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.

It was somewhat surprising to see James Robinson not make the final cut for the USA Basketball U19 squad. After all, Robinson was a member of the gold-medal winning U18 squad from last year. The U19 coaching staff was the same from the U18 squad. Yet Robinson was essentially beaten out for a roster spot by Elfrid Payton of Lousiana-Lafayette.

The U19 squad is only bringing four true guards. Marcus Smart of Oklahoma State was a lock. Nearly as much of a lock, Rasheed Sulaimon from Duke and Michael Frazier. Frazier just happens to be on Billy Donovan’s –the U19 head coach — Florida squad.

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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?
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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…)

I’ve mentioned here before that I firmly believe Paul Chryst wants to turn our football team into Wisconsin East and I think we’ve seen that so far in his recruiting methods. But, I’m not one to casually look at something. I’m a numbers guy; I like cold hard stats. What would recruiting classes look like if Chryst successfully builds Wisconsin East? (more…)

Tuesdays are a bad day right now. The schedule has me away from a computer from the time I take the kids to school until sometime after I get the kids to bed.

Seems I missed a few things.

The unsurprising first. A couple players dismissed from the team in light of recent activities at their apartment.

Juniors Drew Carswell and Eric Williams are now gone from the team. The third player suspended in the incident, Khaynin Mosley-Smith, remains suspended indefinitely.

“We have strict and clear standards regarding these types of behaviors,” Chryst said in a statement released on Friday afternoon. “What has occurred with these three young men does not represent the standards of our program or university.”

I don’t know why Mosley-Smith was not dismissed from the team. It doesn’t mean he won’t be, but his status may be a little more gray. I have a speculation, but I don’t know if it is so.

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Since the season ended there have been rumors that J.J. Moore would transfer. On its face it made little sense. Moore just finished his junior year. He did not graduate early so he couldn’t be a graduate transfer. If he left, he would have to sit out a year which seems flat-out odd for a kid heading into his senior year and only a year of eligibility left.

Yet the rumors and reports are getting stronger.

A report surfaced Sunday night that Pitt junior forward J.J. Moore has decided to transfer, but there was no official confirmation from the university.

An athletic department spokesperson said Moore has not yet asked for his release, and as of Sunday night, had not informed coach Jamie Dixon of a decision.

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports Network reported via his Twitter account that Moore had decided to transfer per a source.

Nothing before or after that tweet. No follow up.

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The situation with Khaynin Mosley-Smith, Eric Williams and Drew Carswell, is not as bad as it could be. But it really isn’t good. I won’t be surprised if all three never play again for Pitt. I also won’t be shocked if two of the three get reinstated by the start of camp in August.

To say they made some bad choices is putting it mildly.

Police had been conducting an ongoing investigation in South Oakland and bought 20 stamp bags of heroin for $185 on Thursday night outside a house on Juliet Street from a man identified as Darnell Reed-Young, 22, according to a criminal complaint.

Police obtained a search warrant for the house, and as they prepared to enter, a man identified as Khaynin Mosley-Smith, 21, left the house.

Mosley-Smith, a member of the Pitt football team, told police that he lived there.

When police searched the home early Friday, they found drug packaging material and paraphernalia. Also inside were Pitt players Eric Williams, 20, and Andrew Carswell, 21. Police found a digital scale with white residue in Carswell’s bedroom.

Police charged the three football players by summons with prohibited acts.

Reed-Young admitted selling the heroin to a detective, police said, and all three Pitt players live in the home. He was taken to the Allegheny County Jail and faces several drug-related charges, including possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.

Do I think the three were shooting up or dealing? No. Do I think they were knowingly allowing someone who was dealing, do it from their place? Yes.

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Here’s the story.

The three players are  linebacker Eric Williams, tight end Andrew Carswell, and defensive linemen Khanyin Moslesy-Smith. They were arrested for possession/usage and in the same room as them were 20-bags of heroin, a marijuana bong, and a copper grinder. While they are innocent until proven guilty, I expect swift action from Chryst and the Athletic Department.

Please don’t be too disrespectful to the coaches. Keep in mind a lot of these problems were inherited, especially Drew Carswell. Feel free to extrapolate what you want when I single out Carswell. I’ll never post second hand knowledge, but with what I know about Drew…it doesn’t surprise me at all.

*edit*

Update: All 3 have been suspended indefinitely from the football team.

Since I’ve been analyzing the NFL Draft for 7 or 8 years now, I figured this would be a good time to go over what Pitt seniors can expect. Forewarning, my answers are going to be a bit less optimistic than you’re reading elsewhere. I know I’ve been an optimist on here for a lot of things, so don’t take my opinion as a negative thought on our seniors. This is my realistic opinion as to what will happen.

