Hope everyone had a nice Father’s Day either in self-celebration or in honor of your own father. I’m sure at some point in the future, I will want to do or be around my family more for the day. At this point, however, the best gift the kids can give me is letting me have a bit of peace on the day. I got to sit out by the smoker “tending” to ribs yesterday with a growler of Brew Kettle Old 21 DIPA and some books. Just perfect.
Also happening yesterday, Pitt football got its fifth commit.
Running back Chawntez Moss out of Bedford, Ohio committed after attending the camp and getting an offer.
“Then Pitt got the new coaching staff, and I wasn’t sure if they were recruiting me so they weren’t in my top three. But my coach told me Coach (Pat) Narduzzi wanted me to come down to camp and that all the coaches wanted to see me.
“So I went down [Saturday] and did a quick workout. I planned on committing if they offered me, but Coach Narduzzi told me he wanted me to call him Sunday. I called and he said, ‘You have an offer; we’re really excited about you.’ I said, ‘I’m excited about you, too,’ and I committed.”
Saturday was the first time Moss visited Pitt, but he said he saw more than enough to confirm that he wanted to be a Panther and spend his college career in Pittsburgh.
“They’re on the come-up; they’re on the verge of being the next step above and being a great team,” he said. “In the next couple years they’re going to be doing great things and I want to be a part of that.”
Prior to Pitt offering, his offers included Iowa, Cinci, Indiana and a host of MAC schools. Moss is a 3-star recruit according to all the sites (except ESPN.com which has no evaluation on him to this point).
Not surprisingly, his high school coach speaks well of him.
Moss (5-foot-11 1?2, 200 pounds) was a workhorse running back last season for Bedford, which plays in the second-largest classification in Ohio. He rushed for more than 2,000 yards, including memorable efforts of 394 yards and seven touchdowns against Lorain and 365 and four scores in a 34-32 loss to Mayfield in the regional final.
“He’s a kid who really is a leader on and off the field,” Bedford coach Sean Williams said. “He plays hard and runs the ball well. He is very good with his hands. He’s really a total back.”
Williams said Moss is a threat in the passing game, recording 32 overall touchdowns last season.
The ability to catch the ball has become an increasingly important part of the skill set for running backs. Especially for backs that are not 4- or 5-star recruits. Versatility becomes that much more important.
This is the third commit from Ohio and the second from the Cleveland area. It shouldn’t be surprising with a staff that is strong with Ohio recruiting area and Big Ten ties.
link to blogs.post-gazette.com
According to the “PITT Post-Spring Two-Deep” issued by the staff going into this season we have five starters who will be SRs and gone in 2016. Two other starters are JRs who will be gone after the ’16 season.
To look at it more critically right now 14 of our 22 players on the two deep are SRs & JRs and will be gone after ’16. Narduzzi has to get some quality defensive recruits in the two-deep who can play as soon as their FR or rsFR year.
Right now we have a total of one 4* recruit in the combined ’15 & ’16 classes in Jordan Whitehead. So I suppose you can add him in as some relief to the above. Other than that no one jumps out at me that is a candidate to get on the field for a good amount of PT in ’16…. Maybe Brightwell or McKee at LB but that’s iffy. We just don’t have real talent in the existing pipeline to starting that we need in the near future.
So I like this kid, glad to have him here and I’m sure the staff knows what they have in his to get him onboard so soon. His tape looks good but so does every other recruit’s you see on the web. But I’d rather have seen his name committed toward the end of the recruiting season when we have already filled other needs with more highly rated and highly offered recruits.
I’m not sure about that “smell” analogy just yet BigB, it’s going to take a couple payback victories over the likes of YSU and Akron before the stink of $hitting the bed against Houston is eradicated from this team, IMO. I will give you the “movement” of the program is definitely going in the right direction now however with the new blood of Gallagher, Barnes Narduzzi & Co. Flowing thru the Panthers now!
I feel to be able to fully appreciate that sweet smell of success this year an 8-4 regular season has to transpire. That will show that Narduzzi is the real deal as a newbie HC. Many have said that he gets a pass this year because of his lack of experience as a HC. I say that’s SOP talking.
