Work with me here, I am desperately trying to avoid the cliched headlines for a big recruiting win.
Roughly 36 hours until signing day kicks off and Pitt received the big verbal to top off this recruiting class.
Unless you do everything to avoid recruiting, then you already know that Damar Hamlin a top recruit in Pennsylvania and a consensus 4-star cornerback was making his choice tonight.
It’s odd to say that I was confident that Pitt was getting Hamlin, but all the signs said that was the way it was going. From the final visit over the weekend at Pitt. To the photo with his baby brother on Pat Narduzzi’s lap during the VT-Pitt basketball game last night. You know. Subtle hints.
Now, on KDKA. Hamlin made it known that it was Pitt for him has well. Making this a very, very good day. Pitt’s defense is suddenly looking to be a major strength if not this coming season than by 2017.
Now for the bonus.
Early this morning, the Pat Signal went out. It had nothing to do with Hamlin’s decision. It had everything to do with Aaron Mathews of Clairton flipping from Penn State to Pitt.
Mathews wanted to play WR, but Pitt was after him for defense. He was very unhappy when Winfree verbaled to Pitt, as it took leverage from him. He gave a verbal to PSU, but after Winfree’s switch to Colorado (insert your own 4/20 crack here), Pitt’s coaches made it clear while he was taking his own final visit to Pitt this weekend, that he could play WR.
Things have a way of working out.
steve5bill … what you wrote is correct but isn’t this more appropriate for this coming September? Pitt has been through a very rough patch these past 5 years …. give us a moment or 2 to gloat.
I’ll get excited about this class when they all sign their LOI but it sure looks great right now.
Mark Madden learned from Smizik and Cook. Be a shock jock and say things that bully organizations and the masses will eat it up. Next thing you know, you have 15 years in at the paper or radio and you can call it a career. It is self preservation. They write and do what people respond to. That is why I cancelled the PG and don’t even read their on-line versions. I come here for my Pitt sports and have also started getting updates from pittsburgh sports now and cardiac hill. I will bully yhe newspaper right back and they will get what they deserve….dinosaurville!
H2P
DiPaola and Werner are professional journalists who graduated from Pitt rivals. They both fairly report the information provided to them regarding Pitt and chose to be employed by Pittsburgh newspapers. They seem to hold their personal interest in their sports teams in check,while reporting about Pitt. Their personal opinions expressed may sometimes seem bias, but for the most part their reporting is balanced.
Do you want another sportswriter like the ones PSU have that are nothing but cheerleaders? Of course not, but I have sat (and stood) in the same places at interviews and in waiting rooms and heard him talk about many things and he’s spot on with his opinions and reporting.
He’s the first person I read every morning and the one I quote the most in my writings on here… I link him all the time because I want you readers to get every word about Pitt football he writes.
That article doesn’t have one word of criticism in it but again, I will tell you in all honesty I hang on every critical word he has written in the last 11 years because they have been true every single time and have led me to do a lot of research into those issues.
I don’t expect a cheerleader like you will get from college dominated towns’ beat writers but I don’t expect a lecture either.
Just stop and think. Maybe mom wants a son who keeps his word once given. If so she is a great mom teaching an important life lesson.
More generally speaking; it never is a good idea to berate commitment decisions because it shows a joebot-like lack of class and because bridges should never be burned. Pitt has benefitted many times in the past from recruits they missed on transferring back a couple of years later. Berate them enough and the opportunity vanishes. DiPaola is absolutely spot on regarding some (I hope it’s a small number) of Pitt fans.
@ Erie Express, if Miles Sanders flips to Pitt tomorrow, James Franklin’s bald head will literally explode! That would be unfortunate since it is proving out that having Franklin coaching at PSU is a good thing for Pitt. So I’d hate to lose him because the top of his head blew off!
@ Major Majors, losing Winfree was damaging, he would have supplied us an immediate upgrade at WR who could have started in game one. Aaron Mathews supplied some balm to that wound from Winfree’s recommitment however. Mathews has one component that cannot be discounted, no matter how you evaluate him however. That is his 6′ 4″ height!
Slow or not, you put a guy like Mathews up against a CB like Maddox with a QB that can consistently throw a nice high ball that only his receiver can reach and Mathews eats that CB’s lunch all day long. Mathews will prove out to be a valuable weapon for Pitt if he gets put in those types of matchups by our coaching staff.