Pitt will be having kids visit for football recruiting this weekend and next. One of the visitors this weekend, defensive lineman Ryan Watson. The DL from Maryland is expecting after the Pitt visit to make a choice at some point in the near future.
The 6-foot-3, 275-pound Watson visited Purdue this past weekend and plans to visit Pittsburgh this weekend.
“Just those two [official visits] right now,” Watson said. “It’s probably going to be between those two.”
Watson is being recruited to play on defense by both schools.
Purdue “was really good, I especially like the people there and everyone was nice, including the coaching staff,” Watson said. “I really like the opportunity [at Pittsburgh] and Coach [Paul] Randolph, the defensive line coach and the head coach [Todd Graham]. When I went there for an unofficial, it was a really nice campus.”
Watson is nearly a consensus 4-star recruit. Rivals.com, Scout.com and 24/7 all list him at 4-star. ESPN (Insider subs.) says 3-star, but they also list him as an offensive lineman. He plays both ways, but all other reports say his future is most likely at defensive end or tackle — and indeed Pitt is recruiting him for the defensive side.
Read between the lines: “Everyone was really nice” Translation – these guys are okay but it doesn’t really seem that exciting.
“I really like the opportunity [and the coaches]” Translation: I’ve bought into the vision, I’m excited.
Just my two cents. Now just hope I didn’t put the jinx on it… Hail to Pitt!
OSU has a new coach, but they are in it with the NCAA up to their eyebrows. NCAA tossed them a bone today, but that is typical before dropping a bigger bomb.
WVU isn’t an option for any local kid or for that matter (ohio, pennsylvania, maryland,new jersey, delaware). No way WVU can sell local kids and their parents about playing kansas next week or iowa state. Their degree is devalued since the Manchin degree granting without going to class.
Maryland Terps are heading in the wrong direction. The Edsell is out dated.
So where do you go if you are a recruit in the six state area? From an educational standpoint and an opportunity to play soon for a team going places, Pitt is it. It’s not a hard sell for TG, and is a great opportunity for the kids to get a degree and work towards the next level. So let’s recruit the bigger, faster, smarter players! Carpe’ ACC !!
Either way, this guy is a must get for us.
I’ve attended both urban and suburban schools. Each has their own positives and negatives. But if I was a young kid again, I’d pick an urban environment because there is more to do and very easy to get around via public transportation. Unless a kids parents are concerned about urban crime, which is more perception than reality, I don’t see how you could pass up the city versus a small town or rural environment.
Now Pitt still needs to work on that game day experience but as we all know…winning helps.
Oh, and a better conference. Sorry BigGuy.
I have been to Purdue and it is nice but it is not unique. It is like many other schools in the Mwest. Pitt is unique even among urban campuses.
I would play at Pitt but the kid can’t go wrong with either school, which as a parent, is what you hope for.
search they have been talking to the coach at duke David Cutcliffe .
the ones in charge seam to want to put foot ball in its place so to speak.
they dont want to kill it but they want to devalue it a bit.
the teams will slowley becomea illusion of what they once were and will play like duke whos coach they are looking at.
but that will make it better for us in recruting .
Maybe there will be some commits later from this weekend; but it doesn’t appear too encouraging that it seems that not one visitor committed over the weekend. I am assuming (perhaps incorrectly) that if there were commits over the weekend that such a fact would have at least been rumored by now.
Sure hope I am not jumping to false conclusions.
OSU does have a little mess to clean up, but hiring Meyer might make the kids overlook it. If Meyer wins 11 next season and makes a BCS game, the PA recruits might be taking the E-Z pass lane to Columbus.
OSU and, whether we want to believe it or not, PSU will continue to recruit well in the coming years. But so does PITT when there is a solid program and wins.
We’ll lose some local players for sure, but the one thing with this staff is that they want speed on the roster and are willing to recruit just about anywhere to get it.
Reed – True Tressel won and did well recruiting in the area. But with the scandal (now ‘mini-scandal’ compared to PSU) at OSU, I hoped we would be able to lure a few while things settled in Columbus.
You have to admit that Meyer is a ‘big bang’ hiring and should reap immediate benefits in the recruiting area.
The kids that we are hot on now – Watson, Rippey, Harris, Ekanam, JP Holtz (PSU), Demetrious Cox, Wartman (PSU)… only Cox has an OSU offer.
I’ve a feeling Graham is going to close out this recruiting season very well and that he’ll not have too many problems getting the kids he wants in the future. So far he’s done an excellent job at this with little time last year and only one season at PITT to point to.
TX Panther – I think you may underestimate how much impact a school’s campus has with recruits, but more importantly with their parents and Grandparents. I’m sure it won’t sway a kid who doesn’t want to come here and play football anyway, but when kids and thier families are narrowing down thier choices to two or three and those programs are usually pretty close all said… then many other factors come into play.
Especially when other colleges use “Inner-City Oakland” (Oh,the horrors!!) and its rumored crime to try put ideas in thier minds recruits, and they sure do, then they come to the beautiful PITT campus and see something completely different than what they expected. We hear that from recruits all the time.
It’s a looooong way from Maryland to Indiana.
Unhappy Valley is the only location within easy driving distance of Maryland…..Watson should be on our ABSOLUTE MUST GET LIST!!!!