An important thing for Henry Hynoski, Jr. was to make a decision before his senior year of HS began. He is Pitt’s 11th verbal and the 5th from the Eastern half of Pennsylvania.
It wasn’t just Coaches Wannstedt and Dunn (who’s recruiting responsibility is to focus on the Eastern part of Pennsylvania). Running Backs Coach David Walker gave Hynoski clear visuals of how he could and would be used and coached.
Pitt is in desperate need of fullbacks, with sophomore Conredge Collins and junior Mark Yezovich the only scholarship players at the position. Hynoski was told by Panthers running backs coach David Walker that he could play in both traditional and one-back sets.
“He showed me all the films from when he used to coach at Syracuse. He had five fullbacks who made it to the NFL and said that’s his goal for me,” said Hynoski, whose father, Henry Sr., played at Temple and was a sixth-round draft choice of the Cleveland Browns in 1975. “It’s a long way down the road. I’ve got to take one step at a time.”
With Hynoski, Pitt and Coach Wannstedt laid the groundwork early.
“I always knew in the back of my mind that it was going to be Pitt, ever since my sophomore year when they started recruiting me,” Hynoski said before approximately 50-60 friends, family, teammates, coaches, and members of the media. “I just wanted to go through the whole process, just to make sure that I covered all of my options.”
At 6-foot-2, 235 pounds, Hynoski is a physical runner who gets many of his yards between the tackles. In his first three years of high school football, he’s rushed for nearly 5,000 yards and scored 72 touchdowns. His college choice ultimately came down to Pitt and Iowa, and both schools promised to use him as a running back and receiver.
“That’s what was so appealing about Pittsburgh,” Hynoski said. “I’m not just going to be in there to be a blocker. A lot of schools, that’s all they want nowadays. (The Pitt coaches) are thinking that I can run the ball from the fullback spot. I can line up as a single back and tailback. And I can move out to wide receiver, and create mismatches on linebackers.”
[Emphasis added.]
Hynoski announced at his high school (and the link to the quoted article above, has a picture of Hynoski donning a PITT hat).
For all the attention other schools and their fans have paid to the “wall” comment about Western Pennsylvania, Coach Wannstedt has also been working very hard at rebuilding recruiting in the whole state. He did this from the first spring at Pitt when he went on the rubber chicken circuit and visiting high schools in the eastern half. Something he did not neglect this year, either. After just one season, dividends are being seen clearly. This should be something to be of greater concern to schools like Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland and such. Pitt is not going to concede any part of Pennsylvania, and that is clearly not just rhetoric.
