Looks like another verbal to add to the mix. Scout.com is now reporting that Ryan Turnley, an Guard out of Hopewell High in Aliquippa has committed to Pitt. Scout.com lists him only as a 1-star, while Rivals.com has him as a 2-star recruit. He’s also listed in the Rivals.com PA top 40 recruits at #37. Pittsburgh Sports Report has him as a possible late addition to their top-50.

Hey, even if he’s a project or more raw potential at this time, just good to get offensive linemen committing. He also had offers from Wisconsin, Louisville, Maryland and GT.
Follow-up: Rivals.com is listing Nic DiLillo as a soft verbal to Pitt at this time. Kevin Gorman is also posting that he has comitted.

Last week there was word that Nic DiLillo out of Madison, Ohio had backed off of his verbal to Clemson, and was looking to Pitt. According to Scout.com, he has given Pitt a verbal. DiLillo is a 3- to 4-star TE prospect and considered the 12th best in the country according to Scout.com. Rivals.com lists him as the 20th best player in Ohio.

Keep in mind that Ohio State has not offered him at this time. He is an Ohio kid, so if they do offer later in the year it would be no shock to see an Ohio kid jump at it. Still, this is very good as Pitt will gets a better TE prospect than Mike Cruz.

I guess it’s the same for every coach at every level. There is never enough time to practice. Always something more to teach, repeat and learn. So Pitt’s annual Passing Camp for high schools is not just a way for Pitt Coaches to schmooze area HS Coaches and get more prospective recruits in the UPMC Practice Facility; it gives the HS coaches another chance to get an early practice with part of the team and see where they are against the competition.

“This is the 11th year that I’m aware of that Pitt has done this passing camp,” Pitt assistant athletic director for football operations, Chris LaSala said. “I don’t know if anything was done before Walt Harris got here, but I believe he started it. I started working here back then. My first day, when I arrived at work, they were involved already with the passing camp.

“And this is as big as it’s been. It’s huge. We have 40 teams, and that’s our max. That allows the teams that attend to get a quality amount of work. We could take more teams, but then the teams wouldn’t get as many games and they wouldn’t get the same amount of quality work. So, we can take up to 40 teams, and we happen to be at our maximum this year.”

So while Pitt fans don’t necessarily care about who wins in these things, it’s about what players were there and if they are committing to Pitt.

Pitt offer Mike Yancich from Trinity High School in Washington, Pa. was also in attendance with his team, which won two games Saturday but lost to Central Catholic twice. Before he left, however, the Pitt coaches made a last-ditch effort to secure a commitment from him to play for the Panthers this season. It is between Pitt and Penn State, reportedly vying for Yancich’s linebacking talents. He is expected to announce a decision Tuesday.

Pitt’s entire freshman class is expected to report for orientation Sunday. Talented DB Jarred Holley will visit the campus and practice facilities.

Yesterday, his local paper kept the number of teams he was still considering at 5, and thought Michigan State might be near the top.

Michigan State and Penn State are finalists along with three Big East schools – Connecticut, Pitt and West Virginia.

Yancich plans to announce his decision Tuesday.

“Michigan State is in the Big Ten and I love Big Ten football,” Yancich said Friday after wrapping up the first day of activity at Pitt passing camp. “The coaches are real cool and I felt comfortable there.”

He seemed equally impressed with Penn State.

“The coaches are awesome,” Yancich said. “I’m a linebacker and Penn State is the place they call “Linebacker U.” They’ve had Paul Posluszny, Sean Lee and everybody else.”

Many expect Yancich to select Penn State, however, his profile on MySpace.com sports Michigan State decorations.

Everyone is looking for tea leaves to read.

As for Jared Holley, he’s a 4-star CB out of Easton, PA with offers from Florida and Stanford as well as Pitt, PSU, Syracuse and Virginia.

