Well, the good news is Pitt picked up another recruit. The bad news is missing (again) on another very important recruit.
I’ll start with the positives. Titus Howard out of Clairton gave his verbal. The defensive back/wide receiver has good size, and he might be able to help bring in a big WR target in his teammate Tyler Boyd.
“I am going to try to get him there,” Howard said.
Howard, 6-foot-3 and 180 pounds, was on campus with many of his teammates, helping Clairton win a championship at Pitt’s seven-on-seven camp.
Clairton defeated Thomas Jefferson, 25-20, in the title game.
Howard said he considered waiting until after the season to make a decision.
“But it felt right today, and I ended up doing it,” he said. “I like their program. I love being around the coaches. Coach (Paul) Chryst was really excited. He said he can’t wait.”
His size, of course, is up for debate. Rivals.com lists him at 6-2, 165 pounds and says he’s a 2-star cornerback. 247 Sports also says 2-star cornerback, but lists him at 6-1, 170 pounds. Scout.com has him as a 3-star recruit, but has him at safety and puts him at 6-3, 180 pounds. ESPN.com doesn’t have a ranking for him at this time, but lists him as a cornerback and puts his size at 6-2, 160 pounds. To recap. He’s anywhere from 6-1 to 6-3 and 160 to 180 pounds.
He’s definitely going to play in the secondary.
Howard is 6 feet 2, 165 pounds and extremely fast and athletic, so he fits the mold of cornerback that the Panthers are looking for in coordinator Dave Huxtable’s defense because they are asked to play a lot of man-to-man coverage.
“I like the defense, I’m used to it because that’s all we play is man coverage [at Clairton],” Howard said. “But everything just felt right for me to make my decision, the coaching staff, the academic stuff they took me through today — it really just felt like home for me.
Not sure how much he really will help Pitt in landing Boyd, but it can’t hurt.
The flipside is missing on Dorian Johnson. A 4-star offensive tackle from Belle Vernon who chose Penn State over Pitt, WVU and Ohio State. Losing any 4-star recruit from the local area hurts. Extra pain when it is to Penn State. Not to mention from the same high school where Pitt’s ace recruiter — Joe Rudolph — graduate. Even worse, at such a position of dire need.
So, yeah, the miss kind of overshadows the get.
It’s nice that the 7-on-7 camp was a happy time for all the area high school coaches. Apparently last year was not so much.
[Thomas Jefferson coach Bill] Cherpak said new coach Paul Chryst and his staff have done a great job reconnecting and putting out the welcome mat.
“We didn’t come to this camp last year for obvious reasons,” Cherpak said, referring to departed coach Todd Graham. “[Pitt director of operations] Chris LaSala does an amazing job of setting this up and organizing it, and the staff now makes us all feel so welcome.
“It was like a second home, and it is starting to get back to that way after the disaster from last year. This staff has made a place where people are going to love coming down here and being here. And Chryst has made it clear he wants [high school coaches] to be a part of things and give him input again. So it is a welcome change.”
That’s all nice, but so far it hasn’t translated well into landing the talented local kids. Plenty of potential and sleepers, but the top kids so far are either undecided or going elsewhere. Maybe it makes a difference in 2014 and beyond, with the high school coaches liking Chryst, but right now it has had little impact.
Patience is warranted for any new coach. And he will get that when the games are played (at least from me). At the same time, there has to be concern because of the slow pace to recruiting. Especially compared to WVU and Penn State. So far Coach Paul Chryst has done nothing to dispel the notion that he is not particularly aggressive or interested in recruiting.
Chris Dokish has a frustrated rant on the way Pitt’s recruiting has gone. You don’t have to agree with all of it (or any of it), but he makes a very important point. One that does raise flags. The lack of organization and communication with recruits. Whether that stems from being new as the head coach and getting all the way up to speed, or not. It really is inexcusable to have at least 3 instances of which we know, where Pitt didn’t make it clear to recruits that they had offers. It’s now a “funny” story for a couple of them since they still committed to Pitt, but that is a big question mark for how this staff is handling recruiting.
