Among the roughly 70 programs in the 5.5 major conferences only a handful of programs have just two recruits: Nebraska, Colorado and West Virginia. At one solitary recruit: Oregon State, UCLA, Indiana and Pitt.

Yes, Pitt is in the mix for many key players. In their top-3, -4, -5, -8. So far that hasn’t done much good. Pitt struck out twice over the weekend with two important targets. They weren’t 5-star elite talent, but they were good players in areas of need from Pennsylvania. They were players that it had at least appeared Pitt had placed something of a priority on securing their commitments.

Is there reason to panic? Absolutely not. There’s an entire summer. There are the camps. Most of Pitt’s biggest targets have not made a choice. Not to mention, unlike last year, Pitt can’t give out 25+ scholarships. There are only 18 seniors on this roster. This is not going to be a particularly high volume class.

But is there reasons to be concerned? Oh, hell yes.

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Sheldon Jeter wanted Pitt to recruit him when he was a senior at Beaver Falls. He wanted to be a Panther. Pitt didn’t have a scholarship in the fall of his senior year. And after Khem Birch left abruptly, Coach Dixon looked long and hard at Jeter before going with Chris Jones. When more scholarship opened after the season, there was some interest in Jeter but it still seemed cool. Ultimately Pitt landed (what seemed like a great transfer at the time Trey Zeigler) and Jeter chose Vanderbilt. Still there was this mix of coy interest from Pitt even after the class was filled (and while Pitt was even pursuing Savon Goodman).

A year later Sheldon Jeter had a solid freshman year for Vandy. Well liked by the coaches and fans. Looked to be a promising player. But Jeter felt that family reasons needed him back home and he opted to transfer. He even appeared to get Vandy Coach Kevin Stallings blessing. By all accounts he still wanted to attend Pitt, and now Pitt wanted him. Even if he would have to sit out the year before being eligible.

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If there’s one thing anyone who follows Pitt will notice, it’s that there are two dueling factions: optimists and pessimists. There are some, like myself, who look for the silver lining and inevitably take too long to see a problem. Then there are the pessimists who see the faults in everything and given Pitt’s recent history, end up right more often than not. While an optimist, I can’t argue that the pessimistic side of Pitt fans has sadly been correct a lot lately. This inspired me to create a new weekly column here on Pitt Blather. It’s called OvP: Optimist vs. Pessimist.

Today’s subject is Keller Chryst. For those who aren’t aware, Keller is one of the top QB recruits in the 2014 class and the son of Geep Chryst, Paul’s brother. Keller has consistently listed Pitt as one of his top 2 or 3 schools and the interest appears to be legitimate. Even with the family connection, if Pitt lands Keller it will be a huge addition and give the program a ton of positive publicity. The addition of Keller will enable the staff to recruit much more effectively with a top QB prospect on the way.

But is Keller sincerely interested or is he just helping his Uncle out by listing Pitt as an option? (more…)

This might be the last year for the graduate transfer rule. Or any transfer that would allow players to be immediately eligible to play right away. At least if the college basketball coaches have their way.

But if the members of the National Association of Basketball Coaches board of directors get their way, all transfers will have to sit out a year, regardless of their issue. There was apparently only one dissenting vote when the group met last week to discuss the issue and suggest to the NCAA a change.

The “transfer free agency” that has overrun college basketball is a direct result of waivers and loopholes that were added to the books a few years ago with good intentions but have netted mixed results.

Of the two most controversial waivers, one allows players to play immediately if they have an ill relative within 100 miles of their home. The other — the one being taken advantage of more and more this spring — allows players to graduate early and seek a master’s degree not offered at their present institution.

Working against the college basketball coaches is that the rules they oppose also apply to all other NCAA sports, so it may not be the easiest thing for them to get changed.

But it is nothing new for the NABC to seek to protect their own interests first.

