PSU and Pitt battling over Dieffenbach?

[abpk2903]

If Pitt loses him then they need to seriously evaluate where they are at and what they are doing wrong. A kid like this should be a slam dunk.

Pitt may have the advantage with this kid b/c his dad is the tennis coach which is a huge help for the Panthers. Lets say a top prospect in the WPIAL has offers to Ohio State, Penn State, ND, Michigan, West Virginia, and Rutgers. What would cause them to chose Pitt? I mean they would be last on the list for yearly wins. They would be last on that list for attendance. They would be last on that list for BCS appearances. Only ND has less bowl wins. Both Ohio State and Rutgers have a city appeal if the recruit doesn't want to live in the country. Academically Pitt is behind probably all of these schools. Pitt has no more players in the NFL than any of those teams. The only thing that they may hold on the rest of these teams is facilities but its not like rest of those schools are that far off of the pace. Finally, Wanny's "NFL Connections" haven't really shown up over his first several seasons.

So as a PA sports fan (and someone who would like to see Pitt get recruits over OSU and Mich), they need to evaluate where they are at and what they are doing wrong. They need to figure out how to get more fans in the seats (I don't wanna hear excuses because basketball has no problems and the arena is located in a more difficult area of the city to get to). They need a string or 4 or 5 successful seasons in a row. They can not continue to hover around the middle of the Big East. Pitt needs to develop some pipelines outside of the WPIAL (much like PSU has done in Maryland and is trying to do in the Youngstown, Ohio area).

Pitt is really starting to skate on thin ice because two other programs in the area are beginning to gain some steam rapidly. Temple uses the Philadelphia Eagles facilities and is starting to flirt with the .500 mark. Buffalo has had great success in the MAC now and is looking to expand its athletics program. If Pitt isn't careful they may start to lose some recruits to programs like this which would be devastating for Pitt as a program.

[The Ancient Enemy]

The kids are not just picking Ohio State or Michigan over Pitt. Kids not only skip over Pitt, they don't wanna play in the Big East as a whole. This is not the same thing as Michigan State losing kids to Wisconsin, or Illinois. Pitt doesn't really lose Pittsburgh kids to West Virginia or Rutgers. It's a conference of universities who have essentially been passed over by other conferences, and if anyone out there seriously thinks Pitt would have passed on an ACC bid, you are completely delusional.

We all know sooner or later the Big Ten is going to expand, and it's going to be Rutgers. That will seriously hurt the Big East. Another problem is the national perception that the Big East are second-class citizens. That's complicated even further by the fact that Big East coaches leave those jobs for other opportunities.

I think Pitt lands Dieffenbach when it is all said and done, but that is becoming more of a rarity. Is Ifill going to stay close? Didn't that Paskorz kid just commit to Michigan, and doesn't his brother play at Pitt? I am actually a little worried about Pitt's 2010 class. PSU should want Pitt to be "respectable" and have to battle Pitt for WPIAL kids, b/c if Pitt falls off completely, now it becomes constant head-to-head battles with Ohio State and Michigan for those WPIAL kids, which no program would ever want.

[abpk2903]

There are going to be those prospects (like Pryor) that just doesn't like Penn State for whatever reason. If they don't go to Penn State I like to see them go to Pitt or WVU but it seems like all the major WPIAL recruits are coming down to PSU, OSU, Michigan which hurts Penn State.

[frostlion]

I just wonder how much longer Wanny is going to get a free pass.

It will be year five of his reign. So far: 25-23; two losing seasons; one bowl game (a loss with no points scored); consistently losing recruits from behind his "wall" to Penn State, Ohio State, etc; no Big East Championships.

Sooner or later even the low grade morons who work for the Post-Gazette are going to get fed up and Wanny will end up being the offensive coordinator at some MAC school (like his predecessor Walt).

[El-Moldo]

If there's cherry picking behind Wanny's wall, it ain't by Penn State. Just checked out PSU's 2009 roster. Of the 106 players listed, only 10 are from the WPIAL. This includes everyone on the roster from incoming freshmen to fifth year seniors. Maybe PSU should worry MORE about getting some WPIAL kids, than worrying about how many Pitt gets. And none of us want to hear that there has been NO talent in the WPIAL lately. PSU has been snubbed by WPIAL kids the last 5 years, so find another excuse.

[frostlion]

If there's cherry picking behind Wanny's wall, it ain't by Penn State. Just checked out PSU's 2009 roster. Of the 106 players listed, only 10 are from the WPIAL. This includes everyone on the roster from incoming freshmen to fifth year seniors. Maybe PSU should worry MORE about getting some WPIAL kids, than worrying about how many Pitt gets. And none of us want to hear that there has been NO talent in the WPIAL lately. PSU has been snubbed by WPIAL kids the last 5 years, so find another excuse.

