Im keeping my eye on Cardale Jones. Interesting athlete here and he may just may be our QB of the future. Not sure how interested he is in Pitt but it would be nice.

The dude is HUGE!!! Hope the knee is not an issue. But good news to see the commits starting up.

Recruits from Tulsa apparently considering Pitt:

link to tulsaworld.com

Plus, some parting shots from a bitter Tulsa journalist.

Yeah, there have been some stories about those two WR’s for the last couple of days. Grant is a little guy at 5′-7″ 157lbs, but he is FAST. Garret is 6′-4″, but with 4.6 speed.

Because of the Graham hire the talk about Mike Myers being the quarterback of the future has ended. Of course there is no certainty with any H.S. player but following the news of his senior year, his size, and arm strength, I fear another Flacco situation. Also consider Rothensberger and his being overlooked by major schools being a late bloomer. Personally I prefer the type of football Pitt was playing. They needed quicker linebackers and secondary, more blitzing, and a quarterback who has the arm strength to keep the secondary honest (Myers is the only current QB with those credentials). I am not found of street football (everyone go long)typically played in college.

I wouldnt rule anyone out at the qb position just yet. Graham will be looking for an accurate passer first and foremost. If he stays true to his word, he will mold the system to his best players not vice versa.

With the Wanny offense and Sunseri in front of him, when was Myers going to get his shot anyhow? His senior year? I think Myers’ arm strength may be something Graham may want to utilize. Graham said he would adapt to his players. Don’t be so quick to count Myers out of the picture. I’m an old school guy too, but I’m excited about the new offense.

If you watch film from Tulsa games, a QB with an accurate deep pass is a must.

You all know what Tino’s weakness is.

I think there is a common misconception that we will need a Pat White or Denard Robinson in this offense. Not so- as noted above, accurate passer is priority #1. Myers has as good a chance as anyone- the most accurate passer will win the starting spot.

Great point Dan 35. I think Tino can be that guy, he was only a sophmore this past year for crying out loud. The only thing that bothers me was his acuracy(a little) and his arm strength. I beleive he has the athletic ability to get it done though! Everybody wants Gonzalez, but hell we never even seen him throw a pass. Does he have the arm strength??

Pitt has two guys on the roster right now who are able to play Graham’s Air-Raid offense. Anthony Gonzelez and the kid from Texas who were both dual threat QB’s. And if Myer’s has the accuracy I’m sure Graham & McGee will figure out how to use him. If McGee can get Robinson to transfer from Michigan that would be sweet.

You can also have Tino as a backup, if he doesn’t transfer…..to say……Edinboro or Slippery Rock.

Denard has recommitted to Michigan. He will not be sitting out a year to play college football. He announced that already yesterday I believe.
Kolby Gray from Texas is now a safety. Not sure how much it will take for him to convert back to QB. My guess is he will remain a safety.
That leaves Tino, Meyers, and Gonzalez and any recruits they bring in. Here is hoping they find a way to get Cardale Jones from the Cleveland area.

Reported last night that Robinson from Michigan said he would stay at Michigan.

@QuipPitt, While it is true Tino was only a sophomore, this was his 3rd year in the system. Also his accuracy is a BIG problem, not a little one. He has almost no touch on the ball on how to lead a receiver, especially on vertical passes of more than 20 yards and we lost at least 2 games because of it. His passes on the ‘out route’ are always subject to interception and cause most of us, to hold our breath when we see that play developing. Just doesn’t have the arm strength. And that we have seen plenty.

You can NOT have a QB who blows sure TD passes to wide open receivers who can run unabated to the endzone. Those are game changing plays and when you miss them, they are demoralizing and also game changing…….in the reverse direction.

Yeah I understand where your coming from but my point is we really dont know what we have in the rest of these guys. I didnt any other QB make a pass for this team this year. In a game that is not practice. The coaches I am sure will have a fun time sorting this position out. Should be fun.

Thanks for that Z-Boy. Any other tidbits on the recruiting end. I hear we might be getting Tulsa’s 2 best recruits.
Speedster WR’s from Texas?

Right QuipPitt, ……should be fun.

