As has been the case, nothing new. Very quiet and little drama with NLI day a couple days off.
ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. did a look back on the 2006 top-100 kids in the recruiting class (Insider subs.). Pitt had three players in that list and 0 busts– though LeSean McCoy (#50) ended up in prep school for a year before getting to Pitt. Nate Byham (#68) and Dorin Dickerson (#74) both should be considered successes. Even if Byham’s senior year was disappointing compared to his first few, and it really took until his senior year for Dickerson to become the weapon expected.
Brian Bennett looks at others in the Big East’s 2006 recruiting class, and notes that Pitt really had some good hits in this class with Byham, Dickerson, Pinkston and Romeus were all in this group.
As for recruiting this year, Rivals.com’s Jeremy Crabtree puts Pitt in his list of disappointments.
The Pitt Panthers fall into this category for one big reason – they lost out on the biggest names in Western Pennsylvania. Linebacker Mike Hull, quarterback Paul Jones and offensive linemen Thomas Ricketts and Miles Dieffenbach all bolted the western part of the state. What’s worse is that all four committed to in-state rival Penn State with two of them, Ricketts and Dieffenbach, having family ties to Pitt. Pitt did a nice job on some of the lesser names in their area and helped its cause with some talent in New Jersey, but after some nice success the last few years in their neck of the woods, this year was a disappointment.
Comparatively disappointing, but not devastating. All four are 4-stars, but none are can’t-miss, had-to-have prospects. Losing any top WPa talent is annoying. Especially a couple OLs. Maybe because they all committed early, it does not feel that stinging at this point.
Coach Wannstedt has been using the period after the season ended to check in on kids who have verbaled. Not to mention planning for 2011.
“I was hitting four homes a night,” Wannstedt said. “I like to get in the home of every kid who commits to us.
“All our recruits were excited about Pitt in August, but they are really excited about the opportunity to be a part of the program now. If we had 20 commitments in August, and you win four games, now you’re scrambling to hold on to convince guys why that happened. When you have a good year, it reinforces in the recruit’s mind that it was a great decision.”
The last day of official home visits was Friday. Now, the Pitt coaching staff can only wait for letters of intent to spill through the fax machines.
As he waits, Wannstedt is already looking ahead to next year’s recruiting class.
“This gives us an opportunity to put together our junior list,” he said. “As sick as that sounds, we have a junior recruiting day coming up in February. That’s the nature of the business now. You’re trying to finish strong with this year’s class and make sure you prepared for what’s coming up.”
As NLI day looms, there is no shortage of recruiting stories. And the usual hand-wringing over the state of things. This includes decommits and changing minds. The usual stuff, but this piece is worth noting since Pitt verbal commit T.J. Clemmings is featured.
From the moment Clemmings stepped on campus at Pittsburgh, he was enthralled.
The players seemed like old friends. He found the city exciting. The team was coming off yet another strong season under former NFL coach Dave Wannstedt. Everything he looked for in a school was there.
On his way out of town after the weekend-long visit, the 6-6, 260-pound Clemmings called Wannstedt and told him Pitt was where he wanted to play college football.
“He made a hasty decision without consulting anybody,” Paterson Catholic coach Benjie Wimberly said. “It was almost like love at first sight. You meet your first girl and it’s the best thing in the world — I think that’s what happened with TJ.”
One of the most coveted prospects in the country — he runs a 4.7 second 40-yard dash and was pursued by Notre Dame, Penn State and many others — Clemmings’ parents urged him to carefully weigh his options and visit other schools. This was a life-changing decision, they warned him.
Clemmings took an official visit to Rutgers and unofficial trips to Maryland and Penn State. He wanted to see if those schools could offer him anything that Pitt could not.
In the end, Pittsburgh was still the place for Clemmings.
There was a lot of confusion over Clemmings at first. His verbal was known, then his parents and coaches all said, “not so fast.” This led to the usual overreaction by Pitt fans that the coaches and parents were interfering or trying to steer him to some other school.
Since he still is committed to Pitt, it’s easy to look back with more of an open mind. The truth is, regardless, the adults in Clemmings life actually behaved like adults.
Clemmings had an emotional, impulsive reaction. The sort of thing that high school kids of any type are prone to do. His parents and coach made him look a little more carefully to be sure. The decision was still his (and he chose wisely).
