We have been talking a lot about recruiting lately because, well – because that is what is going on right now and we like what we see. I think it’s been made pretty clear that we Blatherites feel what Narduzzi is doing is exciting and really pro-active as seen in the post  “They Hit the Ground Running”. I really do like what I see happening and I think that is echoed through PITT football fandom.

But at the risk of being a contrarian, and that is just what I’m going to do here, all this talk of Chryst not recruiting defensive players is pretty much either hogwash or selective memory. Here is what he did according to Rivals.com (which I think is the stingiest recruit grading website). Note that the 2012 and 2015 recruits listed are the kids who committed while he was the HC. I also included the “ATH” recruits if they ended up on defense:

2012 – seven total recruits – five on defense w/ four 3*s

2013 – 27 total recruits – nine on defense w/ six 3*s

2014 – 23 total recruits – 12 on defense w/ 10 3*s

2015 – nine total recruits – four on defense w/ one 4* and two 3*s

As stated I like what Narduzzi is doing but looking through the burgeoning hype it does look like he’s pretty much in line with what Chryst did while he was here… so far. 2016’s recruiting class will most probably be a whole different story as far as a new HC’s  2^nd year recruiting goes (always better than the 1^st fractured class) and I think we’ll see Narduzzi bring in some top shelf guys, depending on how the ’15 season plays out of course.

The reality is that three of Narduzzi’s recent defensive ‘gets’; McKee, Stocker and Brightwell were heavily recruited by Chryst’s staff before the coaching change and that paved the way for Narduzzi to close the deals.

3* (4* ESPN) Anthony McKee on a visit on Dec 9, ’14: “It was good; I had fun down there,” McKee told Panther-Lair.com. “They showed me everything I didn’t see the first time I visited. I saw the indoor facility and there was a whole other side of campus I hadn’t seen before, like the freshman dorms and all of that. “I saw them practice and hung out with the players and got a good feel for the school and everything they have there. It’s a good place.”

McKee’s visit gave him an opportunity to spend time with current Pitt players and other recruits. “I was talking to the other recruits and the committed guys were talking to me about committing. They were hanging out and saying how we can all affect Pitt and be big players and do big things as a group.”

Chryst offered McKee on  Oct 9^th, 2013

3* Jay Stocker article on Dec 3 ‘14: “Jay Stocker is looking forward to his official visit to Pitt in mid-January, but the coaches paid him a visit Tuesday night when head coach Paul Chryst and offensive line coach Jim Hueber traveled to Coatesville.

Chryst offered Stocker before March 21^st

3* Saleem Brightwell article on July 1 ’14: “I talk to Pitt and Michigan State the most,” Brightwell told Panther-Lair.com. “I talk to them a lot on Facebook; that’s pretty much the only reason I get on Facebook, and I would say the relationships I have with those coaches are pretty good. “As of now, I would say I’m most interested in Pitt and Michigan State, but I haven’t really visited any other schools, so that’s just for now.”

Chryst offered Brightwell on April 22^nd.

Something important to note is that between those early offer dates and Chryst’s departure there were numerous in-home and unofficial campus visits between the recruits and PITT, to say nothing of phone calls, emails, texts and skywriting telling the recruits what they will get if they come to PITT.

So, let’s not paint with wide brushes here, just because Chryst is gone doesn’t mean that he failed to recruit defensive players or that he didn’t try to. That staff did things differently then this one but they sure as hell weren’t sitting on their asses or ignoring defensive players. Yes, Narduzzi ‘closed’ on the above recruits but you really can’t assume Chryst wouldn’t as many of the better recruits wait until January-Feb, after all their offers are in, before committing:

To wit: In 2012, Chryst’s first recruiting class,he  had seven of his recruits commit after January 1st including 4* Rippey; in 2013 he had seven late commits including 4* Boyd and in 2014 he had six late commits including 4*s Jennings, James and Bookster.  So you can see that had not Chryst left he had an excellent shot at landing defenders McKee, Stocker and Brightwell.

Also, those four years of Chryst’s recruiting were done under a much more constrained budget than Narduzzi is working with right now. Contrary to urban legend, Chancellor Gallagher didn’t suddenly wave a magic wand over PITT’s checkbook when Narduzzi was hired or even during the HC  search process.  No, that increase in recruiting dollars came directly from our first season’s large ACC paycheck and was earmarked for recruiting on May 14^th, seven months before the coaching change happened. In reality that increase was intended for Chryst and his staff and Narduzzi garnered the benefit of it after he was hired here.  Now, some extra dollars may have floated down after Chryst left but the big increase was set early on.

Again, who is to say that we wouldn’t have seen this same type of good recruiting happen after Jan 1^st if Chryst had stayed? I personally think we would have. You have to remember that contrary to the current staff’s approach to recruiting, Chryst’s staff didn’t advertise to the public every single time they went anywhere as this staff seems to do, they chose to handle things in a different manner.  I can’t say which is right or wrong as we’ll see in two-three years how well Narduzzi actually recruits but what is obvious is that the fans and media are 100% behind the way of doing business for this recruiting class and I think it is good in the fact that it is creating many talking points and genuine excitement and that has been missing.

Again, I like what I see so far but for us fans to say that things are so much different now is more emotional than factual IMO… but that isn’t a bad thing either, it is a great thing to have positive emotions when a new staff comes in but the past shouldn’t be negated because of the changes.