I was kind of hoping that the last time I posted on Rushel Shell in 2013 would be after he found a new home. Unfortunately that was not to be. Honestly after Ron Cook says Chryst made the right call and Mark Madden continues to abuse Shell on twitter (and maybe on the air, but I don’t listen so I don’t know); I almost begin to think that Pitt should have given him another chance.
Then there was today’s article from the Shell camp. There’s stuff in there that has to be noted.
[Shell’s mother, Toni] Zuccaro, giving the family’s first public comments since Shell decided in April to transfer from Pitt, said her son’s decision to not go to UCLA was prompted by a going-away party the family threw for him on Father’s Day. Shell spent the day with his family and 16-month-old twin daughters and, the next day, came to his mother and told her he wanted to stay closer to home.
“He came home after school was over and he started spending a lot of time with his kids and stuff,” Zuccaro said Wednesday in front of her Hopewell apartment. “That’s hard.”
So, it started the previous weekend. Basically as the enormity of the move and everything it meant began to hit him.
From there he began to make some contact with Pitt people.
Shell, a Hopewell High School graduate, reached out to Pitt director of football operations Chris LaSala about a potential return, according to Zuccaro.
The talks only reached a preliminary stage, and Zuccaro said phone calls and text messages to Chryst went unreturned. After a couple of days in limbo, Shell and his mother found out Pitt would not allow him to return when they saw a report on the news.
“It was a little frustrating when coach Chryst wouldn’t answer his calls or his text messages,” Zuccaro said.
“He went in and talked to the coaches, but then we didn’t hear nothing back at all. So we found out like everybody else found out.”
Yes, this is only from Shell’s mother, but it is a little problematic to me if Chryst wouldn’t meet with Shell. Obviously other coaches did meet with him, but if Chryst really ignored him completely that makes it clear that Chryst had made the decision that once Shell transferred to UCLA he was done for good at Pitt.
It is clear from the story that Shell had the change of heart because of his daughters. Understandable, and I have complete sympathy. That said, it does nothing to resolve the conflict he had with Chryst and the other coaches. Shell decided that those were unresolvable back in the spring, and there is nothing to indicate anything on that front had changed — or would change. There is no way any college coach in a major conference would risk his long-term plans for a program for the short-term help. And when Chryst is stressing the building of his program with players that want to be at Pitt, then Shell absolutely did not deserve a chance to come back.
Still, I can’t help but be bothered if Chryst didn’t even give him a phone call to tell him directly that there was no way it would happen. Chryst is in charge of the program. He makes the call. I don’t want to say that he “owes” it to Shell to tell him he couldn’t come back — because Shell himself closed that door.
Chryst, however, does owe it to the players on the team and the potential players in future recruiting classes. They have to know that he sees them as more than just pieces on a team. That they exist beyond being Pitt guys. As poorly as Shell handled, well, everything. Chryst should be able to tell him directly — no.
Now for Shell’s future. He’s sticking with D-1. And Pitt apparently has no problem with him going local.
Shell will now have to settle on another transfer destination. Zuccaro said he has received his release from Pitt to transfer to any of the three schools on his final list. West Virginia and Ohio State offered him a scholarship out of high school. Shell even said before his commitment to Pitt that he favored Ohio State before the program was hit with NCAA sanctions and former coach Jim Tressel resigned.
Two of Shell’s friends, former Pitt players Chris and Demitrious Davis, transferred to Kentucky earlier this month.
You know, it could be an acceptable trade of Shell to WVU for Chavas Rawlins. Kentucky, though, would be my bet. They’re desperate enough and will probably put up with his stuff just to get the talent.
Some of us are still wanting to make our own bucket for our bucket list! I’m tired of SEESHELL!
? John Wayne
Reed good insights.
…what we should see out of all of this is a disciplined team that plays hard and does not give bad surprises… boy I hope all of this translates on to the field in the form of fun football this fall.
With all due respect, someone is feeding you bad information.
Most fans across the country are nodding their heads up and down in agreeement with Pitt and HCPC.
It’s really not even close. It’s so “not even close”, it’s not even an issue for most people.
Most people have already moved on, the only reason we’re even talking about it, is because Chas’ posted about it.
I imagine he’ll post one more time about where he decides to go, so we’ll go through this again.
After that, he will be long forgotten.
Ever hear of LeSean McCoy, Dion Lewis or Ray Graham before they became stars???