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Jared Shanker of ESPN reported that Chandler Kincade has decommitted. There are a lot of variables here, notably Paul Chyrst’s nephew, Keller. This could mean one of several things. Most likely, either Kincade has soured on Pitt for one reason or another (like our pursuit of Keller) or the coaches informed Kincade it would be wise for him to look elsewhere because of Keller. All I will say at this point is don’t jump to conclusions. A lot of things happen behind the scenes and recruiting is a goal, not a journey. Commits fall off all of the time, especially early ones. Let’s allow things to settle and then we’ll know more.

Chris Peak has confirmed it as well,  so it’s safe to say with two separate reports, this is true. This development shouldn’t surprise many since Kincade has looked elsewhere and he was originally a Graham verbal who stuck with his commitment after Paul Chryst took over.

Before I go into detail, it was very apparent on my second watch that the defense was consistently playing at about 80%. They were going slow in pass rush, playing off in coverage, and slowing down before a tackle. They were playing to prevent injuries. It was a lot more extreme than you usually see in a spring game and I’m assuming it was by design to play a bit slower.

The best thing to start with is standout players. Who jumped out on tape?

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Number two on my list of concerns, five being the least worrisome and one being the most, is our talent and quality of coaching on the Special Teams.

This area of the team is of particular concern to me because no one has even heard of any names at particular positions nor who will actually be coaching them.  That is a bit disconcerting to me as I truly feel that Special Teams are a full one third of the whole necessary for success.

The only thing we know for sure going into the Spring Game is that our punter for 2013 will be rsSR Matt Yoklic who did a good job for us as a starter in 2013.  From his bio:

In his first season as Pitt’s starting punter, averaged 41.2 yards on 62 punts…season average ranked second in the Big East…had a long of 58 (at Rutgers)…placed 21 punts inside the 20-yard line for the year…over the final six regular-season contests, Yoklic placed 18 punts inside the 20…averaged a career-best 46.8 yards on five punts against Cincinnati…also served as Pitt’s primary holder on placements…named to the Big East All-Academic Football Team for the second consecutive season.

So we have that position set and interestingly enough we’ll have two FR kickers on scholarship with the backup punter FR Ryan Winslow and the new placekicker FR Chris Blewitt who is the only scholarship PK we have now that Kevin Harper has graduated  It’s a pretty safe bet that these two players will be the starting kicker and punter even though we also have Brad Lukasak and Drake Greer on roster also.

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(Note: I expanded the bit about DEs from my Notes From the Front Lines Part 2 and sent it to ChantRant – this is it below)

Number three on my list of concerns, five being the least worrisome and one being the most, is our remaining talent at Defensive End.

PITT has been hit with what might be called “Slow White Guy Syndrome” (SWGS), pronounced “sweeegs”,  at DE over the last year and going into this season.  At a snapshot taken today we are in a world of hurt if rsJR Dave Durham, an ex-fullback transfer from Ohio State and rsSR Jack Lippert, a career fill-in player on both sides of the LOS, see substantial playing time at the DE position.

Lippert was a high school “Prep Star” and “Tom Lemming All-American” DE so back in 2009 when he chose PITT we thought he’d move right into the DE rotation after a redshirt year. What we actually got was a player who the coaching staffs moved around to try to find playing time for him. He played DE, Center, Right Tackle then landed back at DE last season. He is a player who I really looked forward to watching play at PITT based on his HS career but, as with Dorin Dickerson, the staff never really knew what to do with him.  Let’s hope he has a DD-like SR year.

Dave Durham was recruited for the defensive line by OSU, redshirted his FR year and then was switched to Fullback, got some playing time, didn’t like his future there so he slapped Urban Myer repeatedly across the face and then came to PITT

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by Lilburn Nole for ChantRant.com

Three quarters through the 2012 season there probably were very few people that were thinking this would be a question heading into 2013. The surprising decision by Menelik Watson to forgo his senior season and enter the NFL draft after just one full season of highly competitive football has forced that to the #1 spot on the minds of many Seminole fans. It will be very interesting to watch this spring and see what direction the coaches go to find a right tackle replacement.

The easiest option is for some one just to step up at RT. Bobby Hart (Jr.) would be the obvious answer considering he started the last 9 games of the 2012 season, but for whatever reason (a discussion for another time) he fell out of favor in the 2012 season playing in only 8 games with 0 starts. What’s more, when he did find the field it was often at the guard position and not tackle.

The only other player on the roster with some game experience at tackle would be Garrett Faircloth (RS Sr.). The oft-injured Faircloth has good length and technique, but lacks some in the size and strength category. Faircloth only played in 2 games in 2012 but played in 11 games in 2011 making 6 starts, but all of them at guard. Update: Faircloth has been medically disqualified for spring due to a shoulder injury, so scratch him off.

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