Well, it had to happen sooner than later. PITT has its first defection of the 2012 recruiting class when Dakota Conwell left the fold yesterday. His 100% commitment to PITT flip-flopped to being 100% committed to Arizona in the course of a two day visit. We lose a four star LB right after we picked up a non-ranked LB.
That sounds a bit bitter and I’m really not. This is how things work in the recruiting game. Conwell has now stated that he was ‘feeling’ Arizona for a couple weeks and I believe that. Graham had recruited him to play either the Spur or the Panther LB position and Chryst will field a traditional 4-3; three LB defense where the LB play is rather confined.
Apparently Conwell wants to freelance a bit more than that entail and RR’s 3-3-5 will fit him better.
Conwell, 6-foot-1, 210 pounds, said the 3-3-5 defense that new Arizona defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel, formerly of West Virginia, is installing for coach Rich Rodriguez, is a better fit for him than Pitt’s 4-3 under its new coordinator Dave Huxtable.
“I’ll get to play in space a little bit more than I would have at Pitt,” he said. “I will have a little more (pass coverage) responsibilities at Arizona.”
Now I’m no Dick Lebeau but I can’t see how having an extra DB is somehow going to translate to Conwell having more pass coverage responsibilities. You’d think having one less DB and an extra body on the DL would make that happen more often.
Anyway, there is no doubt in my mind that Chryst & Co. knew this was probably going to happened and with that they made sure that Caprara was onboard. We’ll see in a couple of years if this was a decent trade off or not.
To be quite honest I thought we’d have lost more than one scholarship by this time anyway and I can’t fault the kid for changing his mind. I caution PITT fans that this may not be over and we’ll have a few more change thier minds before Feb 3rd. I hope not but it does usually follow coaching changes. We’ll pick up some recruits between now and LOI Day also so it will balance out, unlike last year at this time.
We fans have to remember that, especially in PITT’s circumstances right now, these recruits were sold on Todd Graham, his staff and his offensive or defensive systems. That is a powerful thing to just let drop and some of these kids feel that they were betrayed in some degree and whether we like it or not PITT is involved in that.
Having six HCs in 13 months doesn’t help our cause either. What recruits and their parents want as much as anything is stability in the university’s coaching ranks. That way they get what the HC who recruited them promised. A new HC comes in and all that is out the window.
PITT may always honor recruit’s proffered scholarships, which is a great thing to do, but the new HC is in no way obligated to honor what was offered by the departing HC as an incentive to verbal with PITT.
As to RR or Graham trying to steal our recruits? I suggest we hold off on complaining about that since PITT is trying to do the same thing to other recruits. That is the nature of college football recruiting and how the game is played today. If we don’t get anyone to switch commitments then we can scream about it.
And hold the complaints about “honoring a commitment” by these kids either. That pretty much pales in comparison to what Todd Graham did at PITT and what happens in any coaching change. Some recruits commit to the University itself and we are seeing that with the majority of our remaining recruits. However, some others are looking at football only and this type of move fits their decision making well also.
Funny thing, when he committed to Pitt his HS coach (Render) sort of made a few statements that put a damper on it.
I think Render has a problem with Pitt, not a lot of USC kids end up as Panthers. Just an observation.
BTW, check out the following:
link to foxsportsarizona.com
“All three of my kids went to Pittsburgh and said, ‘I don’t want to live here, dad.’ It wasn’t because of the people. There were great people there, we worked our tail off and did some great things. I’m proud that they asked me to take over a program that had been on the front page of Sports Illustrated with the most criminalities in the country and we did some good things there, but they just didn’t like it there.
(ASU) was a deal that I did not plan. It was an opportunity of a lifetime that just came up for me. I’ve got a responsibility to my family to take care of them.”
I understand the reponsiblity to his family, but he also had a professional and personal responsibility to the Pitt football team and university when he signed a contract here. He should have made sure it was the right move for his family before taking the job here. And having a con man bring up “criminalities” made me throw up in my mouth a little. I think the ASU supporters out there are realizing that they got a flim flam man. Hope he falls on his face. BTW, please take part in the poll question on that webpage that I posted. 🙂
BTW, check out this garbage:
link to foxsportsarizona.com
“All three of my kids went to Pittsburgh and said, ‘I don’t want to live here, dad.’ It wasn’t because of the people. There were great people there, we worked our tail off and did some great things. I’m proud that they asked me to take over a program that had been on the front page of Sports Illustrated with the most criminalities in the country and we did some good things there, but they just didn’t like it there.
(ASU) was a deal that I did not plan. It was an opportunity of a lifetime that just came up for me. I’ve got a responsibility to my family to take care of them.”
I understand his responsibility to his family, but he took on a professional & personal responsibility to the University of Pittsburgh Football team when he signed a contract here. He should have made sure his family was going to be comfortable here. But we all know this is B.S. anyhow. I hope the ASU supporters are realizing that they hired a flim flam man. Had to laugh at the “criminalities” comment coming from a con man. I really hope he falls on his face out there. ASU should have done their homework. Oh yeah, make sure you take the Rodriquez/Graham poll on that webpage. 🙂
Retweeted by Chris Dokish
That says something doesn’t it. i think we are going to be in good shape at Pitt in the upcoming years. Very excited about Coach Chryst, seems like we got the right man on the job; it will be interesting how this round of recruiting goes and how next year is.
Retweeted by Chris Dokish
I think that says a lot about Pitt’s Coach Chryst. I think we are going to be in good shape and heading in a great direction. It will be exciting to see how recruiting pans out this year and the product that is put on the field next year. After getting the life and spirit zapped out of me this year by the graham satanic regime I am excited again for next year.
