Okay, let’s get it out of the way. Pitt appears to have had a second member of the 2015 signing class flip to PSU. Last week it was TE Nick Bowers, today LB Kevin Givens. Penn State has closed strong. In addition to flipping 2 verbals, they beat out Pitt for Shareef Miller and John Petrishen.
It’s frustrating, and it adds an extra level of annoyance because of to where they flipped. And if it happens next year, I might muster some real anger. Not this year. Not after a coaching change.
At the end of the day, this is not atypical after a coaching change. It’s flux. Guys who seemed sure and stable to commit have to rethink things. New coaches that have come in and may be able to make most of the players feel good about things, but it won’t be that way for all of them. It’s why coaches for other teams will still “touch base” and check in on players even after they commit. You never know.
We were well aware that James Franklin and his staff were strong recruiters. It wasn’t like they were going to roll over at Pitt’s efforts. Pat Narduzzi and the rest of the Pitt coaching staff are energetic recruiters and came out with brashness and aggression. It fired up Pitt fans, and was something that was needed. It’s also touched a nerve as both sides are positioning themselves as much for the next two cycles as to finishing this one.
I’m not trying to minimize the loss of Givens. He had good potential, and any loss of a defensive player feels like a bigger loss, given the questions for next year. Still, at the end of the day, he was not expected to step in and start next year. He was a project. Someone that was hardly a sure thing.
At the same time — and this is why the coaching chaos has been such a problem and the only reason there was angst over losing a 19-19 coach after 3 years — is that it plays hell with recruiting, depth, developing and building. Programs can’t keep going through coaches and changes in philosophies and recruiting targets so frequently. (See, also, Reed’s post summarizing the Zeise interview)
Pitt has made some nice pick-ups in the time since the advent of the Pat signal. It remains to be seen if they outweigh or merely balance out the losses. I’m optimistic enough to think they will end up outweighing.
On that note, the late pick-up of a graduate transfer QB from Tennessee is good news.
Quarterback Nathan Peterman, who played the past three seasons at the University of Tennessee, will transfer to Pitt, begin taking classes in May and join the football team, a source familiar with the situation said Sunday.
Peterman graduated from Tennessee and is immediately eligible to play. He spent the past weekend with Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi and his staff during an official campus visit.
A Pitt spokesman declined comment.
While at Tennessee, Peterman forged a relationship with Pitt offensive coordinator Jim Chaney, who held the same position there in 2012.
Peterman has a total of 43 passing attempts. He’s played… sparingly over the past two years. He is not coming in as a Tom Savage. He’s coming in to provide some depth at QB behind Chad Voytik, and perhaps compete/push Voytik in the spring.
Audrey Snyder @audsnyder4
Altoona HS coach John Franco on DE Kevin Givens’ flip to #PSU: “If Penn State was not in the picture he would’ve just loved Pitt.”
We do know this about him. A former Philly Cop (Sgt) who went to nightschool at LaSalle. Them Temple Law.
and……..
In 2008 he retired as a colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He is also a 33° Mason.
As Col Klink said;
Veeeeery….intereeeeesting.
1) left click on address in address window on top, so that it is highlited in blue.
2) then right click to get drop down box, left click on ‘copy’.
3) then come here and right click and then left click on ‘paste’ in drop down box
and wallah…link will appear in comment box.
Link away ! ha
P.S. If pedo state is coming, the local boy’s clubs must be forewarned. (if they still have boy’s clubs) (if not then the boy’s scouts and cub scouts and webelos).
But, I question his coaching ability. I have a hunch Narduzzi’s staff will out-coach that crew, and this may become clear pretty quickly. Wanny was not a great gameday coach, by any means. But, he was able to assemble a #16 class according to Paul Zeise in the other article. If he could do that, I have no doubt a better coaching staff can certainly duplicate that level of success.
So, while the coach who may have some skeletons in his Vandy past will probably achieve Top 20 classes each year, there is no reason Pitt can’t compete with them. I expect Penn St to snag the majority of top PA recruits, but there is no reason Pitt won’t have more success in Ohio, Florida, even Texas as we’ve already seen. Losing a few kids to Penn St a month after a coach is hired is no reason to go weak in the knees. I say if you liked Narduzzi yesterday, you’ll like him even more at this time next year. And, you’ll absolutely love after Pitt kicks Penn State’s butt in ’16.
just posted this at 8:20 on the front page of that rag.
“2nd recruit in 10 days changes commitment from Pitt to Penn State ”
I’m sure they didn’t post on the home page that Aaron Donald of Pitt was the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year.
