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Pitt Football Offseason/Recruiting

Posted: December 21st, 2017, 3:54 pm
by abpk2903
I know we have discussed their departures and outlook for next season in other threads but thought I would start a thread for going forward.  I was looking today at the post-early signing day rankings and Pitt falls in at 52nd in the nation per 247 Sports.  They appear to have taken in 16 early signees that are all 3* star recruits.  Who is the players in this class that has Pitt fans excited?  Were there any needs that haven't been addressed.  A class of 16 3* recruits doesn't seem all that bad to me.  How many more kids can they take in?  Is there are big targets they still have out there that they are hoping to snag in early February?

Re: Pitt Football Offseason/Recruiting

Posted: December 21st, 2017, 5:50 pm
by DragonsDoExist
The lone commit that did not sign yesterday was TE Matt Alaimo and he announced his de-commitment today.


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Re: Pitt Football Offseason/Recruiting

Posted: December 21st, 2017, 7:42 pm
by PAMDGrappler
I think I read in one of the publications that 6 of the athletes in this signing class were one tenth of a point from being rated as a 4-star recruit.  A class with 6 4-star and 9 3-star recruits would have significantly increased the classes national ranking.  I think this class is a sneaky good class and many of these guys will have a chance to contribute next year.  H2P!!! 

Re: Pitt Football Offseason/Recruiting

Posted: December 22nd, 2017, 12:07 am
by Crimson's Ghost
Pitt landed Indiana transfer Taysir Mack today.  Sit One, play Two. He was Indiana's leading receiver in their season finale against Purdue.  IU fans had no idea he was even transferring until Narduzzi tweeted about it today.   Seems like it might be a nice find.  Had a PSU offer out of HS I believe, he's from NYC. 

Re: Pitt Football Offseason/Recruiting

Posted: December 22nd, 2017, 12:13 am
by Crimson's Ghost
Yeah Pitt's class is ranked 48 this year currently, and for the most part I like it.  It has a lot of big guys, so it's not an exciting class as it is important as it helped shore up the OLine and DLine with 8/16 signees being linemen.

Pitt got a lot of kids I wanted them to get, they just happened to be 3 stars, not 4 stars.  Danielson, Kradel, and Zubovic all have pretty legit offers. So I tend to trust coaches more than the guys from Rivals and 247. So while they aren't ranked 4 stars, all you have to do is watch Devin Danielson play a little and know he's a monster.  


Not as many reaches with Narduzzi as there were under Paul Chryst. Pitt's class is ranked. All the recruits seem to have many power 5 offers.

I think they'll add maybe 2-3 more kids.  I think a former UCLA linebacker commit is trending towards Pitt. They might try to kick the tires on some running backs and DE's.  


They only had 10 seniors this year, so getting to 20 was always going to be hard.

Re: Pitt Football Offseason/Recruiting

Posted: December 22nd, 2017, 8:33 am
by abpk2903
PAMDGrappler wrote:I think I read in one of the publications that 6 of the athletes in this signing class were one tenth of a point from being rated as a 4-star recruit.  A class with 6 4-star and 9 3-star recruits would have significantly increased the classes national ranking.  I think this class is a sneaky good class and many of these guys will have a chance to contribute next year.  H2P!!! 
Why it may be true that 6 in the class are within a tenth of a point of being a 4*, the class rankings aren’t determined by number of 4*. Each player is given a rating and the total is where you class lands. So a few players being rated a tenth of a point higher, wouldn’t really change the class ranking too much. It may make them 4* players though which usually leads to a little higher expectations on the kid which isn’t always a good thing. 
Crimson, I agree with you on how to really track the value of a recruit. When Penn State gets a 3* recruit with Alabama, FSU, and Ohio State offers its get me more excited than a 4* recruit with Boston College, UVA, and Maryland offers. This is what made me very excited about Tariq Castro-Fields in the 2017 class. Though he was a lower ranked 4* recruit, Nick Saban was sitting in his living room on the Monday before signing day. That tells me more than some evaluator at Rivals or 24/7.

Re: Pitt Football Offseason/Recruiting

Posted: December 22nd, 2017, 9:33 am
by knowitall
What is the real difference between a three star recruit and a four star recruit?  How does one get a three star ranking or a four star ranking?  I don't get excited about recruiting at all because I do not follow high school football on a national basis.  I never heard of any of these prospects.  While asking about the difference between a 3 star (or as some may imply a 3.9 star) player what is the difference between the 52nd best recruiting class and say the 42nd best?  The 34th best?  The 63rd best?  What will ultimately matter is will the recruits one day help lead Pitt to an 8-4 record and a bid to the Quick Lane, Pinstripe or Belk Bowl.

Re: Pitt Football Offseason/Recruiting

Posted: December 22nd, 2017, 9:42 am
by deepcreek
Somewhere Dave Wannstedt is laughing.  remember when he pulled in top 15 classes, only to get fired by an AD that ruined Pitt athletics TWICE with an interlude to ruin Nebraska as well.

Re: Pitt Football Offseason/Recruiting

Posted: December 22nd, 2017, 9:43 am
by Crimson's Ghost
Sometimes size, competition he plays, speed, and college offers could be the difference in determining recruiting rankings. Sometimes there can be biases. 

And as far as differences in class rankings.  There's not much of a difference between the top 10 classes.  There's not much of a difference between 11-30.  There's not much of a difference between 31-50. Comes down to a player or two. 

But there's a noticeable difference say between the 13th ranked class and the 39th ranked class. 

Re: Pitt Football Offseason/Recruiting

Posted: December 22nd, 2017, 9:46 am
by Crimson's Ghost
deepcreek wrote:Somewhere Dave Wannstedt is laughing.  remember when he pulled in top 15 classes, only to get fired by an AD that ruined Pitt athletics TWICE with an interlude to ruin Nebraska as well.
Wannstedet was actually fired by the chancellor of the school, it came from the top. Also he recruited fairly well, but he didn't consistently bring in top 15 classes ever.  That's a bit of a myth. 

I doubt he's laughing since he really likes Narduzzi.