A verbal commit is always a little special when it is clear how enthusiastic the kid is to want to come to Pitt. Mike Cruz definitely made it clear.

“Pitt’s been my dream school,” Cruz said. “It’s always been my favorite school.

“My head football coach (Ken Salem) told me to wait a little longer, but I couldn’t wait anymore. I wanted to make it official and let everyone know Pitt was it for me.”

He’s one of the top TE prospects, and also appears to have quite the tolerance for pain. He tore the ACL and MCL in his left knee last year and played 3 more games after that. Not necessarily the smartest decision, but damn tough.

That’s what makes the comment from his high school coach so, um, amusing.

“He has been rehabbing his ACL since the beginning of December,” Salem said. “We are trying to be very careful with him. We will be working to try to enhance his speed over the summer. The sky’s the limit for him.”

Careful in the rehab only, apparently.

Given the depth and stockpiling of talent at TE, I don’t think Pitt will be taking anymore at that position unless it is with the idea of moving them somewhere else.

(Yesterday we had Part 1 of this recruiting article where we addressed a couple of pertinent question about the business.  This Part 2 continues that and we’ll have Part 3 on Thursday to wrap up…)

3.  Is it only the players who have to be convinced to go to a certain school?

The answer to this is a resounding no!  Every Pitt player’s family, mostly parents, I have talked to said that the coaching staffs probably spent as much time selling their school to the family and recruit’s HS coach as they did with the recruits themselves.

After all that is why they do “in-home” visits.  On those trips the staff doesn’t necessarily need or want to talk to the recruit so much as have the family hear them talking to the recruit.  A good recruiter will have already had many, many conversations with the player before an at-home visit. Walking into the home itself is when showtime begins.

Here is an interesting website that covers recruiting from a family point of view.  Covering in-home visits the author, a past college football staff coach says this:

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Over the past ten years Pitt has had a nice run of really good tight ends. Or at least potentially good tight ends. Not necessarily amazing, high NFL talent tight ends — Kris Wilson excepted — but really, really good college tight ends. Some high-end recruts like Mike Cruz, Brock DeCicco and Andrew Devlin didn’t pan out for various reasons (desire, system change, injury).

Darrell Strong should have been great with his size, strength and speed, but never got out of the doghouse or showed the fire to match the potential. Nate Byham and even Eric Gill were solid all-around players at the position who could block and catch. Dorin Dickerson exploded at the TE/H-back spot.

There has been the potential for something great at that position every year. This year, though, may have Pitt with its best group of TE’s since the Byham and Dickerson tandem. Actually, the potential is even higher when you consider that they may get used much more.

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The intern, Charlie McGovern, over at the P-G is doing yeoman’s work in Zeise’s absence with a two Red Shoes Diary entries for yesterday’s practice plus and in-depth article on the WRs on the squad.

In Part Two he discusses Brock DeCicco’s decision to transfer.  Again, I have to say this was kind of expected after Graham was hired and laid out what offensive positions he was going to field.  Mike Cruz saw the handwriting on the wall earlier and it took DeCicco a bit longer to figure it out.  It was great when he committed to PITT and I’m sure he and his parents would have wanted a full career here – but if he wants to play starting football it has to be somewhere else.

In his other article McGovern writes that our special Teams weren’t so special in some areas:  “Moving on to this evening’s practice, we got our first taste of the punting game during the special teams, and I must say that Plum native Chris Yankoski (below) was pretty erratic. He had a few bombs, but also had a few short, end-over-end punts that didn’t go too far. He’s a veteran, though, so I’m sure he’ll get things straightened out.”

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OFFENSIVE LINE

I’ve been trying to hold off in writing anything on the Offensive Lineman and the Tight Ends because there just doesn’t seem to be too much to actually say at this point in the preseason.

But that never stopped any PITT fan from speculating, has it?  So, let’s look at who we have returning and who we may see on the field for 2011.  Here’s how our OL two deep looked at the end of the season last year:

LEFT TACKLE

77 JASON PINKSTON (SR, 6-4, 305)

68 Jordan Gibbs (JR, 6-7, 305)

LEFT GUARD

54 CHRIS JACOBSON (JR, 6-3, 290)

75 Ryan Turnley (SO, 6-6, 305)

CENTER

61 ALEX KARABIN (SR, 6-1, 290)

72 Jack Lippert (FR, 6-4, 275)

RIGHT GUARD

52 LUCAS NIX (JR, 6-6, 305)

60 Greg Gaskins (JR, 6-4, 285)

RIGHT TACKLE

68 JORDAN GIBBS (JR, 6-7, 305)

78 Cory King (FR, 6-6, 315)

So, we lose Pinkston and Karabin to graduation – with Pinkston being a key loss for sure, he was that good.   This spring we have this shaping up so far – and please remember this will be in flux for quite some time probably.