Narduzzi isn’t accepting of that offer and is preaching already that winning now is a high priority for him, his staff and this team. I totally agree.
If you want 2016 recruits to really take notice of where Pitt is headed, you have to prove it on the field this season. 8-4 is the benchmark to prove that.
As I said above, Narduzzi is all in on the concept of winning now and he isn’t going to be shy about playing the talent that is on the roster this year irrespective of how raw it might be coming out of HS. As long as they’re healthy McKee and Brightwell’s get playing time this season.
I’m certainly no expert but I really like his tape. Good speed, vision, athleticism, etc. It also seems like he produced against god competition. Additionally, his Nike Sparq scores are very impressive (for whatever that’s worth). H2P and welcome!!
I never heard of this kid until he announced.
Let’s talk about kids not yet committed, time to move on to the next positions of need. Anything on D!
Here is write-up in Plain Dealer for Moss
On top of that, he’s visited Pitt multiple times. Even if he was a PSU verbal and he didn’t visit Pitt….I would still fully expect our staff to continue to recruit him. You can bet your bottom dollar if the shoe was on the other foot, Franklin and his staff would be chasing after this kid.
The Pitt staff should be relentless on the PA top kids every year, especially ones in our back yard.
If we expect to compete with FSU, Clemson and the like, kids like Sanders will be needed.
Really feel like other RB’s commitments should be slow-played at this point as to not deter any shot with have with Sanders.
On another note…
This is the reason I can’t stand some of the things Dokish, Zovko, Vucovcan and those guys say on Twitter about Pitt’s chances with recruits. They make it sound like we are getting a top 10 class and then we get a 2/3 star commitment from a player with minimal P5 offers and mostly MAC offers. Then Dokish, etc. goes into damage control and says things like “I don’t know why this kid doesn’t have more offers after watching his tape” or “This guy has the potential to blow up.”
Generally I’m pretty positive about recruiting and I have full trust in the staff’s judgement on players they offer, but our Pitt Twitter media members really make Pitt look bad in this regard. They keep taking shots at Penn State or WVU and I’m beginning to really question why? We are not sticking it to anyone really in recruiting (maybe Cincinnati), we are by no means dominating the state, and we don’t have one 4 star recruit to date. I’m not even big on the stars, but stars crate perception and perception creates expectation. Right now we look like same old Pitt as far as recruiting goes. I still think we end up with multiple 4 stars in this class but until we even get one, I wish the Pitt media would shut the fuck up about it.
P.S- Dokish really got owned a couple weeks ago by a national recruiting analyst after he criticized an analyst’s tweet about PSU recruiting. He also said something last week about a Cincy recruit who seemed 100% set on going there and then the recruit got a Pitt offer and then dropped Cincy. Well no shit, it’s fucking Cincinnati, they aren’t even a P5 program.
I really hate getting hung up on recruiting, but Pitt isn’t Top 25 in recruiting yet and I wish our media members would wait to talk shit until we actually can back it up.
Another issue is that many of these kids still don’t know themselves where they are headed … they have their favorites, but their final choice may change 5 or 6 times before LOI.
Likewise, I’m much more concerned at this point with swaying those undecided recruits towards Pitt as home for the next few years than centering our attentions on flipping those recruits who have made decisions already, no matter how misguided those decisions are.
Give me Matthews, Wheeler, Hamlin and Pugh and then I couldn’t care less on how many years Sanders spends picking up the soap bar in the Penn state showers.
Hail to Pitt!
Then, it’s mostly about a winning record.
I think the problem is that these beat writers for the recruiting websites talk to the players themselves a lot and shy off on getting into deep discussions with the parents/grandparents about what THEY want to see the kid do.
When I first started writing on here I was friends with about six different sets of parents and a grandparent and talked with them and a lot of individual players over the years about the recruiting process and why they chose PITT.
