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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The biggest storyline at Pitt now isn’t spring camp nor the BB loss – it is that the NCAA has granted James Conner another season of play when they approved his “Medical Redshirt” exemption for the 2015 season. What this means folks is not only do we have Conner for this season but also for the 2017 season.

No one has any idea how Conner will do this year with 1) his MCI injury which was sort of lost in the news of Conner’s cancer battle.  Remember that ankle cost him the full year even before his diagnosis of Hodgkin’s-Lymphoma.

It may well have been that even without his other illness Conner may not have bounced back 100% from that MCI.  Now however, I think it is pretty safe to assume that his 2017 season would see him as the post-medical issues James Conner who tore up the field in 2014 for 1769 yards at a 5.9 ypc clip with 26 (!!) TDs.

If he does well this season, and let’s hope so for both his and our program’s sake, he may well declare before the ’17 season – but who knows.  Conner had already said he’d forgo the NFL draft, which he was eligible for just like Boyd, and return for 2016 even before he got hurt.

There are grand days ahead my friends and no wonder RB Chris James took off after the season ended. These NCAA decisions, at least this one, isn’t all that hard to figure out in advance… especially with the emotional and publicity potential involved with the NCAA on this call.

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Chas will post a NCAA-Pitt v Wisconsin open thread later but let’s get a football fix in for this morning. Good luck Panthers against the Wisconsin Badgers… merely a warm-up for the grand upset of OSU I’m sure.

DiPaoloa of the Trib addresses something that we have talked about regularly on here since the end of January bowl game – filling the need for departing LBs Nick Grigsby and coming up with a new LB two deep lineup.  If you remember the final players in the ’15 two deep were as follows:

Star Linebacker  3 NICHOLAS GRIGSBY (SR*, 6-1, 220) 44 Matt Steinbeck (SR*, 6-0, 210) 21 Jameel Poteat (SR*, 5-10, 215)

Mike Linebacker  47 MATT GALAMBOS (JR, 6-2, 240) 58 Quintin Wirginis (SO, 6-2, 240)

Money Linebacker 30 MIKE CAPRARA (JR*, 6-0, 230) OR 4 BAM BRADLEY (JR*, 6-2, 230) Cornerback

Grigsby has graduated so we’ll see SR Mike Caprara get even more playing time this season.  I have liked this kid every since he was recruited. Pitt fans love WPIAL players and even with the ‘too short” knock on him all he did in HS was to end up as Woodland Hills leading all-time tackler with 350 tackles (note that in this video he’s 207# and now he’s up to 240#)… and that is at a school with a very rich football history.  Plus he’s an exceptional student-athlete which I feel is so important in the locker room – especially for a senior.

Conklin is fortunate to have two seniors, Caprara and middle linebacker Matt Galambos, calling formations and schemes. When Bam Bradley recovers from shoulder surgery, it could be three seniors at a position that demands brains and brawn.

“It’s better to have three linebackers talking than just one,” Caprara said. Caprara, who earned a degree in communications and will pursue a master’s in marketing this year, said he devotes “countless hours” to football on and off 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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Congrats to the Pitt BB team for their receipt of an invitation to the “Big Dance”. Not an easy road with OSU in their path but stranger things have happened… to other teams. Pitt seems to stumble when the biggest lights shine but as Arnie Schwarzenegger once said “Show class, have pride, and display character. If you do, winning takes care of itself.”  Good Luck on Friday guys!

Today is the first day of the 2016 football season for all intents and purposes. Spring Practice is when we whet our fan appetites for the Panthers’ new year. Every year we have new personnel in the staff and administration; we will greet new players on the roster and will say goodbye to others – some who were big parts of the team and other young men who never made much impact on the team at all.

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I threw this up quickly earlier when I was running out the door. It is a press release from Pitt on the eve of Spring Drills.  Here are some observations I have after reading it:

We moved ex-WR Manny Stocker to QB as depth. That is a bit of a surprise but at 6’2″ and 220 lbs he has the build and was actually recruited at the position by other schools.  Here is what Pitt lists as his HS info:

Starred at Coatesville Area under Coach Matt Ortega…as a senior, passed for nearly 2,000 yards and accounted for 30 touchdowns (20 passing and 10 rushing)…a team captain, he led Coatesville to a 9-3 record and the quarterfinals of the District 1 Class AAAA playoffs…invited to participate in the Under Armour Elite Top 25 Quarterback Showcase…rated one of Pennsylvania’s top 40 overall prospects by Rivals.