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I’ve mentioned here before that I firmly believe Paul Chryst wants to turn our football team into Wisconsin East and I think we’ve seen that so far in his recruiting methods. But, I’m not one to casually look at something. I’m a numbers guy; I like cold hard stats. What would recruiting classes look like if Chryst successfully builds Wisconsin East? (more…)

The rumors of Barry Rohrssen’s return have been swirling for a couple of weeks. To be honest, it has been hard to separate fact from wishful thinking that has been put out there. But it seems that Jamie Dixon is indeed bringing back Slice.

Sources confirmed Thursday night that Barry “Slice” Rohrssen will rejoin Dixon’s staff as an assistant coach, replacing Pat Sandle, an original member of Dixon’s staff who spent the past decade with the program.

That detail is surprising. Sandle first started with Pitt in 1999 under Ben Howland. The LA native left for a couple years to be an assistant at UCLA under Lavin. Of course, Lavin was fired by UCLA who hired Howland and Sandle was not retained. And when Dixon became the Pitt head coach, he hired Sandle.

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I suggested to my wife that for our anniversary, we take off work early, pull the kids from school and take a romantic drive to Bethel Park for the Pitt Spring Game. That went about as well as you would expect. It did, however, make her more amenable to me watching the livefeed on ESPN3 at 7 pm.

The big thing is that Spring Practices are nearly done, and it feels like not a lot has been learned. Yes, there was the drama of Rushel Shell deciding to transfer, but that was more distraction. Not on-the-field, except to give Isaac Bennett and Malcolm Crockett a lot more first team snaps.

Pitt ran its practices almost entirely under cover of the NCAA Tournament. For Paul Chryst that may not have been the plan, but it was definitely a perk.

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Number two on my list of concerns, five being the least worrisome and one being the most, is our talent and quality of coaching on the Special Teams.

This area of the team is of particular concern to me because no one has even heard of any names at particular positions nor who will actually be coaching them.  That is a bit disconcerting to me as I truly feel that Special Teams are a full one third of the whole necessary for success.

The only thing we know for sure going into the Spring Game is that our punter for 2013 will be rsSR Matt Yoklic who did a good job for us as a starter in 2013.  From his bio:

In his first season as Pitt’s starting punter, averaged 41.2 yards on 62 punts…season average ranked second in the Big East…had a long of 58 (at Rutgers)…placed 21 punts inside the 20-yard line for the year…over the final six regular-season contests, Yoklic placed 18 punts inside the 20…averaged a career-best 46.8 yards on five punts against Cincinnati…also served as Pitt’s primary holder on placements…named to the Big East All-Academic Football Team for the second consecutive season.

So we have that position set and interestingly enough we’ll have two FR kickers on scholarship with the backup punter FR Ryan Winslow and the new placekicker FR Chris Blewitt who is the only scholarship PK we have now that Kevin Harper has graduated  It’s a pretty safe bet that these two players will be the starting kicker and punter even though we also have Brad Lukasak and Drake Greer on roster also.

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The LBs / Defense

I tend to concentrate on the offense when I watch practices mainly because I understand that side of the ball’s responsibilities more so that the defenses.  That said – here are some observations, and opinions, on the Defense.

rsJR Eric Williams is going to be a good Safety and I think he will bounce JR Vinopal out of the starting spot opposite Jason Hendricks.  He’s a bit thin at 6’3” and 215 but he closes well and knows how to play that position in regards to seeing how the play will unfold.  He seemed to always be around the football. He might show some real star power back there this year.

rsJR Todd Thomas absolutely laid out SO TE J. P. Holtz on a running play and stood over him screaming “Pancake!” for a while.  Those two scramble it up a bit in practices and Thomas looks to continue his sound progression at that Weak Side LB position.

rsJR Anthony Gonzalez really surprised me out there at Strong Side LB.  He understands how the play will develop, probably the switched QB in him, and just glides to the ball avoiding blocks.  He’s one of those players who looks like he isn’t putting any effort into running but gets there damn quick.  I really didn’t think this was going to be a good move for him but everyone I talked with said he was probably going to start this season.

The other LB position in the Middle has been solidly grabbed by rsFR Mike Caprara.  He’s impressed the watchers and it looks like the staff wouldn’t hesitate to get him starting time should Shane Gordon’s injuries keep him from practicing or playing.  I asked a group of WPIAL HS coaches about Caprara and they went crazy describing how good he was at Woodland Hills.  One coach said they had to game plan around him in his FR year.

