Pitt got a new verbal yesterday in RB Chris Burns. There wasn’t a lot of interest in him at this point, mainly because no one had really seen the kid from Wilmington High (it’s near Sharon, PA).

Wilmington coach Terry Verrelli sent out a highlight tape of Burns to a few colleges and also to talent scout Joe Butler of Metro Index in Pittsburgh. Butler was so impressed that he sent the tape to a few more colleges, including Pitt.

Pitt apparently was impressed, too. The Panthers started recruiting Burns a few weeks ago and eventually offered a scholarship.

In this day and age of recruiting and information out there, I’d say a coach actually having to send out tape of a kid qualifies him for sleeper status. It’s also a little surprising. Still, if Butler saw something in the tapes he liked that is encouraging.
The early other interest in Burns was from MAC schools and Cinci and Illinois started sniffing.  You can see it on his pages at Rivals.com and Scout.com — they knew nothing about him either beyond the public record.

Burns is a 5’10”, 195 pound back. His high school coach stresses his intangibles and innate qualities as a back. He ran for over 1300 yards as a junior in the AA level and was second team in the state. Now we know the basics as well. Welcome, Mr. Burns.

Don’t think I forgot about our Pitt Blather bracket poll. With Florida winning last night’s National Championship game (ughhh…would’ve rather seen the Buckeyes win), our final results have become…well, they’ve become finalized.

This year’s winner is Jamie H. Woo!

Second place goes to JoePa’s Assassin, who is also up for the “bracket name of the year” award.

And rounding out the top five (actually it’s six) are Send it In Jerome, steeltrace, PITT fan (now that’s a clever name!), and Lee in State College.

Congrats to Jamie H. and the rest of our top five. I wish I had some sort of prize for you.

I’m out of here for Spring Break, back next Monday in time for the Pirates’ home opener. Hopefully by the time I’m back, Billy Donovan and John Beilien (but especially Donovan) make their decisions so I won’t need to hear any more about it.

As Dennis noted earlier, 3 of the 5 players listed on the Pennsylvania AAAA All-State team are Pitt commits — only Nasir Robinson is only a verbal. And that DeJuan Blair is the Player of the Year. It’s excellent that Pitt is pulling in some of the best talent in the state. It also reflects, I believe, something of an upswing in the talent in Pennsylvania overall. You’re probably tired of hearing it, but the talent runs in cycles and the PA basketball talent hasn’t been particularly deep in recent years. There has been some talent, and even some very good players, but not a lot. Right now it seems that has changed a bit.

On the AAAA second-team is another player Pitt is very interested in. Dalton Pepper (Scout and Rivals put him at 4 and 3-stars at this point), a sophomore, who has a lot of interest and we may be hearing more about.

Although still a sophomore, Pepper has already started down the recruiting trail and figures to be among the most sought-after prospects in the country by the time his senior year comes around. Already, Pepper has received interest from Villanova, Syracuse, Florida, Virginia, Pittsburgh and North Carolina. He will attend the Nike camp in Las Vegas and play in several tournaments in what figures to be a huge summer for him.

Of course, we’ve been hearing about the Maryland and DC area talent upswing, so looking to incoming freshman, Darnell Dodson. He was playing in a Baltimore all-star game, called the “Charm City Challenge.” Dodson played on the “U.S. All-Stars” and led the team with 20 points and was named to the All-Tournament team. 16 of the 22 players on the teams have scholarships to Div. 1 schools (and a couple still haven’t decided).

Dodson, in case you forget is a 6’7″ forward who can stroke the ball from outside as well. In the Tournament, he won the 3-point shoot-out. He did get posterized in the tournament by Darrell Bryant, but…

He authored the highlight of the evening, a powerful one-handed dunk over Pitt commit Darnell Dodson on a breakaway. In Dodson’s defense, though, he was trying to chase the play down from behind and swoop in for a last-second block, which isn’t exactly commonplace in all-star games.

Imagine that, the kid tries to play defense at an all-star game. That’s encouraging.

Coming off the best Pitt women’s basketball season in the history of the program, the team got even better news from the suits of the NCAA. Mallorie Winn, one of if not Pitt’s best player, did not play all of last year because of a knee injury. She was granted another year of eligibility however, so she will get to play this year.

Winn was recruited to Georgia Tech by Agnus Berenato, playing one season under Berenato with the Yellow Jackets. Following her sophomore season, Winn transferred to Pitt to rejoin her former coach. Forced to sit out a redshirt season due to the transfer, the December 2006 Pitt graduate had to petition the NCAA in order to receive a sixth year of eligibility, which was granted on Wednesday.

In 2005-06 she was the team’s starting PG and second-team All-Big East. Returning almost all of the team that made it to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament this past season and adding Winn, look for another tourney bid next year.