He and guys like Peterson, Sims, Sherman, Powell, Harley, Hill, etc…are going to tear Franklinstein a new asshole next year, which is already beginning this year.
Which is why Franklinstein worked so hard to flip these two kids who were recruited by Paulie and the Cheeseheads. Doubt the Pedo’s would have even offered these two had Paulie still been here.
That reference to which I refer? How exactly do you “tear a new a$$hole” within an original a$$hole that you’ve just identified as requiring a new one torn in for? Quite perplexing.
Maryland’s bitch too. They lost to them last year and BUttgers almost beat them too, if not for Nova throwing 5 picks.
Pedo State is a joke in football. Only the memories people have of them being relevant from long ago, which are reinforced by the local ragsheets across the state, staffed with either Pedo alumni or edited by them….keep the illusion going.
One outright conf title in 24 years.
What a joke ! Zombie on Pedo State !
You’re the doc right ?
Same as us.
At least we produced some NFL stars in the interim.
They suck, we don’t buy the media created illusion.
This is the tripe I have to read every day in Central Pa.
Yepper, York’s second paper is loud and clear about PSU’s recruiting victory!
I am surrounded by Nitters….the faster 2016 comes the better….if Franklin isin’t in a Nashville jail from his Vandy nonsense I hope we crush his Nittany Pussy Cats.
For all his braggadocious, Pitt not Franklinstein got the #1 player in the state. (3rd time in last 4 years)
Who knew !
Pitt needs to buy these 2 local bankrupt ragsheets and cleanse them of the Pedo State influence.
Enough is enough !
Just buy them and fire the pedo’s.
1. Franklin couldn’t get the recruit he really wanted and settled for Givens just to fillout his class.
2. He took Givens just to make a statement about who is the best recruiter in the state.
If either one is true that’s poor recruiting for the college and for the player. For Givens sake I hope he knows what he is getting into but I guess if PSU is where he always wanted to be I don’t see how that’s a loss for Pitt.
MikePitt pointed out on previous thread.
Given’s other offers were from this distinguished list of football powers:
Temple & Western Michigan.
He was a 2 star recruit, after which he committed to Pitt he was boosted to 3 star.
No big loss. Just opens up another scholie for someone much better.
Don’t bend over for the soap bar,,,,kiddo.
Beautiful area, great golf. mostly lousy restaurants, politics to the right of Atilla the Hun (Limbaugh is a liberal) and tons of folks who commute to Charm City (Ballimer).
I wear my Pitt stuff just to PISS the local yokels
off. One interesting note, however, I know many people who have very bright kids and Pitt is a major choice over PSU. A neighbor’s daughter is in the Pitt Honors program in engineering with a 3.75GPA.
The few upscale areas of York are Pitt/Ivy League/F&M/Bucknell, etc. The vast majority of York , the unwashed, love PSU. If you go into a Walmart PSU clothing is the uniform of the day (no kidding).
So, to end this too long post I bring all of this up because a high school kid in Central Pa for the most part knows only one thing….PSU is the greatest place on earth!
Sounds like fun…pissing off the yokel psu morons.
Wish I could join you for some of that !
Pedo State… the Walmart of Pennsylvania Universities.
I like that !
“I leave the nitters with this question , “who won the last game that we played against each other”?”
And when you have just thrown in the half court buzzer beater never never walk back out just to show you can do it every time.
Just as Emel says, forget about losing the two flippers to PSU. Franklin just wanted us to see how long his thing is. These guys were marginal rated at best.
Wait to next year, our recruiters are just as pretty as theirs. We will get our share.
I’d choose a 3-star from Florida like Shawn Curtis over a 3-star from PA every time.
Ward – stirring up the “3s* from FL is better than 3*s from PA” again I see.:) Personally, while I don’t like losing recruits to PSU at all, I can understand the draw the school and football program has there with recruits – who have amazingly short memories and self-center ideas. Hard enough to believe but even when PSU gets major NCAA sanctions against them they just keep rolling along.
That competition we have with them in recruiting is always going to be a bit one-sided I think… all PSU has to do is be PSU while PITT seems to have to have some extraordinary years to land the higher rated recruits on a continuing basis.
What I think the recruits don’t take into account is that even though we don’t have the W/L record PSU has historically, we pretty much put as many if not more players in the NFL and our kids have been winning major awards lately.
I guess I’d rather see a recruit there then at an ACC school we’d have to play in the future.
Did they actually make sense, cause nothing the judge in either this case or the Vandy case makes sense.
And nor does good old Judge Seemus sending porn in emails to the AG’s office.