Caprara came into the program at around 6’0” and 200 lbs.  He’s at least 6’0 (maybe 6’1”) and probably up to at least 225 now, he’s pretty stocky even if a bit short.  You can hear it when he hits someone though.  I believe he’ll be a good one for us if not this year then he’ll shine the next three seasons.  It may be sooner than later though.

BTW – not one person I spoke with thinks Dan Mason will return to the football program let alone see any playing time this season.  Not sure what the story is there, everyone is very tight mouthed which make me wonder, but it appears this staff is going in a non-Mason direction, at least as far as I understand.

We are in a world of hurt if DEs Durham and Lippert see substantial playing time.  This position will be the Achilles Heel of our defense this season.  True FR Shakir Soto has been in the two deep along with Bryan Murphy.  Murphy and Lippert are returning players who really haven’t done much over their careers at PITT and Durham is an unknown since he played his one college year at FB for OSU.

All the above give 100% out there and made some good plays but it might just be a case of the talent ceiling these kids have. Put it this way; word on the street is that Luke McLean might be forced into a lot of action as a true FR.

(Note: Ex-LB LaQuentin Smith was moved to DE from the interior for Thursday’s practice and it looks like he’ll be kept there.)

The DL looks good with Donald being his own great self hard to tell much with him as the coaches are sitting him out for the bulk of most practices, after all it isn’t like they have to see what he can do..  I’ll say this publicly right now – Tyrique Jarrett is the Next Big Thing on the DL and you can take that to whatever bank you want to.

Say what you will about Aaron Donald being our best defender last year, rsSO Layfaette Pitts gave him a good run for the money in 2012 and hasn’t slacked up a bit.

Misc.

I don’t pay much attention to the actual characters on the OL until the last two weeks of summer training camp so I have nothing of substance to report there… sorry.  Rumor has it that Clemmings is filling space until Dorian Johnson arrives at the Southside facilities on his golden chariot.  Even as a true FR he’ll most probably grab that Right Tackle starting job.

One thing about the OL though, Huebner came out about as pissed off as one could get and just laid into the offensive lineman after each play.  The only time he shut up was when Bisnowaty tried to debate a point with him.  Huebner was so shocked he couldn’t say anything for a while then regained consciousness with “Don’t you f*cking argue with me buddy!!” repeating that phrase more than once.

As a matter of fact I thought the tenor of the whole practice was much more intense than any I saw last year in either the spring or summer sessions.  Whether that was in response to the events that unfolded last week of because they still have to winnow out four scholarship I don’t know – but there wasn’t any  joking around between Staff and players like I’ve seen before.

Edit: My article yesterday about the offense was pretty critical about the two competing QBs so it was nice to read this in Sam Werner’s Redshirt Diaries first this this morning regarding yesterday’s practice.

“Tom Savage looked a lot sharper today.  He seems to have some good timing down on a post route and threw a couple of beautiful corner touchdown passes to Ronald Jones, who has also come on since returning from injury earlier this spring.

“I thought for a while he was holding on to the ball,” Pitt coach Paul Chryst said. “It kind of goes without saying, when a quarterback’s in rhythm, he’s got a better chance and one of the things that cause you to not be in rhythm are the quarterbacks not understanding something, the quarterback getting fooled on a coverage or a receiver off on what he should be doing. I think a couple plays specifically, I think he learned from Tuesday and was able to think a little bit better.”

I’ll follow up with an article about what happens at the Spring Game next Friday, until then HTP!

The QBs

Let’s get the main question out of the way right off the bat.  I didn’t think either QB looked that good.  Don’t get me wrong, both Tom Savage and Chad Voytik had some bright moments and some good plays, but overall after watching the complete practice I was soundly underwhelmed.

