The PITT Blather is in the “Dead Period” where there isn’t much football news to discuss so let’s throw some info around.
There have been some legitimate worries about how Paul Chryst is going to be able to finish off the PITT 2012 recruiting class. Sometimes you need a Mayan Calendar to know who can do what and when during these last few months. Here is a good PDF that shows the calendar dates and what recruiters can do during them: 2012 Recruiting Dates.
Now that you have that here are the definitions for what can or can’t be done during those times: NCAA Definitions. Here are the three which concern us the most .
Contact Period During this time, a college coach may have in-person contact with you and/or your parents on or off the college’s campus. The coach may also watch you play or visit your high school. You and your parents may visit a college campus and the coach may write and telephone you during this period.
Quiet Period The college coach may not have any in-person contact with you or your parents off the college’s campus. The coach may not watch you play or visit your high school during this period. You and your parents may visit a college campus during this time. A coach may write or telephone you or your parents during this time.
Dead Period The college coach may not have any in-person contact with you or your parents at any time in the dead period. The coach may write and telephone you or your parents during this time.
The bottom line is that it is always a “Contact Period” except when it isn’t.
Since there is a Dead Period until Jan 3 anyway he’s not missing much on the recruiting side by being at the Rose Bowl until that date because he can still call the recruits.
But the key for Paul Chryst is going to be the Jan 13-28 Contact Period is when he’s going to do his lion’s share of recruiting as he can host recruits on campus and call them as much as he wants. That’s 15 days of face to face talks with some of these young players.
Understand that we can only pay for official visits by a recruit but we can meet with anyone who wants to come to campus on their own.
The National LOI (Letter of Intent) Day is on Feb 3rd this year. That is when we’ll find out how well this recruiting class actually stuck together.
What are his priorities other than reassuring our committed kids? Here is a list of the remaining prospects for 2012. Remember that what positions Chryst has developed with the most success has been OL, RB and TE. Any of those on this list will be listening to him very closely.
| Nat’l Rank |
Name School, Hometown |
HT/ WT/ | ||
| OG | 7 | Ryan Watson (Our Lady Good Counsel HS) |
6-3/265 | |
| RB | 9 | Wes Brown(Our Lady Good Counsel HS) | 6-0/190 | |
| TE | 10 | J.P. Holtz (Shaler Area HS) |
6-4/235 | |
| S | 10 | Demetrious Cox (Jeannette SHS) |
6-1/185 | |
| OLB | 17 | Deaysean Rippy (Sto-Rox HS) |
6-2/200 | |
| MLB | 15 | T.J. Neal (McKeesport Area SHS) |
6-1/225 | |
| MLB | 22 | Jaylen Coleman (University Prep) |
6-0/230 | |
| OLB | 33 | Nyeem Wartman (Valley View HS) |
6-3/230 | |
| S | 35 | Bam Bradley (Trotwood-Madison HS) |
6-1/195 | |
| OG | 53 | Treyvon Hester (Penn Hills SHS) |
6-3/275 | |
| DE | 53 | Darryl Render (St. Edward HS) |
6-3/250 | |
| CB | 54 | V’Angelo Bentley (Glenville HS) |
5-10/182 | |
| OLB | 61 | Alkwan Williams (Greater Johnstown SHS) |
6-1/210 | |
| S | 67 | Jared Johnson (So Grand Prairie HS) |
6-2/205 | |
| OG | 86 | Ryan Anderson (Roosevelt HS) |
6-4/300 |
As to how late in the recruiting game it is getting I’ll reprint this:
Here’s who committed after Jan 1st:
2009
Schlieper- 2/03 – LOI Day
Gordon – 1/30
Mason – 1/22
Nunez – 1/20
Hendricks – 1/11
Gray – 1/11
2008 – 6 players
2007 – 6 players
2006 – 5 players
2011 was a weird recruiting class with all the defections after DW’s firing so we had 17 kids verbal after Jan 1st – and that turned out to be a pretty good class which may actually be a great one in a year or two.
So, don’t worry too much about how late in the game it’s getting – Chryst and staff have more than enough time to close deals with the recruits they want.
