The open secret, about where Bethel Park offensive tackle, Mike Grimm will announce his verbal commitment got a bit of a leak was revealed early. Quietly.

The Trib website is already posting an article by Kevin Gorman on Mike Grimm making his verbal to Pitt (so we will see how long until it gets pulled).

In the meantime…

He is Pitt’s first of two WPIAL recruits and fifth overall from the Class of 2014.

“All the Pitt coaches made me feel comfortable,” Grimm said. “They respected me as a player and made sure everything was OK. They were grown-up about the situation and made me see that I could really grow as a person and as a football player from being there with them.”
…
A three-year starter for the Black Hawks, Grimm switched from left tackle to strong-side last season because Bethel Park’s quarterback, Levi Metheny, is left-handed. Grimm projects as a right tackle in college.

Grimm is excited about playing alongside former prep All-Americans Adam Bisnowaty of Fox Chapel and Dorian Johnson of Belle Vernon on Pitt’s offensive line in the future.

“It made me feel more comfortable, meeting those guys and talking to them at games this year,” Grimm said. “It made me feel like it was a good place to be because everybody is at the same caliber, and we can succeed the same way. We can make each other better.”

Being close to home was an obvious factor in his decision.

(more…)

QB Adam Bertke from Maria Stein, Ohio has given his verbal to Pitt. Rivals.com does not have a rating on him yet but Scout.com, ESPN and 247 have him as a 3* prospect and Scout lists him as the #50 overall QB. He’s 6’5 210 and had offers from Illinois, Bowling Green, Toledo, Kent State. This is a big pickup because this is the QB the coaches want other than Keller Chryst. They let Chandler Kincade decommit because they weren’t high on him. However it would have been poor form to take his offer away so the coaches honored it. (Kincade was a Pitt verbal at QB until a few months ago. He recently gave his verbal to Akron). When Kincade left the picture, the coaches could pursue other options openly and Bertke appears to be the guy they coveted.

The big downside with Bertke is that he plays in the lowest level of high school football in Ohio. He did lead his team to a 10-2 record last year and has had some sniffs from the big boys like Ohio State and Michigan. The good news is that he’s obviously not expected to start right away or anything, so he’ll have time to adjust to the college game. The QB position is one where you can never have enough options. Tony Pike was the 3rd option in Cinci after Ben Mauk couldn’t get a 6th season of eligibility and Dustin Grutza broke his ankle. Anything will be better than what we’ve had behind Tino Sunseri the past 2 seasons.

Hopefully we have another verbal tomorrow. 4* OT Mike Grimm may be announcing tomorrow afternoon. The Bethel Park standout worked out on campus this past Friday. All signs point to a Pitt verbal if he does announce tomorrow. This recruiting class could look a lot better over the course of 24 hours.

*edit*

Chris Peak from Rivals is reporting that Dennis Briggs from Shady Side Academy has also given us a verbal. He’s a 5’11 190lb RB/DB From Pittsburgh. He had offers from us, Toledo, and Yale.

Jalen Williams became verbal #2 yesterday when he committed to Coach Chryst and company. Williams is a Safety from Newburgh, New York (maybe the h after the burg closed the deal) and a 3 star prospect on both Rivals and Scout. Rivals also has him ranked as the 6th best prospect in New York. While New York isn’t exactly a football hotbed, it’s still impressive to be a top 10 prospect in the state. One quote from an interview with PantherLair jumped out at me and really affirms the recruiting philosophy:

When they were recruiting me, they weren’t arrogant about anything, they weren’t lying to me; they were being honest with me. They’re just a good staff.

Williams is listed at 6’2 180 and had offers from Syracuse, Temple, Buffalo, and a few others. He was on an unofficial visit and was here to participate in an invite only workout with 10 or 11 other players.  His primary recruiter was DE/LB coach John Palermo.

I know a lot of people aren’t pleased with the lack of results thus far and a few of the players we haven’t landed, but as I mentioned on the Optimistic portion of my OvP column on recruiting: it’s an end game. It’s not over a player chisels his name into stone faxes over his Herbie Hancock. Sorry, I forgot which antiquated method of communication is used to submit a verbal.

One chiseled stone we’re eager to get is Washington, PA RB Shai McKenzie. McKenzie released his top 5 in order of preference yesterday. Right now, the list is Florida State, Pitt, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, and Arkansas. Local paper the Observer Reporter had an interview with Shai and he told Jason Mackey how he narrowed his list down.

“Who was honest,” McKenzie answered. “Relationships. What did I like about a lot of these schools. Which coaches kept in contact with me and showed their interest. If I was a priority or not.”

That seems to bode well for us. If we aren’t showing McKenzie that he’s a top priority something is very wrong. Given that we’re #2 on his list it’s safe to assume he knows how desperately he’s wanted. If Chryst and company land McKenzie and Keller Chryst, no one will complain about recruiting for a few months.

