Coherence optional. I think I’m hitting full-blown flu. At the very least, “flu-like conditions.”
With that flattery Dennis, you can double your blog pay.
Tomorrow is the biggest geek day for college football fans. The annual day that tests servers all over the country — nay, the world for those that went really cheap on hosting service — as men flock to recruiting sites, message boards, blogs and anything else that might have information on where athletic teenage boys are going to college. Let’s face it, there’s no way this doesn’t come off as creepy.
Pitt took Tino Sunseri from Louisville, so naturally Louisville takes Zack Stoudt from Pitt. Can’t say I have strong feelings one way or the other.
Mike Shanahan out of Norwin is still a Pitt verbal. He also will get to play some hoops.
Shanahan said Pitt basketball coach Jamie Dixon was in touch with his father shortly after Shanahan committed to Pitt.”I might have a chance to walk on at Pitt if everything goes alright,” said Shanahan, who had nine basketball and eight football scholarship offers. “(The football coaches) said if I wanted to walk on, it would be all right. They said it was fine as long as they thought I could contribute and not sit on the bench.”
Any chance he could come and at least help on the practice squad by next week?
I think that the most frustrating thing about the press conference stories on Phil Bennett being hired as the new DC, is that there are no photos of Wannstedt and Bennett standing together. The power of their mustaches combined must be shown in full glory.
When introduced Monday at Pitt’s practice facility on the South Side, Bennett promised to play an aggressive defense.
“If you want to be a dominating defense, obviously you dictate and stop the run,” Bennett said. “Takeaways are something that’s more demoralizing than anything to an offense. It sets the tone for everything you’re about as a football team.”
Bennett said he believes “defense is an attitude,” and wants his to be one that can win games with a four-man rush and a solid secondary instead of relying upon blitzing.
“My old defensive coordinator used to tell me, ‘When you blitz, somebody’s band is going to play. You want to make … sure it’s yours.'”
Works for me.
There was also a note that DE Doug Fulmer got another medical redshirt. That means he will be a sophomore as far as eligibility and will have be able to stay in school for 6 years. Get that masters, dude.
Cameron Saddler and his mom buried Rich Rodriguez and his staff in this story on recruiting.
Sometimes, recruiters’ claims are simply difficult to believe. That’s the way it was with Saddler in two separate conversations with then-West Virginia assistant coach Tony Gibson. He’s now at the University of Michigan.
“Coach Gibson told me, ‘We have no guys that can do the same things you do,’ which was just ridiculous. They have all types of players. I looked like clones with these guys. For him to say stuff like that, I kind of was like he’s not serious.
“A couple days after he was hired at Michigan, he said, ‘We truly have no guys that can do what you can do.’ Now you tell me the same thing and I’m supposed to believe it?”
…
Such uncertainty is just one of the reasons parents play a major role in most athletes’ decision-making process. Take for instance Saddler’s mother, Darlene, who got not-so-trusting vibes from Rodriguez and was partly responsible for Saddler dropping West Virginia from his list.
“She was iffy on coach Rod,” Saddler said. “She just didn’t trust him. She kept saying, ‘Something about him I don’t trust.’ We talked about (Wannstedt and Rodriguez) and she kept saying something isn’t right. Once she was like I’m sure about (Wannstedt), that made me think, whoa. You know how your mom’s always right? Well, my mom’s right about everything from girlfriends to school work, just the weirdest things.”
This won’t kill Rodriguez for recruiting in Western PA, though. Don’t kid yourself. If Bobby Petrino has no problem after everything, Rodriguez has no great concerns. He still has ties and Michigan has made lots of inroads before he got there. Plus, there is simply, the Michigan name. As long as he can show that he can get players to the NFL, blue-chippers will still listen.
Get rest and drink lots of fluids. It’s going to be a long day in front of the computer tomorrow.