Chris Dokish has an excellent article on the Top 20 Pennsylvania Prospects. Dokish is a great resource on PITT football news and especially on the High School recruiting scene. Take a look and see what may be in store for us down the road.The real needs on that list, and the names most bandied about by the recruiting services, are Ryan Watson, J. P. Holtz. Demetrious Cox, Drew Harris, Nyeem Wartman and Bam Bradley. Wartman is still a PSU ‘soft’ verbal but he’s made it known he’s open to other schools. If Chryst can close on three of those six it would be a major coup and go a long way toward assuaging people’s fear about his recruiting.
but hear they are
1 alex kozan 6 foot 4 300 pounds
2 sam lee 6 foot 5 300 pounds
3 bryson johnson 6 foot 2 285 pounds
4 sam colon 6 foot 5 255 pounds
5 trent denlinger 6 foot 5 265 pounds
when i looked it up yesterday they were all not commited and fair game if you wanted them if they would come.
only penn state does not have a head coach.
how the mighty have fallen.
Atlantic………….Coastal
Boston College…….Duke
Clemson…………..Georgia Tech
Florida State……..Miami
Maryland………….North Carolina
N.C. State………..Virginia
Wake Forest……….Virginia Tech
If Pitt is sent to the Coastal and Cuse to Atlantic, then, likely, they would be each others cross over rival (they always play every year).
If Pitt is sent to the Atlantic, Cuse to the Coastal, then many people feel that a couple cross over games will change.
BC would like Syracuse to be their crossover game, and Va. Tech would like Pitt to be theirs.
Just some fun info for the future.
Also, talking about a 9 game conference schedule.
Would be the other 6 teams in your division, your 1 crossover rival (played every year), and you would rotate 2 games each year from the other division.
They say it isn’t about money either, they don’t want any buy outs, its about scheduling.
Hopefully this is just cover. Hopefully we can be in there for at least the start of the 2013 season.
don’t know what to make of Chryst not naming any assistants so far (except Bostad) .. probably just not enough time.
I know Dokish wrote a couple of times that he thought Todd Orlando would be the new DC … yet I read where current Boston College DC, Bill McGovern, would be interviewing here. He was a former Pitt assistant in late 90s and an obvious Pedersen contact .. and if true that he is intervieiwing here, it may be a sign that Orlando is not coming.
The criterion is this — if we fire Jamie (a ridiculous scenario in my mind), will we be sure to get someone better?
Hiring coaches, as we have witnessed, is as big of crapshoot as is March Madness. Thus, while we may be dissatisfied by a current team’s performance, you better be damned sure that you are able to improve if you’re firing a successful coach.
Notice that he hasn’t issued any kind of a statement about Bostad nor has PITT – it’s been all media reports. I believe there is a reason for that and that it’s because Chryst isn’t officially the HC at PITT until he’s finished with his bowl game with Wisconsin.
Coach’s contracts run annually until the end of the last game of that season. In his case that would be the final gun of the Rose Bowl. He can certainly still make phone calls and let the prospective PITT recruits know he’s coming onboard and that they are wanted but notice that there has been no formal work as the HC being done by him yet – only a presser and interviews.
We may hear of our possible, or probable, ass’t coaches through the media but he won’t formally announce a staff until Jan 3.
FRANKCAN – as for Zeise, I’m thinking that he’s on holiday vacation which would make sense. There really isn’t anything of note to report regarding PITT football at this moment anyway. There’s tons of fodder for blogs & boards but no real substance.
There just isn’t much to post about
1) That is the most ridiculous thing I have heard (and will hear) all week. Dxon is one of the top-10 coaches in college BB. he is having a rough year because there was a lot of transition since last season, and he had a top talent (and only real inside precense) quit on him.
2) So you want Dixon to be fired… okay. Who would you have replace him that is better AND/OR would give us a better chance of making it to the Final Four?
Now, lets’ get back to the football recruiting topic.
Brilliant, TX Panther. In the eight full seasons that Jamie has been Pitt’s coach, he has the best record in the BE over that time span. In fact, Jamie is the winningest in Big East history. That is, he is the winningest coach in the nation’s most competitive conference. He has been voted the national coach of the year. He made it to the NCAA tourney every year.
I’m wasting my time responding to you. You don’t have a clue about what you are talking about.
Dixon needs to step up recruiting to get there. There are two recruits coming next year that are elite. He won’t have excuses if he doesn’t get there when he has the talent and the experience. I’m beginning to question his coaching and his system and use of players.
