Penn State and Pitt: Vol. 739: injuries and recruiting

[hilltoppanther]

Wannstedt should fire Cavanaugh at the end of the season. He shoudl then hire an up and coming assistant from the SEC to install the spread/zone/read. You then call Terelle Pryor and promise him the starting job from the moment he walks on campus. Pryor, McCoy, and Stephens-Howling, would make one heck of a backfield.

He could join the basketball team in late January, assuming we make a bowl game, and be a solid contributor.

That should be priority number one of the new athletic director.

[The Ancient Enemy]

I don't know if I agree with that.

Pitt definitely needs new coordinators, no doubt. But first off, I don't think that the AD should be the one who is hiring staff members. Suggestions? Hey, why now, they're all adults, they're probably at least acquaintances (AD and the head coach) so why not toss some names at him? All the AD needs to do is to make it very clear, subtly, that Cavanaugh and Rhodes are no longer welcome. That should let Wannstedt know that he is not far behind if he messes up.

I don't think Dave Wannstedt is the problem. Yes, the guy obviously has shortcomings, but he is doing a nice job recruiting while he has losing seasons. That can't be said about too many people. On top of that, Wannstedt is a really good guy, and people like him. His problem, so far, has been that he hasn't fired those coordinators. Pitt has decent players, at least decent enough to win games versus teams like Connecticut. That's a game you have to win. And when you lose that game in blowout fashion, there's a clear problem here, folks.

Like Penn State, it is NOT a lack of effort by the players.

I disagree that telling Pryor he's the starter is the way to go. What do you do with Bostick, or Bill Stull? Stull's a junior, right? I think we can all agree that Smith is not the answer, but you do have 2 other QB's who are starting-material. I know Bostick looked bad Saturday, but the kid is a clear diamond and will only get better. He's a freshman. Stull has been around awhile and has veteran experience. There's a place for that, even if he doesn't start next season. You can't just bring in a kid in his actual freshman year and tell him to go win games.

Terrelle Pryor is going to have to make a choice. You either play basketball, or you play football. At all those schools, and I guarantee you one of them is Ohio State, are gonna tell that kid "suuuure, you can play both..." and then he'll get there and play both his freshman year. Then the heat gets turned up by the football staff and the fans and the players and pretty soon he's making a decision anyway. Who knows which way he'll go, but I can almost guarantee you he will not be playing both sports.

I mean, look at how Dennis Dixon, in a recent example, got slaughtered in the media right before the season because he didn't know if he wanted to play baseball or football this year. It's pathetic that people will use his "heart" and question it whenever the kid might want to play a different sport. The football media turned up their nose on Jeff Sammardja as well.

I'm not sure where Crimson got the info on Pryor re-opening his recruiting with Pitt added, but I haven't found that. I'm not saying he made it up, but I'd like to see a link.

As for his final 7 choices, Pitt included, let's take a look:
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Florida: Well, 2 straight nat. championships in basketball. Last year's football national champion. Look tough as hell again this season. Depth Opponent: Tebow is a sophomore, and freshman John Brantley, 5-star QB's.
Ohio State: Very good basketball program, the best in their conference. Well respected football staff, at least in the recent years, best football program in the conference. Don't seem to have much QB depth.
Penn State: God-awful basketball program, and I believe Devlin is a junior next year. Either way, staff always gives nod to older players, and has talent-utilization problems.
Pittsburgh: Programs underachieve, and Wannstedt has said all along that he wants a power running game. Depth Opponent: Pat Bostick.
Tennessee: Basketball team is decent, but I don't know why anyone would go play football at Tennessee right now.Depth Opponent: BJ Coleman and Jonathon Crompton
Texas: Powerhouses in both sports? Does not appear to be any real QB opponent.
West Virginia: Hired a well-known basketball coach, and who knows how that'll turn out. Depth Opponent: Bradley Starks, 4-star QB from Virginia.

Those QB's I listed are 4 or 5 star recruits, and let's keep in mind that all those schools, except Penn State, will find a way to get him involved, despite other QB's on the chart.

If he wants to stay close, that would mean Texas is out. I also can't see Penn State winning a battle if those other programs lie to him and say he can play both sports. I would also say that Tennessee is probably not where he'll end up. If I had to guess it would be Ohio State.

[ham55]

Devlin will be a sophomore next year. Darrel Clark will be a junior.

[WALTER4]

And I wouldn't be too quick to say Penn St wouldn't use him as a freshman (not saying he'd be a starter either). But, don't forget Mike Robinson came in as a freshman and saw some time at WR, RB, and some QB

[The Ancient Enemy]

Yeah, that was a nightmare.

Look... as much of a PSU fan as I am, I'm not mentally challenged. I know how that offensive staff does things. They have no idea how to utilize talent properly. Is there any objection at all to the fact that PSU has the best WR's in the conference? And probably have the most team speed? It doesn't matter how many recruits you get if you can't understand how to get people the football. It is so frustrating watching this staff operate. Sooner or later kids are going to start seeing how this staff does things, and they'll stop going to Penn State. Can you blame them? Can you honestly get irritated at Terrelle Pryor for choosing Ohio State or Texas when he has THIS staff to use as an example of how PSU does things? Come on now. You wanna set yourself up for the best possible career, and that means somewhere other than Penn State. It won't change until the staff gets changed. And, unfortunately, it won't.

[WPIAL~Titan]

Wait until the heir apparent JAYPA takes over...................................

[hilltoppanther]

TAE, I have also seen that Pryor has once again added Pitt to his final list. I beleive his high school coach was the first to release it. If my memory severs me correctly, it was somewhere on rivals.com

[The Ancient Enemy]

Rivals has nothing about that.

To add a little...

The appeal of Tennessee is off. coordinator David Cutcliffe. Cutcliffe is personally responsible for the development of Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Casey Clausen, Brady Quinn, and Erik Ainge. Ainge is still a work in progress, and there's just something wrong with how that kid plays. Either way, Cutcliffe made him a lot better than he is. At the end of the day, though, Tennessee is still coached by the Great Pumpkin.

[Crimson09Crazy]

ESPN.com I copy and pasted the entire article right on my last post......



According to some we would be wasting our time if we used Bill Stull So we only have 1 QB in the running i guess

Perfect fit for Pryor is obviously WVU They run the offense he knows how to run and on the Basketball side of things Bob Huggins is an excellent coach and always has athletic wing guards like TP


If he were come to Pitt.....He most likely would get some minutes in Basketball and in Football its too early to tell if Pat Bostick is the guy (4 Int's in less then 1 game of collegiate football)

I dont see Penn State being the greatest fit for him i mean in Basketball the second he walks on the court hes the most talented player the Lions have but with the whole QB situation and poor coaching i dont see him being used in football the right way

[El-Moldo]

FightonState just came out with their 2008 Penn State Scholarship roster. With the present verbals they have right now for next year, they already have 85 scholarships given out or promised. That's all a team can have, folks. So unless some kids don't come back next year, or spend some time in the clink, PSU can't really add anymore scholarship players to their team as of right now. Be interesting to see what happens from here on out.