Adding to the urgency of doing well in recruiting in the first year is the situation with the past two recruiting classes. No, that’s not Chryst’s fault, but he’s the head coach at Pitt now, and has to know the urgency in this. I’m sure he does, but it hasn’t really translated in recruiting to this point.
1. recruiting
2. recruiting better
3. coaching
4. education
Looks like we are off to a bad start and only have a realistic chance at a few top players. New coaches that get off to great recruiting are the ones that turn around programs quickly, win, and keep their jobs for years.
I’d like to think that some adjustments will be made after the season to improve the recruiting efforts. At this point, you’d have to think that the staff and Pederson are eyeing this as an area of improvement as it is borderline pathetic to let players like Johnson fall to Pedo St. Pitt needs to bring in and be willing to pay some assistant coaches who can actually recruit.
Wisconsin with Chryst as OC has done some pretty good things with 2-3 star recruits so, as previously suggested, we all need to take a big breath
However, I am in the belief that once both coaches show what they can do and the wins and losses begin to matter… it’ll be Chryst and not O’Brien recruiting the next big-name lineman out of the WPIAL.
Haywood 2 weeks
Bennett 1 week
Graham 11 months
If your a recruit, what reason would you have coming to Pitt ? No draft picks last year, coaching has been a mess, plays in the big east (at least one more year)
For whatever reasons, its a tough sell right now for any head coach. Even then we still have some talent coming in.
Bill O’Brien’s record as a head coach is identical (0-0).
Exposure, money from alumni,all the trappings of big-time college football that Pitt can not offer.
In the 70’s and early 80s when Pitt was the dominat team in the nation factors existed then that will never exist again. Two southern coaches with connects at a time when black atheletes in the south were still being shunned by the major schools.
They came to Pitt and Pitt was able to recruit the top OL and DL from PA., Ohio, and N.Y. who wanted to play with these players.
No ESPN, superconferences, just ABC. Be at the top and you played 3 national games. Pitt at this time would be the first national and last national game of the season. We did not need to sell out Pitt statdium in effect for from 76′ through 81′ we were America’s team.
The desegration of southern athletics and the boom of cable TV as well as population demographic shits have changed the enviornment.
In my opinion all is not lost because Chryst on the sidelines is worth 7 points a game for Pitt in contrast the Pitt coaches since Sherrill were worth 7 points a game (Graham +14) to our opponent.
most of our players had offers from the mac.
penn states players had offers from the big 10 and sec .
at this rate we will be at the bottom of the ACC
.
i think you should all read dokish post he makes good points it sounds like pitt recruting is a cluster fuck with no organization
Many of you are just like Doke, if Pitt does not get the biggins you lash out at the HC irrespective of his circumstances. That is your right but as for me, my wife, the cat and dog are pulling for HCPC and Co. to be a success at building Pitt’s/our football program up and if he does ma, me and the animals are going to let you star gazers no about it…
and even if he wins next year the players he wins with will have been recruited bye dave or tg so we wont know if his players are any good for 3 years and i would rather wait to see on 4 stars insted of his 2 stars. i gess i dont have enough faith. i know he will be able to coach but it does not look like he can recruit.
and even if he wins next year and the year after he will be doeing it with daves players and TG players we will need to wait on his 2 stars and low 3 stars that he recruted.
And, if some of you came to me with this stuff after year two or three, then, ya, I’d say “what the hell is going on” too.
The guy just started though. I know about Penn St and the kid they got.
Still, Chryst just started brother. Just started at a place that has played mediocre ball for years, had a coach who didn’t befriend the local h.s. coaches, a place that has so-so attendance, and a place that has gone through many coaches the last few years. A pure mess!!!
And after all of the turmoil, many will hate this, but the PSU scandal will be going away.
The recruits know, the monster is gone to jail for life, the liars will be going to jail, and come September, there is going to be 100,000 blue and white fans in the stands.
Sure, terrible, gut wrenching about the children. If the perps are taken care of, then for the common fan, they’ll be saying time to move on. They’ll have some charities for the kids I’m sure, stuff like that, but PSU football will move forward.
You know other coaches are using the Heinz Field half empty with yellow seats on these kids.