The guy considered one of the more consistent, reliable and willing to do all the little things looks to be the cover-boy for Pitt football this year. It speaks to the lack of “star power” among the older players on the team. It definitely leaves the publicity door wide-open for any of the younger players to make their presence known. Still, you can expect WR Derek Kinder to be the face of the team on the media guide and generally for Pitt going into the fall.

Kinder is also spending time performing in a number of public relations capacities for the athletic department.On June 30, he will be honored by the Pittsburgh Pirates for his 2006 first-team All-Big East citation. Kinder will throw out an honorary first pitch at PNC Park before the Pirates’ game with the Washington Nationals.

Kinder is no stranger to the baseball diamond. In fact, he was an All-Western New York baseball player at Albion High.

“I’m going to make sure I’m ready to put it right over the plate,” Kinder said. “I was playing catch with my brother when I was home.”

Many Pitt fans recently received a surprise phone call from Kinder. He’s not working part-time as a telemarketer. Rather, he taped a message that was sent electronically to fans, thanking them for renewing their football season tickets.

He’s naturally, been enthusiastic about the off-season workouts and about the whole receiving corps.

“That’s why all the receivers are working real hard this year to improve on what they accomplished last year. So, I have no doubt that the receiving corps is an area of strength on our offense, and our depth at that position is going to be a tremendous benefit for the team.”

Kinder and Turner were the starters last season, but the emergence of Porter as a deep threat gives Pitt more options in the passing game. And the quarterbacks have continued to work on spreading out the ball in workouts so far this summer.

“I think we’re on the right page right now,” Kinder said. “We ended off spring ball on a good note, and things are going really well so far this summer. Buddy definitely has done a great job with us, and I see improvements happening. So, we’re definitely going to be ready for camp this August.

“Buddy and James have done a great job with the speed training aspect of our program, and I definitely feel a couple steps faster already. I hope to improve on that, too, but I’m just trying to keep my conditioning at a high level and getting bigger and stronger, just like everybody else.”

He says he is trying to be a little more vocal as a senior and with Palko and Blades gone. Kind of standard stuff on that front.

It’s just lists and quick hitter stuff. Rivals.com revises its top-25, post NBA Draft withdrawal deadline. Pitt fell two spots from #21 to #23.

Even with the losses of frontcourt starters Aaron Gray and Levon Kendall, the Panthers still should fashion a winner. One reason to believe is Jamie Dixon, who has coached Pitt to four consecutive 20-win seasons. He’ll lean on guards Mike Cook (10.5 ppg), Levance Fields (9.2 ppg, 4.6 apg) and Ronald Ramon (8.8 ppg) early and hope five-star freshman power forward DeJuan Blair develops quickly.

Pitt was the lowest ranked of 6 Big East schools listed. Louisville #5, Georgetown #10, Marquette #15, Syracuse #19, UConn #21.

Jay Bilas at ESPN.com does good news/bad news capsules for the Big East teams:

Good news: Pittsburgh is always good because the Panthers have a program, not just individual teams. Losing good players will not affect the way that Pitt plays and the way that Pitt wins. Coach Jamie Dixon brought in a top-10 recruiting class, including hotshot DeJuan Blair, and Pitt will be in the NCAA Tournament again.

Bad news: Losing center Aaron Gray will be big, but a team can break through after losing its big anchor in the middle. In 1984, Virginia went to the Final Four the year after Ralph Sampson graduated.

I’m just completely confused. There isn’t even a hint of being able to play the “disrespected” card or write about Pitt being underestimated. This just messes with my head.

Apparently one of the reasons Lucas Nix waited all the way until June to state that he would commit to Pitt, was to make sure he got offers and good recruiting grades.

Especially after Nix received 50-plus scholarship offers and turned down the likes of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Michigan and Penn State. Nix wanted to wait until others assessed his potential before choosing a college.

“That was kind of the whole thing why I hadn’t committed earlier,” Nix said. “I wanted everyone to make sure I was a really highly rated recruit and one of the better players in the country before I committed.”

This is not necessarily a bad thing for Pitt, and I’m not criticizing it. If anything, his waiting until after getting the high rankings and offers makes his commitment to Pitt look that much better.

