Don’t hold back now… tell us what you really think.  Predictions for the presser, running comments as it is being held and the final review and Lessons Learned after the parade has left the building with Stallings sitting triumphantly on Gallagher and Barnes’s shoulders.

NEW BLATHER CONTEST

Speaking of our no longer a virgin AD Scott Barnes and the words “Final Four”,  I will buy many beers for the Blather reader who is closest in guessing the time elapsed from when the presser starts until Barnes says these exact and wonderful words – “Final Four”.

“Final Four” = 3:44 into the presser.

I’ll start by saying it will be 98 seconds.  The first minute of the presser will be his looking around for the list of reasons “Why This is a Good thing” that he left on his office desk.

Plus: I’ll buy every one of you beers at the first home game if Barnes drops the glorious “Next Level” bomb.

“Next Level” = 27s into the presser! 

Wayyyy sooner then I figured and to me that is a death knell right there.  Wannstedt got it in his presser; Graham got it in his and so did Paul Chryst.  Interestingly enough Narduzzi didn’t.

Post your guesses below and have fun – it is a fantastic day to be a Pitt fan.

Presser link

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(Chas is on vacation without wireless or you know he’d be all over this.)

I’m going to post this quickly – I’ve been away from a computer all morning – and will add content as the day goes along.  So here’s your chance to be heard again, and again, and again….

Oh and HAPPY EASTER!!!

OK, here’s what happened in a nutshell. Pitt hired the first head coach in any sport in its history to have a chin that goes directly to his chest bypassing his neck.

Here is how this happened.

In Scott Barnes first, and actually only big decision so far, he has pissed of the Pitt fans so badly there has been an internet suicide watch put into effect. He couldn’t keep our all time winningest BB coach onboard – although that truly wasn’t for lack of trying I believe.  After all he stated that he spent the whole day talking with Dixon before Dixon made his final decision.  That die was cast.

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Well, here is a subject whose time has obviously come to be ‘talked about’… and that is the horrible back up QB situation we have at Pitt this spring and maybe, if our bad luck holds, will have going into fall camp.  As readers of the Blather well know I have been harping on this almost continually since Chad Voytik departed.

As a matter of fact just this morning I posted an article on here that in no small measure addressed this subject yet again.

In conversations with other Pitt fans I find it interesting that there was so much blowback on Peterman transferring in to usurp Voytik … but there has been virtually no fan noise made about the fact that we’ll drop in quality rather surprisingly if we have to replace Peterman for any length of time.

Many fans have stated ‘Well, this is a normal thing to have the QB2 be a kid with no real game time experience.’ and I will beg to strongly differ.  Almost always a D1 head coach will get his back up QBs at least a few snaps to get somewhat acclimated to true game conditions.  But that didn’t happen last season because we had the Nate Peterman / Chad Voytik tandem… so the assumption at the time was that going into 2016 we’d have the same level of talent at both the QB1 and QB2 spots.

Obviously that can’t happen and Narduzzi has been caught with their personnel planning coming up short in that area.  Matt Canada is inheriting this situation and can’t be all that happy about it.

Again, fans counter with ‘Hey, we have no idea if Bertke and DiNucci can play in a game pressure and neither do you.’ And that is true also.  But there is a twist with those guys.  Because of the two senior guys at QB neither Bertke nor DiNucci has ever taken any QB2 snaps in any practices and certainly not during game weeks when the practices revolve around the offensive game planning.

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Two days ago we talked about ex-WR Elijah Zeise being moved to the Linebacker position. Here is an article and some background on the move:

He looks just like his old man.  I like this switch and it shows that for as much as the fans want new players to come into the program and get playing time right away Narduzzi doesn’t feel that way.  Any coach will play guys like Boyd or Whitehead as true freshman but the reality is that most players usually have to wait their turn until their Sophomore or j* year to become starters.

We fans are high on rsFR Brightwell and McKee and rookie FR Kaezon Pugh, and those kids look to have nice talents, but they’ll be sitting a lot more than playing this season. That said, after this year when we lose who may well be the starting LB lineup of SRs Galambos, Caprara and Bradley those kids, Brightwell and McKee will be rsSOs with two years college experience under their belts and will fleet up to starting some games.

