite a bit,” said Wannstedt, who signed 13 All-Staters from Ohio (2), Florida (2), New York (2) and Pennsylvania (7).

“It’s kind of like the NFL draft,” he said. “I have been in 16 different draft rooms over my career and each time you feel like you picked up some great talent.”

So how’d the rest of the Big East feel about the day?

Well, Louisville got a little bounce from being in the Big East (though probably smaller than hoped for).

Petrino found his own “Peanut” in Deantwan “Peanut” Whitehead, the nation’s No. 4-rated defensive end according to Rivals.com. The Cardinals snatched him out of Birmingham, Ala., in the middle of a battle between Auburn and Alabama.

That signing signaled a bit of a breakthrough for U of L. This 24-member recruiting class is the highest-ranked in school history according to both Rivals.com (No. 34) and Scout.com (No. 26). Last season’s class was rated No. 35 by Rivals.

“Most of the time in February, everybody thinks they have the best class they’ve ever had,” Petrino said. “But we won’t know until we get them here in August and see them. Certainly the way they rank them and the way we feel about them, it’s our best class top to bottom. But that’s always yet to be seen.”

After their first season in the Big East Conference, the Cards engaged more top-tier programs than ever on the recruiting trail — and won more than they ever have.

Naturally, one columnist complains that recruiting rankings are useless. After all, they don’t get it right often enough.

Recruiting chatter, especially football recruiting chatter, is the cotton candy of sports journalism. It’s the ultimate junk food. You can eat handful after handful without a single gram of nutritional value.
…
The gurus got it right with U of L defensive end Elvis Dumervil — sort of. He was ranked the 25th-best defensive end prospect. Of course, they also touted tight end Chad Jorgensen and defensive back Phil Minafield. I won’t bore you with the details about Indiana.

I will tell you this: Not every guru touted Vince Young of Texas as the top high school quarterback four years ago. Several guys, including the always quoted Tom Lemming, liked Ben Olson of California better.

Ben Olson wasn’t even the best Olson at UCLA last season. Drew Olson was. Ben, a transfer from Brigham Young, threw four passes and completed two.

Sooner or later, we’ll learn.

You are talking about projecting what high school kids will do. The system they will be in and of course what kind of teaching they receive from coaches. Of course there will be plenty of misses. There are also plenty of hits.

You know what? That kind of rant/whine is typical of sportswriters who don’t even want to bother with the topic because it is too hard and requires them to sully their hands with recruiting sites and experts. People they look down upon.

Syracuse is feeling mostly good about its first recruiting class under Greg Robinson. If for no other reason, that they too were able to take a good recruit out of Maryland.

The Syracuse University football team introduced 22 players on Wednesday that have signed binding national letters-of-intent to play for the Orange.

For all the offensive linemen and receivers and even Mr. Football in Ohio that are coming to Syracuse, the essence and hope of the class gets down to one player – quarterback Andrew Robinson of Baltimore.
…
There are a number of high-profile players in the class including tailback Delone Carter, who was named Mr. Football in Ohio; receiver Andrey Baskin of Camden, N.J., and offensive lineman Jim McKenzie of St. Joe’s Prep outside of Philadelphia.

In addition to Andrew Robinson, Syracuse signed five players out of Maryland including lineman Ryan Bartholomew of DeMatha and defensive back Nico Scott of Greenbelt’s Eleanor Roosevelt High School, one of the most prolific producers of college players in the country.

Okay, what the hell is going on in Maryland that suddenly has all of this talent? The state isn’t that big, and yet all of these top recruits seem to be from there. Seriously, where next? Delaware?

But not all was completely rosy for ‘Cuse.

However, the Orange failed to sign any of the Top 14-ranked New Yorkers according to Scout.com, an online recruiting site. Syracuse also lost the two top prospects in its own backyard to Big East rival Pittsburgh, which signed defensive end McKenzie Mathews of CBA and tailback Kevin Collier of Churchville-Chili. Mathews made his decision Wednesday.