Surprisingly enough the pure football part of it wasn’t nearly as large a factor as I assumed it to be. I was surprised that the academics, campus, support system PITT provides the players (one of the best in college football I gather), the Southside facilities, the urban situation its and proximity to internships and jobs all of that was talked about as much as how much playing time a kid might get of his chances for the NFL.
When I mentioned the great history of PITT football and our All-Americans and trophy winners that subject fell flat almost every time. The parents appreciated it a bit as a footnote “nice to know” type of thing and the kids didn’t seem to care at all. Of course that was due to the young age of recruits also.
I’d say for ‘regular recruits’ the order of importance it would be the personalities of the HC and his staff as the #1 reason, #2 was all the external things I mentioned above especially academics and life after football & college, and after that was how much playing time they could get. Maybe playing time came in at #2 for some but as often as not I heard about PITT life more than football, especially from the parents.
For most 4* star and 5* recruits of course it was the staff’s character, getting PT as soon as possible and the shot at the NFL was right up at the top of the list. however, some 4* kids I talked to mentioned PITT’s academics and a big factor in their choice.
BTW when I mentioned playing for a possible MNC I got a some strange looks along with “Yeah, that too”.
That’s why I keep saying that what we see in the recruiting articles and now in social media is like the tip of the iceberg. We don’t see or really know about 75% of what is really going down. It almost doesn’t matter what the kids say about what schools they want to go to until their parents buy off on that school and, in turn, the staff meets and talks with the family… then has the kid in for camp or drills to see his skills in person… or vice versa.
Also, one interesting thing is that a few parents mentioned that some of the recruiting info for their sons, specifically scholarship offers, was continually wrong and most often it was writers/researchers adding some big football schools when the kids never heard from them at all.
But ultimately you cannot win big if you don’t recruit big, so probably the most important aspect of a coaches job.
Hate to bring it up, but Narduzzi has it all over Chryst at least in terms of recruiting demeanor. Unlike Chryst who hired House and unknown. Narduzzi has said he only wants coaches that can recruit. Whether they can get it done remains to be seen, but he seems to have at least changed the mindset.
You build football teams with great linemen. Chryst got us some O guys, now Narduzzi has to keep it up and also stockpile bigtime D- linemen. Hendrix is a great start, but we need 2-4 more this year.
Dokish and the others want to be the first to break the story, that is important to their business. I am glad they are out there promoting Pitt and have a positive bias, and appreciate the info they bring to the table.
My favorite was Bob Prince, the biggest homer of them all. Like Emel says, there are enough negative Pitt reporters.
Going to Blacksburg for this years road trip.
gc – as I said I read all of Dokish’s stuff regularly but I have to be careful when I’m writing a ‘time driven’ article not to read anyone as I’m a stickler for my stuff being my own… unless I link and credit the author in print.
I don’t read his BB stuff much but he seems very knowledgable there also.
6/22/2015 – 2015 SG Kobe Eubanks (6-5, 213, 3.7*) | Position Rank: 29 committed to Alabama. – Per Link
6/22/2015 – 2016 PG C.J. Walker (6-0, 155, 2*) committed to Florida State.
6/18/2015 – 2017 SG Jarrod Simmons (6-4, -, 2*) has received an offer from Pittsburgh. – Per Link
6/16/2015 – 2017 SF D.J. Harvey (6-5, 175, 4.3*)
Overall Rank: 16 | Position Rank: 3 has received an offer from Pittsburgh. – Per Link
I’ll try to set something like that up after every game this season… or someone else can if I’m not driving up but it really was a great time.
Also, the ND game this season is only a few days after my 60th B-Day and I plan on doing something special for my PITT football friends to celebrate that milestone so make sure your liver is ready for that.
Apparently he was at Notre Dame’s camp a couple days ago.
As a LB, he would be a really good get.
Pat Signal up !
Pat Narduzzi ?@CoachDuzzPittFB 17 minutes ago Pennsylvania, USA
PITT IS IT! #H2P
Pat Signal was sent.
Apparently his friends were tweeting it before he told Narduzzi.
Adam Friedman ?@RivalsFriedman 51m51 minutes ago
I can confirm that 3-Star LB Chase Pine has committed to #Pitt link to sports.yahoo.com … @rivals @PantherLair @rivalsmike @PineStar11
Might be Nard Dog’s best recruit yet !!