Wayne Jones, a DL commit from the Johnstown area this past year played in the Big 33 and will play in the East-West Game as well, this weekend. Why?

“I just wanted to get another game in because at Pitt, I’m supposed to take a gray-shirt, so I won’t get practice in or won’t be playing the first semester,” he said. “So I just wanted to be in the pads one last time. I think it’ll help me a lot.”

Jones’ scholarship will be counted against the numbers for available scholarships in this recruiting class.

Meanwhile, 4-star linebacker Christian Wilson, and one of the top players in Pennsylvania, appears to have knocked Pitt from his list. He says he is trying to trim his list to around 10.

“I probably have around 10 schools that are still on there,” said the 6-foot-2, 235-pound Wilson, who will turn 17 on July 12. “Some are out because they are (far away), like Arkansas and Arizona. The school the farthest that I like is nine, 10 hours away, and that’s Clemson. I also like Nebraska, Michigan, Michigan State, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Louisville, Rutgers, Boston College. A couple other schools are still in there like Virginia, but they are kind of deep (at linebacker). Still, I kept them in and a couple other schools are the same way.

If Pitt is still there, they are somewhere on the fringe of remaining interest.

In the same article, another top linebacker in the state, Mike Yancich, thinks he’ll decide next week from his narrowed list of 5 teams: BC, UConn, Michigan St., Penn St. and Pitt.

Pitt is also starting to show interest in a NJ RB, Ed Imeokparia, at a different position.

“Right now I am waiting on a few different schools that have shown me interest, but have not offered yet,” Imeokparia explained. “Coach (Larry) Slade at Tennessee likes me at defensive back and said he needs to run my film past Coach (Phil) Fulmer and Coach (John Chavis). I just spoke with Coach (Brian) Angelichio from Pittsburgh and he told me Coach (Dave) Wannstedt would like to come out so he can meet me in person. He says they also like me at defensive back and that I would have a good chance at an offer if I come out and make a good impression on Coach Wannstedt. Florida State, Georgia and Rutgers are also in the mix, so we will see what happens there. I may go to camp at Rutgers this weekend, but I’m not sure yet.”

Pitt would probably have him at safety. His best, actual, offers right now are from BC, Wake Forest and Michigan St.

Let’s face it, this would have been a bigger stunner if it didn’t happen. Lucas Nix will be making it public that he will verbally commit to Pitt. It’s not just because his brother is a redshirt freshman linebacker at Pitt, or his coach being a former Pitt offensive lineman. The younger Nix been at practices and Pitt camps almost as much as the players already on scholarship. He has been close to the Pitt coaches for quite some time.

Or as his HS Coach, Bill Cherpak put it to Pittsburgh Sports Report,

“There won’t be a press conference or anything like that. It’s not like it’s a secret that this was going to happen.”

Nix plays both sides of the ball, but will likely be an offensive tackle at Pitt. Both Rivals.com and Scout.com list him as a 5-star recruit and one of the top OL in the country. God knows the lines are where the help is desperately needed (I don’t suppose he can play center?).

What Nix represents is the re-establishment of Pitt as a power player in recruiting WPIAL offensive linemen. The 6-foot-6{1/2}, 298-pound Nix is a prototypical left tackle prospect who ranks as a top-30 player and a top-6 tackle nationally, according to both Rivals.com and Scout.com.

That was the Achilles’ heel for Walt Harris and his staff. For all the skill players they assembled, for whatever reason, they couldn’t lure the WPIAL’s top linemen. In back-to-back years, Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt and offensive line coach Paul Dunn – both former Panthers’ offensive linemen – have changed that dramatically.

It started with the late signings of Moon’s John Bachman and West Allegheny’s C.J. Davis in the Class of 2005 and has included Baldwin’s Jason Pinkston last year and Keystone Oaks’ Chris Jacobson this year.

Next, Pitt needs some more D-linemen.

Whether it’s the high school all-star games or local honors a few local stories on some of the players on the incoming freshmen class.