Jerry DiPaola of the Trib has this piece on the subject.

Beset by injuries at the position and in the name of trying to “get the best 11 on the field,” coach Pat Narduzzi on Tuesday texted Zeise, requesting a meeting to talk about a position switch. “Honestly, I thought I might be in trouble for something,” Zeise said.

On the contrary. Narduzzi sees an opportunity for Zeise to replace Nicholas Grigsby at the star (outside) linebacker spot that also requires the skills of a safety. Zeise, who will be a sophomore in the fall, played wide receiver, safety and cornerback at North Allegheny and helped the Tigers win the PIAA Class AAAA championship in 2012.

“He’s a good athlete, and I think we need him on defense,” Narduzzi said. “He’s a guy who can come in and play some very quality reps for us. He has a chance to start.”

Moving Zeise (6-foot-2, 220 pounds) from wide receiver to linebacker makes statements about Pitt’s situation at both positions.

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Forget about Jamie Dixon… what about Elijah Zeise moving to LB??

Mike Vukovcan has this in his daily KDKA blog about two recruits saying thanks but no thanks to Pitt:

**Moving to football recruiting, 2 local players decided to go to Brian Kelly and Notre Dame. After visiting the campus this weekend,  Central Catholic’s David Adams and Kurt Hinish both decided to commit to Notre Dame.

Both players had offers from Pitt but Adams is the real loss.  I’ve said many times that I thought he should’ve been the #1 local target for Pat Narduzzi and his assistants.  Adams is a tough, play-making middle linebacker that could’ve stepped in at Pitt from day one and play.  That’s not going to be the case so it’s “next man up” on the recruiting board.

If you’re a Pitt fan and worried about a lack of recruiting news and local recruits going elsewhere, relax! First of all, it’s March and secondly, Narduzzi and his staff will bring in top end talent.

**A player that I think is a must get for Pitt is Beaver Falls DT Donovan Jeter.  The 4-star player has Pitt high on his list but it would benefit Pitt if they could get a commitment from him soon.

Huh, I just looked at the updated roster for 2016 and noticed that contrary as in the past we now have 20 rsSR and SR players… and all of them are on scholarship. Looks like the Pitt team is growing up after all those players were purged by Chryst over the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

Coach Pat Narduzzi Quote Sheet

Opening statement:

“So we got practice number four in, a good practice. A good Tuesday practice, and we got some good meetings in. I think we cleaned up a lot of things from Saturday’s practice. I’m happy with how we’re progressing right now and where we are.”

On moving Elijah Zeise from wide receiver to linebacker:

“He’s a good athlete and I think we need him on defense. He’s a guy that can come in and play quality reps for us and he got a chance to start it today. We want the best 11 players from offense and defense on the field, so we have a chance to try it and we’ll see how it goes. We tried it out in bowl practice and knew he could do it. He actually had three straight tackles in a bowl practice period. He has a nose for the football, you see that on kickoffs and special teams. So we’re going to try it out. I think it’ll go well and you’re going to like it.”

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In a timely article, considering where the comments from the last FB article left off, here is DiPaola of the Trib-Review talking about Boyd’s departure and who we have waiting in the wings to take center stage.  HCPN looks like he doesn’t really want to talk does he?

Narduzzi is high on SO WR Charles Fitzgerald Tipton though. I’m not sure where “Tre” came from but his given middle name is a good omen for sure:

Besides Ford, who was the second-leading pass catcher last season with 26 receptions for 505 yards and two touchdowns, Tipton also has attracted attention. Narduzzi, in fact, wasn’t afraid to describe the Apollo-Ridge graduate this way:  “He’s going to be a great player for us,” he said last week. “I think when you watch the spring game (April 16), you are going to go, ‘Whoa. Who is that No. 2?’ ”

Tipton impressed last summer and was inserted in four games before injuring a knee and missing the rest of the season. “I tell him it’s about being tough,” Narduzzi said. “You can’t get better with the yellow jersey on. If he gets through 15 (spring practices), that means he’s mentally and physically toughened up.

