Everyone is rather giddy to have a new recruit like Cameron Saddler. He’s a recently upgraded 4-star recruit who gets glowing reviews for his athleticism (Insider subs).
He has terrific vision and patience. Makes quick decisions and is very determined. Won’t dance around too much and consistently does a great job of finding cutback lanes. He has excellent initial burst and a second gear. Is a home run threat when he breaks into daylight. Is elusive. Will run around and past defenders. Is a tough runner for his size. Is effective between the tackles because he is quick, decisive and tough. Has very good hands and is a threat when he catches the ball in space. … Where this kid is going to make a dent is in the kicking game. He has a great feel for the seam, cuts back aginst the grain and can create when no return has been set up.
The excitement over Saddler, though, seems to be as much about three additional factors as it does with the player himself. First, he is the first verbal commit Pitt has had since the end of October. It’s been a while. Second, it came right after the Backyard Brawl victory so it gives a sense of momentum or bounce for recruiting with the season over without a bowl. Finally, Saddler is openly talking about recruiting players to join him at Pitt.
“Oh, yeah, I’m gonna right now, right when I leave this place,” Saddler said, of talking to other area players being recruited by Pitt. “There’s a fellow that I used to play high school football with, No. 45 (Gateway linebacker Shayne Hale), I think. I’m going to work on him. Central got a couple good players, Aliquippa got a couple good players. I heard Jeannette’s got a guy that’s pretty good.”
Central Catholic quarterback Tino Sunseri could be the first to follow Saddler.
“Tino told us while we were lifting after practice that Cameron committed to Pitt,” Central running back Andrew Taglianetti said. “We were all half-joking, half-serious that me, Tino, Quentin (Williams), Danny (Vaughan) would all go to Pitt with those guys.
[Gateway High School Coach Terry] Smith agrees that Saddler could have an effect on Pitt’s recruitment of WPIAL players.
“That opens the door,” Saddler said. “The thing with Cameron, he is such a strong personality that there’s going to be a snowball effect with all the area kids. He’s gonna go after them all.”
Virginia was a bit taken aback by the change.
The news shocked many, inside and out of Virginia’s coaching staff, as it had appeared that Virginia was the frontrunner throughout the final stages of the recruiting process.
…
While many Virginia fans fear that Sadler’s decision may impact his teammate, four-star linebacker Shayne Hale, Virginia’s top remaining target, sources close to Hale told The Daily Progress on Wednesday that Virginia is in excellent standing.
Hale is in no hurry to make his decision it seems. Both good and bad for Pitt. It obviously gives Pitt more time to convince him that Pitt is the best choice. It’s just going to be a matter of still having a scholarship held open.
It’s going to be interesting how Pitt finishes recruiting. Pitt came into the season with a small number of scholarships available (compared to the last two years). Then two more medical redshirts for seniors (Kinder and Mustakas) dropped it a little further. Coach Wannstedt hasn’t been one to hold scholarships open until the very end.
He’s going to lose 20 pounds and he will fix his delivery a bit. And you most certainly can improve arm strength and foot speed. Maybe not that dramatically, but he’s just a kid. He shouldn’t have been playing at all.
I remember Palko’s first two games. He was embarrassingly awful – like a deer in the headlights. The OU game was a joke. His first half at home against Nebraska was awful as well, until he finally started to get it in the second half. then he blew up against Furman and the rest was history.
But he was also a redshirt sophmore in his 3rd year of the program. So I think based on Pat’s ridiculous pedigree, we can cut him a bit of a break.
But, if you must accentuate his negatives, at least be honest and acknowledge his positives also.
True PITT fans look at this program through a lens of reality – and see that the 2007 version of the team was head and shoulders above the 2006 version in all but one major point – wins. That is disappointing of course. But, again reality rears its ugly little head and we also see that the very problems that were existent when DW was hired, are the problems DW has concentrated on – and are being corrected.
BTW, “Remember Walt” ….? I do – he was the guy going to strip clubs and meeting with Bill Walsh when he should have been working his ass off recruiting talented HS football players at every position – like our current head coach works so hard to do now. The both got paid salaries to do what they are doing – it appears that only DW believes that he should earn his.
Hale – LB *****
Baldwin – WR ****
Holley – CB ****
Collier – CB ****
Gardiner – LB ****
Alexander – WR ****
Rippy – LB ***
Cross – QB ***
Houser – C – ***