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February 2, 2012

Everyone Has a Story, Part 1

Filed under: Football,Recruiting — Chas @ 10:55 am

One of my favorite things about signing day period is the day or two after. When the stories are told of these kids. I try to round-up all the local stories on each of the recruits. The kids who are getting a chance to have a full scholarship. Get to play football at the 1-A level. The brief chance to actually see the kids in their hometown when they are certainly the BMOC.

We have lauded them for their wisdom in choosing Pitt. For their potential. For many things, but almost as soon as they are signed we expect much of them from the moment they show up on the campus as freshman — and even before. Plus, with recruiting we are already turning to the next kids who should/must/have to be recruited. I’m as guilty of that as anyone else.

But, these posts are the ones to link and highlight the kids themselves and their decision. For every blue-chip recruit who could go anywhere and has a legitimate shot at the NFL, there are many more who are excited to compete at a high college level and get a scholarship for a great education.

 

I’m going to start with a true unknown. He’s not even a scholarship player — yet.

Most of the wideouts the Panthers recruited in the 2012 class fit the profile for Graham’s spread offense. Chryst, who came from Wisconsin, runs more of a pro style offense.

And that big target on the outside was missing.

So Chryst went back through the Panthers’ camp data looking for a pro style guy on the outside. This late in the game most of the hammers are off the board. But he found what he was looking for in [Chris] Wuestner and the Thundering Herd receiver is headed to the Steel City university as a preferred walk-on.

“I’ve been given an opportunity and plan to use it and reach my potential,” said Wuestner, who visited Pitt last weekend and met new receivers coach Bobby Engram, a former standout at Penn State. “I always knew I could compete. I just had to put the pieces together. For me the key will be working hard. And I know that.”

Wuestner did have an offer on the table from Lehigh, but the new Pitt coaching staff pointed out that last year in the Rose Bowl Wisconsin had five starters who walked on. So the opportunity is there.

“They drove out here to meet him and not too many schools do that with walk-on kids,” Carlisle coach Josh Oswalt said. “They told me they found him at a camp last summer. If he makes the best of it, he can be successful in this environment. I told him he needed to get faster with the ball. And he took that to heart.

This isn’t the FBS scholarship Wuestner was after, but the door to opportunity has been opened. The rest is up to Wuestner.

“I always knew I could compete at the Division I level. I competed at camps with kids who all had big-time offers. So I knew I could play. I just didn’t have a junior season,” Wuestner said. “I just had to accept that and believe it was for a reason. I was very happy to get that call, though.”

Wuestner was injured for his entire junior year — and the article doesn’t say what type of injury. Carlisle isn’t a particularly strong team, but they do play at PIAA AAAA level. Wuestner is 6-3, 190 pounds so he has a good frame. Definitely worth the shot.

Then there is the almost walk-on… at Wisconsin. Gabe Roberts from New London, Wisconsin was going to be a preferred walk-on at Wisconsin before Pitt was able to offer him the chance with a scholarship.

“Coach Bostad was my recruiting coordinator when I visited Wisconsin and I felt I had established a pretty good relationship with him,” said Roberts. “There are lots of good players in Ohio and Pennsylvania where Pitt recruits a lot, but he was kind of under a deadline and had to go with what he knew. It worked out great for me.”

“They were looking for a kid who can violently punch, pass protect and move his feet, and he can do all that,” said New London coach Pete Mroczyn-ski. “What they liked the most about him was his potential for growth. He’s a smart kid who is very coachable.”

Roberts is the first New London athlete to receive a Division I football scholarship since running back Kevin Slosarek signed with Northern Illinois in 1990.

“It’s exciting for me and New London, too,” said Roberts. “Just the other day, I went to Jolly Rogers (a New London pizzeria) and people I had never even met were congratulating me and telling me how proud they were.”

New London, is not a big town. Roberts also suffered an injury that diminished his scholarship opportunities.

The Davis boys from the Youngstown area are looking forward to competing with each other,everyone else, other conferences.