Nope, neither did I. And one of our other backs or a tandem will carry the ball this year proudly for Pitt, and they will get their yardage.
Pitt has enough issues this season, he was not going to make or break the season at all. Obviously, to HCPC and staff, he would have been a detriment.
Don’t worry, some other fellas that are working hard as we speak will line up at the rb position.
I don’t care if Pitt goes 0-12 , you won’t hear me saying “they should have brought Shell back”. They absolutly made the correct decision.
And, all but a few agree with it.
Highest drafted Pitt player since Charles Smith.
Too bad he didn’t go to a team in the ACC footprint however, as would help out recruiting.
They always seem to send the Pitt players far far away from any area which might help Pitt in recruiting.
Charles Smith was sent to the LA Clippers
Jerome Lane was sent to the Denver Nuggets
Vonteego Cummings was sent to the Golden State Warriors
Aaron Gray was sent to the Chicago Bulls
DeJuan Blair was sent to the San Antonio Spurs
Sam Young was sent to the Memphis Grizzlies.
NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THESE PLAYERS WERE SENT ANYONE IN PITT’S GEOGRAPHIC FOOTPRINT WHICH QUITE POSSIBLY HELP IN RECRUITING.
WHAT ARE THE ODDS OF THAT !
After thinking about it, I’m sure there are some others in his family, friends, neighborhood, handlers, that had “NO” told to them for the first time in a very long time also.
I’m sure there are some stunned people in the RS circle that “can’t believe this”.
Believe it.
Comment by MariettaMike 06.27.13 @ 7:25 pm
LMAO…..too funny bro. aqua velva 🙂
Since the kid never technically enrolled at UCLA, is Pitt still able to block him from certain schools.
Specifically, that Community College in Morganhole?
Very nicely done. That is exactly why we need to release the spirit of Pitt Stadium in a new Pitt Stadium …..on campus.
And people will come (including yours truly).
Comment by Sfpitt 06.27.13 @ 6:05 pm
lol, that’s a good one ! His Mom too !
At this point I think it is very admirable of PC to try the change the culture of our little corner of college football.
Whether he is a success or not and I do think now he will be a success, does not matter.
Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Pitt grad and yup…don’t know what you guys are smokin’ but if it alters reality like that…I’ll take some.
It’s far more productive to appreciate his contribution rather than hate on him for being an indecisive 19-year-old kid. Certainly none of us handled every situation gracefully at that age.
The program can overcome the problem of one player transferring. It’s a bigger problem if Chryst is unwilling to work with players who have personal issues, which is how I see this situation.
The article in the PG said that Pit is not blocking him from his 3 main targets — WVU, OSU & UK. Pitt is still calling the shots and can unblock him to go anaywhere … just as the Vandy BB coach can still release Jeter to Pitt if he wanted to.
Let’s not forget that last part please – on scholarship. If Shell wasn’t willing to give 100% in practices and drills then he wasn’t fit to be a 1st string RB, which is what he was told right before he took his week “time out” during the spring practice.
Forget about whatever talent he does or doesn’t have. His demeanor and unreliability were such that in effect his being on the roster was undermining the team morale. Players, using the twitter media, commented as such even going so far as calling him a cancer. Those tweets were erased but were out for public viewing I understand.
That is a big deal when your teammates themselves want you gone.
But Shell was treated very well during his time at PITT and had every opportunity to change his ways.
It was no secret that Shell had these same problems in HS and that is the type of HS player Chryst isn’t recruiting. It looks to me that one of the prime considerations Chryst has is how well the recruit is going to fit into the program and onto the team during his tenure at PITT.
Who knows but that may have precluded Chryst from really pursuing him.
That’s hindsight and speculation of course but something to think about. I know that Chryst kept Shell on a pretty short leash after the problems in summer camp and that ensuing first game suspension. Even after that big VT game, which Shell started in only due to Graham’s injury, Chryst effectively benched Shell a couple of games for poor efforts during weekly practices.
Shell had one game with no carries, two games where he got only one carry . Four games where he got less than 10 carries and nine games where he had less than 15 carries. Honestly, had Ray Graham not been carrying the effects of that that ACL injury around during the whole season I don’t think Shell would have seen much playing time at all.
Comment by wbb 06.27.13 @ 7:45 pm
—————
Yep, you got me. 🙂 Be a team player not a prima donna or something like that.