Leftover from the Big 33 game, Defensive Lineman Wayne Jones got some attention. I did not know that Artrell Hawkins was his older brother.

Fullback Henry Hynoski got the love locally for his Big 33 game (hat tip, Frank).

Hynoski ran well on limited carries in tough yardage situations.

He bulled his way into the end zone to score a second-half touchdown in Pennsylvania’s 28-10 victory over Ohio.

And he pass blocked particularly well, especially considering that wasn’t a big part of his job description as the dominant player in a dominant offense at Southern.

Meanwhile, WR Maurice Williams out of Erie gets attention in Altoona. Apparently he must be the biggest name on the East-West All-star game. Well, that and he has a sister on basketball scholarship at Penn State (probably the women’s team).

Williams said he eventually picked the Panthers because they were the school that made him feel they needed him the most. Pitt has put together a couple of very good recruiting classes under Dave Wannstedt, and Williams is optimistic about the program’s future.

“These last couple of recruiting classes — especially this one — are very good. This season, we should be at least two or three games above .500,’’ Williams said. “But we have to go there and work hard and set our marks.’’

For Williams, that will involve making the transition to receiver.

Finally, in the Lancaster area, Pat Bostick does not win the local paper’s athlete of the year. That honor goes to Jordan Gibbs who will be an OL at Pitt.

But whether he was punching open holes on the offensive line for the Penn Manor football team or pouring in points on the basketball court, Gibbs was impossible to ignore.

He played a vital role on both teams, leading them to unprecedented heights in his final season.

That’s why his selection as the New Era’s Male Athlete of the Year was not a difficult choice.

“It’s an honor,” says Gibbs. “I know a lot of good athletes over the years have been given (the award) before me, and it means a lot to be named with them.”

On Sunday, Gibbs will leave Lancaster to begin the next phase of his life.

He earned a full scholarship to play football for the University of Pittsburgh, and is headed west to take a few summer courses and begin his conditioning program for the Panthers.

Gibbs is also the first kid out of Penn Manor to get a D-1 athletic scholarship

AD Jeff Long is not evil.

I don’t agree with some of his decisions. He may be tin-eared and lacking a charisma, but he is not out to ruin Pitt athletics. There has even been good like his work to help other sports in the athletic department. Building campus facilities and updating other sports facilities to bring them out of the 70s.

The plan would have the greatest impact on what are commonly referred to as Olympic or non-revenue sports, those programs that have lower visibility than basketball or football.

Pitt plans to build a soccer complex, track/intramural complex, softball field, marching-band facility and baseball complex. The athletic department also plans to spend $11.4 million to renovate Fitzgerald Field House, Trees Hall and the Cost Sports Center and put a diving well into Trees Pool.

The soccer, baseball, track and softball facilities are in the first four-year phase of the plan.

The athletic department construction will take place at the former site of the dilapidated Allequippa Terrace public-housing project, which was torn down in the mid 1990s. In 2000, the Oak Hill housing community opened on a portion of the site and, since then, the remaining land was at the vortex of a tug of war between Pitt, the Pittsburgh Housing Authority, and developer Beacon/Corcoran Jennison. In March, the parties came to an agreement, clearing the way for Pitt to go forward with its plan to build the state-of-the-art athletic facility. While the deal has not been finalized, sources indicate the closing of the deal is imminent, and that will give Pitt the land it needs.

Part of how he’s worked on it is with the unpopular reseating plan for Pitt basketball and the increased mandatory donations.

This hasn’t been a good week for AD Long. There was the leaking of the new Panther/dog/mutant/dino/thing head logo that was widely panned.

Then there was the announced cancellation of the Clemson home-and-home for 2010 and -11. I thought it was probably a mutual thing, though,  because the way it was set, Pitt might have wanted to cancel or change it more. Pitt had a home slate in 2010 of WVU, Louisville, Rutgers, Miami and Clemson (not to mention ND on the road) while 2011 had Pitt with 3 difficult non-con road games and ND as the only attractive home game. Simple marketing suggested that Pitt needed to reorganize the schedule. Add another good home non-con in 2011, maybe go a little lighter with 2010 for the other non-con home games. Plus, 2009 still needs to be finished and it could allow a home-and-home to start then.