Throw on the signing day decision by defensive tackle Jason Kates of Harrisburg, Pa., to sign with Michigan over the Orange, and the recruiting rush to signing day ended with a bit of a thud.

Rutgers, like Louisville could claim their best recruiting class ever.

It was the one question that always intrigued Rutgers football followers: If Greg Schiano could have recruiting success while saddled with a chronic loser, what would happen if the coach ever had a bowl team to sell?

The best recruiting class in school history — at least on paper — seems to be the answer.

With 25 recruits committing on national letter of intent signing day yesterday, Schiano’s words and body language seemed to indicate that he knew he’d delivered in a big way after his latest talent haul was officially revealed.

The big one was getting a NJ native who had verballed to Virginia to stay.

[Kordell] Young, who capped his career by rushing for 1,898 yards on 152 carries (12.4 yards per carry) last season while scoring 32 touchdowns, was the 15th-ranked prospect in the state, according to Super Prep Magazine.

He committed to Virginia in July, 2005. He had offers from Maryland, Illinois, Pittsburgh and Boston College, among others.

Cinci signed the lowest rated class in the BE, but that didn’t stop the Cinci coach from putting on a happy face.

UC fans will find out during the next few years if any of the 18 players the Bearcats signed can match the highlights that were flashed on the screen at the Kingsgate Marriott Hotel.

Mark Dantonio, the Bearcats’ third-year head coach, believes they will.

“When you look at the quality of players in terms of who we were competing against, I think we got some very good players,” Dantonio said.

Maybe so, but the class is not highly rated by the recruiting analysts. Tom Lemming said earlier this week that UC’s class, though solid given the Bearcats’ needs, would not crack the national Top 50.

Rivals.com on Wednesday rated UC’s class No. 104.

None of that fazes Dantonio, who’s convinced that he has upgraded his team.

“I don’t pay attention to that,” Dantonio said. “Most of those guys have never played football. We make our assessments based on fact, not fiction. We watch them play, get to know them as people and stay the course.”

Do you have a choice?

UConn, like Cinci, is going with the “ratings don’t tell the story” argument. You kind of have no choice when you are building a program. And they, like Cinci and USF are doing that. There was nothing before that tumbled and is being resurrected. These are all programs trying to make something new.

Well how about the Big East champs and Sugar Bowl winner?

A month after what was perhaps the most significant victory in the history of West Virginia’s football program, Rich Rodriguez signed a small group of freshmen on the first day of the NCAA’s official signing period.

Did the Mountaineers’ win over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl influence any of them to come to Morgantown? Well, perhaps. But with the bulk of recruiting already finished before last month’s bowl games, the impact was almost negligible.

“There might have been one or two guys we were fighting for at the end, and the Sugar Bowl put us over the top with them,” Rodriguez said Wednesday. “We’re hoping there is more of an impact next year.”

Wait until next year is always a fun battle cry. Apparently there is just something about the state that makes it difficult to recruit to.

West Virginia is more than coal camps, dueling banjos, country roads and barefoot hillbillies.

Now, if only the rest of the country knew that.

Mountain State misconceptions are some of the toughest challenges facing West Virginia Coach Rich Rodriguez in trying to lure top high school football players, but the Mountaineer head man said all it takes is one visit.

And then you know it’s true.

Okay folks, looks like Tamarcus Porter has now signed a LOI with Pitt.

Both Scout.com and Rivals.com have him marked as a signed player.

I guess he needed an extra night of sleep.

I realize that Pitt was supposed to be in a down year, so that helps explain why Pitt and UConn only play once, and Pitt’s minimal TV exposure, but I am still at a loss for why the BE would schedule a game between Pitt and Georgetown on Superbowl Sunday — regardless of the teams in the Superbowl. Not only do you assure the number of viewers to be minimal, but you all but assure the two teams of having the game totally ignored even when it comes to the national exposure. Really. How much coverage do you think SportsCenter is going to give this game? It should get some with two teams in the top-20. Instead, it will get no play.

