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February 6, 2008

NLI ’08: Open Thread

Filed under: Football,Recruiting — Chas @ 9:24 am

The Scout.com and Rivals.com commit lists are always the place to go to see who they have gotten ahold of who has said they signed.

Rivals.com already has a ton listed as signing as of 9:24 am:

Chris Burns

Shayne Hale

Ronald Hobby

Jared Holley

Antwuan Reed

Cameron Saddler

Mike Shanahan

Ryan Turnley

Justin Virbitsky

Manny Williams

This in addition to Greg Cross and Rob Housers who are JUCOs that have already signed.

UPDATE (10:35): Scouts.com still has no checks under signed LOIs. Not good for the reputation.

Rivals.com has Kevin Harper and Tino Sunseri now on the signed list.

UPDATE (11:22): Looks like the two biggest ones have signed along with a couple others:

Lucas Nix

Jonathan Baldwin

Mike Cruz

Andrew Taglianetti (wonder if he will become a regular commit now that Stoudt is off to Louisville)

That just leaves Joe Trebitz from the list. That is, of course, assuming there are no late surprises. Really haven’t heard much of anything on that front, so it seems this will go down as an excellent but not particularly exciting NLI day for Pitt. Not that I’m complaining. Just relatively peaceful and almost anti-climatic.

UPDATE (11:49): And now Joe Trebitz has his name listed in signed.

No more to await from the verbal commits. Unless there are other surprises that means Pitt’s signing day is over before noon.





Nice start, I can’t wait to see Hale at LB!

Comment by Salvatore 02.06.08 @ 9:43 am

Time to cancel my Scout.com subscription – their lack of coverage today is embarrassing.

Comment by Twister 02.06.08 @ 9:45 am

scout.com is way way behind if rivals is correct. Im hearing rumblings that now Pryor will delay his signing and perhaps make an official visit to the state penn? anyone else hear this?

Comment by Rex 02.06.08 @ 9:49 am

Apparently Jenkins signed with WVU.

Comment by ChrisA 02.06.08 @ 9:51 am

Yes, State Penn is back into the Pryor sweepstakes!

Comment by Salvatore 02.06.08 @ 9:52 am

FWIW–Stoudt gave reasons for decommit as (1) Chris Ball who recruited him leaving Pitt and (2) 2-QB’s were recruited after he committed despite that he was told by someone (Ball? or DW?–not specified) that he would be the only QB taken this year by Pitt. Scared of competition? Or, just being practical?

Comment by pitt1972 02.06.08 @ 10:03 am

Maybe both pitt1972, you must admit the competition at QB will be a bit heated this year with Bostick, Cross, Smith, Stull and Sunseri.

Comment by Salvatore 02.06.08 @ 10:08 am

Going to Penn State would be the dumbest thing Pryor could possibly do. That place is a zoo the past few years and they just can’t get their act together. JoPa is going on his 130th birthday and still refuses to step down. The game passed him by about 10 years ago. I expect there will be a coaching change at Penn State over the next 2 or 3 years, so Pryor would be forced to be right in the middle of it all.

Aside from Pitt, where he could become a freaking legend in this town, I think Michigan is his best option. I don’t think Tressel will use him to his fullest advantage and some of his run-based talent will be wasted. It’s just a shame that Pryor seems to be so anti-Pitt, because this team is on the verge of doing some great things. Adding the top recruit in the country would surely solve that QB controversy we’ve been discussing for next year. After being down in the dumps for the past few years, this team is poised to make a move. Pryor could have stepped in and played the part of “savior”. But alas, I think his ego is too big.

Comment by Jake 02.06.08 @ 10:14 am

the state penn is career suicide for QB’s

Comment by Rex 02.06.08 @ 10:30 am

does anyone know when Baldwin and Nix will sign? do they have a press conference set up?

Comment by Rex 02.06.08 @ 10:39 am

I wish Pryor would go out to Oregon and be a Trojan slayer, as that would be something worth rooting for… I can’t even watch big ten football anymore.

Comment by Greg in Columbia 02.06.08 @ 10:39 am

Since Pryor said his decision “will be a no-brainer” does that mean he’s going to declare “The University of Pennsylvania State”?

Comment by ChrisA 02.06.08 @ 10:48 am

Any word if we are entertaining Charles Deas? Auburn revoked his scholarship. charles is an at risk recruit but could be the missing link.

TP- has always known where he will be playing football and dont be surprise when he chooses the most obivious choice.