All I want is a fair & honest competition for the job. Meaning they all get snaps with the first team and let the chips fall where they may.

two things:

Tino holds the ball too long going through his reads which leads to his accuracy issues. He also does not have the intangibles like the clock in his head or ability to auible at the line. Part of his problem too was play calling – they threw on obvious downs, were predictable….If he can have quick drops, few reads, and a more uptempo style where he can get in rhythm, it will help. But he is clearly not the answer.

2. ryan mallet could not run Richrod’s offense and meyers is more like ryan mallet. Multiple formations and 4 wides will open up some running room for the QB.

Hoping we see more quick slants, picks, crossing routes to let guys like Street run after the catch! Shanahan should be a very good slot receiver with his good hands. Looking forward to spring.

Danny M, will you get over Bradley please and join us in our excitement for something different than wanny.

Forget where I read it at but I heard that Graham offered Desimon Green(QB for Clairton) to play offense if he comes to Pitt.
We could really use Poteat with only Graham being a proven back. Wonder if there is any chance of him returning to the “commit” list?

We are talking to wr Hakeem Flowers from SC and a back Jason Frimpong from tex.

Frimpong is an ATH that was committed to Tulsa. Another TU convert. 5′-11″ and 4.4 speed from Irving Texas.

Al the names we hear are from Tulsa the coachs from Tulsa are doing a good job and we will get some players from tex. but have you noticed the Michigan coachs have done nothing so far.

Look DannyM is probably right in his assertion, but you can’t live in fear, can you?

I mean I wanted Bradley but I can just as easily say (if he was the choice)…what happens if Bradley mires Pitt into continued mediocrity.

See living in fear can be a two way street.

There isn’t much you can do…if Pitt wins a BCS under Graham and he leaves yes he will take some recruits, but will have left Pitt in better shape than he left it.

That is reality…Pitt has overcome a lot worse than a guy who suceeds and moves on to another job.

DaveD

MENT All the missed a key

let me restate my point

There isn’t much you can do…if Pitt wins a BCS under Graham and he leaves yes he will take some recruits, but will have left Pitt in better shape than he FOUND it.

I meant to say found not left.

DaveD

According to Pantherlair, Graham has a 4-star offensive lineman coming in for a visit this weekend.

The 4 star ot is behind a pay wall but there are only 4 who are not commited they all are all over 6 foot 3 and 300 pounds they are Matias Bryant walker and Richardson one is from ohio.

Whats the big deal about the linemen we have 3 starters coming back and 4 or 5 redshirts from a year ago?

I will again remind people that Myers ran the 110 high hurdles in high school … thus, just because he is 6’4 and strong-armed doesn’t qualify him a a lumbering ox.

Tom Savage QB from Rutgers to transfer two years ago was the no 3 rated QB in nation set passing records as a freshmen.

The OT is Chris Bryant 6 foot 4 and 340 pounds a 4 star in town this week end

FRANKCAN – Transfers aren’t permitted within the Big East for football. Savage isn’t coming here.

Graham’s attitude and track record give us reason for hope.

it is about time people came to grips with what bradley is – he has zero fire and no track record on his own so the risk was huge. He completely blew his chance with the twitter BS he caused himself. the Bradley sympatizers need to lighten up about Graham’s defense, etc. and join the rest of us in hope. I am getting tired of this crap.

according to Scout & Rivals, Bryant had 2 prior visits back in Dec to Arizona and Michigan, and had high interest in both. I would have to think that maybe Gibson or Magee influenced him to visit Pitt. He also is considering OSU among other heavyweight but has no visits scheduled or at least they aren’t listed.

DannyM, remember 12-0 last time we played you troll!!! LOL!!!

Kolby Grey’s shoulder injury may preclude him from playing QB at this level… besides we may see very good things out of him at Safety.

Sunseri’s accuracy and arm strength, even on the shorter passes, was not very good. He’d get off one or two passes per game where people would ooh and aah but those were rare.

I do wonder if he’d be able to handle a no huddle offense where he had multiple quick reads each play. I think it would be too much, but we’ll see.

