Just to recap the local stories on Lamar Patterson committing to Pitt.
The commitment fills a top recruiting priority for the Panthers, who were in the market for a wing player for the Class of 2009.
“I think he will be a great addition to the program,” [McCaskey Coach Steve] Powell said. “He’s a very skilled player. He has excellent size. He’s an excellent shooter. He can handle the ball. He has good court vision. He runs the floor. He can create off the dribble.
“I think he will do very well in coach Dixon’s system. Pitt’s players are very physical and very aggressive. That’s what he has to work on, his overall physical strength. But he has a year-and-a-half to get that. He comes from good stock. The work ethic is there. The gene pool is there. I can’t see him doing anything but having success.”
The Duke game had a big impact on his decision.
Patterson said he thought Pitt was the school he would attend for a while, but Pitt’s victory against Duke last week cemented the decision.
“The way they came back that showed me a lot,” Patterson said. “And when Mike Cook got hurt, coach Dixon was right by his side. I liked that.”
From the Lancaster papers it was about Pitt fitting him and his family.
“He just told me after practice today that he’s going to Pittsburgh,” Red Tornado coach Steve Powell said Friday afternoon. “He had a big smile on his face, so they must have made a great impression on him.
“It’s an excellent program. I think Lamar will fit right into Coach (Jamie) Dixon’s system.”
A 6-foot-5, 220-pound junior, Patterson has helped lead McCaskey to an unprecedented three straight L-L League boys’ championships. Versatile enough to play guard, forward or center, Patterson leads the Lancaster-Lebanon League in scoring (24.4).
“I like Coach Dixon, and the facility played a big part in it,” said Patterson, who expects to major in computer science at Pitt. “My mom wanted me to stay (close to home), so I wanted to do it for her.”
Patterson was just happy to take care of the matter early.
“I wanted to do it now,” he said. “Now I won’t have to worry about it. I can just focus on playing my last two years at McCaskey and getting ready for the next level.”…
“I was thinking about it all day,” he said. “It was on my mind before the game. I finally decided I’d heard enough from everybody else, and Pitt was the best place for me to go.”
Apparently, though, some don’t like his game.
Realizing his shots weren’t falling, Patterson decided to concentrate on setting up his teammates and crashing the boards. He did well on both counts, racking up eight assists and 10 boards.
But every time he passed on an open look to hit a teammate, you could hear some muttering coming from the home stands.
It’s ridiculous.
Reads like he will be an excellent addition.
Useless info: He told me he thought Jameel Brady was the best all around “athlete” on the team, but he wouldn’t tell me who was the least athletic (I asked “Chase Clowser?” and he said “well, probably one of the o-lineman…” but wouldn’t get specific. No specific news he could give me on recruiting. Defended Bostic being out of shape cause he was a true freshman shoved into a bad situation. He told me they told the kids to come back in shape and they have some sort of fitness test on friday? when they get back, but he knows they’re all going to be out of shape when they get back. He likes Cross the most of the QBs and hopes he starts (he’s the “early favorite” to win the competition) – likes his speed and arm strength. All i can remember right now.
Its funny reading what was written about him last june:
“Now that Bostick has enrolled early at Pitt, he is trying to make up for lost time. What Bostick was able to do in the interim was absorb Pitt’s playbook. He has a firm grasp of the West Coast offense because Manheim Township relies on the same principles as the Panthers, from the quick throws to downfield passes that can stretch a defense horizontally or vertically. Bostick thrived in that offense, passing for 7,259 career yards and 82 touchdowns in three seasons.
“That’s part of the reason I went to Pitt, because coach (Matt) Cavanaugh has that offense, and I’m a big believer in the run game first,” Bostick said of Pitt’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. “I trust coach Cavanaugh’s offense.”
Learning the playbook wasn’t necessarily difficult for Bostick, considering the protections and runs are the same. What’s changed is the terminology, the comprehensiveness of Pitt’s West Coast offense.
“There’s a lot more to digest, a lot more verbiage to incorporate because there’s a lot more to account for, because guys can cover a lot more ground in college football,” Bostick said. “It’s just the volume of what we’re doing is larger. Other than that, it’s still football.”
And Bostick, as you can see, loves football. If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, you read that quote and wonder whether it came from the mouth of Tyler Palko or Pat Bostick.
Both love football, are film-room junkies and leaders who someday likely will become coaches. That’s where the similarities end. The 6-foot-3, 225-pound Bostick is a prototypical drop-back passer with a strong arm and soft touch; the 6-1, 217-pound Palko was a scrambler who turned broken plays into big gains and got by on guts…
“As much as I thought I needed to do to get in shape to be ready for Buddy’s workout program, I probably had to do 100 times more than that; I had no clue,” Bostick said. “When I first met Buddy, I should have known. I kind of needed that, to tell you the truth. It’s just a reaffirmation of the fact that I’m a freshman and I’ve got a lot of work to do. In no way, shape or form am I ready, but it makes you want to work that much harder to get to that level.”
Not that it has come easily for Bostick.
“Physically has been the hardest thing, just the weight training and conditioning,” Bostick said. “I’ve never seen anything like that, just how rigid and organized Buddy has us working. He has working hard. Buddy is doing a great job. It’s just a lot more physically demanding.”
