A real tough break for one of the top-ranked recruits in Pitt’s soon to be signed class.
Senior forward Anthony Gonzalez will undergo surgery next Wednesday to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee and will likely miss the remainder of the basketball season.
This is not the same knee that was operated on last September during football season.
It’s not major, but it is frustrating.
The injury is not expected to impede his football career.
Pittsburgh head coach Dave Wannstedt and assisant Brian Angelichio, who recruited Gonzalez, were in Bethlehem on Wednesday night to see him and are satifisfied that the injury will not jeopardize anything.
“He’s going to be fine; they were not concerned at all,” said Jim Tkach, a Liberty football assistant who is close to the Pitt coaches because his son, Tyler, is a member of the Panthers’ program. “He should be able to recover in time to play in the Big 33 game in June. Anthony’s a great kid. This is a tough thing for him, I’m sure, but he’ll bounce back.”
The cynical side says that this injury at least will keep him from risking any other injuries in basketball. The downside, is that between the injury during football season and now this, that is going to make hit harder to get back into shape. Not that I really expected him to play as a true freshman, but it won’t be any easier having to get into Buddy Morriss’ conditioning regimen after a couple extended layoffs.
While Pitt’s overall recruiting class has not been star-studded, it has been considered very solid and part of a building effort.
The Panthers have the chance to be as successful in the recruiting battles as they were on the gridiron. They were just an eyelash away from a Big East football championship in 2009 and are putting together an excellent class with 24 total commits and 18 are either four- or three-star quality. The Pitt program’s consistency the last few seasons has helped them compete for some of the best Big East talent and they are once again showing some success in-state against the Nittany Lions.
Top prospect: A national top 20 in the athlete category, Anthony Gonzales (Bethlehem, Pa./ Liberty), spearheads the 2010 class. Even though Gonzales missed some action this fall with an injury, he has made his mark as a multi-talented football player. He could end up at quarterback for the Panthers, but he has the toughness and overall skill level to line up at several different positions until his collegiate niche is found.
Don’t be surprised if: The Panthers continue their success on the field due to their recruiting the last couple of years. The 2009 class was solid, but this year’s class is even more impressive. Dave Wannstedt and his staff do a very good job of meeting their position-specific needs.
Note that all these services pay much attention as to what schools are recruiting and signing these players … and in many situations, as soon as a player is signed to a big hame college,his ranking goes up.
By and large, the schools who get the most blue chip prospects usually do very well on the field but evauluating 16 and 17 year olds will always be a crapshoot. Just remember, all the services had Dion Lewis as just a 2 star.
I’m hoping Jarred’s brother, Lincoln, a sophomore at Easton High, continues to improve on the basketball court and enrolls at Pitt, his first choice, as well.