“I wanted to stay close to home and be in a good atmosphere,” Demetrious said. “I’ve always liked their program.”

It’s a program in transition, too. Former coach Todd Graham bolted for Arizona State after just one year at Pitt. Paul Chryst, the offensive coordinator at Wisconsin from 2005 to 2011, was hired to lead the Panthers in December. Both brothers said they opened their college search back up after committing to Pitt in July. Ultimately, Chryst helped reinforce their decision.

“I like him a lot,” Demetrious said. “I think it’s a good thing being in his first class. It’s a chance to maybe get a closer look and get some more opportunities than some other guys.”

By 2014, the program will be changing conferences, from the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

“The ACC is a big conference,” Chris said. “There’s a lot of speed in that conference and it’s just a closer thing to the level of play in the NFL. It’ll be great competition.”

The brothers shared nearly two dozen offers from colleges around the country.

“We competed with offers and we’ll be competing for playing time and yards at Pitt,” Demetrious said.

Things I did not know. Pitt linebacker Nicholas Grigsby’s nickname is “Freezer.” His brother and signee from yesterday, Bam Bradley, is actually named George.

There was a time when Trotwood-Madison High School’s high-impact defensive back was just plain old “Bam-Bam.”

“My auntie gave me that name when I was probably eight months old,” Bradley said during Wednesday’s Greater Western Ohio Conference ceremony at the Huber Heights Athletic Foundation Center that saluted all conference NCAA Division I football signees.

“She said that I was a bad little kid so she started calling me Bam-Bam. Eventually, I lost one of the ‘Bams’ and it just stuck.”

Rams assistant coach Kerry Ivy sees a good fit for Bradley at Pitt.

“I think deep down, he wanted to stay close to home and I think he wanted to be with Freezer,” said Ivy, the Rams’ offensive line coach.

“They’re big on family. It’ll be easy access for his family to get to instead of going to Stanford and then his mom can see both of them play at the same time.”

Out of the Rochester, NY area the big recruiting signee was Jarron Jones who decommitted from Penn State for ND. His teammate, Jahmahl Pardner, though signed with Pitt.

“I’m very excited,” Pardner said. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”It’s a long process, very stressful, (and) a lot of effort goes into it. It feels good when you have a place you can call home.”

The wide receiver is also a guard in basketball.

As noted by others yesterday, Allderdice OL Tyrique Jarrett is headed to prep school for academic reasons. He will be going to Milford. Grades may have also played a role in the withdrawing of Marzett Geter’s scholarship — though the tweeting didn’t help. Geter, for the record, is heading to Slippery Rock.

Another rumored/reported academic casualty was Alkwan Williams who signed with Temple. This one was a little more messy, as the scholarship wasn’t pulled until after this past weekend. Not to mention conflicting stories.

“Alkwan went down for his official visit on Sunday,” Penna said. “After the visit was over on Sunday night he met with Coach Chryst and he told him he wasn’t sure he was going to get into school. Alkwan did everything they asked him to do. His grades were good enough to get in.

“Alkwan started (the recruiting process) with Wannstedt, then went with Graham, and because he committed early it limited his options when this happened,” Penna said. “Thank God for Temple, they stepped up.”

Of course in the same article, Williams’ HS Coach also admitted that Williams has retaken the SATs to try and get those scores up. Apparently Pitt wasn’t feeling confident that Williams would get the SAT scores up high enough to pair with his grades. Williams is also quoted as saying that part of the problem was that Pitt gave out too many scholarships under Fraud Graham. Something that makes no sense in a class of 16.

It does suck that the offer had to come off the table this late. I hope he does well at Temple.

Offensive lineman Adam Bisnowaty, along with Rushel Shell, Chad Voytik and the Davis twins, was part of the corp group of Pitt recruits that helped to hold Pitt’s recruiting class together after Fraud Graham fled. He’s just glad the whole thing is over.