How much longer is the administration going to give him until his teams start making noise in the tournament? I’m not saying I want him gone at this point. I’m saying that he will be on the hot seat soon.
Do you really think Pitt would keep a football coach that goes 10-2 each year, occassionally wins the Big East and a BCS birth, BUT loses its Bowl games and doesn’t put players into the pros? Wanny could have done that if given more time. Why is Jamie given more time each year? Answer me that yinzers.
My goodness, I’d love to have a football coach that went 10-2 each year. Occaisionally wins the Big East or soon to be ACC, gets a BCS birth. Even if he loses the bowl game. Kids to the pros, who cares??
Wow, I’d take that in a minute, haven’t had that here since Sherrill.
I assume your comment about Wanny was tongue in cheek, as he had 6 years?? No BCS in a crap league? Overall winning percentage of %57?
The more I think about it, I think I’m catching on, that your whole thing is being sarcastic!!!!
You are be sarcastic right, just jaggin’ the wires of some posters???
Might be one of those places with a “happy” ending the way they have organized their sentences!!! LMAO!!
10-2 every year? Win the conference but lose the bowl? Yes, I’ll take it. Players to the pros? Nice but not necessary.
That kind of success would rival anything Pitt has seen since most of us have been alive.
Much moreso than getting to a bowl.
About 119 teams in D1 football. 70 go to bowls. Thats about 57.3%.
About 341 teams in D1 hoops. 68 go to tourney, thats 19.8%
So, it’s still an accomplishment, just to get to the tourney, let alone, get to the tourney 10 or 11 straight years, in the toughest hoops conference.
aisle 4, amber light special!!!
If not for DeJuan Blair being a stud as a freshman this would have happened several years ago.
It is disappointing that we have no dominant players or great players this year. Gibbs or Nas can be that guy on a given night, but they are not going to do it every night.
The real difference is the lack of any muscle underneath the basket.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, mine is that Jamie is an elite coach who has been loyal to us, we should be loyal to him.
He has done by far more with his talent level than any coach in the Big East and maybe in the country. Maybe not this year, but he will do it again.
If Dixon doesn’t have players needed to compete in BE, who is to blame?? Dave Wannstedt??
I think JD is a good coach, great face of program, but game day coach?? inflexible as Wannstedt! this team has athelets, time to run & press. If you are averaging 20 TO a game, what do u lose by running??
Jamie is a Naismith winner and a great coach. But he needs help from his assistants and his players to maintain his success. Hope he has that go-to asst this yr to analyze this horrid D. and and bad performances on O by many.
We are a deceiving 11-3, based on a soft schedule. this team lacks the talent and toughness of past squads, but the season is far from over. Would love to see a zone sometime with Gilbert in the middle. Would love to see an up tempo approach to O., which might open Gibbs up for more space to shoot.
If not, I still love Jamie D. and can live thru an “off” year with this disappointing crew. But great coaches adjust, and adjustments as mentioned on this blog would be welcome. HTP
and are “True Religious Jeans” the kind you pray you can still get into?
OH HELL YES THEY WOULD!!! They would be turning somersaults for that.
As long as that HC has kept his nose and the football program clean and incident & scandal free.
Essentially he would have to walk on some place for one year, wouldn’t be able to play the year due to ncaa transfer rules, and then be eligible for a scholarship and playing time the following year.
In essence Dixon would be cutting of his nose to spite his face in purposely losing a scholarship.
I think that’s how it works. Perhaps Chas can clarify…
I don’t know the answer to this one either. But, I have always believed the opposite to be true. I can’t see why the ship can’t be used since even if someone is not released they don’t get any funds since they aren’t in school any longer.
I do know it doesn’t change the transferring player’s eligibility date at the new school. All it does is prevent him from being on a ship at his new school until that one year period has passed which means he cannot attend and practice with the team at his new school unless paying his own way. At a minimum it would require the transferee to pay his own way during the January-May semester or wait till at least the fall to (maybe the following December/January) to enroll on scholarship at the new school and become immediately eligible.
It would be good to have the straight scoop from a truly knowledgeable person.
Oh, last few months of recruiting, ok.
Anyone hear anything on anyone PC was recruiting for Wisconsin, or any other coaches he may bring with him that were recruiting kids for Wisky that may change their minds and come with the coach??
Chas, maybe some on your list includes some of those, or is that Pitt’s list leftover from Fraud Graham??