Georgetown was at least expected to be continuing an upswing from last year, and no matter what kind of rebuilding year Pitt was expected to have, they were still middle-of-the-pack expectations. A close, good game would have been expected regardless. Why not put it on Saturday? Both teams played on Tuesday, it’s not like either team wouldn’t have had a short week. Or Monday. Both teams won’t play again until Thursday. The BE schedule makers just screwed up.

I’m pissed, and to make matters worse, I may have to miss the second half. When I mentioned to the wife that I would be watching the game, she informed me that there was an open house for the pre-school we were thinking of sending my daughter that afternoon. An open house on Superbowl Sunday? I have my doubts about any school that would do such a thing. I could be in a very foul mood on Sunday.

Enough about the personal problems, the local papers are still talking about the Pitt-UConn game.

It’s a shame the Big East Conference underestimated how good Pitt was going to be this season, if for only one reason: It denied college basketball fans a Pitt-Connecticut rematch.

If Tuesday’s instant classic at Gampel Pavilion — an 80-76 Connecticut victory, another in a long line of great games between these two rivals — proved one thing, it’s that the Panthers and Huskies ought to play a home-and-home series every year. It’s the best buy in the Big East.

Given the present TV/Schedule format goes for one more year, it you would assume that 3 of the 4 home-and-homes for Pitt will be with WVU, Marquette and UConn.

I’m not sure that the players, though, would like another game this season. Everyone seemed completely drained afterwards. At the very least, I suspect UConn doesn’t want to have to face Pitt again.

Here’s an example of someone who hasn’t seen Pitt play much parachuting in late.

Pitt lost two talented bigs in Chevy Troutman and Chris Taft and the Panthers steamed off to a 15-0 start and are 17-2 after a narrow loss at UConn. The Panthers were picked to finish 8th or 9th in the Big East.

The best story at Pitt is guard Antonio Graves. Once upon a time, he was a starter. He lost his job last season and fell all the way to the 8th or 9th spot in the rotation this season.

Graves stayed ready and bailed out the Panthers against Marquette with 19 off the bench when the guards who play before him, Keith Benjamin and Levance Fields, were 2-for-9 from the field.

Of course part of the reason Graves has ended up so deep on the bench is that his play hasn’t been that good and his shooting for most of the season has been atrocious. But since, the writer hasn’t seen much and only read the positives after the Marquette game, he wouldn’t really know that.

They play 10 guys. They scrap. They were horrible shooting the ball against UConn on Tuesday night, but fierce play on the boards made up for it. If senior guard Carl Krauser had not fouled out, they would have won.

Sure, the Panthers had a weak schedule, but that performance at UConn, even in a loss, shed a lot of doubters. I saw this team in December — albeit on TV — and the improvement has been spectacular.

As I noted yesterday, that kind of view is the norm when a sports writer hasn’t really seen the team.

The mystery of Tamarcus Porter isn’t that big of a mystery. He just needs more time.

The four Pahokee seniors sat in a row in the school’s auditorium, prepared to sign their scholarships, when someone asked the question many people in the room were thinking.

“Where’s T.J.?” asked Rick Lammons, an assistant coach for the Blue Devils, who is also the father of senior Ricky Gary.

Coach Leroy Foster shrugged his shoulders.

Shortly before the afternoon signing ceremony, Tamarcus Porter, who goes by the nickname “T.J.,” decided he wasn’t ready to choose between the University of Pittsburgh — where he had a verbal commitment — and Wake Forest. Porter called coaches from both schools and asked for more time, and both said they would hold his scholarship, Porter’s mother, Tammy Bussey, said.

