Er, move the last word to the front. Yeah, that’s better.
Still another commit to a frentic 2 week period of recruiting for Pitt football and Coach Wannstedt.
Woodland Hills defensive tackle Khaynin “K.K.” Mosley-Smith has made a verbal commitment to Pitt, becoming the fourth WPIAL prospect and 13th recruit for the Panthers from the Class of 2010.
The 6-foot-1, 287-pound defensive tackle drew a scholarship offer after impressing Panthers coaches at their individual skills camp last month by running the 40-yard dash in 4.9 seconds. He also bench-presses 340 pounds and squats 615.
I’m not up on the nicknames. I really hoping the “K.K. is partially derived from the first name. If not you risk making it K.K.K.
Mosley-Smith is not a highly starred recruit. Rivals.com has him unranked and Scout.com has him at 2-star. According to Mosley-Smith, that’s because others are only starting to get acquainted with him and his talents.
“I would have gotten more offers, there were a lot of teams just starting to get involved and get interested, like Michigan,” Mosley-Smith said. “But Pitt was the first one to really come after me hard and like I said, they let me know that they really wanted me to be there.”
His offers right now are from WVU, Syracuse, UConn, EMU, Ohio and Scout.com does say Michigan also offered.
ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. seems inclined to agree with Mosley-Smith’s own opinion of himself (Insider subs).
Flashes the ability to be tough at the point of attack. He can be explosive and shoot his hands and knock a blocker on his heels. Does a solid job of being able to come across the line and stay square and make a play on the ball. Pursues to the ball and gives good effort. For his size closes well on the ball carrier and is a good tackler. As a pass rusher he will flash the ability to work a quick move. He can be active with his hands, but needs to protect his legs and have a plan. He works to get to the quarterback, but needs to at times channel some of that energy into better technique.
And suddenly the Pitt recruiting class is looking better.
Even without Clemmings’ official pledge,Pittsburgh’s Dave Wannstedt has still done a very nice job of reeling in 2010 recruits early on and paving the way for an impressive 2011 haul.
The Panthers already have verbal commitments from the Don Bosco Prep (N.J.) tandem of offensive lineman Brandon Sacco and defensive lineman Bryan Murphy, as well as St. Joseph Regional receiver K’Waun Williams.
DeMatha (Md.) athlete Jeff Knox and Bishop McDevitt (Pa.) receiver Salath Williams are also on board.
Williams may be able to help lure teammate Jameel Poteat to Pittsburgh. Poteat is a talented running back drawing interest from schools up and down the east coast. Wannstedt was the first coach to verbally offer Poteat, and Pittsburgh appears to be in good shape.
The Panthers also lead for fellow 2011 in-state star Terrell Chestnut. Chestnut plays quarterback and defensive back for Pottsgrove, but he projects to the defensive side of the ball at the next level. His teammate, Maika Polamalu, is another that Wannstedt will keep an eye on, though Penn State will also be in the hunt.
It is not a star swinging behemoth, but there are players that can help the team. And apparently help set things up for 2011 as well.
As much as I am looking forward to football season, I am not looking forward to watching Stull. I am hoping the new OC can make some positive changes…I guess we will see. Glad to see Pitt getting top linemen away from other big time programs.
Remember that a lot of players rankings change into their senior year as players have breakout seasons and get stronger. It seems that a lot of the players we got are on an uptrack for the fall, not falling in the rankings. Look for quite a few more 4-stars after the updated ratings come out.
Yes, Mark can contine with his cynical postings … but anyone with common sense knows that the real proof in the pudding is how players rank after their senior season.
One of the things I think RichRod and Neland at WVU did very well was to take 2-3 star players that fit their style of play and turn them into good college football players.
Would I like 20 5-star players every year like Florida and USC? YES! But until we compete for NC’s every year that’s not going to happen.
For now, get me the best players that fit into DW’s plans and WANT to come to PITT and go win the BE.
’08 recruit Chris Burns was 4 stars in both Rivals and Scout, and both rated him among the nation’s top 15 RBs. As you know, he was redshirted and considered the beir apparent to Shady.
The star RB this spring hiwever was Dion Lewis who just began at Pitt in January, and had to learn on-the-spot. Lewis was a 3 star in both Rivals and Scout, and his only other offer was from the ‘elite’ program of Tulane.
Sure, there is a long way to go for both of these RBs since neither have them have yet to play a game, but isn’t it curious that a less-regarded RB can come in and move ahead of a much, more highly regarded recruit.
