Some things on a few of the players we will see next year.
Pitt’s top recruit, QB Tra’von Chapman talks about how he decided that Pitt was his choice.
So how did the 6-foot-1, 200-pound Chapman tab Pitt while forsaking nearby Kent State where his father, Thad Jemison, and one of his mentors, Darrell Hazell, coach, along with his hometown school of Cincinnati?
“It wasn’t an easy decision,” Chapman said. “My dad played at Ohio State and we, coach Tressel and coach Hazell are all so connected. Growing up, I was a Buckeye through most of high school. But when that stuff went down with Tressel leaving, it changed everything.”
Chapman had his choices down to Pitt, Wisconsin, Kent St. and Cinci. Ultimately Kent State wasn’t enough of a challenge. Then a lot of the decision had to do with geography. Cinci was too close. Wisconsin too far. But Pitt was just right.
“Part of the reason I left Cincinnati [to come live with his father in Kent] is because there’s a lot of negative things happening there,” he said. “I wanted to stay out of trouble and keep focused on school and football. If I would have gone back to Cincinnati for college, those same negative things would have been there.”
In the end, that’s why Chapman believed Pitt offered the best mix of everything he was looking for.
“Pitt gave me the best chance to grow as a man, without being too far away,” he said. “That, and the [Paul Chryst] coaching staff made me feel comfortable. The facilities, the way the uniforms look, going to a situation where I might be able to play right away might be what some kids look for. But for me, I feel comfortable saying I can see myself there for four years. Those coaches, they blew it out of the water to me.”
Part of me died a little inside when he said the uniforms.
Tyrique Jarrett signed with Pitt for this year, but the DT will be spending this season at Milford Academy getting his academics in order. It will be interesting to see if he can take home defensive MVP honors at Milford. That would make it four straight year a Pitt commit did it. Todd Thomas, K.K. Smith and Jevonte Pitts have taken the honor.
[By the way, if you need a reminder of how old you are getting, Keith Byars, Jr. is on the Milford roster.]
Shakir Soto was one of the early verbals to this 2013 class. He is also going to be one of the first on campus.
Soto plans on leaving GAR and enrolling at Pitt for the spring semester, which starts Jan. 7. By doing so, the 6-foot-4, 255-pound defensive lineman will get to participate in offseason workouts at Pitt and be eligible to play in the spring game.
“Scott Orndoff, one of the commitments from Pitt, he’s doing it too,” Soto said. “He told me about it and one of the coaches said, ‘Yeah, you should do it.’ I looked into it, and being out there and having an extra semester of school and an extra semester of football, I’ll be ahead of everyone else.”
Anything to bring more depth to the D-line.
Secondly,and importantly for Pitt, how many recruits have we lost over the years on LOI day? Early enrollment just doesn’t permit irrational last minute changes.
In the end though, Coach Chryst is getting kids that want to come to Pitt and play for Pitt which is half the battle. More coaching is always preferable and the extra time with teammates and coaches will pay dividends. The best times of your life are in college, not high school in my opinion.
for me it’s the gold. its the same color as half a dozen other teams. plus the blue keeps changing. I prefer the old mustard and blue with or without pitt script at this point. pitt’s greatest era (not counting the thirties)was with the old colors. lets stick to 2 and not change every other year. just my two cents…
Joe D on this one. My senior year in High School
was the best year of my life!
My 4 years at Pitt was great…
But my best 4 years of my life… age 24-28..
Living in Hermosa Beach, CA… a block from the beach with a view of the ocean… single… with a bunch of single buddies chasing skirt and enjoying life to the fullest… and we had money to spend!! lol
Pantherlair said 2012 at 83 counting the recent newbie and wi transfer…
According to the roster, 18 will graduate.
So, that leaves 20 ships for 2013 class… is that correct?
re-read… I said special and memorable.. and yes, for me it was special and memorable.
The best years of my life… age 24-28..
Joe D – please don’t take over the blog. If you could condense all of your posts into one neat entry (without rehashing every other post what your opinions on the matter are) it would be greatly appreciated.
We know you think track and 40 times are important and that you don’t like Cryst’s recruiting methods and that your are not particularly impressed with local recruiting and the WPIAL. We know you think Foster will go to Michigan..etc etc.
