Maybe it’s nothing, maybe it’s everything. Either way, this story sent a chill down my spine with regards to Pitt football recruiting.

Penn Hills quarterback Anthony Morelli, Pitt’s marquee recruit from the Class of 2004, has told Panthers coaches he is going to talk to other schools because of their silence over his snub by a national all-star game.
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Morelli, who gave Pitt a verbal commitment in August, has received overtures from Ohio State, Penn State and UCLA, among others, since December.

He would be Pitt’s second high-profile WPIAL recruit to re-open the recruiting process. North Hills tailback Andrew Johnson has scheduled an official visit to Ohio State this weekend. Verbal commitments are non-binding. The national letter of intent signing period begins Feb. 4.

According to the story, Morelli is bent because he wasn’t selected to play in a national high school all-star game. The head coach of the squad he would have played for is the father of Tyler Palko — a redshirt sophmore, who will be competing for the starting position with Morelli in the next couple of years. Morelli claims that the Palkos punked him out of the all star game — the coach Palko claims he had nothing to do with it, that he doesn’t have a say in who is selected for the squads.

Pitt coach Walt Harris is in Florida (presumably recruiting) but will be returning to talk to the Morellis.

This thing stinks. I have trouble buying that Morelli is going to consider other schools just weeks before the national letter of intent day due to being snubbed. It sounds like a crock, that Morelli was just looking for an excuse to reconsider his options after getting plenty of whispers about the future of Pitt football and the Big East. If he just admitted that, I would have a hard time getting annoyed with the news because it is what we feared when the ACC staged its raid.

I’m back to praying for the Big 11 miracle.