LEFT TACKLE

68 JORDAN GIBBS (JR, 6-7, 305)

Juantez Hollins (rsSO, 6-5, 290)

LEFT GUARD

54 CHRIS JACOBSON (JR*, 6-3, 290)

Ryan Schlieper (SO, 6-5, 300)

CENTER

ZENEL DEMHASAJ (rsR, 6-7, 322)

Brandon Sacco (rsFR, 6-3, 255)

RIGHT GUARD

CORY KING (rsSO, 6-6, 315)

Matt Rotheram (rsFR, 6-6, 300)

RIGHT TACKLE

52 LUCAS NIX (SR, 6-6, 305)

60 Greg Gaskins (SR, 6-4, 285)

Our returning OL are Gibbs, who acquitted himself very well last year after coming in to replace Greg Gaskins; Lucas Nix and Chris “Lumpy” Jacobson, both of whom have played good football for us.  These three kids should only get better with a year’s experience under their belts.

Nix has apparently moved out from right guard to the tackle spot on that side.  He’s quick enough on his feet to do that I think and if the lefty QB Myers gets playing time that position becomes more important.

The remaining two positions will be where we see the competition this year.  As of now the junior college transfer Demhasaj has been getting the 1^st team snaps at center as he’s been the most consistent shotgun snapper so far.  He may end up the tallest football center playing Div I this year if he starts. Brandon Sacco has been backing him up and, at this point, Jack Lippert is getting a bit of 2^nd team play but seems to be fading in the competition.

One note about Lippert:  Last spring I predicted that he’d be our starting center.  I also predicted Todd Thomas would be getting a lot of playing time at WR and that Mike Shanahan would get more catches that Baldwin.  My predicting sucks.  I’m surprised these kid’s parents aren’t offering me cash to not mention their kids at all.  Although back in the preseason of 2008 I also predicted that PITT wouldn’t miss a beat in the running game with McCoy leaving – so I’m not always wrong. Thanks Dion!

I have scoured the internet trying to find some official word from the staff on the OL and how it is progressing so far… basically zilch except for this on 3/26:

Chris Jacobson and Lucas Nix really stood out to me this spring and are really solid up front.

Thanks coach, firm grasp of the obvious there. Would it kill you to let us fans know that whoever is the starting QB may not get killed back there?

TIGHT ENDS

They are dropping like flies on the Southside.  Andrew Devlin’s football career is over due to a recurrent medical problem; he’s been offered a scholarship to be able to finish his degree so let’s wish him the best for the future.  I appreciate any kid that transfers in and wants to play at PITT, so thanks to him also.

Mike Cruz has left the building.  Either he was suspended then quit or he quit and then was suspended depending on who you believe.  It’s kind of like “You can’t fire me I quit!” or “No, I’m breaking up with you, you can’t break up with me.” Either way he’s gone, supposedly he tired of football and is to pursue a career in Law Enforcement.   I’ll bet a dollar we see him on some school’s roster in the future though.

Justin Virbitsky has been moved over to the OL to provide depth so that leaves PITT with three scholarship TEs on the roster; Brock DeCicco, Hubie Graham (no relation to the HC) and rsFR Dan Schneider.  Wait! I forgot about Brendan Carozzoni a rsFR who is listed as a TE also, so that gives us four scholarship TEs without a position to play.

I really don’t know what to say about this position at all as I’ve no idea what role the TE is going to play in the High Octane offense.  Tony Greco of the Panther Digest wrote a good article about our TEs a while ago.  He quotes Todd Graham as saying this about the position:

Another thing Graham likes about this tight end position, or three-back as it’s referred to, is that it’s a multitude of positions all into one, but he’s still able to use all the abilities he has as a tight end.  “It’s just a hybrid; it’s a fullback, it’s a wide receiver, it’s a tight end all into one,” Graham said. “It’s not really too different if you look at it as a position. Yeah, we’re motioning around and coming out of the backfield, but that’s football and I definitely think that myself and the guys at my position are definitely capable of doing a good job.”