I subscribed to Rivals.com last Jan. 10. I decided not to renew this year. They auto-rebilled without
my permission. I called them today (rebilling occurred Jan. 10) to tell them I was not subscribing this year. After waiting 20 minutes on the phone, the agent essentially told me I had signed up for a repeating annual membership and no refund could be processed. As I called them within a week of unauthorized re-billing, I expected to receive a full refund. Rivals.com cancelled by account but will not refund. I have now filed a higher level complaint and have an unauthorized charge claim on my credit card. I’m about to report Rivals to Greg Abbott, the Texas Attorney General as well as other consumer protection agencies. What Rivals is doing is simple theft. I’m not commenting on the quality of their product. They are unscrupulous. Don’t subscribe to Rivals. Don’t give them your credit card information.
link to pittsburgh.rivals.com
i was at a penn state site this morning they say who there new coach has made offers to who he wants to come for a vist who might be leaveing etc sure wish our sites were more open like theres.
are new DC was voted best LB coach of the year.
and conwell goes to AZ it is his loss
well guess what thoes OL coachs that made thoes pro line men are now coaching at pitt
he needs to use his brain and wake up.
dockish is on the ball were is ZEISE who knows.
Look at this way .. we got 2 or 3 Michigan transfers from Michigan who may well work out for Pitt.
Not sure how Render feels about Pitt but I do know the USC AD is a big PSU fan; but doubt that he would try to talk anyone from attending the school of his choice
I’m ecstatic about only losing Conwell to this point, when Fraud left I was sure that was the the kiss of death to our top end recruits. Alas, I was wrong, and for that, I am happy.
but if he was going there to become a great OL men
than he should stay with us becuse the man that made there OL great is now at PITT.
As someone use to say, Good Bye, Good Night & Good Luck. Or as I like to say….Adios.
You must have gone to Peabody with Frank Gorshen. I followed you and we beat Westinghouse thanks to Al Jacks.
Flacco was a 3 star that is a starter in the NFL and could be playing the SuperBowl.
Rashaad Jennings was a 2 star recruit that started as a freshman and is a back up running back in Jacksonville.
Revis was a 3 star … that was accurate?
Dion Lewis 3 star … not a bad college career
Gruber was a 2 star … a good college football player
HB Blades and Clint Sessions both 3 star were great players and Sessions signed a contract with Jacksonville for 5 years last year for $30M…
And the list goes on and on…
The thing I want to see is how well PC and the coaching staff coach our existing talent. The cupboard is not empty. Except for South Florida Pitt looked bad in almost every game especially on offense. There were periods of time in a game we just disappeared. That is coaching. Boise St rarely gets a 4 star recruit and they win, look good and the schedule is slightly easier than the Big East. That is coaching.
Good coaches like good managers make their talent better. I’m excited to see if PC and staff can do that at Pitt. Then we will win games and get the recruits.
and to day gunner kiel the number 1 pro type QB
in this class signs with ND makes no sence.
Not too worried. The recruiting class will shape up. Nothing is set in stone with kids of this age being pulled every which way. They have even more uncertainty than we do.
Don’t expect recruiting scoops from Zeise or other beat reporters. That’s not their job. Chas has explained this on here several times in the past. Very few (if any) newspapers in college towns cover recruiting scoops the way you would like. The best recuiting scoops are on pay sites like you research or through someone who ike Dokish.
If you want Zeise to cover Pitt more, try emailing the PG that request and see how far it gets you. Pitt just isn’t their priority.
This kid just joined the AZ track team…he will be trying to catch up to speedsters from all over in practice. Point blank, the kid was the second best QB at USC. He will not start in college. Hope he goes to class…that is what it is really all about anyway as 99 out of 100 are finished after college.
As Sir Paul once wrote “you don’t know how lucky you are boy, back in the US, back in the US, back in the USSR (USC)”
I say that for two reasons; Mason’s injury was so severe, not just an ACL tear, that it will be hard to come back to form. Secondly, I wonder if he hasn’t been somewhat recruited over with the LBs we have playing now. Other PITT fans disagree with me on this but with Todd Thomas, LaQuentin Smith and Ejuan Price as the returning starters for 2012 we have a great group of young guys who have already produced with a year of full time experience.
Mason will have to comeback at 100% at least to be able to break into Huxtable’s defense I think especially because this staff didn’t recruit Mason and have no ties to him other than a roster spot.
I may be a bit pessimistic here, I hope he comes back like gangbusters but I’ll have to see it to believe it.
This is a guy who won BE weekly defneisve honors in his 3rd game as a frosh vs Navy ..(of course, he struggled the following week vs Russell Wilson) .. but he is known as an emotional leader; you may remember how down his teammates were when he was injured.
Although the 3 LBs listed above have shown at times to be skilled (and don’t forget Shame Graham and Nich Griglesby who may get much PT), Mason looked like he was going to be something special … in the Tire Bowl vs UNC, he played OLB for the 1st time and had a good game including an INT.
I wouldn’t give up on him just yet (but probably just wishful thinking.)
info i get i get the hard way
on staff who can recruit.
i would say yes but it is who they are recruiting that has me a little worryed ryan lewis
a rb with no stars a nother nr try talking to some 3 or 4 stars insted of all these NR kids
QB in his class and this year they sign the number one pro QBin this class how will he fit any better.
Something else I don’t understand is the move to the 4-3. From what I understand the 3-3-5 has been most successful in stopping the spread. The spread is run by a lot of ACC teams so why move away from it?
after all only one of new coachs was known as a good recruitier.
as far as the defence that is what they ran in wisconsin and they are very good at it so you have to let them run what they know and are good at 4 line men 3 LB it is there D you have to trust them.