Dont be shocked and it wont be PSU

Comment by cdmoore25 02.06.08 @ 10:53 am

Scout free and pay boardsreporting Baldwin LOI is in.

Comment by pitt1972 02.06.08 @ 10:54 am

So is Nix’s…looks like a great class.

Comment by Mark 02.06.08 @ 11:08 am

17 of 19 reported signed–2 remaining are Cruz and Trebitz per Rivals.

Comment by pitt1972 02.06.08 @ 11:11 am

Rivals says Cruz is in. Only Trebitz still out (unless there will be a last minute addition or two).

Comment by pitt1972 02.06.08 @ 11:14 am

Let 2009 begin…………Can we get the top 50 in PA. please….

Comment by Ironhead 02.06.08 @ 11:37 am

Per Rivals board all now in. Unless there will be a player or two not on the 19 player verbal commit list Pitt seems to be done.

Comment by pitt1972 02.06.08 @ 11:39 am

I wonder if Vaughn or Williams from PCC will get offered with the decommitt of Stoudt. I heard that Williams is having second thoughts about Northwestern.

Comment by Fcuk Paterno 02.06.08 @ 11:41 am

Seems like this year there isn’t as much buzz about our class as the last two years…? It also seems like Dave kind of struggled with bringing in the last few recruits this year, after a great start…oh well maybe I’m just getting greedy…let’s hope we can get to a bowl game this year!

Comment by Marco 02.06.08 @ 11:42 am

Re: Stoudt and Sunseiri-
The best thing about Stoudt was that he was 6’5″ and had the body of a pro-style QB. Sunseiri was always the one with the game knowledge, the accuracy, and the stronger arm. I know he’s a little undersized, but so was Doug Flutie. I’d much rather have the guy who knows what he’s doing and can put the ball where he wants. Louisville can take Stoudt.

Comment by merlin 02.06.08 @ 11:49 am

With Stout out of the picture, we have a scholarship available. Is “1” all………?? Or might there be others available for DW to pass out…..!?!?

Comment by Mtoolmn 02.06.08 @ 11:49 am

If Hale, Baldwin, & Nix would have waited until today to choose PITT from their list we would have screeming from the top of the cathedral. This class is incredible.

Comment by Ironhead 02.06.08 @ 12:05 pm

Great Class… I agree with Ironhead. This class is incedible. i am surprise that it is only ranked 21. I thought it was a top 15 class.

We got the players we need.

Great Job DW

Comment by cdmoore25 02.06.08 @ 12:09 pm

Marco,

I agree with Ironhead, we got our “last minute” guys a month early with the verbals of Hale, Saddler & Baldwin. In Hale’s case, Pitt didn’t even seem to be on his radar for a while. The aftermath of the WVU win got us the extra talent, they just verbaled a little earlier.

Comment by Jake 02.06.08 @ 12:09 pm

Merlin, Sunseri is a winner, he is the QB of the future, give him a redshirt year, the kid can play.

Comment by Eminem 02.06.08 @ 12:14 pm

Pryor wants to play in front of 100,000 people, it should be pointed out to him that the 100,000 crowds at OSU, Mich, and PSU were there long before him and long after he is gone but that Heinz Field would be filled because of him .

Comment by Marty 02.06.08 @ 1:04 pm

What I like most about this class is that we finally landed a top notch Linebacker in Hale. We have landed some good and very good LBs in the past but none on Hale’s talent level. I also like that we land a stud OL every year.

Is this enough talent to not only win the BE but also contend for a NC? Coach W once stated that you hire assistants that can recruit an area. I would think his latest hires will open some doors in Maryland and Texas. It will be interesting to see how that plays out with next years recruiting.

It’s time for us to dominate the BE. It will be expected next year. The Iowa and ND game will give us a great measuring stick to where we are at. I consider this spring ball to be one of the most crucial and exciting in decades. We will have some good talent battling it out on the OL, QB, & LB. Buddy Morris will have had a whole year with some of these guys.

In the past…Us hardcore PITT fans had to endore many years of wanting and trying to believe that our football team will compete for championships again. I really don’t think it’s delusional anymore to say this team may be able to compete on a National level. We will see this year.

Welcome to all of our new recruits.

Comment by Ironhead 02.06.08 @ 1:09 pm

cdmoore!! Who has this class ranked at 21? Rivals has us at 29. Am I missing something??