Reed,
I always had the feeling Tino didn’t ‘see’ the field. Time after time Shanahan and Cruz and Hynoski would be open in the middle, and he would throw long into double coverage.
However, I always wondered if the dithering on the sidelines could have affected which target he was choosing. Any thoughts on this?

Suneri is one of the worst “lock on” QB’s I’ve ever seen play. He locks on to the primary receiver like no other, although Stull was pretty bad doing the same thing. Maybe he had a poor example playing in front of him.

I have not been impressed with Sunseri. More than anything he cost Wanny his job. I hope we can do better, however, he did improve somewhat during the course of the year. Accuracy is still a major concern and arm strength which go hand in hand. If you have a speedster ala Wallace, he is of little value if you can’t get him the ball deep. What was Sunseri’s longest completion? If he wins the job, we probably can win with him, but as is proven time and again, QB is the most impactful position and he will never be Newton, Luck, Rothlisberger or Brady. Pat White came out of nowhere, maybe Graham can pull a rabbit out of his hat.

I know people wanted Cignetti to be our coach but the truth is, the guy was not very good at developing QB’s based on what I have seen with sunseri, stull, bostick. When he was at Cal, Tedford developed the QB’s and recruited great skill players. Cigs came here and we were so predictable and easy to defend. Glad he went to Rutgers!

You know what is really important right now? WINNING! And I’m not talking football here. Over the next three weeks Coach Dixon needs to put the pedal to the metal and and keep the MO going for our basketball team. With Pitt ranked 5th in the nation, he has Pitt firmly centered in the national spotlight. This is huge when selling the University to high school recruits from far away places. Having a recruit visit during a Big East game at the Pete with the Oakland Zoo in a foaming mouth frenzy and seeing Pitt put another one in the win column could be the tipping point for a kid that has no previous experience with the University. Keep it going Jamie!!!

This Spring is going to be really interesting. I’m certain Graham will have no preconceptions or feel compelled to honor previous starter’s seniority. Pitt’s roster is full of potetnial. Our cupboard is far from bare even with the guys who are going the NFL route. With everybody on the roster given an equal chance to show their wares, we could have a team show up come fall that has a totally new look with plenty of new names for starters. Remember Todd Thomas for example? There are a few guys like him on our team that have a huge upside potential in Graham’s schemes that have never seen the field. Considering his recruiting class for this year is a complete unknown at this point, we may see 3 or 4 guys that aren’t even on the team yet making an impact come fall. We all remember how Dion made us forget about McCoy pretty quickly his freshman season. I think we’re in for a fun ride this season. We going to see Graham rolling the dice and hoping seven’s keep showing up all season. Not going to be for the faint of heart but it WILL be the polar opposite of Wanny ball. I’m just hoping Graham can put at least 7 or 8 in the win column to keep the fan base from putting the pressure on him while he figures this all out. It will definitly be fun though, HERE WE GO!

Excellent Dr. Tom.. Right on the money with the hoops team selling football recruits. Ya, that lack of respect card they used to play a few years ago is and actually has been gone for a couple years now. Pitt is always mentioned on sportscenter, talking heads saying always a top team, always tough etc. etc. My nieces and nephews from out west and down south are always saying, “why is Pitt always on, constantly?” I told this story on here a few weeks ago, even got a call from my bro n law is California awhile back, “hell, I turn on the tv and your coach is on tv for helping some accident victim!”

So, yes, coach, univ, confer, certainly would be main criteria, but, a rabid Pete, going nuts, on a big national game is big, remember, these kids are 17 or 18, walk into the Pete on fire, gets their juices flowing!!

dr tom, I agree spring will be interesting but disagree on cupboard. Yes, we have some skill players that could thrive in a new offense but the cupboard is close to bare on o-line and defense. Lots of holes to fill. You hope guys step up.

Playing a 3-4 or 3-3-5 is OK when you have speed and skill with d backs and lb’s. We are absolutely bare here. Will take time to recruit players for this system. Short term, We will be blitzing and attacking to try to cover our holes and we will give up points, lots of them. If we cause turnovers while giving up points, we can win games.