“We were at the school today with both of his scholarships, but he looked at us and was like, ‘Mom, Dad, I’m not ready,’ ” Bussey said. “I’m very proud of him that he was able to make a decision like that. I’m glad he didn’t jump out there and make a hasty decision when he really wasn’t sure.”

Porter will visit both schools with his parents in two weeks before making his decision.

Porter’s absence was particularly disappointing for Gary, who Wednesday made good on his commitment to Pittsburgh by signing with the Panthers. Gary said he’s hopeful Porter will eventually pick Pitt, coached by former Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt, so the two can remain teammates.

“It’s a big risk by him doing that,” Gary said. “But I understand, and I know he just wants to make the right decision. I can’t blame him for it.

Technically, a player never has to sign a Letter of Intent to play. Granted most schools wouldn’t give the player a scholarship (unless he happened to be elite-level I suspect), because otherwise a player could actually walk away without needing to be released.

Signing day is also symbolic. Kids do it for the media attention and to just end the hassles. Really, a kid has until the beginning of April to sign.

Scott Corson out of Johnstown was first noticed last year when Pitt was checking out LaRod Stephens-Howling.

Greater Johnstown High School’s contribution to the University of Pittsburgh football team doubled Wednesday when offensive lineman Scott Corson signed a national letter-of-intent.

Corson, who will be a freshman in the fall, joins sophomore-to-be LaRod Stephens-Howling with the Panthers. Stephens-Howling is the top returning tailback and expected to be a starter this fall. Pitt linebackers coach Curtis Bray recruited both players.

“Scott has got great size and athletic ability,” Bray said. “He’s about 6-foot-4, 270 or 280 pounds, but he can really run. He’s played on the defensive line, but we project him probably to play on the offensive line. He’s a smart kid, and he’ll do well for us. He just has to keep working hard.”

In Central PA, Aaron Berry — also recruited by Linebackers Coach Curtis Bray — signed with Pitt.

“They had about five Division I players there, and we targeted a couple guys,” Bray said. “But corner was a need position for us, since we’re losing Josh [Lay] and others soon. It took a while, but we hung with him. He’s a great athlete from a big school, and he’s fast.

“He had 64 catches this past year as a wide receiver, so he can hold onto the ball. We signed some other guys like that who can play wideout or in the secondary, but Aaron wants to play corner. And we believe he can be a good one. But that doesn’t mean he might not catch a few balls here.”

Both of the afore mentioned articles were written by the same guy, and he found a way to save time. Aside from the opening bits about each player are the same article with the same quotes from Coach Wannstedt and TE Coach and Recruiting Coordinator Greg Gattuso. They both contain an annoyingly inaccurate statement:

Pitt’s 2006 class is rated as high as 11th by Scout.com, SuperPrep and Sports Illustrated-CNN, 16th by ESPN and 21st by Rivals.com. The Panthers are ranked No. 1 in the Big East.

[Emphasis added.]

SI.com used Scout.com’s ranking, and SuperPrep is part of Scout.com. They are all the same ranking.

Looking up in New York, Kevin Collier is ready to go.

“I got the playbook at the house,” Collier said. “You’d be surprised. I go home and watch football.

“It is a job, and I enjoy it.”

Collier plans to leave for the Pittsburgh campus in late June, a week or two after graduating from Churchville-Chili to enroll in summer college classes.

“I need to start lifting (weights),” Collier said. “I’ll have to do what I have to do, education and football-wise, to open up different avenues for myself.

“The next 10 years start right now.”

Collier, despite the pressure locally to choose Syracuse, actually said he liked the process.

No school offered him a free car or even a starting job, for that matter. But everyone made him feel special. And if Section V’s all-time rushing leader had to do it all over again, he gladly would.

“What kid wouldn’t want to take plane trips to different parts of the country, stay in hotel suites and be catered to by various colleges?” Collier said Wednesday afternoon, a few hours after signing a letter of intent to play football at Pitt.

“I really enjoyed it.”

