Off topic but possibly greatest shirt ever:

link to homage.com

#2 cb in Maryland – sounds good to me

link to post-gazette.com

At least we didn’t lose him to Bobby Mo

Please put a help wanted sign outside Heinz for OL recruits!!

At the end of the Coates article he drops a couple of big names for who he wants to come to Pitt. Two five-stars, DT Eddie Goldman (#3 DT in the country) and Stefon Diggs (#2 WR in the country). I wonder if that’s just a big mouth or he actually knows those guys.

@isnore, I could not agree with you more. Our roster is in dire need of some more beef on the offense line real soon, like NOW!! I’d put signs outside of all the Primanti Bros. restuarants advertising for those same OL recruits, you know, fish where the fish are. LOL

This is a guy who’s star ratings should only go up. He won the Defensive MVP @ Penn St’s 7on7’s. Every 7 on 7 he’s gone to he’s been heralded and Revis himself recommended we pick him up.

I have no statistical or anecdotal evidence to support this, but I feel as if CB and Safety recruits are the most difficult to predict with low star recruits ultimately becoming decent contributors.

Wasn’t Revis a 3-star out of HS?

I’ve read some articles about this guy lately, and from what is being said he is a player whose stock is rising fast. As mentioned above, he has performed well in some camps this summer and looks to be a pretty strong kid. Safety might be his position when it is all said in done.

Yes, we need some OL. I’m not in panic mode yet. Any word who is on our radar? Who has Pitt as a serious contender?

Pretty sure Revis was and also, I don’t think he had a Pitt offer until after the PIAA football championship game…

The news on the kid seems to be good, but I can’t seem to get too excited by that highlight reel. Seemed like it was mostly him coming in on the end of plays…didn’t get to watch him backpedal, turn his hips, other important CB factors.

They have a 6’5 290 Tackle (Adam Pankey) from Hamilton, OH coming to visit this weekend. He is a 3 star on Rivals+Scout with offers from Illinois, Indiana, NC St, Pitt, Louisville, and WVU.

Bisnowaty was on campus on Wednesday, but I’m not sure how much of a chance Pitt really has for him.

Other than these two and maybe a couple more, it doesn’t look like there is a whole bunch of uncomitted OL even holding Pitt offers.

Thanks for the info, BC. Hopefully we make some progress in the OL area asap.

3-star on Rivals, #16 overall in Maryland. Not bad

The pickings of OL left are indeed limited if you just go by the stars (3+). But, maybe Graham can convert some D line players over or find some jucos next year. Pitt’s O-line this year appears to be in good shape if there isn’t a rash of injuries.

If Revis says Pitt should have picked up Cb Coates, that’good enough for me. Revis is solid gold for the Jets. Rev. George from Columbus

I think Pankey is the OL who said it was between us and WVU. He also commented that the Voytik committment is important to him.

I think we have a reasonable chance at Bisnowaty. He recently took a trip to Florida and the interview he gave afterward sounded like he really wasn’t impressed with the facilities or the players that were there.

A highly rated O lineman would be crazy not to come to Pitt. I know all these kids believe that they are the greatest player ever to come down the pike, but Big State schools seem to get 2 or 3 of these 4 and 5 star o linemen every single year. Personally, I’d rather go to Pitt, start for 3 or 4 years and get drafted in the 1st or second round.

Lets take a look at the OL prospects, per rivals.com shall we?

Adam Bisnowaty – 4 stars – likelihood seems low, but who knows maybe Voytik will talk him into it.

Tony Matteo – 3 stars – It appears that Pitt is in his top two. So hey, that’s a fifty/fifty chance in my book.

Treyvon Hester – 3 stars – Only has offers from 2 MAC schools. Red flag. Maybe the coaching staff wants to see him in action?

Adam Pankey – 3 stars – Visiting Saturday. We are competing with NC State, Louisville and WVA for his services. Stay tuned.

Greg Pyke – 3 stars – Supposedly has narrowed his choices to 3 schools. I can’t tell whether or not Pitt is one of them. I’m guessing not.

Josh Stepoli – 2 stars – So far only Pitt and Rutgers has offered him. No way to gauge his interest level. For what it’s worth, he’s from Monessen and he looks like one tough SOB.

Tyler Alt – 2 stars – Only Temple has offered this guy

Ryan Anderson – unevaluated (no stars) – We’re competing with some MAC schools, BC and Indiana for this guy. No read on interest level.