“He’s explosive. He has great hands. He runs great routes. He can get off press (coverage). He’s a football player, but he has to show it on the field.”

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To start the day, here is a taste of last year’s “412 Crew”

March 15, 2016

PHOTO GALLERY | QUOTES

PITTSBURGH – Pitt Football held its first spring practice of 2016 on Tuesday with a two-hour session at the UPMC Sports Performance Complex.

Day one featured just helmets and shorts as the Panthers implemented their new offense under the direction of Pitt’s freshly minted offensive coordinator Matt Canada.

Click here to read post-practice comments from Canada.

The Panthers return four starters to the offensive line, but will be without graduated center Artie Rowell, meaning the Panthers will be testing out new players at center in the upcoming weeks.

Taking snaps at center with the first-string offensive line today was redshirt freshman Alex Bookser. Also in the mix are fellow freshmen Alex Paulina,Tony Pilato and Alex Galiyas.

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Here is a two day old KDKA’s Vukovcan’s piece about Pitt’s future recruiting. From what I gather a DT in our own backyard at Central Catholic is a prime target:

**Central Catholic DT Kurt Hinish picked up an offer from Virginia Tech. Hinish tells me that he’ll take a visit to Notre Dame on March 19th.  A couple of interesting articles and facts accompany this kid.  first  off he can probably lay a concrete driveway for you.

And the Hinish Clan’s athletic success runs in the family.

Tawnie Hinish is not surprised by the athletic success of her children. “They’re hard workers and totally committed,” she said. “They don’t like to lose.”

According to Tawnie, even Trivial Pursuit games can get heated at the Hinish household. “Our Thanksgiving football games get really intense. Kurt and I are running full-out with the kids,” she said.”

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I’m off to a cabin by the water to go on a three day “Writers’ Retreat” with my amazingly talented daughter.  I will be secluded so that I can actually do more of my ‘other’ writing project and not just sit around thinking and talking about it.

I am prepared to have my work totally eclipsed by whatever my daughter does with her artistic ability. Plus I can drink during the daytime if needed without the Boss seeing me.

Here is a parting article to give you some small things to talk about…

Post-Gazette Pitt Football Overview (P-G)

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During this off-season time of the year, when there is really nothing of substance to discuss about the football program yet, our thoughts of fancy turn to the direction of Pitt’s stadium… or the ghost of one to be more accurate.

I know, we do this all the time but for some reason, maybe because Pitt fans are giddy with the higher level of interest in the football program due to Narduzzi’s hire and our eight wins last season, the talk has ratched up more so than in the past.

I’ll not go over and rehash every little reason, place, finance issues or feasibility studies (done by ex-students on their websites apparently) that we just talked about on here four days ago but will start off with a bit of a different spin on an “Is Heinz good for Pitt or not?‘ issue.

Cardiac Hill posted a fan poll article entitled “Cardiac Hill Poll: Where should Pitt play the spring game?” and allowed Pitt fans to note only vote but to comment on the subject.

Basically the poll choices were Heinz Field, Highmark Stadium, another HS Field or “other” (maybe the Console Energy Center if we really want to spend some of that ACC money every seems to think we have a surplus of).  DiPaoloa understands that the Pitt admin wants to build up to a bigger spring game attendance, I know that Barnes is throwing out the 10K target in conversations,  but Junker rebuts with his thought that until it truly looks like that could happen then Highmark provides the atmosphere and fun that has always been lacking at Heinz in April.

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Lets talk Pitt football for a while to get the sour BB taste out of our mouths.

I hadn’t seen this Pitt LiveWire video of the Southside War Room when the class of 2016′ faxes start rolling in. Narduzzi looks like a little kid on Christmas morning and that is a nice bit of Jamie Dixon in the hallway watching HCPN  talk to a George Hill.

Here is some yapping about how Pitt plans to fill the seats at Heinz. good luck and a successful program needs three things; a good coaching staff, good players and great fan support… well, two out of three isn’t too bad is it?