Who the hell am I kidding? Yinz will always find something to complain about; it’s Pitt sports. There’s always a reason. On a personal note, sorry for the lack of posts from me lately. I’ve been busy and had some personal issues to deal with (sorry for the twitter whining, followers) but hopefully things will ease up a little bit soon.

Okay, this seems to be a procedural snafu, but it put a scare into me when I saw the headline screaming of failing to appear for a hearing.

Two men who were members of the University of Pittsburgh football team when police said they were caught with drug paraphernalia failed to appear in court for their preliminary hearings this morning.

One of them, Khanyin Mosley-Smith, 21, came to city court later this afternoon with a letter confirming that he had performed community service and will have his charge dismissed, according to Mike Manko, a spokesman for the Allegheny County district attorney’s office.

The other, Eric Williams, 20, did not show and was held for trial in Common Pleas Court, Mr. Manko said.

So missing the hearing, not a big deal since the matter was all resolved. No real harm or foul there.

Whether he gets back on the squad this year — or next — is still an open question. He is still suspended indefinitely.

Apparently the tryout with the Baltimore Ravens didn’t work out for Tino Sunseri. That won’t deter him from following his dream. Even it it takes him to the Great White North. Cue it up:

Can’t believe there was never an actual video made.

Sunseri is trying to make the Saskatchewan Rough Riders. Credit for noting this to Cardiac Hill.

(more…)

Hope you weren’t thinking that you will see FSU visit Heinz Field more frequently than once a decade or so. The ACC released the football home and away crossover match-ups for the next ten years on a nice color coded PDF.

Pitt will face division opponents in the Coastal every year. Those teams are Virginia Tech, Miami, UNC, GT, Duke and Virginia. In addition, Syracuse will be Pitt’s cross-division annual opponent. Or “rival” I suppose. That covers seven games. After that it’s a rotation through the other six teams in the Atlantic division.

With Notre Dame rotating through five games against ACC teams per year, there is no way that the ACC will be moving to a 9-game schedule. That’s what makes the decision to stick with a permanent cross-division opponent so questionable. It is clear that it was done for the benefit of keeping FSU-Miami as an annual match-up. Not to mention placating NC State for not being in the same division as UNC and Duke with an annual UNC game. Otherwise there makes little sense in having permanent cross-over games.

(more…)

Among the roughly 70 programs in the 5.5 major conferences only a handful of programs have just two recruits: Nebraska, Colorado and West Virginia. At one solitary recruit: Oregon State, UCLA, Indiana and Pitt.

Yes, Pitt is in the mix for many key players. In their top-3, -4, -5, -8. So far that hasn’t done much good. Pitt struck out twice over the weekend with two important targets. They weren’t 5-star elite talent, but they were good players in areas of need from Pennsylvania. They were players that it had at least appeared Pitt had placed something of a priority on securing their commitments.

Is there reason to panic? Absolutely not. There’s an entire summer. There are the camps. Most of Pitt’s biggest targets have not made a choice. Not to mention, unlike last year, Pitt can’t give out 25+ scholarships. There are only 18 seniors on this roster. This is not going to be a particularly high volume class.

But is there reasons to be concerned? Oh, hell yes.

(more…)

In the world of Pitt Athletics, there are two dueling factions: those who look for the silver lining and those who think the sky is falling. This is their column.

*insert Law&Order dun dun here*

This week’s Optimist vs. Pessimist topic is the slow start in football recruiting. With only one verbal so far (OG Connor Hayes) a lot of fans are concerned with Chryst’s inability to close. Even Penn State has 9 verbals at the moment and they’re sanctioned by the NCAA. While obviously Pitt isn’t a top notch destination at the moment, you’d think we wouldn’t appear to be way behind a school with a scholarship penalty.

Are those who are concerned justified in their fears or are they just impatient?
(more…)

Don’t forget, today is National Networking Day for Pitt. Hopefully you have something happening in your area. Unfortunately, nothing here in the Cleveland area. If you are involved, feel free to leave specific info about your city’s event in the comments below.

Jester Weah has wheels.

With graduation from Madison (Wis.) Memorial High School and his first class at Pitt awaiting come June, Weah will try to make Wisconsin track and field history Friday and Saturday at the state championships at Wisconsin-Lacrosse University. He is the No. 1 seed in the 100-meter run and No. 3 in the 200, with school-record times of 10.59 and 21.94 seconds — in his first full year of running track.

“That’s crazy to think about,” Weah said.

He’s 6-3, 190 pounds and can run like that. Can’t say he doesn’t have the raw tools. It would be nice in a few years to have Wisconsin fans wondering how they missed a kid in their own town.

