A big game atmosphere, an electric crowd at the Pete, and fans letting him know he’s wanted badly would appear to have been the final thing to get RB LeSean McCoy to give his verbal to Pitt. Granted, McCoy could change his mind again — especially if he the game helped push his decision over the top, since that could recede and/or you know he could get caught up in the excitement of a Penn State women’s basketball game. Suffice to say, there will be questions about the strength of his verbal until signing day.
I wonder if that will change the minds at all of other RB verbals such as Xavier Stinson, Greg Williams and/or Shariff Harris. Something to watch, I suppose. McCoy, is ranked as a 4-Star recruit by Rivals.com and the 10th best prep school prospect (his teammate at Milford, RB Graig Cooper is ranked as the #1 prep prospect). Scout.com has him as a 5-star recruit and the #8 RB prospect for 2007.
It will be interesting to see the impact on the recruiting class rankings when updated in the next day or so.
And another thing, why does scout.com always seem to rank players higher than rivals.com does?
I don’t think its a coincidence that all these highly recruited PA players want to be here, and I think it’s a result of DW’s continual re-building the local HS coaches relationships that were let go under the last head coach. That, and the fact that these coaches, who have an awful lot of influence on a kid’s choice, can see the direction that DW has been building for the program. By that I mean that he has been laying a strong foundation for success by his efforts at recruiting for the basics – line play, speed and depth, and the local HS coaches recognize that. Everything I have heard from knowledgeable football minds has echoed the sentiment that there were some real fundamental shortcomings on the team when DW arrived – regardless of the prior year’s record. That might have been more true that we realized. It bodes well for us that not only are these highly recruited kids picking PITT, but that their advisers feel strongly optimistic about the direction of the program to encourage them to do so.
“Ball, who has coached for 21 years and has stops at Idaho State, Washington State, Akron and a number of smaller colleges, said working with Rhoads is a bonus to the job because the two are familiar with each other and share many of the same philosophies.
Excellent point. As I point out all the time, I’m not thrilled with Wannstedt’s game coaching. The guy has not won as a head coach on a consistent basis anywhere. I think he’s the type of guy you want on your staff, not leading it.
However…
Recruiting has improved big-time since he came in. He’s a great recruiter and despite his W/L record, seems like he knows what to say & do…and build relationships.
Of course, the verbals don’t mean anything until the kid signs on the dotted line (as we found out a few years back), but if all of these players stick, then it will be quite a class he put together. This guy knows how to flat-out recruit…imagine what he could do with a winning record.
I hope I’m wrong on the coaching part and I hope he improves the record – although next year without Palko, Blades, and Revis, we could take yet another step back.
Now he’s not sure?
it would be cool to see him end up at pitt.
I was talking to the father of a top local football recruit last Friday (before the Georgetown game). This gentleman knows the McCoys and he said the choice is definitely Pitt. Remember, this was before the Pitt-Georgetown hoops game.
Having seen him play once as a high school sophmore, I am looking forward to his size, speed and cutback abilities.
Rivals has 5 star recruits as well…they just don’t have as many 5 star slots to give away…so they are more “selective” – seems like Rivals has a gigantic pool of 3 star recruits and a lot of 4 stars and very few 5 stars.