H2P !
VeV ! (for whoever was requesting that)
This kid could be like 235-240 or more by soph. year.
Coach Harley ?@robharley34 30m30 minutes ago
Big time addition to the #pittfootball family tonight…Pitt Is It! Tiiiiiiiimbeeeeeer #runandhit
Agreed. On paper he looks like a fantastic pass rusher at OLB or DE after a red shirt year or so. I imagine him playing at 235-255.
At least on paper. But I said the same thing about Shayne Hale.
The proof will be on the field. But I like his chances with this staff and an attacking defense.
Getting a Virginia kid, that had offers from a lot of our ACC rivals, (UNC, VT, NCSU, UVA) could be big in gaining further in-roads in ACC country. (and SEC country, as he had an offer from Georgia)
and from the Hillbillies.
Same article said he did not start until HS playoffs last year. Very similar to MacVittie in that respect.
@ChrisDokish: Pitt hasn’t been that great at LB for a long time but that’s going to change big time in the near future.
@ChrisDokish: If things fall the way I think, the LBs and DBs at Pitt are going to be loaded soon. Have to get that DL, too. Then things will get serious.
@ChrisDokish: Other offers for Chase Pine included West Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, NC State, Virginia Tech, and Virginia.
Pine, a rising senior at Lafayette High, said Monday that he has committed to play for the University of Pittsburgh. He cited the close relationship he has built with Panthers linebackers coach Rob Harley and his desire to play for new head coach Pat Narduzzi.
Pine said Harley and Narduzzi convinced him that he could play early at outside linebacker for the Panthers.
“They feel I can guard receivers in the slot, run with tight ends and tackle running backs in the open field,” Pine said. “They said I have a linebacker’s mentality.”
It’s an attitude Pine, 6-foot-3 1/2, 220 pounds, has displayed since moving into the defensive starting lineup in November for Lafayette’s second playoff game. During the Rams’ ensuing four-game run that fell just six points short of a Group 3A state title, Pine had numerous sacks and tackles for loss as well as two interceptions and two fumble recoveries, one for a touchdown.
That’s why I think it is very hard to compare this class with any of Chryst’s because with his players the question of the “Chicken or the Egg” still isn’t answered. That question is were the kids not that good or did the defensive and their defensive position coaching suck so bad the kid’s talents couldn’t really shine?
I’ve a feeling that some of those players that Chryst recruited and we weren’t all that excited about when they played might show a completely different side with proper position and defensive coaching.
This is going to be a fun camp and I really hope it gets opened up for us media types to watch and talk about. (EJ, you listening??)
Of course for this to work you gotta start winning and we as fans have to make Heinz a better home field advantage and a place recruits want to call their home turf.
I am cautiously optimistic. As a Pitt fan the last 30 years, optimism has to be guarded…
Welcome aboard Chase Pine!
Hail to Pitt!!
The coaches are showing why most of us are excited again about a future for PITT football.
These coaches are earning their keep and they haven’t even coached their first game.
Maybe my expectations are much lower after the last four and 1/2 yrs.
5 star recruits aren’t knocking down walls to play for a team that can’t tell who’s coaching from week to week… year to year.
Also it’s interesting he’s only played a handful of games on defense, playoff games and he was an immediate playmaker on defense. As his team reached the State finals.
He could have an absolutely huge upside. Since at this time last year, he wasn’t on anybody’s radar.
Who’s next? WPIAL or FL?
The foundation has been set, now let’s build the powerhouse. OL and DL talent is needed next. I think the 412 defensive backs have us covered there. Need a WR or two and a high caliber rb. Go get em fellas!
Chase Pine has said on record that Notre Dame is his “dream school”. They have not offered as of yet…
Speaking of dreaming, I’m going to bed.
Welcome to Pitt Mr. Pine and Mr. Moss. We’re glad to have you. Make it a great experience…
HTP!
Maybe the karma is changing
Hail to Pitt on this one for sure!