Only 10? That says nothing. The true stat is how many WPIAL kids they went after that they got, and not the total number of kids on the roster. Or if you want an even better one, take a look at the number of WPIAL kids both PSU, Pitt, Ohio State, Michigan, etc, offered scholarships to and see where they went.

Wanny clearly stated that there was enough talent in the WPIAL to win a national title. It's year number five and he hasn't been anywhere close even with the greatest running back (McCoy) and quarterback (Bostick) in the history of college football playing for Pitt during his time.

[The Ancient Enemy]

Let's see about that.

Scout.com 4 and 5-stars from WPIAL. After the Pitt commits will be a yes/no if they had a PSU offer.

2005:
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Justin King (5) - Penn State
Pat McAfee (4) - WVU
David Harvey (4) - Akron

2006:
========
Nate Bynum (5) - Pitt - NO
Dorin Dickerson (5) - Pitt - YES
Darrin Walls (4) - ND
Elijah Fields (4) - Pitt - YES
John Malecki (4) - Pitt - NO
Jason Pinkston (4) - Pitt - YES
Nate Nix (4) - Pitt - NO (side note: Pitt was his only offer?)

2007:
==========
Chris Jacobson (5) - Pitt - NO
Rob Gronkowski (4) - Arizona
Gino Gradkowski (4) - WVU
Stephen Wisniewski (4) - Penn State
Jon Ditto (4) - Penn State
Tony Clemons (4) - Michigan
Brandon Lindsey (4) - Pitt - NO
Nick Sukay (4) - Penn State
Andrew Devlin (4) - Virginia
Dom DeCicco (4) - Pitt - NO
Miles Caragein (4) - Pitt - NO
Derek Moye (4) - Penn State

2008:
============
Terrelle Pryor (5) - Ohio State
Shane Hale (5) - Pitt - NO
Lucas Nix (5) - Pitt - I'm pretty sure he did, for some reason Scout says 'no'
Jonathan Baldwin (5) - Pitt - NO
Mike Yancich (4) - Penn State
Andrew Sweat (4) - Ohio State
Christian Wilson (4) - North Carolina
Kaleb Ramsey (4) - Boston College
Cameron Saddler (4) - Pitt - NO

2009:
============
Dorian Bell (5) - Ohio State
Brock DeCicco (4) - Pitt - NO
Dan Mason (4) - Pitt - NO
Corey Brown (4) - Ohio State
Tyrone Ezell (4) - Pitt - NO
Todd Thomas (4) - Pitt - NO

2010 (so far):
==========
Paul Jones (5) - Penn State
Mike Hull (4) - Penn State
Aaron Donald (4) - Pitt - NO

In the last 5 years, Pitt has dominated other programs in WPIAL recruits, as they should. Here's the breakdown of the other schools:

Penn State: 8
Ohio State: 4
Michigan: 1
West Virginia: 2
Boston College: 1
North Carolina: 1
Akron: 1
Arizona: 1
Notre Dame: 1

So much for Moldy's claim that PSU isn't getting 4-5 star WPIAL kids.

Curiously enough, Pitt (and PSU) have won battles over Rutgers for NJ kids, yet Rutgers has not taken 1 kid from the WPIAL.

Pitt has not beaten Penn State in a head-to-head recruiting battle for a WPIAL kid since January 29, 2006.

[frostlion]

Pitt has not beaten Penn State in a head-to-head recruiting battle for a WPIAL kid since January 29, 2006.

This is not true!!!!!! University of Pittsburgh Propaganda Minster says: The Infidels from Central Pennsylvania have not gotten a WPIAL recruit in a thousand years!!!! Long live our most glorious Wanny and our ten thousand national titles!!!

[abpk2903]

Your not listening to what we are saying Moldo,

Penn State has opened up pipelines in MD, Wash DC, Western Ohio, New York, Virginia, Philadelphia, New Jersey, even Texas, and are working heavily to get one going with California. This all goes along with already having the WPIAL. This is what you need to do to be successful in recruiting. Pitt can't lose any from the WPIAL when it is the only pipeline they really have created.

[El-Moldo]

I'm not listening to you guys????? What brought me on here was that cherry picking remark. Like I said, not much cherry picking behind Wanny's wall is occurring from PSU. 96 members of PSU's 2009 roster are NOT from the WPIAL. Sad isn't it, when the biggest university in the state can't recruit in western Pa with any consistancy. Good thing Wisnewski's dad played for PSU or there would only be 9 on that Penn State roster.