To get into more specific issues; Savage is the most inconsistent QB I’ve seen in PITT’s practices in the last six years.  It isn’t hard to see why he is a career 52.2% completion passer as he began the warm ups/drills by completing almost every pass he threw then when things got more formalized with actual pressure later in practice with the 7 on 7s and 11 on 11s drills he faltered.  The passes he throws are beautiful and on a line (more on that later), but just as with Iraq missiles, you really have no idea where they will end up.  Yesterday a few of them landed in the DB’s hands and on plays where there were no WRs within five yards.

Voytik wasn’t  a whole lot better either.   His arm isn’t what Savage brings (no matter what fans want to think) and while he may be a bit more accurate his indecision shows up pretty regularly.  Voytik does well on rollouts and can keep his eyes up field and that is something that usually comes with playing experience.  He completed some good yardage passes like that but other times he’ll throw at the receiver’s feet.  I thought he left the pocket too early on some plays.

Let’s don’t get caught up in the “who is more mobile” argument here either.  Tom Savage is surprisingly able to escape from the pocket and throw while on the run.  He was very close to completing a great deep pass into the left side of the end zone while scrambling to his left.   So Savage isn’t some water buffalo out there.  He’s big and muscular but can move his feet when required.

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by Lilburn Nole for Chantrant.com

No matter if you’re looking at advanced statistics like the ones found at www.footballoutsiders.com or traditional statistics like scoring defense and total defense you’ll find the Seminoles as a Top 5 defense the last two seasons. However, if there has been one complaint about that Mark Stoops-led defense it would be a lack of turnovers and less aggressive strategy.

While Florida State has been near the top in most defensive categories, you have to scroll down the page a bit to find the Seminoles when it comes to turnovers created. FSU fans will be eager to see if new Defensive Coordinator Jeremy Pruitt (formerly on the Alabama staff) will install a more aggressive style defense with more blitzes and man to man looks mixed in with the zone heavy looks that have been the norm the last couple of seasons.

Pruitt has spent the last three seasons working under Nick Saban, so it is likely he will have been influenced working under arguably the top defensive mind in the game today. While I don’t expect FSU to switch to the 3-4 defense of Saban, I do expect to see greater variance in coverages and more blitz packages. Stoops relied much more heavily on a zone scheme mixing in man to man on passing downs. Saban’s philosophy is to run zone on running downs and man to man in passing downs with zone mixed in. There is no guarantee that Pruitt will continue to incorporate the schemes that he has worked with the last 3 seasons, but as this is his first time coordinating at the college level, and knowing Jimbo Fisher’s respect for Saban and his philosophies, I feel it’s a safe assumption.

Unfortunately, it may be difficult to get a good read on a defensive strategy in the spring as practices are closed and the spring game will most likely feature more vanilla calls both offensively and defensively. However, pay close attention to the player interviews and you may be able to gain an insight into what is being worked on and discussed in practices.

In the recruiting game, sometimes it doesn’t pay to wait for late offers and sometimes it does. For Jon Severe, it worked out well. The shooting guard from Christ the King didn’t have a lot of offers at first. A 3-star recruit, had offers initially from middling A-10 programs like Rhode Island, GW and Fordham. He didn’t commit and saw his stock rise, including being named New York’s Mr. Basketball. He now has offers from Pitt, WVU, K-State, Creighton. No surprise Pitt and WVU are now after him considering both struggled with being able to score consistently this past year. He is a shooter and willing to drive.

He gets to the rim north to south as well as east to west with a quick first step and good economy of motion. He runs hard in transition, has dexterity putting the ball on the floor and finishing, and actually prefers to drive left. Severe is also a capable shot maker off the catch or the dribble with terrific shot preparation for a youngster.

As you would expect defense and consistency are the issues for him. He’s a bit on the small side for a shooting or wing guard at 6-2 — which was the primary reason he didn’t attract a lot of high-major interest. It’s not clear when he will make a decision. The number of offers swelled, so he appears to be re-evaluating everything.

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Sorry. I have been trying to get healthy and pull double shifts the last week or so. Somehow the two don’t work well together. I was working on a post-mortem post on the Wichita State game yesterday when the news of Dixon’s extension started seeping.

That kind of changed things a bit.

So let’s work from this point. Jamie Dixon is not going anywhere.