Thank you in advance and I apologize if I came across as a bully but I really like this blog and don’t want to start ignoring the comments sections like I do on other blogs (you know which one).
I know I am in the minority but I actually like the current color scheme and also the white.
Has anyone seen Michigan States uniforms lately. They are awesome.
http://triblive.com/sports/college/pitt/2469638-85/garner-pitt-wisconsin-coach-chryst-wide-manasseh-receiver-closer-happy
But this post is about unis. I love the big, bold W on Wisconsin’s helmets. It says, well, big and bold.
Hail to Pitt!
it could be 23 so i am not sure now and we just gave 3 to walk ons
and a CB is to transfer so that is one to the good and we have to save one for savage for next year and one for the FB from ohio state that transferd to pitt.
so to tell the truth i dont know but i think 19
could be it. but some knows reed a little help here how many can we give.
team now and 15 sr so that is 17 we can give if no one leaves.
so can we give just one more or after the season is over we push some out as you say red shirt sr.
so does that meam we sign 25 or do we sign 17
i would like it in detail so i can understand
would these red shirt sr be done with school or do they have a year to go with school not football
some how this does not seam fair.
or do we just hope there is one for him next year.
I don’t know the exact number… you say 17… my count is 20.
Be it as it may…. it happens all the time that players are pushed out. Red shirt seniors.. especially.
They just don’t get an athletic scholarship… they can apply for other financial aid just like any other student.. but they will not be playing football.
The mustard yellow seats at Heinz are the same color as Heinz yellow mustard, go figure. And that is the same mustard yellow from our great looking Uniforms of the Tony Dorsett – Dan Marino era and latest National Championship of 1976.
Just reintroduce those Uniforms with of course, Pitt script and have a big ceremony with all the former great players of that era, along with Johnny Majors & Jackie Sherrill, etc.
And the link connecting the present and Pitt’s great football past will be completed. Not to mention those yellow/gold/mustard seats will match our yellow/gold/mustard pants and helmet of our Uniforms.
HTP !
cory clement decommits from pitt.
but i did not know that happend to SR.
and as far as the number 17 goes they say there are 83 on team now and 15 sr so that would mean if every thing stays the same we would only have 17 to give becuse that would total 85 right 15 and 2 would give 17 which gives the total of 85
i know there will be transfers but i was just trying to see how many we could give to day.
My personal preference on the shade of mustsard is the color it is fresh out of the bottle, not the dried up brown stuff crusted around the lid like the ’70′s unis… Not that I don’t like those… Just think brighter is better…
but was just shocked i knew we did that to fr and soph when they had time to play some were else
dont know why i never thought of sr even if rs but thanks.
the reason i said 50 percent chance he leaves that is what the post i read said if they look around there is a 50 percent chance they leave.
Any thoughts on how to handle verbals who start looking around and taking visits?
may be you bring outher RBin if you can in case he leaves may be you ask him what the hell is up
may be you ask him why he cant keep his word once
it is given.
may be you become a hard ass and say we want you
to stay but if you are leaveing go so we can get some one else.
i dont know what you say.
Whoa! Whoa.. “the way the uniforms look…”
Do you really mean that unis draw recruits? Really? Really?
Umm… WOW. It’s true? This Jersey versus that Jersey thing might really persuade a commit or two in some fashion-manner or another?
Seriously, all I can say is Holy Sh*t Batman.
But if I were a kid that age again (with insane football skills), I’d definitely bypass the last few months of partying with HS chicks and dudes to go be a BMOC at Pitt AND get a head start on my football career.
You can always head back home to party with your boys and homegirls on a random long weekend if you feel the need, AND you’d be the man back home when you did.
The context from which in the statement is afforded is somewhat clouded to me… One should hope it is not about the “look” of a uniform, ever.
Otherwise Nike et al. are genius I hadn’t guessed previously.
….
In Direct Reg to all comments similarly stating/
“Yeah, as a couple of people pointed out, Chapman was actually saying that while uniforms are important to other people, it was the coaches that matter most to him.”
Comment by EveryLoyalSon 08.24.12 @ 2:03 pm
Anyone who likes the procombat uniform has terrible taste and anyone who thinks senior year of HIGH SCHOOL was the most special, memorable time of their lives needs to get out more.