Sure, it’s always annoying to give up a decent opponent on the schedule, but it was only Clemson. Instead, AD Long decided to get defensive over the schedule.

“Clemson approached us about getting out of the series because they wanted the dates,” Long said. “At first, we balked, but then we began to talk to some other teams and, when we realized we had enough time to find an adequate replacement, we decided to go ahead and let them out of the contract.

“That’s really all it was — some times things come up. And some of the teams we are talking to as a replacement are very encouraging to me. We are talking to BCS conference teams, so this talk of wanting to add a I-AA is just not fair.”

Long said contrary to popular belief, his policy and desire is to get Pitt at least three non-conference games (out of five) against teams from BCS conferences (or Notre Dame) every year.

Did he really need to put the blame all on Clemson? What was the point? You say something like there was talk of changing the years and in discussions it became mutually agreed that it would be best to cancel.
Long also put himself in a scheduling corner. He now has to make sure that he has a BCS conference opponent to take the place of Clemson. He says they can find an “adequate replacement.” Clemson is a consistent mid-level bowl team. That means to find the “adequate replacement” means he can’t come back with a Northwestern, a Mississippi State, Vandy, Baylor or Kentucky. He’s going to need a Maryland, Oklahoma St., Purdue, Texas Tech, South Carolina — or even Boston College. And that also means no MAC, C-USA or such for the slots.

Give Zeise credit in the article for pointing out the disconnect between Long’s stated goal and desire of putting 3 BCS-quality opponents on the schedule each year and reality.

Although Long’s stated desire is to play three BCS non-conference teams, a look at future schedules suggests he has work to do.

The Panthers are scheduled to play only two BCS conference opponents in 2008 (Iowa, Notre Dame), 2009 (North Carolina State, Notre Dame) and as of now 2010 (Notre Dame, Miami), 2011 (Notre Dame, Iowa) and 2012 (Virginia Tech and Notre Dame).

In fact, the lone exception in the next seven seasons is 2013 when Pitt is scheduled to play Virginia Tech, North Carolina State and Notre Dame.

That doesn’t look too good.

Joining with other top-25 lists following the results of who returned to school. Jeff Goodman at FoxSports has Georgetown #6, Louisville #8, Marquette #10, Pitt #12, Villanova #21 and ND #24

Sure, the Panthers will lose 7-foot senior Aaron Gray. But Jamie Dixon still has a pair of experienced starting guards in Keith Benjamin and Ronald Ramon — as well as Mike Cook on the wing and Sam Young at power forward. The key will be whether Tyrell Biggs can step in and replace Gray in the middle. Big freshman DeJuan Blair will also help ease the loss of Gray.

He also adds Syracuse in the “10 on the verge.” I think the ‘Cuse are getting lowballed a bit after writers let Boeheim convince them that Paul Harris was going to blow up as a freshman. Syracuse has a lot of incoming talent, but still lost a lot of leadership and upperclass starters.

Andy Katz at ESPN.com also has his list. Georgetown #5, Louisville #6, Marquette #13 and Pitt #14:

The Panthers lose big men Aaron Gray and Levon Kendall but add Dejuan Blair, who might be another under-the-radar superstud coming to Pitt. The Panthers return the core of their perimeter as well as their wings and Jamie Dixon quite simply doesn’t lose too often. This team will move quicker, play defense perhaps a bit tighter and will not lose too many, if any, home games. Expect the Panthers to be in the thick of the Big East race.

It’s going to be hard to claim Pitt is being disrespected going into the 2007-08 season at this rate.

Nice story about a kid who will be a walk-on at Pitt.