Stating that he intends to “finish his career at the University of Pittsburgh,” Pitt men’s basketball coach Jamie Dixon reinforced that commitment today when he signed a 10-year contractual agreement that runs through the 2022-23 season.

Dixon owns the highest winning percentage in school history (.753) with a 262-86 record from 2003-13. He has led the Panthers to nine NCAA Tournaments in 10 seasons, the most NCAA appearances by a Pitt coach.

“Pitt and Pittsburgh are home,” Dixon said. “My family and I feel blessed to be part of such a great institution and wonderful city. It is the people who truly make a place special. I could not be surrounded by better players, staff and administration. These aren’t just people I work for and with every day. They’re friends and I’m very thankful for that. I would like to express special appreciation to our leadership team of Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, Athletic Director Steve Pederson and Executive Vice Chancellor Jerry Cochran. Their guidance and friendship have been invaluable. I greatly appreciate the faith and support they have always shown me since my arrival at Pitt.”

I know there is a vocal minority that feels like Dixon should be gone; along with a very frustrated group after the Wichita State flop ready to say good-bye and don’t let the door hit you on the way out to USC.

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I’ve tried to ignore it since midseason, because it is rather silly. Still, the storyline is getting a little more play so I guess it’s time to write a bit about the idea that Coach Jamie Dixon would take the USC job.

Is it possible?

Well, sure, most things are possible. But it isn’t very probable.

Last week. Last week — mind you — Jeff Goodman at CBS Sports wrote about USC talking to Syracuse’s coach-in-waiting Mike Hopkins. In writing up the potential of Hopkins, Goodman noted who the guy USC AD Pat Haden had at the top of his list.

The hip pick is Pittsburgh’s Jamie Dixon returning to the West Coast (that’s where he’s from). The 47-year-old Dixon is set to go to his ninth NCAA tournament in 10 seasons since taking over for Howland. It could happen, but Dixon has had other opportunities to leave — including one before Kevin O’Neill took the USC job three years ago — and has spurned them all. The USC program is in a better place now, and Pittsburgh is headed into a stacked ACC, so it makes more sense for him to head west now than it did a few years back. However, the question becomes his buyout and whether he’d actually pull the trigger when the time comes to make a decision.

Dixon, from what I’m told, sits atop Haden’s list.

The themes are all hit. Heading to a new conference. The ACC is stacked. He’s from the west coast. USC isn’t quite the dumpster fire it was three years ago. The one thing it doesn’t try to claim: that Dixon wants to take the USC job.

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Some spring practices thoughts to discuss while reports slowly trickle in…

Scholarships: We have to pare down the scholarship roster by five spots before May so who’s on the chopping block?  Here are the redshirt seniors who are eligible for walking papers: Gordon, Lippert, King, Hollins, Rackard, Tinker, Barthelemy, Ezell, Schlieper, Banks, Yoklic, Des Brown, Hendricks, Savage, Street and Mason.

Right off the bat you look at who has contributed in the past but, more importantly, what they will contribute in the future. With that I’ll list Emanuel Rackard who is a LB, DL Jack Lippert who gave his all but is expendable, DB E.J. Banks transferred in two years ago but really hasn’t played much, LS Kevin Barthelemy is our long snapper but we have a walk-on long snapper on the roster also.

That is four right there and Dan Mason has been through severe injuries and trips to the doghouse with his second career suspension happening as we speak.  Of course Mason has contributed early on and in the recent past before he lacerated his kidney, surprising me as I didn’t think he’d play well again after his initial knee injury.  He’s a fan favorite for sure but one has to wonder if the staff doesn’t look at him and see an opening.

That’s speculative of course but those open scholarships have to come from somewhere.  There most probably are a couple of transfers to happen after the spring practices every year.  However, PITT doesn’t force players out until they have had their chance at a four year degree – even though scholarships are awarded on a yearly renewal basis.

Wannstedt was a good one for sitting kids down and explaining the facts of their PITT football lives to the marginal players.  He got the players into a good spot to be if they wanted to continue playing college ball on a different level.  You’ll remember that Mark Myers transferred right before training camp of last year.  He actually waited a bit which was strange in my opinion.

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