Comment by TMGPanther 02.06.08 @ 1:32 pm

TMGPanther,
ESPN had them 21st as a pre-signing day ranking. Scout has them 26th, CSTV has them 19th.

Comment by Fcuk Paterno 02.06.08 @ 1:44 pm

TMG- I am watching ESPNU and we are 21. Scout had us 21 too

Comment by cdmoore25 02.06.08 @ 2:22 pm

I think the reason we’re ranked 21 & 25 in some recruiting polls is because we only had like 19 scholarships available, whereas most of the schools who are ranked ahead of us had more scholarships available, eventhough we signed more 5 & 4 star recruits than most schools ranked ahead of us, which goes to show that these polls are bullshit

Comment by jumpingjohnnie_class82 02.06.08 @ 3:36 pm

Ironhead,
I also look forward to dominating the BigEast but untill Dave can show he can put a winning team on the field and not just on the recruiting circuit I will be sceptical. Dave seems to me to be a good man, die hard Pitt supporter, outstanding recruiter, but his game day coaching (with the WVU game as an exception) has been anything to write home about….so let’s hope this team finally clicks….

Comment by Marco 02.06.08 @ 3:51 pm

Very good point Marco, it is time to for the program to turn the corner and win, go to a bowl game, anything less will be a failure this season.

Wanny has been building to this year, it is time to win.

So let’s all support our team this season at both home and away games by going to the games and filling the seats. If they win the stadium will fill up.

Comment by The Judge 02.06.08 @ 4:16 pm

And if the stadium fills up, we will win more games and more recruits. Come to the games people, even the ones that are not the most interesting. The one big knock on our program is the number of empty yellow seats at every game. This is one area where we as fans can have a direct impact on our program. Can’t make it to every game?…Then come to two or three, but do what you can to eliminate the empty seats at Heinz Field and take away the No. 1 negative recruiting point from our rivals.

Comment by HbgFrank 02.06.08 @ 4:32 pm

Congrats to all recruits, great achievement to win a scholarship to a major university (regardeless of its Tulane or USC). And congrats to our coaches for a great class.

That said, time for us to win in the Fall. Tired of February being our most successful month.

Comment by geeman2001 02.06.08 @ 4:42 pm

Pitt is the best.

Comment by ChrisA 02.06.08 @ 5:07 pm

Upgrade at OL coach.

Upgrade at DC – who isn’t going to change/confuse our kids with new terminology.

Instead of 33 underclassment in 2-deep, we’ll have 26 upperclassmen (plus shady). Getting very low on legacy and lameduck recruits…

I think those three facts will go further to ensure a winning season and bowl game next year than any of our recruits that signed today. On the other hand, these kids are going to ensure us continued winning seasons in 09, 10, and 11.

I’d also like to congratulate the hoopies on their top 40 recruiting class, and 13-9. Can’t forget State Penn with another solid top 50 team – reminds me of what got Pitt to fall into mediocrity…2 decent recuiting classes in the last 5…maybe next year they’ll recruit as well as WVU!

Comment by Stuart 02.06.08 @ 6:31 pm

Any word if we are entertaining Charles Deas? Auburn revoked his scholarship. charles is an at risk recruit but could be the missing link.

Comment by cdmoore25 02.06.08 @ 10:53 am

One look at Deas’ photo and you will be convinced he is the missing link!

Comment by Barry 02.06.08 @ 6:38 pm

Devil’s advocate (literally), PSU onlly had 14 scholarships. Still, most of the pundits are surprised … take away their LBs (admittedly outstanding) and it’s a very ordinary haul. Of course Pryor would change that. But say they don’t get him, then what? And WVU, frankly I’m very surprised they got ANYONE given what happened to them this past month. This Holliday must be pretty slick and greasy because Stewart seems like a real chucklehead … how could he impress anyone (particularly African-American players). Or they just flat out paid guys this year.

Comment by geeman2001 02.06.08 @ 8:17 pm

[…] National Letter of Intent Day has passed, and our Pitt Panthers finished with the best recruiting class in the Big East for the third straight year. This class has been ranked anywhere between 19-29 depending on the myriad different recruiting outlets you listen to. I have seen reports that finagle the numbers to get Pitt all the way to number 13. (Pitt Blather has several posts and extensive coverage, as well as lengthy comment threads on this. See: Snap Football Rankings, The Official Word on the ‘08 Recruiting Class, and NLI ‘08: Open Thread for their coverage.) […]


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