Rutgers Begs...Please. Just. Go. Away.

Pitt was all over the New Jersey territory yet again, landing somewhat of a mystery recruit in DT Marquise Wright, out of Paramus Catholic.  I say 'mystery' because the major scouting sites are pretty far apart in rating him.

Scout lists him as the 21st best DT in the nation and gives him a three-star.  Rivals, meanwhile, is much higher on him, calling him the 4th best DT and a four-star.  So with that said, it's kind of hard to say where he should rank.  But when schools such as Penn State, WVU, Georgia, Florida State, Oklahoma and about ten others all offered scholarships, I'll lean towards the Rivals ranking.

No need for me to go into the whole ranking debate right now - we all know how meaningless they can be.  But beating out quality D-I programs is promising at the very least.

Here's a brief interview with Marquise apparently from ESPN (camera work not so good).  By the way, ESPN spells his name here without the 'E' on the end, even though everywhere else I've seen it, it's spelled with the 'E'.  Meanwhile, here's a highlight video on ESPN.com as well (need an Insider subscription to view it) and it's spelled with the 'E' here.  Way to stay on top of things there, Ess-Pen.

Seriously, though.  Someone needs to get Jeff Hafley and Pitt the heck away from New Jersey.  Dude is killing it there, landing Bill Belton, Gary Nova, and now Wright.  Plus he's got about a dozen more recruits (including some more four-stars) on his hit list - all from the Garden State.  As a matter of fact, ALL of his recruits since coming to Pitt have been from New Jersey, so he's got a pretty good hold on that area.

Nice.

A Little More On Bill Belton

Bill Belton was a wanted man. Pitt recruits well, but is many times beaten out by more prominent schools. But in the case of Belton, they were able to land one of the better athletes available for 2011.  His coach was one of those who last year noted that he would be a prized recruit:

“He’ll be one of those big recruits. He’ll be in that type of water,’’ McBride said. “People will come from all over.

“The possibilities are endless, and he’s a great kid. He’s very unassuming, very humble. I’ve been around a long time. The great ones are real unassuming. They run around and practice like any other kid. But he is as good as I’ve been around.’’

And opposing coaches also are impressed:

After watching Belton rush for two scores and throw for another in a 48-42 win over his Renegades, Gushue said: “He’s a high school Michael Vick. It was a frustrating day for me, I was so impressed. He could take off the rest of the season, not play next year, and some college would still give him a scholarship. That’s how impressed I was.’’

Belton is also a four-star recruit as rated by ESPN.com and is currently an ESPNU 150 recruit (must be an insider to view) as of the latest update today.

Then comes the tricky decision of position.  Pitt is pretty well off at QB next year with Tino Sunseri, Mark Myers, new recruit Gary Nova, and potentially Anthony Gonzalez.  He could also play corner, but the bet here is that it will be wide receiver.  With the potential loss of Jonathan Baldwin to the NFL Draft next year, Belton could fit in nicely there.  This blogger also projects him there as well.

Wherever he lands, this appears to be a strong 'get' for Pitt.

A Final Word on the New Recruits

Despite all the rumors swirling, Gary Nova wasn't scared off by the whole Big Ten Expansion issue and how it might affect Pitt:

"Pitt is a great school and a great program," Nova said. "We can compete with anybody, whether it is in the Big Ten or Big East or anywhere else so, really, Pitt will be fine no matter what happens. I'm not really worried about that at all."

This is precisely what I've been saying time and again. While it's nice to stir ourselves into a panic, and while Pitt may be financially better off with a move to the Big Ten, I really think they will be fine no matter what. Pitt brings enough to the table that they will land somewhere in a major conference. Of course Pitt wants to place itself in the best possible position, but I don't see a scenario where they can't get into a BCS conference.

And I love his attitude and the fact that he comes from a winning program:

The 6-foot-2, 205-pounder passed for 1,668 yards with 23 touchdowns and three interceptions as a junior in leading New Jersey powerhouse Don Bosco Prep to an undefeated season and 12th state championship.

"I'm a leader, and I find a way to make plays," Nova said. "I can run. I can throw. The most important thing is to find a way to win games. You can have the strongest arm or be the fastest, but if you don't win games, it doesn't matter."

Meanwhile, Artie Rowell discusses his height, or lack thereof, for the position:

"His credentials are exceptional, with his NFL experience," said Rowell, a three-year starter on both sides of the ball who has a 3.7 grade-point average. "A lot of schools turned me down because I'm 6-2, but he embraced that. He's won with guys my size. He tells me it's not how tall you are but how good you can block people.

"I have good feet, and I think I play exceptionally hard. I go to the whistle. I get after it. That's what fits me with Pitt. That's how their offensive line plays. They're a bunch of hard-nosed football players, and that's the way I am."

But back to that attitude of Nova:

"If you perform at the level we play at, you’re going to get better," Nova said. "And I’ve gotten better because that’s all I’m focused on. Like [Don Bosco coach Greg Toal] says, you can get better every five seconds you play. You’ve got to want to get better and do everything to get there. I did that and I’m still doing that."

Love it.

He's also going to be joining up with some former teammates at Pitt:

"I built a good relationship with the coaching staff, and after a tour of the city [last month], I just fell in love with the place," said Nova, whose current Don Bosco teammates Bryan Murphy and Brandon Sacco signed with Pittsburgh in February. "I feel like I fit perfectly into what they do with their offense.

As Brian Bennett points out, Pitt has indeed done exceptional job reaching out into the New Jersey area and has been rewarded:

Pitt has really stepped up its recruiting efforts in New Jersey, an area where assistant coach Jeff Hafley has found tremendous success in the past couple of years. The Panthers' recent pickups from the Garden State include defensive end T.J. Clemmings, running back Ray Graham and athlete Jason Hendricks.

You can also add the biggest fish of all, Dion Lewis, to that list who attended Blair Academy in New Jersey.

More on Gary Nova

So Pitt landed a QB for 2011 in Gary Nova of Don Bosco prep in New Jersey. Last year as a junior, he threw for 1,668 yards with 23 touchdowns. But my favorite stat is his three interceptions. That's more than a 7/1 TD/INT ratio - not bad.

Rivals doesn't have him rated while Scout has him as a three-star.

Personally, I wouldn't go so far as to call him one of the top recruits in the country. He's seemingly only scratching the surface, at least by the recruiting boards. Plus, the only schools to have offered him so far were Boston College, Rutgers, Vanderbilt, and Virginia (though Penn State, Colorado, and Maryland showed interest). That seems like homerism to the Nth degree. But we'll see how he develops.

Just recently, he won QB MVP honors at a Nike Training camp. And Tom Luginbill of ESPN.com had some good things to say about him a couple of weeks ago:

One of the toughest, run-oriented teams in all of high school football has got themselves a guy in Gary Nova (Ramsey, N.J./Don Bosco) who can throw the ball with effortless, fluid motion and he reminds me of former Elite 11 pocket passer Andrew Maxwell in terms of delivery mechanics. He has good height on a lean, wiry build and is a late bloomer who still might grow some height-wise. Having worked from under center for the most part in his high school career, he was very well groomed in terms of footwork and timing in the short and intermediate passing game.

Long way to go, but could be a solid pickup.

Two More Recruits

Nothing like a little recruiting news to stir things up a bit during the offseason. Today Pitt got good news from two recruits - QB Gary Nova and Center Artie Roswell. More on these both in a little bit.