Just because there is always some sort of domino effect, even if it isn’t actually related. Pitt has yet another commit for today. Greg Gaskins out of York, PA gave a verbal to Pitt. Gaskins is a center and considered by PantherLair.com (Rivals.com) as the 32nd best player in the state. The 6′ 4″, 290 pound center also had an offer from Maryland. He was starting to draw interest from BC, WVU, PSU and Rutgers but not offering yet.

No rhyme or reason to the commits by way of geography, but over the last couple days the theme has been O-line. This is a good thing. Geez, this is a good thing.

All condolonces to Northwestern University football and the Walker family. Randy Walker, well to be honest I know nothing about the man himself, but he was a hell of a good football coach. The job he has done at Northwestern in the Big 11 has been extremely impressive.

Much closer to home, a good friend and commenter here, Shawn, just lost his mother to a heart attack this week. Norma Jean Furey was 61. There are never any good words. Just letting you know we are very sorry.

If nothing happens from now through the July 4 holiday, I would still say that Pitt has had an excellent recruiting week. Now comes news of 2 more recruits.

The big one (in more than one way) is Dan Matha out of Erie, PA. Matha is the top rated OT in Pennsylvania. PSR has him at #16 overall in rankings of players in Pennsylvania. PantherLair.com (Rivals.com) puts him as the 14th best player in PA. Scout has him as a 3-star recruit. He had offers in hand from Maryland and WVU, and was drawing interest from Penn St. and Notre Dame.

The other verbal comes from a kid out of Santaluces HS in Lantana, Florida (not Texas). Nick Krupa is a 6’3″, 225 pound TE. He’s (hopefully) something of a sleeper. Pitt appears to be the only one who offered so far, but it would appear he had interest from Auburn, Miami and UCLA among others.

Houston has finally confirmed that it will host a bowl this year.

The yet-to-be-named bowl, which will replace the financially strapped Houston Bowl, will be held Dec. 28 at Reliant Stadium. The game will be managed by Lone Star Sports & Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Texans. Under the four-year agreement, the bowl will rotate in teams from the Big 12, Big East, Conference USA and Mountain West conferences.

Details have not been finalized, but this year’s game tentatively will feature the Big 12’s No. 8 team against the No. 4 Big East team, according to two college football officials. C-USA would provide a team at least twice during the four-year agreement, conference commissioner Britton Banowsky said.

The title sponsor and broadcast partner could be named later this week. The game is expected to be televised in prime time on the NFL Network.

The payout was dropped from $1.2 million to $750,000. The bowl still owes around $1.2 million to the Big 12 and Mountain West for this past year’s Houston Bowl. There’s no guarantees that they’ll ever see that money. Still the Big 12 continues to participate because they aren’t going to give up their “turf”.

As posted late yesterday, Myles Caregein out of Keystone Oaks High, gave his verbal to Pitt.

Myles Caragein has played virtually every skill position on a football field, but his prowess on a wrestling mat had college coaches dreaming of the Keystone Oaks star playing defensive tackle.

The sport has taught Caragein an understanding of leverage, and he used his considerable talent to draw 30 scholarship offers from schools in the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten and Pac-10 conferences.

The 6-foot-3, 270-pound Caragein ended his recruitment Thursday by making a verbal commitment to Pitt, choosing the Panthers over North Carolina, N.C. State, Northwestern and Purdue. Clemson, Iowa, Maryland and Stanford were among his offers.

“I’ve been thinking about it the last couple weeks, and it just came to me that I wanted to go to Pitt,” said Caragein, who has a 3.7 grade-point average and was recruited by Greg Gattuso. “The hometown atmosphere, good academics and, more importantly, the coaching staff – I fell in love with them.”

Caragein plays DE at Keystone, but will move to DT at Pitt.

“It became very clear to me that coach Wannstedt was the coach I trusted the most,” said Caragein, who stands 6 feet 1 and weighs 265 pounds. “Once I established that, I figured it was time to end the recruiting process and start focusing on Keystone Oaks getting a WPIAL championship.”

Caragein, who is rated the 15th-best prospect in Pennsylvania by Rivals.com and the 11th best by Scout.com, had offers from a number of schools, but the ones he considered most were from Iowa, Purdue, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Stanford and Northwestern. He carries a 3.8 GPA and said academics were a big part of his decision.

Both consider Caragein a 3-star prospect. Additionally Chris Dokish for PSR has Caragein as the 12th best prospect in the state.

The day before, OT John Fieger committed, and PSR has him as 33d best in the state. Fieger likes the idea of being part of something with the class that is coming in for 2007.

Fieger is projected to play left tackle, where he has been a two-year starter for Upper Perkiomen, a District 1-AAA school in Pennsburg. Fieger spent time at Pitt’s skills camp with two Panthers recruits, Keystone Oaks offensive guard Chris Jacobson and Manheim Township quarterback Pat Bostick.

“Knowing you’re going to have the best quarterback in the state going to the same school, I’d like to block for him and help him win championships,” Fieger said. “Pitt is going to be on the rise. I’d like to be a part of the program and help build it.”

Amazingly, and somewhat rare to read, he seems patient about when he gets out there.

“There really was nothing not to love about the city, the campus and the coaching staff,” said Fieger, who is the first player from Upper Perkiomen to receive a Division I scholarship since 1968. “I really fit in well there. I know they are trying to rebuild the offensive line and hopefully I can be a big part of that.”

Fieger benches 280 pounds 18 times and squats 475. He had offers from Akron and Temple and also was attracting interest from Virginia and Connecticut.

Fieger’s commitment means the Panthers are halfway to finding four offensive linemen for the class of ’07.

“I think early playing time wasn’t a big factor — I’d probably rather redshirt because I think that’s what is best for a player at my position,” Fieger said.

Just nice to see the lines starting to fill.