[Craig] Sedunov, a four-year starter who played linebacker and various offensive positions at Yough, plans to walk on and attempt to play defensive back for the Panthers. He turned down offers from Clarion and Glenville (W.Va.) State.

“I don’t like the people at Penn State, and I’m just not a West Virginia fan,” Sedunov said. “I grew up liking Pitt. That’s why I want to play for them.”

The 5-foot-8, 185-pound Sedunov plans to begin attending classes June 25, because he wants to get with the team as soon as possible.

Sedunov will be playing in the Foothills Football Classic this weekend.

This weekend will also be the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association East West All-Star Football Game in Altoona. As usual, there will be plenty of players not participating because they were in the Big 33 game or simply because they have already enrolled at their college.

Maurice Williams out of Erie who will be a freshman at Pitt will be participating, but plenty of others are declining.

Donte Harden, who played with Williams at Strong Vincent High School, has already enrolled at Miami of Ohio. Meanwhile, Myles Carragein, Greg Gaskins and Dan Matha, all of whom will be incoming freshmen with Williams at Pitt this fall, also have pulled out of the game for various reasons.

Just, please, don’t get hurt.

The Pitt Athletic Department has confirmed the new logo through a press release to the media, an e-mail to Panther Club members, and on the website.

The University of Pittsburgh’s torch-cut Panther head, first unveiled in 1997, is being reintroduced with a sleeker, more polished look. The new mark is the result of the creative efforts of the Pitt Athletic Department and Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC).

I called that they would use the word “sleeker”. By the way, we also know who to blame for coming up with this.

But wait, there’s more of this drivel…

The new Panther head will be a secondary mark for Pitt Athletics. The primary logo will remain the arching block-style PITT, first introduced in 2005. The PITT logo will continue to be the featured mark on the uniforms for each of the University of Pittsburgh’s 19 intercollegiate teams.

“We have been known as Pitt for more than a century and that name and logo will continue to be our primary identity,” Athletic Director Jeff Long said. “After receiving consistent public feedback, we felt the time was right to give our Panther head a more refined, contemporary look and one that is easily reproduced and recognized.”

Merchandise with the “sleeker” Panther will be available in stores beginning July 2. Those of you who can’t wait that long can shop on the Pitt online store which is carrying the new clothing as we speak.

Now that the underclassmen decisions have been made (Jeff Green going NBA; Dominic James back to Marquette), it will be time for another round of early top-25 predictions. Gary Parrish at Sportsline puts 5 Big East teams in his top 25. Louisville — 5, Georgetown — 8; Marquette — 10; Villanova — 12; and Pitt — 24.

The Panthers are similar to Southern Illinois in that regardless of what leaves, it’s safe to assume they’re going to be pretty good.

Well, it’s a compliment to the consistency of the program at this point. There is a bit less underestimating Pitt after players leave. Personally, I’m not that sold on Marquette being that high. I still question their inside presence (or lack thereof). That said, the Big East will be a jumble with Syracuse, ND, UConn, Providence and WVU all going to be pretty good which is 11 of the 16 teams.

Scout.com/Dale Grdnic had a couple stories on the Pitt assistants. New assistant Tom Herrion says all the right things about staying awhile.

“Few coaches stay a real long time at any one program, and young assistants are mostly looking to move on to head coaching jobs,” Herrion said. “But I’ve already done that. That’s not where I’m at right now in my career, so I’m very glad to be at Pitt. Clearly, Jamie’s success speaks for itself during his four seasons as a head coach at Pitt.

“And he’s not threatened to bring in someone with head coaching experience. That certainly speaks to his level of confidence. As we got to know each other, he found out that wasn’t my agenda. I’m part of a team here, in terms of working with other talented coaches, and we all have a niche to help this program build on its winning tradition.”

Herrion’s big niche is of a top recruiter. He also has experience running a more up-tempo offense. Two things to watch.

Orlando Antigua also gets a piece.

“We want to show the kids that we bring in here that getting a good education, getting a college degree, is just as important as success on the basketball court,” Antigua said. “And they can get both here at Pitt.”