This happens all the time at PITT and while for marginal players it could mean an offer being pulled, any good and highly rated recruit is going to be kept on PITT’s scholarship list until he calls the staff and says he’s definitely going elsewhere. Even then the staff will stay on him until LOI Day.
I don’t want to sound like a jerk but saying that ‘PITT shouldn’t be the place to go when other things don’t work out’ is a romantic thought and just not the reality of the situation.
Our best player in the last few years, LeSean McCoy, had PITT as a fallback when things didn’t work out at other places. Our best FR player so far this season – J. P. Holtz – only came to be because of the PSU scandal.
Two of our (possible) starting DBs only came to PITT because the situation at Michigan was intolerable. Every transfer we get had PITT as a second choice when the situations changed elsewhere. They are ALL kids we whiffed on when we were first recruiting them.
As pk says above – PITT just isn’t that strong or well liked as a football program to be choosy about who we get to play here. That is just how it is now and truth be told for the last 30 years. Recruits are not beating the door down to play football at PITT. Really, when was the last time you heard any very good recruit say that PITT was their dream school? None, they all had to be seriously chased and convinced to come here. In all honesty, I even think Shell wouldn’t be at PITT if it weren’t for his twin daughters.
This is why we need at least a winning season with no off the field drama right now and for at least two years in a row. if not our recruiting is going to get worse and not better.
Put your sales hat on… you keep selling…
you bite your tongue… the deal is not done until they sign on the bottom line… you smile and swallow your pride.
Clement is the Buyer…. Pitt is the Seller…
He can shop around even if he verbal. Do I like it… NO… but it is what it is… and I’m not big on Clement as he comes from a Group 1 school in a powderpuff league.
Now does Pitt keep looking… absolutely… if a better prospect comes along and you know will sign 100%… then perhaps you pull the ship from Clement… otherwise… keep selling!!
This coaching staff is untested, the team plays in front of many empty seats, and this program has been in nothing but turmoil over the past year and a half.
I’ve been saying this for a while and will continue to shout it …. this program needs stability
The facilities, the uniforms and playing time may be what some other kids look for!!
The rusty mustard yellowish uni’s were from the 2nd Major’s era, I know we all try to forget those 3 years or so, but he toned down the yellow part of the Uni’s and the helmet as well.
I was trying to post a pic of Dorsett or Marino in the first version of the heinz mustard uni’s but the post wouldn’t post. We wore those from 1973 to 1993 I believe and then Majors came back the 2nd time and changed to the rusty yellowish/brown look.
Cause I know Alex Van Pelt wore the same uni’s as when I was at Pitt in the late 70′s, early 80′s.
As I was on the sidelines for some of the early 90′s games with Van Pelt as QB.
I agree I didn’t like the way they changed the yellow to the rusty brown/yellow look when Majors 2 era began.
It did look like the yellow crud at the rim of the mustard jar, Pitt2Cali made a good analogy there.
He just had the years mixed up. Those were from the Majors 2 era (1993-1996)
Bring back the 1973-1983 circa uniform, when we had our best years since the 1930′s.
And that yellow is close to the Heinz seat yellow.
Or if it isn’t just make the pants that color yellow and the helmets. Script of course too !
Players will verbally commit but keep looking.
I’ve never seen this many players commit by July 1 across the US.
Teams only have so many slots open for certain positions… once they are filled, they start pulling ships or advise players to look elsewhere as they met their quota.
Players know this… so the verbally commit securing a slot… keep others away (ie. Zaire Williams)… but keep looking.
It’s only going to get worse.
Dorsett was 1 of 80 people put on scholarship in 1973 by Majors in his first year — many of them from western PA. Because of that, NCA start limiting the number of schollies.
When you bring in 80, you’re bound to find a large handful of good players … and it certainly didn’t hurt that western PA was as fertile as any recuting area back then … times have changed!
Bottom line: One can either view it as Clement never being fully committed to begin with (glass half empty view) or that he is just as committed as he ever was and is just following through to make certain he has really made the correct decision(glass half-full view).
In either case, there appears to not be any brand new case of “cold feet.”
You only go through HS one time in your life.
You only experience Senior year one time in your life.
Enjoy the most special, memorable time of your life.
That said, if I were a committ… I would hire a personal trainer to duplicate the workouts the Pitt S&C coach wanted.
I would also attend as many practice or group sessions the coach permits in the spring.