Blogs

Manny Williams was accustomed to playing before small crowds at Clairton’s Neil Brown Stadium, so he was overwhelmed by the atmosphere at Heinz Field when the Bears played for the WPIAL Class A championship. Williams starred as an outside linebacker on defense in covering Penn State recruit Derek Moye, as Clairton defeated Rochester for the [...]

Clairton safety Manny Williams made a verbal commitment to Pitt today, becoming its fourth recruit from the Class of 2008 and its second WPIAL recruit in the past three days. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Williams chose the Panthers over scholarship offers from Akron, Buffalo and Toledo. He starred as an outside linebacker for Clairton’s WPIAL Class [...]

Pitt had two of the nation’s top-20 tight end prospects at its individual skills camp Friday, and the Panthers appear to be in position to receive commitments from both players. If Pitt can land West Scranton’s Hubie Graham and/or Clemson commit Nic DiLillo of Madison, Ohio – which is looking like a real possibility – [...]

Pitt received a verbal commitment today from Greensburg Central Catholic cornerback Chris Hayden-Martin Saturday during its individual skills camp. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Hayden-Martin chose the Panthers over scholarship offers from Alabama, Boston College, Connecticut, Kentucky, Louisville, South Carolina and Syracuse, among others. He registered 60 tackles, 20 pass breakups, two interceptions and two forced fumbles [...]

Forgive the lack of Pitt football news this week, as I’m covering the 107th U.S. Open. On the way to Oakmont Country Club Saturday, I stopped at Pitt’s individual skills camp at the UPMC Sports Performance Complex on the South Side and learned the following: &#149 Aliquippa receiver Jonathan Baldwin, regarded as one of the [...]

One of the few returning bright spots on Pitt’s defense is senior defensive end Joe Clermond, a second-team All-Big East selection last season after leading the conference with 1.38 tackles for loss a game. Clermond is starting to receive national recognition, as the Football Writers Association of America named him to the Bronko Nagurski watch [...]

Pitt’s Sept. 15 game at Michigan State, the Panthers’ first visit to East Lansing since 1958, will have a noon kickoff and be nationally televised on ESPN. The Michigan State game is one of three national telecasts for Pitt this fall. The Panthers also play Navy on an ESPN Wednesday game at 8 p.m. on [...]

When Dave Wannstedt returned from the recruiting trail, the Pitt football coach did so with the belief that the longer Western Pennsylvania’s top-rated recruits waited to decide, the better the Panthers chances were of landing them. Without naming players – which would be an NCAA violation – Wannstedt emphasized that several WPIAL prospects had Pitt [...]

Now that Jeannette star Terrelle Pryor has narrowed his college choice from 70-plus scholarships to 11 finalists – which doesn’t include Pitt – Jayhawks coach Ray Reitz addressed the two most important factors in the decision. “The big thing is he wants to play quarterback,” Reitz said, “and be on a national title contender.” Those [...]

Jeannette two-sport star Terrelle Pryor, considered the nation’s top football prospect by one recruiting service, has narrowed his college choices to 11 schools and eliminated Pitt in the process. After discussing it with Jeannette coach Ray Reitz, Pryor trimmed his list of 70-plus scholarship offers to, in alphabetical order, Alabama, Florida, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Michigan [...]