Pittsburgh Sports Insider maintains that Jarred Holley will (or has) commit to Pitt. It seems to be a matter of when, not if.

Josh Jenkins, the stud guard out of Parkersburg, WV did a brief chat on Rivals.com.

Will you take all your visits before making a decision?

What are the pluses and minuses for the schools on your final list (OSU, WVU, PITT, FSU)?

– pittengineer75

Jenkins – Yes.

OSU the positive are that it is close to home and the prestige of the caoches and the program. If you go there the chances you’ll go to the League are very high. The negatives for Ohio State would be they already have three of the top four offensive lineman in the country committed.

West Virginia is in-state, it’s close to my home. If I go there I would be known throughout the state, I wouldn’t just be another kid. The negatives are they don’t put very many offensive linemen int he league.

Pitt is not that far from home, only three hours. They have a prety good program on the rise because they are pretty young.

FSU postives are the coaching staff is amazing. They have great coaches down there. Coach Trickett is a great offensive line coach and he knows how to get the most out of every offensive lineman. The negatives are it is so far away.

I don’t have my hopes up, but I want to.

Then there is the gameday reporting of Shayne Hale’s formal, non-binding, verbal commit to Pitt.

Hale was quick to squash any potential doubters who felt he may choose Pitt just because his best friend Cameron Saddler is heading there.

“I made this choice for me,” Hale said. “I had to pick where I wanted to be regardless of what anyone else thought about it. I chose Pitt, because I feel that is where I belong.” This was actually a tougher decision for Hale then what people think in picking Pitt over perennial Big Ten power Ohio State.

“I honestly was all ready to go there, but then they kind of stopped talking to me for a while,” he said. “Pitt never backed off me. Joe Daniels did a good job of recruiting me, but in the end it just didn’t feel right to me.”

The article is worth clicking to see Hale with the Pitt hat on.

Well Shayne Hale makes it official that he will be verballing tomorrow.

Asked at the U.S. Army awards banquet where he will attend college, Hale said, “Pitt.”

“I went on official visits, and it all just came down to what is best for me. At one time, it was Ohio State. Another time it was Pitt. Once I narrowed it down, it’s Pitt.”

Hale said part of the reason he chose Pitt over Ohio State is that the Panthers wanted him to play primarily linebacker and Ohio State was recruiting him as a defensive end/linebacker. He said he hadn’t called Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt before the banquet, but he planned to do so last night.

The other verbal comes from a former verbal.

On Friday, Johnstown Bishop McCort tight end Mike Cruz, who committed to Pitt on April 1 but reneged three weeks later, made another pledge to the Panthers. The 6-foot-4, 250-pounder picked Pitt over scholarship offers from Clemson, Florida State, Illinois and West Virginia.

“I opened my decision up to get a little more comfortable with recruiting,” Cruz said. “After I saw other schools, I knew Pitt was definitely the place for me.

Pitt never stopped recruiting and communicating with Cruz. Greg Gattuso was responsible for Cruz’s recruitment.

Apparently the story is that his mother needed convincing.

“Mike has always really wanted to go to Pitt,” said Bishop McCort head coach Ken Salem. “It took some convincing with his mother, but she did become comfortable with the idea of Mike going to school in an urban environment.”

For the record, his mom was with him in Pittsburgh when he decided to verbal to the coaches last spring.

Cruz attended Pitt’s Blue Chip Day Saturday. His parents, James and Martha Bernard, came to Pitt yesterday and were given a personal tour of the campus and athletic facilities.

“My mom’s the world to me,” Cruz said. “Having her there while I committed was the greatest thing. I just wanted her to be here for it.

“It was her first time to Pittsburgh. It was an amazing experience.”

Cruz of course made a very foot-in-mouth decommit from Pitt last spring. This after his loving commit earlier that month. Amazing what a difference nearly a year makes. When he verbaled it was all about how deep Pitt was at TE and that it was easy to see him moving to defense. Now, TE is looking mighty thin.