It’s gonna take time for Coach Chryst at Pitt, in my book.
and stars are how it is done. just like a master is worth more then a bachlor degree you have to have a gide to see how you are doeing that does not mean that some 2 star will do better some 4 star but what would you rather have 4 players who are 2 star or 4 players who are 4 star thats just the way it is.
PSU is still a revered football destination for recruits irrespective of the JS scandal.
Pitt has not been a revered football destination since Sherrill left. This is an irrefutable fact and to expect Pitt’s football program to be a prime destination for prime recruits is incorrect because there is a correlation between a school’s football program’s overall success and the recruits it gets (cue in PSU). It did not scare away Breneman (your beloved 5 star recruit/#1 TE nor Johnson (your beloved 4 Star) went with winning tradition with the attendant 100,000 plus crowd and meaningful games against BIG opponents irrespective of the fact PSU struggles to win the conference title. Did they do this because of the way HCPC and Co. recruits or is it because they saw PSU as better option as a football program? For me the answer is the latter and for you it is the former. What is the rational answer in light of Pitt not being in a good conference, losing to MAC and Div 1A schools and not have any real impact nationally…….Pitt itself and not HCPC alone. Pitt inherited him via the Pitt admin, HCPC inherited a program which has not seen glory since the days of Marino and Green.
Start recruiting, instill your knowledge, your teaching abilities.
Try to win a few games. Get people excited.
Then, build up your recruiting a little more, go to the ACC, get some better teams in here, get some wins against them.
Get the recruiting up the next notch. Can’t do it overnight. Not even the recruiting.
The funny thing about it is that you cannot do anything about except come down on the coaches’ star ratings. Rivetted indeed…
why cant it be that that recruiting is just not chrysts strong point. why is that so hard for you to except .
dave had the same yellow seats and stuff and beat or tied them in recruting like i said why cant it be that recruting is not his strong point.
remmber this when we pointed out things that TG did wrong like fiting squre pegs in round holes as far as players you all said don say that stuff he is our coach you all fall into the same trap and that is he is our coach so every thing is ok were did that get us with TG.
i like to call a spade a spade i see a problem with the recruting that does not mean chryst is a bad coach that does not mean i want him to fail
but it is something that needs fixed
and i wont fall into the trap of he is our coach every thing is ok i did not do it with TG nd i wont with chryst eather i am sure he will be a good game day coach but does he need help with recruting yes he does.
It is moot to say his classes were better than PSUs because he had the best classes in the BE and flopped every time when it counted. Better classes mean didley when you lose to MAC/Div 1A schools and cannot even win an outright coference conference championship in the weakest BCS conference. It is moot just as it is moot to judge a first year HC on a team that has been through so many coaches the last 3 years.
and chryst is a game day coach so is dave could recruit for chryst we would win every thing.
but that does not change the fact that at this point it looks as if chryst needs help with recruting why should you be mad over that it is not looking like that is his strong point that does not mean i dont like him or that i want him to fail it just means he might need help with recruting .
Thanks, Dan.
well then there is no reason chryst cant do just as well and he is not so far. what dave did or did not do with the players is not the point.
Frank will mix it up with ya, but, always a good soul at the end of the night.
Bleeds blue and gold like we all do!!
Hail to Pitt!!!
If stars made a football player guys Dion Lewis and Tags would never sniff the field… The star rankings are worthless
If you were a stud football player – why would you want to play for Pitt versus any B10 team? Your answer may change in a few years, but right now a B10 team is a better option. Like it or not – this has nothing to do with recruiting.
I hope HCPC proves you all by winning and proving you children wrong. Did you all go to the Anonymous Blog Poster Joe D’s school of bit*ing irrationally like a 7 year old.
I can see coming down on HCPC after a season or two but to predicate his worth with his true first recruiting class is mindless to say the least. Lets be honest when reading posts on Pitt sites it is self-evident who are mature adults. The others well like I said…..
Ped State shouldn’t be able to recruit anyone in a society that had it’s head screwed on straight. Clearly America in the 21rst century does not !
With that being said, i believe we as fans need to give this coaching staff a chance and our support!