Mentioned briefly this morning that a Rutgers verbal, Justin Morgan, visited Pitt over the weekend and may be a flip to Pitt.
Welp.
#H2P #Panthers pic.twitter.com/uzwAgJxkms
— Juicy J (@_heavyhittajus) December 14, 2015
PITT IS IT! H2P ??????
— Pat Narduzzi (@CoachDuzzPittFB) December 14, 2015
New #Pitt OL commit Justin Morgan after his visit: "My mother liked Pitt a lot, and whatever a mother says, you can't go against that."
— Chris Peak (@PantherLair) December 14, 2015
wonder if he plays bball.
Hope all you RB recruits out there are paying attention!! A great back can’t make a mediocre line look good, BUT a great OL can make an average RB look great!
Send a Pitt Charter plane quick !
But make no mistake about it, Narduzzi is going to bring in a solid class this year. And you ain’t seen nothing yet. Keep pumping up Pitt football Mr. Ford, your class will be awesome!
Torpedo the Middies! Hail to Pitt!
George Hill a 4 star RB/CB and former Ohio St commit and Henry Miller DB/Athlete. If they both say Pitt is it, it will have been a ridiculously successful weekend.
Keep the Pat Signals coming…
The momentum continues!!
Beat Navy!!!
give me a 3 star kid that HCPN coaches up any day!!
Everyone points to 2017 for Pitt which would correspond with Franklin’s class this year. Pitt’s trending just fine in that regard.
But you need some studs too. Especially if you wanna win championships. Look at how instantly Boyd and Whitehead were difference makers. Would love to see them land Hill and Hamlin. Hudson too for that matter, although he is least likely.
Think Hill goes MSU. Not real sure on Hamlin. Think Pitt’s chances are less than I did a few months ago.
Go Pitt…………
About the only things they can’t teach are speed and length….and length may/can come along during the stay at Pitt. If they can recruit (fast) potential (and develop it) these first critical years, then the talent will come here shortly!
With 3 OL and some DL we need to finish this class in the defensive backfield and add a nice WR. Watched film of Z. Williams as a TE. He had trouble getting down the field speed wise, but he caught everything and reminded me of a slower eric green. He will be a nice Tackle.
Morgan is the same size a Jarryd Jones burger smith. Now if he can get leverage and block. Nice pick up Duzzi.
This may rile up part of Blather Nation but your favorite college is undergoing research that may promote the further ‘wussification of America’
I believe in player safety as much as anyone but the more I see the word $ports Medicine, BTW that term was coined by Dr. Fred Allman, an orthopedic surgeon, in Atlanta Ga in the mid-seventies ffor marketing purposes, the more synical I get.
Biggest problem in football IMO, these guys are way too large and way too strong physically and that is the bottom line in this concussion discussion. You can’t make knees and brains stronger no matter how much you can bench or how many PBJ’s you can eat. Force x’s Mass= Acceleration and that’s what get you hurt and that’s why we watch. Need more slow white guys…This is a good discussion topic but I am a skeptic as I see our local school symptems being exploited by a big medical corporation trying to control the $ports Medicine all in the name of improving the safety of the game and their bottom line.
For years Big Tobacco fought the growing evidence that their product was killing people and look at what is happening now – way, way less smokers and a longer life for those who quit.
I don’t want to see football go the way of the dinosaur but I get pretty frustrated when the referees administer the rules that are put in in place specifically to mitigate these problems – purposeful helmet to helmet hits, spearing, etc… – and the fans cry like babies when their players get flagged for it.
Here are some that were already enacted and are being…
Football
Recent years have seen stricter enforcement of existing rules and numerous rule changes at the professional, college and high school level, all designed, at least in theory, to reduce the risk of concussion and long-term injury, such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), including:
moving kickoffs from the 30- to 35-yard line in the NFL (which data suggests has reduced concussions on kickoffs by 50%);
banning the wedge on kickoffs;
prohibiting helmet-to-helmet contact and helmet-first hits on defenseless players above the shoulders (NFL, NCAA);
penalizing players who lower their heads and expose the crown of their helmets to make a tackle (NFL);
stiffening the penalty for so-called “targeting fouls,” including targeting and initiating contact with the crown of the helmet, targeting and initiating contact to the head or neck area of a defenseless opponent with the helmet, forearm, elbow or shoulder (while already illegal, the penalty has been stiffened to include automatic ejection plus the 15-yard penalty. (NCAA)
subjecting players to the risk of being ejected from the game for a launch (leaving his feet to attack an opponent by an upward and forward thrust of the body to make contact in the head or neck area); a crouch (followed by an upward and forward thrust to attack with contact at the head or neck area); leading (with helmet, forearm, fist, hand or elbow to attack with contact at the head or neck area); or lowering (the head before attacking by initiating contact with the crown of the helmet)(NCAA).