Both DeCicco (whose father looks like he could suit up and play tomorrow BTW) and Graham have the reputation as being good receivers but the jury is out on their blocking skills – in their defense Graham couldn’t play last season and DeCicco really saw limited playing time when he was used as a receiver when he got in the game.  One point about Brock DeCicco – he has a 100% Reception to TD ratio so far in his career.  I suggest throwing to him every play.

Walk-on rsJR Chris Mike was moved from FB over to TE so that makes me think we will see that hybrid H-Back/TE position out there.  Mike ripped off a very nice 16 yard run last season so it looks like he can carry the ball.

The bottom line is that I don’t think we’ll see another Nate Byham or Dorin Dickerson in the TE position this year.

We PITT fans have heard and read an awful lot about cultural changes going on inside the PITT football program and what types of motivational tactics Todd Graham may use to accomplish that.  Let’s take a minute to look at this more closely and see if what we fans think is needed is going to actually happen.

PITT fans like to compare our team and football program to other BCS schools, but that only goes so far.  We are not a football-factory university situated in the middle of a state and which dominates a small town by its presence.  We are a huge part of the fabric of the city of Pittsburgh as one of its largest employers and land owners. As such PITT has a real responsibility to maintain both good local relations and a positive reputation.  We didn’t do that on many fronts last year.

Everyone agrees 2010 was basically horrendous, from the Elijah Fields Twitter “Play for Pay” incident in February to the hiring and firing of Mike Haywood in January 2011.  It was a hell of a year and left everyone who follows the program closely pretty drained. If we fans think it was tough, just imagine what the players and the administration must have gone through.

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[EDITOR NOTE: Reed is going to be helping with spring football. So much happening. Even I have a finite amount of time available. Reed has been a longtime commenter here at this blog and has a great love of Pitt football. Much thanks to Reed for jumping into the breach.]

Hello folks, Chas has asked me to chip in and help out with this Blog’s coverage of the PITT football team’s spring practices.  Chas is busy with PITT basketball team’s NCAA tournament coverage and since we all hope that goes into April, I readily agreed to do so.

Some of you may recognize my name from other message boards.  I’m pretty opinionated but will try to make these entries as entertaining and helpful as possible without too much personal input — however, I am unemployed at the time and have nothing else to do so I can’t guarantee anything.  One other point — I have no access to any actual practices or meetings and I live 250 miles away from PITT, so whatever I pass on is gleaned from other published sources — news media, blogs, videos, etc.  No inside info here and if I state my opinion I’ll say so.  That said, here goes nothing…

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I’m rather cynical about most things. Especially when it comes to sports. Yet, I have to admit to being taken aback by the way Coach Wannstedt is acting.

Then Pitt’s administration tried to do the right thing by giving him a few days to decide if he wanted to coach the bowl game. As of today, he still has not given Steve Pederson his final decision. And the times I have talked to him over the past two weeks – the last time being Thursday – he said he was “going to work with the team, get them prepared, run practices and then wait to see where he is at and how he feels next week” before he makes his decision. Now, that is what he has said and that is what he is saying on the record.

Unfortunately, he has also told a number of people around him he is not likely to coach in the game and that he doesn’t want to go through a week of news conferences and luncheons and all of that “play happy” stuff. If it was just about the game, he would coach but all the other stuff he’s not sure he wants to go through.

I do know this – if he doesn’t coach, it will be defensive coordinator Phil Bennett who will be in charge and run things through the bowl. And while Hafley is gone and at least one more is likely to be gone shortly, for the most part the current assistants will coach through the bowl game.

I get that he is probably a bit bitter about the whole thing. I am sure he still feels blindsinded and never saw the firing coming. It’s seems obvious that he feels betrayed by AD Pederson, and this kind of putting off the decision is as much to get back at Pederson as anything else.

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So there are issues. Don’t worry, Coach Wannstedt has carefully examined the WVU debacle and knows what went wrong.

It’s not a secret what happened in that football game against West Virginia. When you turn over the ball as many times as we did, you have no chance to win and that’s exactly what the film showed. I thought we had a good game plan, and the turnovers will kill you every time. That was the difference in the game. Now we have to get focused for Cincinnati this week.

Um, uh, any reason for all the turnovers and near turnovers? Some common theme? The preparation? Focus? Anything? Surely in Game 11. A rivalry game. It wouldn’t be simply bad breaks and youth trotted out as an excuse. Right?

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It’s been a while since Louisville has won a conference road game. Over three years and ten games, in fact. That’s an effective summary of the Steve Kragthorpe era. New Coach Charlie Strong is using that to motivate his team this week.

“Coach Strong does an excellent job at finding something that will just itch at you all week,” left guard Josh Byrom said. “Every week he has something.”