As a native of the Dominican Republic and hometown of the Bronx, N.Y., he has become a key recruiter for Pitt.

“Orlando has played a key role in our recruiting since he joined our staff,” Dixon said. “He understands what type of players we look for and what type of student-athletes we want to represent the University.”

Coach Dixon says the right things about Antigua, but there may be some pressure on him with regards to recruiting. Mike Rice came in last year to really bring in a bunch of recruits to give Pitt it’s best recruiting class in almost 20 years. Tom Herrion this year comes in with a reputation for being an ace recruiter.

Orlando is a former player and is well liked, but he hasn’t received a lot of credit — even if he was the one to keep DeJuan Blair in the ‘Burgh.

This year, the big recruiting target is Eloy Vargas. Pitt had been the presumed favorite for him because Pitt was recruiting him early — before he started making a big impression on coaches from other schools on the AAU circuit — and he had a relationship being built with Antigua. Now that Vargas is getting lots more attention and offers, Pitt seems to be falling back into the pack and it is unclear if Pitt is even considered a lead anymore. If Pitt doesn’t get Vargas that raises some questions about Orlando Antigua’s ability to close on the recruit.

Manny Williams apparently impressed the Pitt coaching staff enough during the camp they held over the weekend to be the first to make him an offer from a BCS school. Williams, apparently didn’t hesitate.

Williams made a verbal commitment to the Panthers over scholarship offers from Akron, Buffalo, Eastern Michigan and Toledo. He had favored West Virginia, which had yet to offer, before picking Pitt.

“I liked Pitt and West Virginia, but I’d rather play for my hometown team,” Williams said. “I love the idea of staying home to play for the team everybody talks about in town.”

…

Williams opened scouts’ eyes when he ran stride for stride 50 yards downfield with Penn State receiver recruit Derek Moye, a PIAA 400-meter champion, when Clairton defeated Rochester in the WPIAL Class A championship last November.

Williams is a safety who, himself, says he might grow into a linebacker. He sounds exactly like the kind of athlete that Coach Wannstedt wants at linebacker. Rivals.com may not have any ranking for him and Scout.com puts him at 3-stars. His fit, though, in Pitt’s defense may be the big thing. If you think about the way Greg Schiano at Rutgers built his defense with speed over size, that is very similar to what Wannstedt has been doing.

The fact that Williams is not resistant to the possible position change (think Tommie Campbell) makes it very probable in the long-term that he would be used as a linebacker.

Pitt and Clemson have agreed to cancel the home-and-home for 2010 and 2011. I think this was a mutual thing. While, it may have been a mutual thing, I think Pitt really wanted out for a couple reasons. The 2010 schedule already had Miami and ND making it a bear of a non-con even assuming they added patsies from 1-A and 1-AA to round out the schedule. It also means they might be able to do a home-and-home with a team starting in 2009 where they already have 7 home games set (UCF, Navy, ND, Cinci, UConn, USF, ‘Cuse) where Pitt can start on the road.

Unrelated, but with amusing timing, an early Clemson verbal now appears ready to switch to Pitt.

Madison (Ohio) tight end Nic DiLillo, ranked No. 12 nationally by Scout.com, has reneged on his commitment to Clemson and favors Pitt.

…

The 6-5, 225-pound DiLillo took an unofficial visit to Pitt on Friday, then called Clemson coaches last night and informed them that it was too far away from home, according to the fan site, CUTigers.com. Thanks to the recruitment by newly promoted Panthers tight ends coach Brian Angelichio, Pitt appears to be the frontrunner for DiLillo.

Scout.com has DiLillo as a 4-star recruit and Rivals.com puts him at 3-stars and the 19th best TE prospect. Michigan and Syracuse are also interested. Not sure what that does for Pitt’s recruitment of Hubie Graham and possibly still going after Mike Cruz. Kevin Gorman seems to think Pitt may also land Graham as well. Graham is ranked higher than DiLillo and holds offers from Michigan and Oklahoma as well.