Huh,  there is a little bit of a backstory to Stocker’s transfer from NC state to UTM to Pitt.

Manny Stocker Sr. told WRAL that his son – who was recruited by former coach Tom O’Brien – didn’t get a fair shot from Doeren and his staff.

“In the beginning, he was told by the new staff that he would be competing for the job,” Stocker, Sr told the television station. “But on the first day of summer camp, he got zero snaps. Coach Doeren wanted to redshirt Manny for him to develop but he didn’t even get many snaps on the scout team.

“We accepted the fact Manny didn’t get the position. But we don’t feel it was a fair process.” Neither Stocker nor his father have indicated where he’ll transfer.

He is a bit of a wandered having been at University of Tennessee at Martin just before Pitt… here is his lone college highlight:

Manny Stocker, a transfer from N.C. State, made a memory of his first play as a Skyhawk quarterback with a 70-yard run down the right sideline for a 63-7 lead early in the fourth quarter.

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**** THIS ARTICLE JUMPED OVER CHAS’ BB PIECE – PLEASE READ AND COMMENT ON THAT FIRST****

Not that the basketball season is almost over, we hope not but as in Pitt Football our BB team isn’t a shoo-in for anything, let’s turn our eye toward some pre-spring practice info and discussion starters.

The P-G has a piece on DE Ejuan Price and his buying a condo at a Senior Living center in Boca Raton, FL.  He’s in his 6th year at Pitt and it seems like he’s an old man already… but he plays like a middle aged tornado… with his 11.5 sacks last season.  Here is a good video as he describes his past physical problems.

This kills me though:

But even among those hun­dreds of dif­fer­ent pairs, it only takes a split sec­ond for Price to tell you his fa­vor­ites: His Nike Gal­axy Foam­pos­ite Ones. Put out to a very lim­ited re­lease in 2012, the Gal­axy Foams reg­u­larly fetch up­ward of $2,000 on the sec­ond­ary mar­ket. Money that Price, as a col­lege stu­dent, ob­vi­ously didn’t have.

He stayed on the hunt for a few years be­fore he found a friend with an ex­tra pair who was will­ing to let them go for a more rea­son­able price. “I wore them for about a week straight,” Price said.

Then he reveals this:

Oddly enough, though, when Price is hang­ing around the fa­cil­ity, he’s al­most al­ways in flip-flops. Not any­thing from his vast col­lec­tion of sneak­ers.

“The funny thing is I have all those shoes and I wear these [san­dals] ev­ery day,” he said. “Mainly be­cause my mom will tell you, my shoes hurt my feet. She says I’ve got long toes. Even though I like them so much, my shoes hurt my feet.”

Here is Rivals’ Chris Peaks latest football-related podcast.  It starts out with BB but if you want to skip that then jump to the FB talk  at minute mark 22:50

Some key issues he talks about the open starting positions due to graduation of having left – of course Boyd is mentioed.  Peak also thinks that Narduzzi truly has a blank slate mentality once the previous season has ended.

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Late in the GT game, you could feel Pitt flail about looking for someone to score. Jamel Artis wasn’t it. A second straight game where he was horrible. Both were on the road. After being so good against Duke last Sunday.

With the regular season over, the stats don’t lie about Artis not being anywhere near the same player at home versus on the road.

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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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Last week Jerry DiPaola of the Tribune Review had an article where Pat Narduzzi was quoted as saying this:

Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said Friday he’s leading a different team than he did a year ago, and he’s not just talking about the departure of 10 seniors and at least 10 other players who have left the program since the end of last season.

“It looks like a different football team,” he said, referring to the physical growth of many players. “That doesn’t mean you will win more games, but they do look different … just physically.”

Aside from the fact that we hear that from every coaching staff in their initial time at Pitt what struck me was the fact that 10 players other than the 10 SR and rsSR players we had on the roster have also left the program.

By my unofficial count we have to get rid of seven scholarships at this point in time.  That doesn’t include the five guys listed below who we know have already left the team and who were all scholarship players.

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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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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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