Analysis: Okay, so we have 1 in the fold and we’re targeting ~8 more and there are currently 6 offers out there. Figure we land at least 3, maybe 4 over the next six months. That’s a total of 4-5 O-Line recruits. About 1 complete O-Line.

You have to figure that probably 2-3 guys will develop the way we want them to. So we get 2-3 solid guys that we can use 2-3 years down the road, and we recruit 4-5 more guys the next year. And 4-5 guys the year after that. And we develop them, and we use the 2-3 that develop. And then we do it again. Wash, rinse, repeat.

As long as we are loading the pipe with 4-5 guys each year and 2-3 of them develop, we *should* have an O-line stocked with decently-skilled upperclassmen each year. So no reason to panic just yet, the numbers line up for the most part. But yes, it’s all theory at this point. I will feel better when we land some actual players…

The outher offers he had were from robert morris and eastern mich. cant we do better than this and how many DB do we need any way we signed what 8 lalt clss and 6 or so this time were are the OL men and D line men and weight ever one seams to weigh 165 pounds or so high school teams will be biger then us.

link to rise.espn.go.com

good video of him showing his skills. Also Corey Jones from Penn Hills in the video looks great as well and has Pitt very high.

The Hoopies run the spread. They will be the team to beat year in and year out. You need fast DB’s to defend against it. Graham’s D is not dependent on stacking the line upfront. It’s not being built to stop power rushing teams like the Big 10. Please everyone…let’s trust that Graham knows what he is doing. Nobody on this board is an expert in coaching or recruiting, but opinions are like assholes…everyone has one. May I suggest we just wait to see how it all plays out before over-reacting and yinzer negativity takes over. We can wish for all the 5-stars in the world, but they are not coming to Pitt and frankly you don’t need them to win the Big Least. I’m most interested in how our defense looks this year. Hopefully nasty and aggressive.

if you were a big ugly, would you go to a program where you have to hustle after every play to ensure that the ball is snapped with 15 seconds from the end of the previous play?

no…no i wouldnt

That’s why Graham will find 2 and 3 star guys with MAC offers or under the radar who are fast and can zone block. He may pick up a 4-star guy along the way but we often get too infatuated with these stars and big school offers. He’s finding system guys who can win at the college level. Wanny found future NFL guys who lost.

I agree it is likely that the OL doesn’t have to be as good in the high octane as the pro set because he doesn’t have to hold his pass block as long and there will be less percentage of runs.

BTW, Tx Panther .. I have to mention this. In the past 3 years, Wanny won one more game than Graham against better competition. I’m noy implying that Graham won’t be the better coach .. I’m just sayin’

I agree that we’ll be OK this year on the OL IF we don’t catch a bad case of the injury bug. It’s next year that we are going to find ourselves in a heap of trouble if the current situation isn’t rectified. We lose Nix, Jacobson, Gibbs and Gaskins to graduation and only Artie Rowell is coming in as a freshman this year for the OL in this recruiting class. Next year, without bringing in a couple of junior college guys who can contribute immediately, like Otah did, then we have problems right on down the line for a few years to come. We just don’t have the numbers on the roster now not even worrying about their star rating. We need bodies both in THIS season’s recruiting class as well as 4 or 5 for 2012 just to make ends meet. Too bad Sacco didn’t work out at Pitt. I feel he would have worked out well in Grahams system.

FWIW, In addition to Rowell, here are the underclassmen OL on the current roster:

56 Arthur Doakes OT Fr. RS 6-6/325 Lebanon, PA (Lebanon)
64 Shane Johnson OG So. RS 6-5/295 Fort Washington, MD (DeMatha Catholic)
66 Justin Virbitsky OG So. RS 6-4/265 Jermyn, PA (Lakeland)
69 Kevin Barthelemy LS So. RS 6-3/255 Moon Township, PA (Moon Area)
70 Juantez Hollins OT So. RS 6-5/290 Aliquippa, PA (Aliquippa)
72 Jack Lippert C So. RS 6-4/275 Harrisburg, PA (Central Dauphin)
74 Matt Rotheram OG Fr. RS 6-6/300 North Olmsted, OH (North Olmsted)
75 Ryan Turnley OG Jr. RS 6-6/305 Hopewell, PA (Hopewell)
76 Ryan Schlieper OG So. RS 6-5/300 Wexford, PA (North Allegheny)
77 Zenel Demhasaj C Jr. 6-7/320 Brooklyn, NY (New Utrecht H.S.)
78 Cory King OG So. RS 6-6/315 Stoneboro, PA (Lakeview)

I get what you’re saying wbb. But, just think of how many more games Pitt could have won with a better coach that didn’t play conservative and kept games close. Wanny had the horses. Just damn frustrating. I know time will tell. I think Graham has what its got to make Pitt a winner regardless of the ‘stars’. Had the same feeling with Jamie. Never really did with Wanny. Hope my hunch is right or God help us all.