I am excited abotu being able to recruit all over now with this staff. We were only pulling guys out of western pa and Nj which was good but we need more. Hopefully now we cover eastern pa better where the talent seems to be deeeper than WPIAL lately with more teams in PIAA playoffs getting visibility and expose new areas in south like TX.

eastern pa definitely needs to be a focus. Pitt has pulled some players out of eastern PA like shady, bostick, gonzalez but we need more focus there. The good news is that PSU and bradley do not do a great job there either. Rutgers has done ok.

Walt could recruit QBs; even when he had his flirtation with the Spread and brought in Rutherford, he was able to mold him into a D1 level QB. Palko, Flacco, Edwards (in Stanford) to name a few. Walt has his coaching blunders, but all of those QBs were very complimentary of how he made them BETTER QBs, tacticans, and “field surveyors”…and they all mentioned how Walt did not tear them down but built them up. I never forget Walt pulling a young, first year starter against Nebraska at home. Palko was having an on field meltdown, and Walt pulled him from the game…coached him up over a period, let the game “come back to him” and later inserted him to the tune of almost rallying the team back. From that point in the season on, Palko was a new man and played like it.

The most improtant decision a coach can make is his starting QB, and I get the sense that Graham is going to be able to evaluate our guys and make the best decision for the overall well being of the team short term (and long term).

Wanny, on the other hand, is the equivalent of a cooler for a hot gambler in Vegas, excpet for QBs… whenever he got around them, they invariably began to play worse and underdevelop. Partly due to inept mentoring, negative attitudes, predictable schemes, and likely overrated talent at the position compared to others.

He stunted Palko to the point of irrellevance. He reaches for an overrated QB w/ poor mechanics with Bostick.
He stayed true to D2 level talented journeyman in Stull.

He trots out his friend’s kid who has the arm strength equivalent to someone playiong at Gannon.

He picked up a kid from Cleveland who didn’t start until his Senior year, lost the only big game of his career, and didn’t even get a sniff from Ohio State…probably another reach…

Should I even mention Kevan Smith and Greg Cross?

You get my drift here…

Who performed better in their first bowl game. Sunseri or Stull? Now look at Stull’s second year. Get my point?

Sorry Green Hornet, I can’t agree with you. You’re a victum of Wanny Think. On this roster right now, there is adequate depth to field a strong although inexperienced O line. You just don’t know them yet. Ferando Diaz, Juantez Hollins, Shane Johnson, Ryan Schielper, Ryan Turnley and the smallest kid of the bunch with probably the most upside potential in a quick no huddle offense is Brandon Sacco. Given the right mindset and getting these kids coached up, any of these unknowns could step up to the starter’s challenge. You are correct about the LB situation however, but remember that we had a big loss playing most of the season without Dan Mason, who will be coming back to solidify the LB position. In a 3-4 thats minimalized anyhow. The secondary carries more responsibility and there is a lot of speed and potential in the secondary, once again just unkown and untested. Brandon Ifill, JUCO transfer Saheed Imoru, K’waien Williams (who got on the field in the bowl game and more than held his own in his first playing time), I already mentioned Todd Thomas and why they don’t play this next guy all the time, I have no idea, Andrew Tagiantti. “Tags” might have been slowed since his knee injury against Buffalo, but give me a break, he flys all over the field when he gets the opportunity to play! I’ve lost count on how many plays that he has made on special teams. If Graham comes in and evaluates the potential on this team accurately and he will put together a team that will suprise you. You wait and see. Up to this point the problem has been Wannestedt. He recruited well but his philosophy was to redshirt as a routine and play the experience. That kind of mindset holds back those diamonds in the rough and when they do get their chance they don’t have the time to fully develop before graduation or if they do blossum early, are gone to the NFL. BTW, CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOUR MOVIE.

victim of wanny think??? Really? I could see that if I felt he left us with strong, young talent but unfortunately, I do not believe he did. Dan Mason was a big dissappointment this year, sorry. Taglianetti is too slow but a good speacial teams guy.

I hope like heck that you are right about these young guys who didn’t get to play but I am skeptical. Be nice if our insider, Paul Zeise, could tell us who he has heard can play / will play for those of us who want to speculate.

We’ll see, won’t we?