How desperate is Bobby Gonzalez at Seton Hall? This desperate.

Herb Pope has been granted a release from New Mexico State and is considering a transfer.

I think I’ll have more thoughts on this subject later, like on Friday.

But either way, it’s gonna be tough on second-year coach Marvin Menzies if he loses his most-talented player less than three months before the season. Pope averaged 11.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game as a freshman in 2007-08. But the most telling stat was that New Mexico State went 9-10 before Pope joined the team and 12-4 with him in the lineup.

For what it’s worth, Pope has already visited Seton Hall.

That will be fun for Seton Hall fans to spin. Talent, but a lot — a hell of a lot - of baggage.

UPDATE: Should this be a shock? Pope isn’t going anywhere. Apparently he wanted to get the NCAA to give him a waiver to play right away before any transfer. The NCAA doesn’t do that. You have to transfer first, then apply for the waiver. So, rather than risk denial, he’s staying (apparently and for now). Duquesne was also considered by Pope.

Well, Josh Marks had his second visit to Pitt’s practice this morning.

Josh Marks, the former Southern Columbia star who left the Penn State team last week, watched practice from the sidelines for the second time in a week. He has been released from his scholarship at Penn State and appears set to transfer to Pitt, although nothing is official.

I’ve heard through the grapevine that Marks was making nice progress but apparently couldn’t get out of Joe Paterno’s doghouse despite being on the second-team at right guard (behind Central Catholic graduate Stefen Wisniewski) as a redshirt freshman.

By this afternoon there was something official.

Former Penn State offensive lineman Josh Marks has enrolled at Pitt and will join the Panthers next week when classes begin as a walk-on.

He will be able to play for Pitt next season since he is enrolled at Pitt for the fall, but begin practicing next week.

The controversy at Penn State was over his conditioning. There is little dispute he was overweight. With a year of only practicing and Buddy Morris working with him, we’ll find out whether it was the something more that was bothering him at Penn State.

I’m cautiously optimistic about this. At the very least, this is a low-risk gamble. Marks was a top OL recruit, that Pitt really wanted. His work ethic had never been questioned before. Again, the reports — even before his departure — were that he had struggled with conditioning from the spring onward.

If it was a short term slump on his part he will get over it and Pitt greatly benefits. If it really is his attitude, then the team will probably figure it out before the end of this year.

Will Clarke out of Allderdice has apparently given a verbal to Pitt.

According to Allderdice coach Don Schmidt, Clarke, 6 feet 6, 245-pounds, will choose Pitt after also considering scholarship offers from West Virginia and several Mid-American Conference schools.

Also a tight end at Allderidice, Clarke is seen as a tremendously raw recruit with the potential improve exponentially. He helped lead the Dragons to the City League title game last season.

Clarke comes from great athletic bloodlines — he is the son of Bill Clarke, who started on the fabled 1976 Fifth Avenue High School basketball team before going on to play at Duquesne.

Colin Dunlap at the P-G — who broke the story — seems to love this guy. Going so far as to say he’s got Greg Romeus potential. The star-ratings are not so kind. Scout.com puts him at 1-star. Rivals.com gives him 2 and says he’s the 40th best prospect in the commonwealth.

Obviously he is a complete project who likely won’t be seen on the field for a bit. A redshirt will definitely be in his future.

Then there is Darrin Walls, the cornerback who went to ND. There are lots of rumors swirling about Walls who would be a junior. The one that most care about is that he plans to transfer to Pitt. It’s hard to say anything definite at this point, so here’s the background to date.

Walls, it was announced by Notre Dame, would not be enrolled this fall. Instead coming back to Pittsburgh for personal reasons. ND Coach Weis stated that he expected/hoped that Walls would be able to return in the spring semester. Other coaches for ND have echoed that they expect him back. The persistent rumor is that he has some academic problems that led to his not playing this year. What doesn’t quite make sense in that is why he went home to Pittsburgh for the year.

Now, if Walls does indeed want to/plans to transfer to Pitt or any 1-A program he has to sit out 2 semesters (one year). So it would behoove him to enroll before the fall semester would get underway. That would allow him to play next year.

The other thing to consider is getting released from his scholarship at ND. I don’t know ND’s decisionmaking on this sort of thing, but it would not at all surprise me if they don’t release him this year. Especially to Pitt considering the two schools will be meeting over the next six years. That would require Walls to enroll and pay his own way (think Joe Flacco or Luke Getsy).

There’s what is posted in a media day transcript, then there is the information that gets left out or is supplemented by the athletic department in the form of handouts. Case in point, Maurice Williams is gone from Pitt for good.

Enrolled at Edinboro: Former Strong Vincent High star Maurice Williams is enrolled at Edinboro, coach Scott Browning confirmed Monday.

“He enrolled last week,” said Browning, who declined further comment.

At Pittsburgh’s media day Monday, coach Dave Wannstedt confirmed that Williams is in the process of transferring.

A quarterback in high school, Williams played wide receiver at Pitt as a true freshman in 2007 before becoming academically ineligible for the upcoming 2008 season.

Williams was initially expected to redshirt this season and resume play for the Panthers in 2009. Then Pitt gave Williams permission to talk with Edinboro earlier this summer.

If academically eligible, Williams can play this season. If not, he’ll have to sit out until next season. Edinboro opens practice Thursday.

Well, that’s that. Good luck to Williams. If he really has NFL dreams like his talent suggested, he’s made it that much harder on himself to get there.

Kevin Gorman blogged lots of goodies. Players who are gone besides Williams also include Shane Brooks (academics), Dan Loheyde (medical hardship), Sherod Murdock (suspended indefinitely then left team) and Dustin Walters (quit).

Just when it seemed the transfer stuff was over, there is the possibility of a Mizzou transfer. Keon Lawrence, a sophomore shooting guard from New Jersey seems to really want to be back east — specifically in the Big East.

“The reason why he’s leaving Missouri is he kind of wants to come home, family things and stuff,” said Lawrence’s skills trainer Mike Rodgers. “We’re going to concentrate on the Big East as far as his recruitment. We are concentrating on Villanova, Seton Hall, Rutgers and St. John’s, and moving along to looking into Providence, Pittsburgh and Marquette. We have a timetable on how we’re going to do it. I’ve had conversations with a number of Big East coaches.”

Lawrence was a 3-star recruit in the 2006 class. Rivals.com had him ranked 101st in their overall-150 and the 23d best SG. He was not among the slew of Mizzou players that ended up suspended for fighting at a club..

Lawrence slipped a bit in his sophomore year. Despite averaging more minutes, his scoring only increased slightly to 11 ppg (from 9.7) as his shooting percentages from the perimeter and the FT line fell — though, he did see a slight rise in 2PT FG%.

I just don’t see a lot of interest on either side, but it is worth taking note.