Rev George will ensure God will help us – no need to worry.

@wbb,,, your roster listing is just the point that I’m making. Really think of how this pans out. A couple guys get injuries, another one gets tased in a drunken stupor by the cops and gets thrown off the team, another one has family problems & quits and one doesn’t cut it academically. Now you’re down to five guys plus Rowell coming in this year, not even considering the luxury of a freshman red shirt. That’s how it plays out in real life (worst case but could happen). We can’t even field a fricken 1st string with those numbers!! Face it, if things don’t improve in a hurry on the OL we’re in trouble come next year!!

Agree with TX Panther on the stars issue…Yes if you want to be a powerhouse program every year you need to be loaded up with four and five start talent…But you don’t need that to be competitive and have shot now and again at the big prize…Boise State, Utah, TCU all prove this point…They are system oriented teams that run their systems to perfection…Coach Graham is doing exactly what he said he would do. He is loading this team with speed and quickness. You can wear down you opponent with speed just like you can with might…I’m willing to give this process a chance to play out on the field…If nothing else, it will be fun to watch.

You can be fast and that is good but a team that has 40 or 50 players who waigh 165 to 185 is going to get killed at the level of ball we play at were is the beef.

Dr Tom, I don’t understand your message. Not one of those OL listed above ran into any of the issues you mentioned in your post. They are all on the current roster and available, and more than half of them were 3 star recruits (for whatever that’s worth.)

Now, it may well be that few have them have the speed that Graham is looking for but the point is that there is still much depth in the OL … maybe not quality but depth.

For those out there that seem to know we are going to fail PLEASE give me the Power Ball numbers for tonight so I don’t have to come home from vacation.
I swear these kids and coaches could walk on water and someone would say “yea great but the bottom of their shoes are getting wet”.

giveitarest, I believe we all suffer from Chas paranoia (blog owner) who has this fixation about lack of offensive linemen. I believe this is why he drinks so much but probably won’t admit to it.

Dish, I had always been told that the Sovereign of the UNIVERSES was a Notre Dame grad. And now they’ve got Kelly as coach. Very formidable!! Rev. George

wbb, I was just postulating the “what if” factors utilizing previous circumstances that have happened to other individuals that have been on the team and applying them to this OL group over their tenure here at Pitt, lets say 2012-0215. Agreed, if NOTHING unfavorable occurs with this group over this period our depth on the offensive line will be OK but sh*t does happen, like I itemized, and when it inevitablely does with this particular position we are thin enough that we will get hurt and hurt badly. Many other major programs have enough depth to fill up a two deep depth chart for both the first and scout teams, that’s 15 to 20 guys. As you itemized, as of 2012 we have 11 with one incoming freshman on the OL this year. It’s just a matter of numbers, we’re short here on the OL and I’m sure that Graham realizes it too. My guess is that we’ll see an increase in JC OL recruits next year along with an influx of incoming freshman recruits at this position in the class of 2013, once Graham gets his skill positions filled with talented speed guys that are required to operate his fast style of play. I sure hope so, if not, this WILL be the Achelles heel of this team in the future.

I assume that Graham is a great developer of talent since he keeps adding 2 star recruits who otherwise were headed to RMC.

He’s only been here 7 months!!!!!

Stay tuned for some news on the OL situation…

Don’t tease us Reed….

Another feature in Pitt’s cap: Offensive lineman, Tom Ricketts is transferring to the Panthers from that school in central Pa, whose name escapes me. Tom was never, in my mind a fit for Paterno’s platoons. How couls he with the DNA he has. Welcome HOME, Tom!!. Rev. George from Columbus

That will help some…

still around chas?

Great news on Ricketts. He will be ready and able in the 2012 season. He has the pedigree obviously, and I am hoping that having some experience even as a RS, will help him get ahead of the curve by the time 2012 rolls around.

Interesting to see how many transfers the new coaching staff has brought in. I’ve been following the team since ’97 or ’98 and I don’t recall seeing that in the past.

the first batch of transfers were DBs, then we got some WRs … a couple more OL would be welcome