“Athletic director Scott Barnes set the bar high for everyone — coaches, players, the ticket office and fans — when he revealed Monday an ambitious plan to sell a record number of Pitt full-season packages at Heinz Field: 53,775, an increase of more than 19.5 percent from last year. Two years ago, Pitt sold 40,696.

“It’s a lofty goal,” he said, noting the Pitt record of 53,433 was set in 2003.”

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To get out of the BB negativity here are some items about the football program…

First – here is the UPMC LiveWire 2016 LOI Day Special program – 50 minutes of Pitt fun.  Enjoy!!

In breaking news Pitt wants more asses in those yellow seats.  Not that we haven’t heard that before but AD Barnes has set specific goals and started the process by having the season ticket renewal forms arrive at the season ticket holders’ homes the day after we landed our best recruiting class in eight years… smart move actually.

Athletic director Scott Barnes set the bar high for everyone — coaches, players, the ticket office and fans — when he revealed Monday an ambitious plan to sell a record number of Pitt full-season packages at Heinz Field: 53,775, an increase of more than 16 percent from last year. Two years ago, Pitt sold 40,696.

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What a fine finish to a hard fought and victorious recruiting season!  Here is Pitt’s “Signing Day Special” presentation of the 23 young men who just signed on the dotted line to play football for the University of Pittsburgh.  They posted great write ups and videos of each recruit – well done Pitt and thanks for the info.

Before we start digging into the details of the class, here is a great 40 minute video of Pat Narduzzi’s 3:00 pm press conference where he discusses this 2016 recruiting class. Does he look like a happy guy to you?

I agree with the commenters who said that this may be the best overall recruiting class since Dave Wannstedt’s time at Pitt.  Rivals.com has us with 23 recruits who average out to 3.13 stars apiece; five 4*s, 16 3*s and two 2* on the whole.  Not too shabby at all.

The excitement for recruiting is as high as any I can remember it being over the last 15 years, as is the excitement for the program and especially the coaching staff.

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Well, it was certainly a big day for Pitt football and HC Pat Narduzzi yesterday.  Both local recruits 4* DB Damar Hamlin (Central Catholic) and WR Aaron Mathews 3* (Clairton) made verbal commitments to play for us.  This is what the staff, the fans and the other present and future local recruits have been waiting for.  Hamlin is the Great White of this year’s crop of WPA players and Narduzzi reeled him in.

Both kids are truly filling positions of need – Hamlin certainly with the graduation of CB Lafayette Pitts and that may happen as quickly as this season, and Mathews helping to ease the pain of 4* Juwann Winfree departure from Pitt to Colorado U.  Mathews won’t be seeing much playing time as a true FR but he’ll help out down the road.

So, Because of this good news and because you guys need your Pitt fixes while at work here, is a compendium of snapshots of media articles to get you through your day.

First off, here is the P-G’s take on Winfree bolting this recruiting class.

Without Winfree, Pitt is left with four-star prospect Ruben Flowers and three-star Maurice Ffrench (who could play defense) as its only receiver commitments for 2016. That’s a position of need for the Panthers heading into next year without Tyler Boyd, who opted to leave after his junior season to enter the NFL Draft.

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With less less than five days until LOI Day, Feb 3rd, and when we’ll have the final listing of our 2016 recruiting class I thought we could take a step back and hear some stories about Pitt’s recruiting in years past.

Take a minute and listen to these two pieces.  I ran across them the other day and waited until we were sick of Pitt basketball to post them.

First we have how recruiting has changed over the last 35 years or so and then we’ll follow up with a piece on how James Conner was flying under the radar until Pitt figured things out.

Varsity Xtra; Recruiting Different as Night and Day. By Mike White Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Jan 28, 2011.  Exactly five years and one day ago today we read this:

Here is a piece written about our great RB James Conner.  This was published by Bleacher report back on July 19, 2015 before Conner’s injury in our first game and of course before his diagnosis and subsquent, and ongoing, battle against Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

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