a 2012 NFHS rule requiring that a player whose helmet comes off during play to sit out at least one play, which is intended to encourage coaches and equipment managers to make sure helmets fit properly (poorly fitted or helmets with improperly inflated air bladders increases the risk of concussion and more serious brain trauma, say the authors of a recent scientific paper); and
2013 NFHS rule penalizing football players who intentionally make contact with the head of a player whose helmet has come off during play.
Like it or not sometimes reality rears its ugly head and I think that is what we are seeing with CTE and the only way to deal with that is to 1) ignore it completely which is criminal in the younger leagues… or 2) study the hell out of it and come up with livable solutions.
Change is going to happen in this sport whether we like it or not.
Here is a great article on the subject with some very good ideas IMO.
The sports that really are in danger of disappearing are boxing and ultimate fighting sports where the object is to knock your opponent out.
If these kids were flipping from OSU, PSU or UM then I’d feel a bit better but I don’t see very many players in this recruiting class so far that are head and shoulders above anyone else we have on the roster. I know, look at the offers the kids are getting – but getting a recruit that is offered by schools at the same level or below as Pitt just isn’t heartwarming.
We Pitt fans keep telling ourselves that we can have a winning program with a bunch of talented 3* kids and, yes, one or two programs consistently do that.
Not Pitt though – at least I don’t think so.
It is no coincidence that DW did this in recruiting before he got the only decent stretch of winning season’s Pitt has had since 1983 or so (Rivals.com):
’05 – 0 5* and 1 4*
’06 – 2 5* and 9 4*
’07 – 3 5* and 8 4*
’08 – 3 5* and 4 4*
’09 – 0 5* and 5 4*
’10 – 1 5* and 5 4*
That is nine 5* and 34 4* kids during his tenure. That is what Pitt needs to really get a consistent and strong program.
Compare that to the last six years since DW left and I’m including this unfinished class:
1 5* and 16 4*… and we have a 33-33 record since DW left including ’16.
Getting one or two 4* kids and the rest 3*, 2* or non-rated recruits isn’t going to help much especially with a HC that is growing into the job. Believe it or not Jim Chaney leaving after one year didn’t do Pitt any favors in the perception of stability we are trying to build or in recruiting.
So, I’m not overly excited about a group of kids who seem to cut from exactly the same cloth as the kids Graham and Chryst were getting each season. Some 3* kids can really rise and do exceptionally well and so can a few 2* guys… but almost every consistently successful program brings in the big guns on either side of the ball.
We need to really close out this class with some bombshell blue chip kids IMO.
You are right – we need more skilled players. So far we have verbals from two higher rated guys – WR Ruben Flowers at 6’4? 191lbs is a 4 star recruit who is rated by Rivals as the #51st WR in this class and RB Chawntez Moss who is rated as the #34th RB.
Pitt also picked up TE Chris Clark (transfer from UCLA) who was the #1 rated TE in the nation in last year’s recruiting class.
The other skilled player is the QB MacVitte who is an unranked 3 star sleeper at 6’4? 230lbs. He can run and gun, but has only one year under center so far.
The cupboard is not bare, but I agree that we need more quality going forward at the skilled positions.
Keep in mind, we don’t lose many on offense this year – Artie & JP to graduation and possibly T.Boyd to the NFL.
There are still some skilled and highly rated recruits that Pitt is in the mix for –
What bigger money hungry corporation is there than the mother fucking NFL which not only benefits from obscene television contracts and merchandising … but gets taxpayers everywhere to fund the building of its stadiums which primarily benefits its billionaire owners??
The issue that most don’t understand is that the insurance companies no longer cover concussions under their liability programs. This creates an un-insurable or self-insured risk and requires that colleges and the nfl mitigate this as much as possible. So, it’s not about the medical folks making the money. The insurance companies dictate the behavior. If you don’t have the best strategic thinkers in the insurance and risk space, the exposure to the university and nfl skyrockets.