The open secret, about where Bethel Park offensive tackle, Mike Grimm will announce his verbal commitment got a bit of a leak was revealed early. Quietly.
The Trib website is already posting an article by Kevin Gorman on Mike Grimm making his verbal to Pitt (so we will see how long until it gets pulled).
In the meantime…
He is Pitt’s first of two WPIAL recruits and fifth overall from the Class of 2014.
“All the Pitt coaches made me feel comfortable,” Grimm said. “They respected me as a player and made sure everything was OK. They were grown-up about the situation and made me see that I could really grow as a person and as a football player from being there with them.”
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A three-year starter for the Black Hawks, Grimm switched from left tackle to strong-side last season because Bethel Park’s quarterback, Levi Metheny, is left-handed. Grimm projects as a right tackle in college.Grimm is excited about playing alongside former prep All-Americans Adam Bisnowaty of Fox Chapel and Dorian Johnson of Belle Vernon on Pitt’s offensive line in the future.
“It made me feel more comfortable, meeting those guys and talking to them at games this year,” Grimm said. “It made me feel like it was a good place to be because everybody is at the same caliber, and we can succeed the same way. We can make each other better.”
Being close to home was an obvious factor in his decision.
In the recruiting rankings he is a high-3 star for Scout.com, 247 and ESPN.com. Rivals.com puts him at 4-stars. He had offers from most of the Big 10 and ACC schools.
Grimm was a very important player for Pitt and this staff to get. He was long considered a Pitt lean/lock, but he couldn’t be taken for granted. If Coach Paul Chryst and the staff managed to blow it with him, it would have been devastating in terms of building the team and fan confidence.
It’s not likely that Grimm will step in and start as a freshman, but it won’t be surprising to see him make a push early. Given Bisnowaty will be at left tackle and Dorian Johnson will likely be at right tackle, seeing him slide to guard wouldn’t be a surprise.
UPDATE (9:00 am): Well since the cat is out of the bag, PantherLair (Rivals.com) has put out their (free) story on Grimm’s verbal.
“After Friday, I really knew I wanted to go there. Being with the coaches and talking to a lot of the team, I think I fit in really well with the guys they have and the offensive line that’s there. And I think it can help to have a big local offensive lineman committed; it can help them recruit guys from the area.”
Grimm knows the impact of a four-star commitment on the offensive line, and he plans to go to work on the recruiting trail. Those efforts will start with another four-star recruit from western Pennsylvania.
“I definitely think that Shai McKenzie could excel behind a big offensive line,” he said. “I’ve talked to him a couple times and I feel like he’s a really good running back. I think he could excel with a great offensive line and definitely reach his full potential.
“They recruited a lot of big linemen last year and they’re planning to take three or four this year, so I think a good quarterback and a good running back could help the school excel and make it on the big bowl level and even with winning an ACC championship.”
And former center Ryan Turnley gave his endorsement to the coaching staff in developing the O-line after hearing the news.
Hey, 5 commits and it’s only June 19th!
Give the staff some credit. This wasn’t a simple case of an OL wanting to go to the local school. He has two uncles that played for WVU and PSU. The staff did a great job recruiting him.
Does it mean we are only recruiting and expect to land one more WPIAL recruit? Or, does it mean a second WPIAL recruit commitment is imminent?
Who says history can’t repeat itself?
Simply a matter of Paul simply living up to his promise to brother Geep to make sure Keller is well protected.
he was the one the big one the outhers are toping
on the cake
Although he sounds like a high character young man, I can’t help but introduce a dose of reality. Chapman said all the right things but somehow his actions failed to live up to his “high-character” words. Lets hope Grimm walks the walk and the words aren’t hollow.
McKenzie or any other highly touted RB won’t be able to find too many other colleges with highly talented, highly recruited OL than what PC has at Pitt right now. Maybe not the quantity he ultimately wants, but there is no questioning the quality and games can and will be won in the trenches.
However, I share Frank’s concern, where are the DL recruits that will allow Pitt to dominate in the trenches. Not only is there a lack of quantity, but the quality is equally thin at DL. House and staff better get busy and find some talent in a big hurry.
When I really want to buy that new car… you dont have to hit me with all the sales gimmicks to convince me.
We’re grabbing “Plan B” from the big time schools. It seems like the guys with few BCS offers have a lot of bigger programs sniffing around and keeping tabs on guys. They’re players that the big programs want to grab if they miss on Plan A. They don’t want offer yet because then they risk losing Plan A.
Get the Plan B guys before they become top priority of the bigger programs and now those kids will be much more loyal; “Pitt wanted me on Day 1, you want me at the last minute.”
I loved reading the vibe that Mike Grimm gave that he feels responsible for bringing in other recruits to the Panthers. When he dropped McKenzie’s name I literally said out loud, “that’s what I’m talkin bout”!
I hope that Chryst’s concept of filling up the team with the kind of players that REALLY want to be Pitt Panthers works out because as chethejet stated, it has been a while since us loyal Pitt fans have felt the “Pitt Panther Pride” eminating from within the program, and by that I mean from the players themselves. Hail to Pitt!
Because of migration to the south for cheap labor in the eighties and the desegragation of the SEC football programs (in the southeast during that period Georgia was the best and got their butt kicked every year in Sugar bowl).
The SEC was a weak conference so was the Big-12. The Big-10, PAC, and eastern independents ran football before the demographic shift and desegregation.
Chryst is building a foundation based on the bedrock left of Eastern football, big tough lineman.
Western Pa., Ohio, and N.J. still has top notch QB’s a sprikling of recivers, and running backs. Pitt has to get the best or the B level
of these players.
Pitt will never see the hellcion days of the 70’s or 80’s if Saban was coaching. The demographics have changed to dramatically. If he can build an OL comparable to those years (he may have 3 players now)he can keep the best of the RB’s from the area (B level players) and perhaps the occassional top notch QB that still pops up.
If so we can compete in ACC and sneak into the orange bowel on occassion but the day’s of Dorsett, Green , etc., and National Championships are beyond Pitt’s bamk account and geogrrphic location. 9-2 would be a great year and season.
That sounds pretty nasty.
Your history of college football needs a little work pittisist. Oklahoma & Nebraska of the Big 8 were pretty srong physical teams in the 70’s and 80’s. I believe Okie visited us in ’74 or ’75 and laid one on us. Also Alabama in the late 60’s and 70’s was a powerhouse, and WAS the Sec power BEFORE Goergia’s rise in the middle 70’s. But I like your 9-2 record or 10-2 would be better. Hell why not 12-0, we came just a few points shy of that mark in 2009.
Anyway it was great to pick up another huge lineman in the Grimmster. To add to our other blocks of granite. lol
And nobody in the 1960’s thought Pitt would EVER get back to being nationally relevant either. Especially during and after the Dave Hart era of ineptitude.
Until Johnny Majors came to town in 1972 and landed a kid named……Tony Dorsett.
HTP !
It was expected to land either Grim or Bookser.
If anything, Chryst can recruit Olineman. Jury still out on whether Chryst can recruit other positions.