(more…)

37 days until Pitt is officially a member of the ACC (July 1).

72 days until the day training camp opens for Pitt (August 5).

100 days until FSU-Pitt kicks off (September 2).

I may have to go out and buy a preview guide.

Lindy’s comes out this Tuesday (May 28).

Phil Steele on Tuesday, June 18.

I’ll try to post over the weekend — here’s hoping that there won’t be any bad news necessitating it.

But heading into the weekend, let’s check in with West Virginia football scheduling plans.

The move to the Big 12 costs West Virginia its rivalry game with Pittsburgh, and the Mountaineers only have Maryland remaining as a natural non-league rival, and that could end when the Terrapins may the questionable move to the Big 10.

“I would love to get Pitt back on the schedule, I would love to get (Virginia) Tech back on the schedule, I would to get UVa back on the schedule, another school that we used to play a lot, and even Penn State,” [WVU AD Oliver] Luck said. “Is that possible? Well, it takes two to tango, but I think the good news is we will see some stronger non-conference schedules as we go forward.”

The wonderful thing about the article is how it is completely couched in trying to build a schedule for the future college football playoff. Getting the right strength of schedule and all that. Oliver Luck — and of course the writer of the piece — doesn’t even mention the travel costs for WVU as an issue. No not that. That isn’t at all the point.

(more…)

Been quiet. Too quiet on the football side. Can’t have that.

Offensive lineman Arthur Doakes is “transferring.” Doakes finally got a chance to play when injuries took their (seemingly) annual toll on the O-line. Doakes responded to the opportunity and was playing well to the end of the regular season. One of the few “project” offensive linemen Dave Wannstedt brought in that actually developed.

Unfortunately, he was suspended before the BBVA Bowl. He remained suspended through spring practices. Reportedly/rumor the suspension would have run for the entire 2013 season. Doakes would have been a redshirt junior this year, so the suspension would have killed one of his two remaining years of eligibility. Not to mention the likelihood of never getting back on the depth chart by the time he was a senior.

Best guess is that he drops to 1-AA or lower to be immediately eligible. Once more, concern for the O-line depth makes its annual appearance.

(more…)

If there’s one thing anyone who follows Pitt will notice, it’s that there are two dueling factions: optimists and pessimists. There are some, like myself, who look for the silver lining and inevitably take too long to see a problem. Then there are the pessimists who see the faults in everything and given Pitt’s recent history, end up right more often than not. While an optimist, I can’t argue that the pessimistic side of Pitt fans has sadly been correct a lot lately. This inspired me to create a new weekly column here on Pitt Blather. It’s called OvP: Optimist vs. Pessimist.

Today’s subject is Keller Chryst. For those who aren’t aware, Keller is one of the top QB recruits in the 2014 class and the son of Geep Chryst, Paul’s brother. Keller has consistently listed Pitt as one of his top 2 or 3 schools and the interest appears to be legitimate. Even with the family connection, if Pitt lands Keller it will be a huge addition and give the program a ton of positive publicity. The addition of Keller will enable the staff to recruit much more effectively with a top QB prospect on the way.

But is Keller sincerely interested or is he just helping his Uncle out by listing Pitt as an option? (more…)

Last spring, Monessen QB Chavas Rawlins was one of the first commits to the Hoopies. The athletic, dual-threat QB was so enthusiastic about the decision that he was an early enrollee.

Things have changed.

Freshman quarterback Chavas Rawlins will transfer from West Virginia, his former high school coach at Monessen confirmed with the Post-Gazette this afternoon.

Coach Andy Pacak said Rawlins was recruited by and had developed a strong relationship with former quarterbacks coach Jake Spavital who left to take a position at Texas A&M earlier this year.

“Everyone at West Virginia was great to him, but as you now he came in right when Jake left. His initial decision was I’m gonna go down there and make the most of it, but that (loss of Spavital) weighed on him a little bit,” said Pacak.

It also just happens that WVU took in a Florida State QB transfer, Clint Trickett this spring. Trickett is considered a talented QB who could have the job after sitting this year. Not to mention another highly ranked QB verballed to WVU this spring.

(more…)

Hope everyone had a good weekend and did something nice for their mom, grandma and/or mother of your child (children). We were down at the in-laws. Where there is no wi-fi and a poor internet connection.

On Sunday it finally became official that Deaysean Rippy was transferring from Pitt.

Rippy said he wasn’t totally sure about Pitt when he signed his letter of intent in February 2012.

“I was on the verge of being sure,” he said. “I was kind of overwhelmed. I was an 18-year-old kid at the time. That’s a lot of pressure.”

Rippy said he’s unsure where he will enroll this year, but he said he has been in contact with some Pac-12 schools, including Colorado.

And now he’s past the verge of being sure he wants to be somewhere else.

(more…)