Coach Chryst WILL change the mindset of this football team. Will he turn the program into a winner, I don’t know, we will have to wait and see on that one. But one thing I feel that he has clearly demonstrated with his head coaching decisions and actions up to this point in his tenure is that he IS going to eliminate the “losers” from this program at all costs.
Mr. Shell is a very talented football player who was blessed with natural ability, but make no mistake about it, up to this point in his life, totally self-imposed, he is put himself on the route to Loserville! Hopefully he will turn his attitude around before that capitalized L becomes permanently imbedded on his forehead. Goodbye Rushel, Pitt has enough current issues to deal with without your additional contributions to the cluster f*ck.
I wish Shell no ill will, he doesn’t need another enemy, right now he himself is the worst enemy that he has to deal with.
Required reading that should be distributed to all Pitt fans, players, students, etc…
Here is loooking down the road a bit. Have at it if you want, but at least I’m thinking 10 years down the road. More than I can say for SP and the welfare department disguised as the Pitt athletic department.
Is PC going to follow in Barry’s footsteps and become AD some day?
Last year, I thought Cam Wright at times was reminding me of Wannamaker. I know there is no defense at Greentree, but I think he is one of the few that can drive the lane and it would be great if this is his break through year.
Shell would do well to matriculate to WVU. I still hope he can conquer his demons and do well, but I give him long odds.
Frankie, what’s new in recruiting?
Your comment reminded me of a time I gave a presentation to a large group of (mostly) union employees. I said 20% of employees are self-starters and require little supervision. Then there are 20% who require almost constant supervision. The 60% in the middle look at both the upper and lower groups, and it’s a lot easier for the bottom 20% to pull the middle down than it is for the upper 20% to inspire them. So management has to insure the bottom 20% doesn’t do that (cue Rushel Shell). A worker stood up and said my contention was absolutely not true. He said the bottom was not 20% of the workforce – it was only 18.5%! How he had it calibrated that precisely is beyond me.
Incidentally that bottom 20% takes about 80% of the manager’s time.
Must turn interest to Pitt recruiting.
On the other hand, if I missed current player tweets posted along the way, I withdraw my comments.
Unless his work ethic improves, he’ll have a tough time seeing the field. WVU is stacked at RB, so is UK, and Ohio St., well you just know they are as well. I would be surprised if Shell ever achieves sustained success.
PittScript, good post. Couldn’t agree more – Hampton Roads metro area rich in football talent. Pitt needs to hit it hard. Also some talent around DC metro. I see these areas replacing Jersey as Pitt’s secondary recruiting area (after PA).
Glad to see Adams drafted high, probably a good fit for him as he won’t be counted on right away. He seems like a great kid and I hope he has a successful career. We all know he’s not ready, but he’s getting paid to develop vs. not at Pitt. He clearly made the right decision.
I will drive up and better get tickets.
Since we have the best record in MLB.
Bet em Bucs
Should be lots of seats available for the New Mexico Lobos unless Pitt beats FSU, 72-0 🙂
Hope the Pirates aren’t in the middle of their 3rd straight late season collapse. thgis appears to be a much better team (but I said the same last year)
This comes thanks to ESPN… and as a total surprise.
It’s hard to understand now what sense it ever made for Paul Chryst to publicly extend an offer to his nephew.
The only thing that might explain it is that something happened since then to completely turn things in the favor of Stanford.
Admittedly I was wrong on this one. Had Chryst coming to Pitt all the way.
WOW, what a disappointment!
According to the Trib Review, the pre-trial hearing for Tra’von Chapman scheduled for June 27 has been delayed. Reportedly, it’s due to a scheduling conflict involving Chapman’s attorney.
Given that this is the second time pre-trial hearing has been delayed… got to think it has more to do with Chapman’s attorney still working behind the scenes… and so far unsuccessfully… for some kind of a deal to have the charges dropped.
Probably working with the knowledge that anything less than the charges being dropped means Chapman’s days at Pitt would be over.
Stanford has a great football program, an excellent coach and is an academic POWERHOUSE!!
In addition, Keller is from the left coast and the choice of Stanford makes it much easier for his family and friends to follow his progress.
WE HAD ONLY A MINIMAL CHANCE OF GETTING HIM.
I wish him luck as he follows in the footsteps of the many Stanford QB’s who have had great college and pro careers.
I don’t blame him at all. Smart move Chryst’s. Bad move Pederson. If Pederson believes in the long term plan of Chryst, why not give him all of the opportunity to recruit by keeping his contract at 5 years duration to cover red shirts?