Strong gave the Cards a similar nudge going into their game at Arkansas State. Before that 34-24 victory, they had lost 10 straight road games since a 35-28 win at Memphis in 2008.

It’s his way of keeping them focused on the task at hand. With five games left on the schedule, Strong admits stressing the clichéd one-game-at-a-time approach. He has resisted using the league’s parity as a motivator.

It’s early, but I get the feeling that Strong’s Louisville tenure is going to make a lot of other programs that passed on him have some buyers remorse.

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Still lots of questions about this Pitt team. The dismantling of Syracuse was necessary and the kind of thing Pitt was expected to do against a team like the Orange before the season started. Limited time and with basketball stuff and Rutgers looming, I’m blowing through the post-mortem stuff quickly.

Not sure if it was really redemption for the team and players, so much a s a series of wake-up calls. Mike Cruz did not start the game at TE, and he responded. Brock DeCicco did start and played well with the opportunity. Tristan Roberts and Greg Williams finally played good games — Williams seemed to get his jump start from having to come in after Shane Gordon got the start. Cam Saddler seemed to find some confidence and finally busted a nice run on a punt return.

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Taking a break from pondering whether Yuengling’s looming purchase of an ex-Coor’s plant in Memphis (apparently they once made Zima there) means that the expansion will finally get it to Ohio sometime in the near future.

Liveblog tomorrow, because I just love sharing in the frustration.

Just trying to hit some quick things.

After hearing that one of the good things post-ND was that Taglianetti was all the way back from his injury, he appears out (or at least unlikely) for Syracuse. As is freshman CB K’Wuan Williams. I mean, it’s not like the secondary has had issues or anything this year, or that Williams was outplaying Ricky Gary.

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Last week Coach Wannstedt tried to downplay concern with Jon Baldwin and how often he sees passes thrown his way.

“It’s interesting because if you look at some of the numbers, you wonder where’s Jon Baldwin? Then you think that we have to get the ball to Jon (Baldwin) more, and we know that. But the actuality is that he didn’t have a touchdown at this point last year, now he already has two. He has the same amount of catches now, and last year he had 220 yards. This year he has 197 yards, so his yardage is about the same in the first three games. You look at that, and yes we have to get him the ball more, but I think it’s more execution right now.”

Which would suggest that after the FIU game when Baldwin had only 2 catches for 14 yards that there might be a slight re-evaluation about things.

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Some changes to the line-up had to be expected. What, with injuries on the defense. The offense seems to need it, but let’s face it, no one was absolutely sure if Coach Wannstedt would make some changes that weren’t necessitated by injury. Well, it has started.

…the Panthers have benched right guard Greg Gaskins and shuffled the right side of their offensive line.

Jordan Gibbs, a 6-foot-7, 305-pound junior and one of the biggest players on the team, will start at right tackle. Lucas Nix (6-6, 305), who had manned right tackle since last season, will slide over to replace Gaskins as part of a re-worked starting five for the Panthers (1-2).

The right side of Pitt’s line now averages 6-feet-6 1/2, 305 pounds.

“We want to take a look at this lineup and see if this doesn’t give us the best five,” coach Dave Wannstedt said.

When he was hired six years ago, Wannstedt vowed to build the program from the interior – the offensive and defensive lines. While the defensive front is deep and talented, the offensive line left few options prior to the recent switch. As a whole, the group hasn’t developed as consistently as their defensive counterparts despite having well-regarded offensive line coach Tony Wise.

“We’ve been talking about our offensive line,” Wannstedt said. “Is there anything we could do? We’ve got to be very honest about it and play the best players that give us a chance to win at this point.”

So, is this a tacit admission that Greg Gaskins hasn’t exactly been up to snuff? That, but for Ryan Turnley continually banged up and Jake Lippert being the only option at center keeping Coach Wannstedt from giving Lippert time anywhere else on the line?

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There’s a rhythm to training camp media coverage. The first few days is about how the players look, what the coaches are saying, and just general optimism. The players are without pads, and just doing drills.

Then the pads go on and the hitting starts. The reports are about what is happening on the practice field. Injuries, who looks good, bad, moving up the depth chart. How the units are looking.

As always, there are individual stories spaced in there. But at the end of camp. That’s when the individual stories dominate. It is all that is left for a while. There isn’t much more to write about practices. Depth charts are mostly set. It is really about counting down to the first kickoff.

That means most of the stories start focusing on individual players and the soft-focus puff pieces. Let’s hit them quickly.

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