“It’s great to have this class together,” said Bisnowaty, who chose Pitt over Florida and 12 other offers. “For me, it’s nice you can finally stop guessing on the guys that were uncommitted. We are all excited about the opportunity to play together.”

The 6-foot-6, 285-pound offensive lineman made his commitment to Pitt official on Wednesday morning, signing a letter of intent.

Bisnowaty joins a talented Pitt recruiting class that includes some of the WPIAL’s best: Hopewell running back Rushel Shell, Shaler tight end J.P. Holtz, Sto-Rox defensive back Deaysean Rippy and Clairton defensive back Trenton Coles, among others.

Bisnowaty, a four-star recruit, also could one day block for quarterback Chad Voytik, the top-rated recruit out of Tennessee who the Panthers also lured.

“Everyone knew I was committed to Pitt, and I wanted to make sure everyone knew that,” said Bisnowaty, the No. 19-ranked offensive lineman in the country, according to Rivals.com. “I plan to go in there and learn as much as I can so I can get on the field. I love to put guys on their backs.”

Meanwhile Deysean Rippy chose Pitt near the end of it all. He does, however, know how to endear himself to Pitt fans — I mean beyond simply spurning WVU for Pitt in the final call.

The 6-foot-2, 198-pound prospect settled on the Panthers over West Virginia on Tuesday night, though he wanted to “sleep on it” before making it official on the opening day of college football’s signing period.

“I feel like I made the right decision because I have so much support here; my family is here,” said Rippy, who added that other Panthers recruits, including Hopewell star running back Rushel Shell, reached out to him to join Chryst’s first recruiting class. “I definitely took all that into consideration. (On Monday), I was feeling West Virginia, but I just felt you can’t go wrong staying here.”

For many months, Pitt wasn’t even on Rippy’s radar. With interest coming from some of the country’s elite programs — Alabama, Auburn and Ohio State, among them — there was another big factor drawing his gaze away from Oakland: former coach Todd Graham.

“There was just a bad vibe from him. I’ve been around so many coaches where you just get that vibe and say, ‘I don’t want to be with him,’ ” said Rippy, who also visited Arizona and Colorado. “The only reason I stayed in contact with (Pitt) was because of (director of football relations) Bob Junko. So, everyone can thank him for getting it done.”

Rip on Fraud Graham. Score bonus points.





Chas, Justinian et al…thank you so much for all the info on recruits. I have been traveling on business all week and really appreciate the wealth of info. on this site….with opinions to go with it!

Comment by Dan 72 02.02.12 @ 11:40 am

Great read. Thanks for writing!!

Comment by pendlum 02.02.12 @ 12:17 pm

Any rumors or chances that a JUCO ends up at Pitt??

Comment by mtoolmn 02.02.12 @ 12:17 pm

this was a great read thanks for the info

Comment by FRANKCAN 02.02.12 @ 12:56 pm

yeah, i saw Rippey on WPXI last night, ripping on Fraud.

Now while i dont really like it b/c he is a kid, literally a kid….but love the rip on Graham.

Comment by Yup 02.02.12 @ 1:11 pm

Nice background, thanks Chas.

Comment by Reed 02.02.12 @ 1:30 pm

Chas, I loved the background stuff on the players. Hey, from Chad Voytik’s interview on “The Fan” and Deysean Rippy’s comments above, it appears that Bob Junko is the unsung hero, in keeping these recruits with Pitt. We should send Bob our thanks for a job well done.

Comment by Justinian 02.02.12 @ 2:47 pm

Love these intro/backgrounders and article links also. Please keep doing them.

Comment by cnorwoodaz 02.02.12 @ 2:54 pm

Nice read!

Comment by Gordo 02.02.12 @ 5:25 pm

This is where I go to get my Pitt Fix……thanks guys for keeping the failful informed.

Comment by PITTPUP84 02.02.12 @ 6:02 pm

[…] being a walk-on, Coach Chryst and the coaching staff went to see him as a group in Carlisle to offer him the opportunity. The odds are that Wuestner won’t see the field by […]


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