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July 22, 2008

The Other That Got Away

Filed under: Football,History — Chas @ 7:42 am

I admit to something of a continued fascination with the football recruiting class of 2004. Not the players Pitt got, but all the ones that got away. It was the absolute culmination of a football season of complete disappointment. From the Big East breaking apart, to the on-the-field collapse, and then to have the highly ranked recruiting class lose blue-chipper after blue-chipper. The last was most painful as several went to teams that were hated — Penn State (Morelli) and Miami (Bryant and Johnson) — or to new foes — USF (Peyton).

Of course, time balanced a bit as all of them had disappointing careers, major off-the-field problems or injuries. There was one other, though, that got away. Alphonso Smith at the very last minute signed with Wake Forest. That one was lost in the shuffle of the time and relatively minor by comparison. He was a Florida kid — not local — and he wasn’t signing with a team that had won in decades.

Smith redshirted and actually has become the best of the bunch as an all-ACC, potential all-American cornerback in his senior year. So, this is what happened.

Smith committed to Pittsburgh before his mother and two Pahokee (Fla.) High School teammates talked him into changing his mind on National Signing Day.

He was about to sign the letter-of-intent with Pitt and was sitting between Pahokee classmates Antonio Wilson and Demir Boldin – two Wake Forest recruits – when his mother arrived at the high school holding a phone. Wake Forest recruiting coordinator Ray McCartney was on the other end of the line.

Smith said he intentionally had left his Wake Forest letter-of-intent at home. When he mentioned to his mom that he didn’t have the Wake Forest letter with him, she promptly reached into her purse and pulled it out. When he pointed out that he didn’t have a Wake Forest hat, she immediately gave him one.

“She’s on the phone with Coach (McCartney) saying, ‘Yeah, I think he’s going to sign,’ ” Smith recalled. “And Antonio and D.J. are on me (saying), ‘Come on, man. We’ll have fun. We’ll turn this thing around.’ ”

Smith finally gave in and signed with Wake Forest. Then he had to make one more call.

“I had to call the Pitt coach and say I signed with Wake,” Smith said. ‘He was like, ‘What?!?’ “

Given the day Harris and the rest of the coaching staff was having that was likely the cherry on top of a crap sundae.





Wlat didnt deserve what happened Alphonso Smith but def deserved what happened with Morelli and Pinky. He wasted too much time with those two clowns when everyone was telling him that a) Morelli couldnt read defenses and was a dummy b) Pinky was a track guy who was soft on the football field. He should have recruited Henne or someone else at QB that year. What a disaster. We have been down 3 years because of that class!

Comment by PPF 07.22.08 @ 11:45 am

And, the 2005 class (coaching transition) class was only marginally better due to Wannstadt’s late start. You are correct, we paid for that poor recruiting year (plus an overall mediocre 2005 class) on the field for the past couple of years. Hopefully, the result of those two classes are mostly behind us as they now only are represented by our handfull of quality senior and 5th year seniors who remain.

Comment by pitt1972 07.22.08 @ 1:57 pm

I would have started Palko over Morelli in 10 out of 10 alternate realities, including this one. When Joepa blew Morelli’s redshirt, I was confused and maybe felt a little bad for him. I guess that’s what you get when you play for a senile head coach. I blame Anthony’s father for most of that ordeal.

You win some and you lose some, that’s how recruiting works. Greg Romeus was a hidden gem, and I am sure most of the Florida schools are kicking themselves right now. Romeus could very well end up being a top 5 DE prospect by his senior year if not better. I think I am actually going to enjoy watching the defense this year.

Comment by Panthoor 07.22.08 @ 5:19 pm

I’m with Panthoor.

And i’m glad to see the failure that Morelli endured for four years. He got what he deserved.

Comment by Stuart 07.22.08 @ 5:32 pm

The following contains and unbelievable amount of speculation: If Morelli had gone to Pitt and Walt stayed, Morelli’s situation would have been vastly different. Walt had shortcomings, but he could coach QB’s. If there is some spark in Morelli, Walt would have found it.

Comment by Crackbaldo 07.22.08 @ 9:53 pm

Crack has a point. Wlat made quarterbacks out of David Priestly, John Turman, and Rod Rutherford. He had a way with QBs. That’s just about all he had a way with.

Comment by The Prowler 07.22.08 @ 10:03 pm

Two things come to mind about Moronelli to me:

The reason he decommited to Pitt.

The fact that as a senior captain and QB he would not face the media after tough losses at PSU.

Give me Tyler Palko anyday.

Comment by Barry 07.22.08 @ 10:11 pm

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