You know, I’m starting to get the sense from reports that there still is no separation amongst the running backs in the scrimmage. The numbers have tended to look similar and it is just a different back each day who “looked good” or better then the others.

Shane Brooks led all rushers with nine carries for 48 yards and a touchdown, followed by LaRod Stephens-Howling (7-46, TD) and Kevin Collier (10-45, TD).

That doesn’t really say much since it is completely unclear who was doing these things against first or second team defense. Still, already this spring we’ve been told that Collier, Stephens-Howling and Brooks have all looked good during various scrimmages. Who knows? Maybe they all are performing very well. Maybe the run defense is unchanged. Either way, without any apparent separation amongst the present backs, LeSean McCoy should feel pretty good about his chances when he comes in this summer — and there may be an even stronger clamor by the fans for him to play.

Otherwise, from the Saturday practice the team was inconsistent on both sides of the ball. Nothing about that should be surprising. It’s spring drills. You expect the head coach to grouse a little about the lack of consistency and the need to improve. And you expect a lot of mistakes and unanswered questions.

John Bachman and Kevan Smith are struggling to work on the Center-QB exchange. Darrell Strong keeps getting positive reviews in the camp. Nate Byham is definitely pushing him for playing time at the TE. Eijah Fields had a nice interception as did Shane Murray.

Offense will be interesting. Pitt is strongest at TE and WR. There is depth and lots of skill there. If the QB position gets settled quickly, it will be a challenge for Pitt not to throw the ball a good deal. As much as Wannstedt wants to run, the potential with the passing game is huge. Considering the questions of the O-line, a lot of short-passing and screens might be in the future.

The ongoing one-on-one battle between Jason Pinkston and Greg Romeus is apparently worth watching. What the players seem to lack in skill and knowledge at their respective positions they are making up for with enthusiasm and hits.

Pinkston, Pitt’s right offensive tackle, and Romeus, the left defensive end, have collided nearly every spring practice session and provided a premier matchup during the Panthers’ intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday morning.

Pinkston appears to have gotten the better of Romeus, for the most part, during the past two weeks in practice, but the defensive end did have a sack, a pass breakup and three tackles during the scrimmage.

“You’d like to have 22 freshmen like that, with that type of ability and futures that they have,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “They’re both going to be great players for us here.”

Both are still learning their positions and from that perspective, I would think it might be better to switch them up periodically on the 1st and 2nd teams to have them go against guys with more skill and knowledge at the position. The whole, “they’re just football players and they make plays” thing sounds good but tends to be code for raw, undisciplined and set up to be exposed when playing against someone who knows what they are doing with their hands and footwork on the line.

A verbal commit is always a little special when it is clear how enthusiastic the kid is to want to come to Pitt. Mike Cruz definitely made it clear.

“Pitt’s been my dream school,” Cruz said. “It’s always been my favorite school.

“My head football coach (Ken Salem) told me to wait a little longer, but I couldn’t wait anymore. I wanted to make it official and let everyone know Pitt was it for me.”

He’s one of the top TE prospects, and also appears to have quite the tolerance for pain. He tore the ACL and MCL in his left knee last year and played 3 more games after that. Not necessarily the smartest decision, but damn tough.

That’s what makes the comment from his high school coach so, um, amusing.

“He has been rehabbing his ACL since the beginning of December,” Salem said. “We are trying to be very careful with him. We will be working to try to enhance his speed over the summer. The sky’s the limit for him.”

Careful in the rehab only, apparently.

Given the depth and stockpiling of talent at TE, I don’t think Pitt will be taking anymore at that position unless it is with the idea of moving them somewhere else.

You know, if you want to recycle the same theme, at least do everyone the courtesy of waiting at least 6 months. Joe Starkey barely makes it 4 months with out the recycling of defending Paul Rhoads. I don’t pretend to be unbiased about this. My ego is such, that I will even assume that posts here and ongoing snark to Rhoads have caught Starkey’s attention — along with plenty on the message boards — to recycle his defense of Rhoads. At least this time he gets Rhoads to go on the record with him. At least Starkey is willing to concede part of reality.

For the record, Pitt’s rushing defense under Rhoads has gone from 17th in the country in 2000 to 26th in 2001 to 24th, 87th, 48th, 94th and 107th.

That kind of a dip will produce a lot of unhappy people. Rhoads knows dealing with harsh criticism is part of the job description for every coach and always has been.

Rhoads, however, is allowed to lie without penalty.

This year’s defense reminds Rhoads of the 2000 unit, which wasn’t overly talented but fought like crazy and finished with a No. 29 overall ranking.

Pardon?