That’s not to say there weren’t times when it stressed him out. Although Collier verbally committed to Pitt last summer, Syracuse coach Greg Robinson and some of his assistants kept reminding Kevin that a scholarship was waiting for him, just in case he had a change of heart.

High school classmates selfishly wanted him to go to the ‘Cuse, so they could see him play in the Carrier Dome. His mom, Angela Williams, and his younger brother, Averin, initially had the same desires.

Collier took their feelings into account. The opportunity to resuscitate a once-proud Orange football program coming off a 1-10 season was intriguing.

“It’s New York, man, and everyone around here grows up following Syracuse whether they are bad or not,” he said. “I thought about it long and hard, but after analyzing everything — the campus environment, the cities, the football teams and the educational opportunities — I felt like Pitt suited me best.”

Not just because he chose Pitt, but Collier seems really, really sharp. Very aware of the whole system and the way the game gets played.

Staying in Upstate New York, there was McKenzie Mathews.

“It’s been a long, extensive process,” Mathews said. “I will keep this short and tell you that I will be going . . .”

Mathews then ducked behind the podium and rustled through a drawstring bag revealing a blue-and-gold hat.

“To the University of Pittsburgh,” Mathews said, as he pulled on his cap with a smile.

Mathews received congratulatory pats on the back and handshakes as he posed for several pictures with family members.

“The stress is over,” Mathews said. “In my gut it was the best thing to do.”

Mathews said Pitt’s strong coaching staff – including former Syracuse assistant David Walker – and its business program were contributing factors in his decision. He also discussed turning down the hometown Orange, while heaping praise on coach Greg Robinson.

Then there are the boys from Baldwin.

His devotion to Dave Wannstedt was such that Jason Pinkston made it a point to give a report to the Pitt coach after each of his unofficial visits to other schools.

It didn’t hurt that Pinkston was one of the Panthers’ top recruiting targets or that the defensive tackle played at Baldwin. In his first full recruiting class at Pitt, Wannstedt turned to his high school alma mater and signed two recruits – Pinkston and defensive end Justin Hargrove.

“There is a very special bond that has developed between coach Wannstedt and Jason and Justin,” Baldwin football coach Mike Silianoff said. “We’re very fortunate to have a Baldwin graduate at Pitt, that one of our own kind is looking after them at Pitt.”

The 6-foot-5, 285-pound Pinkston was one of the most heavily recruited players in the WPIAL, and chose the Panthers over scholarship offers from Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Southern Cal. Wannstedt took one look at the 6-4, 250-pound Hargrove and envisioned another Jason Taylor, the All-Pro defensive end he coached with the Miami Dolphins.

In case the point hasn’t been hammered home at this point. The Pitt defense is going to get a hell of a lot faster as this class starts getting on the field. Seemingly the first thing mentioned in just about every defensive player Pitt has recruited, is his speed.

For a final recruiting story, how about one Pitt didn’t get, and probably wasn’t fully aware that it still may have had.

Few college football recruits are told they should expect to start right away.

In the case of Indiana University and linebacker Vernon Smith, however, that’s right on point. Smith, the lone junior college recruit among IU’s 20 signees Wednesday, is penciled in to start at middle linebacker.

Smith, who played the past two seasons at Butler (Kan.) Community College, was a late addition for IU. Former IU player Luke Stone learned Smith was available and called the IU staff.

Last weekend, Smith made his official visit and committed. Out of Dillard (Fla.) High School, Smith committed to Pittsburgh but did not qualify academically.

Smith said many schools believed he was still committed to Pitt and didn’t pursue him this season.

“I think people (at Butler) put out the word that I was going to Pittsburgh, and those other schools just figured it was a done deal,” Smith said. “But I haven’t talked to Pittsburgh more than a few times in the last two years. I really don’t think those people really thought I was going to make it out of here (academically).”

Not sure if he would have fit in Pitt’s present plans on defense. At least at Indiana he’ll get a real chance.