Compared to the roster the last couple years it sure was talented — Bryan Knight, Ramon Walker, Gerald Hayes, Torrie Cox, Shawntee Spencer and Mark Ponko were all starters for that defense. Maybe in time, the players Pitt has on the defense this year will match that. Still, those were all kids that were brought in before Rhoads. What does he have to show on the defensive side besides Darrelle Revis in his tenure?
I mean, this is just a total recycle of his themes from his late November defense of Rhoads (that I fisked).

To repeat:

• Dip in talent on the defense and not recruiting well on that side, not Rhoads’ fault. Check.
• Rhoads has to be judged based on the Wannstedt timetable of 2008 and 4 years, not his own entire tenure despite the fact that the defense has dropped each year now going on year 8. Check.
• If Wannstedt wants him, then all deference to the head coach (at least on this issue). Check.
• Ignoring the issues of poor fundamentals and the repetition of the same mistakes every year. Check.

Oh, but he adds a new one. Rhoads is enthusiastic and fired-up kind of coach. Yeah, that makes a difference.

Look, I get that Paul Rhoads is a very personable guy. He is enthusiastic, and people like him and want him to succeed. Clearly he’s got some charms on a personal level to keep the job this long with the results he’s generated.

That doesn’t change the fact that there is nothing about his actual job performance says he should stay.

Starkey is already excusing what happens this year by saying he can’t be judged until 2008. That’s great. I will repeat my question. How does the Defensive Coordinator get more time to fail then the head coach? 

Pitt’s recent history of landing top-flight TE prospects is apparently continuing with a verbal of Mike Cruz out of Johnstown (hat tip to Pittsburgh Sports Insiders). Cruz is a top TE with offers from Nebraska, Clemson, WVU and UVA at a very early stage of the recruiting season.

It’s kind of impressive considering how loaded Pitt is at TE that another kid who has some good offers still chooses Pitt.

It also continues the Johnstown area line of recruits as the other early Pitt verbal, Antwuan Reed is also from Johnstown.

The Pennsylvania All-State Class AAAA team features some familiar names.

(AP) — The Associated Press Pennsylvania boys high school basketball all-state teams for the 2006-07 season, as selected in statewide voting by sports writers and broadcasters. (Name, School, Height, Class, Scoring Average).

CLASS AAAA

First Team

DeJuan Blair, Schenley, 6-8, Sr., 17.0.

Nasir Robinson, Chester, 6-4, Jr., 18.0.

Jeff Jones, Monsignor Bonner, 6-4, Sr., 21.0

Bradley Wanamaker, Phila. Roman Catholic, 6-4, Sr., 17.8.

D.J. Kennedy, Schenley, 6-3, Sr., 17.3.

Player of the year-DeJuan Blair, Schenley

Blair, Robinson, and Wanamaker are your Pitt recruits on that list and it’s good to see they are getting state-wide honors.

It seems like I’ve been out of the house so much the last few days that I forget how to use the computer. Thankfully it’s during a slower time in Pitt athletics, but there are still a few bits of info to be passed along.

First, it starts up in New York City back on Thursday night. I won’t even lie, I was rooting for West Virginia in the NIT Finals because it’s nice to see Big East teams do well. I wasn’t aware, however, that they decided to change the school’s name to “West Virgina“.

Continuing the theme of Pitt rivals, Penn State has a new policy at Beaver Stadium. It’s almost as bad as not wanting to play Pitt in a fair one-for-one deal. They won’t let you bring your own little seatback into the place — instead you have to pay to lease one from them. The best quote comes from Black Shoe Diaries about the policy.

Forty bucks for this?!?! I can buy one of those at McLanahan’s for $20, and I get to own the friggin thing. Is this thing going to be mounted in my seat permanently all year? Through the sun, rain, and snow as well? But I can’t bring my own dry seat that has been sitting in my vehicle all day. No, I have to sit on your soaking wet one? And pay you $40 to do so?

Back to our Panthers though in a few Pitt related notes.

We brought you info on Blue Chip day. According to PSI, a few of the big names who were in attendance were Terrelle Pryor, David Posluszny, Christian Wilson, Andrew Sweat, Jonathan Baldwin, Mike Zordich, Shayne Hale, Leon Green, Cameron Saddler, Ed Tinker and Lucas Nix.

Former Panther (kind of sounds weird saying that) Tyler Palko was selected to the Coca-Cola Community All-American team.

As this year’s honoree, Palko (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny) is able to select a charitable cause to be the recipient of a $5,000 donation by the Coca-Cola Company. The donation will go to the TC House Foundation, an organization Palko helped establish to raise funds for the construction of a group home for individuals with Down Syndrome in his hometown of Imperial, Pa.

You’ve probably heard of Palko’s friend Chris McGough who has Down Syndrome, who Tyler has become a very good friend with and who has made appearences at a few Pitt football games. Congrats to Tyler Palko on this honor.