Pitt announces 2005 recruiting class

It’s been more than 15 years since Dave Wannstedt has been in a high school football player’s… It’s been more than 15 years since Dave Wannstedt has been in a high school football player’s home as a college coach. While he said the players haven’t changed much overall, one thing about them has:

“Cell phones,” he said with a laugh. “That is the biggest difference. It’s unbelievable what these guys do with those cells.”

After all phone calls were placed and all contacts made, Wannstedt officially announced his first recruiting class as Pitt’s head coach yesterday, which was National Letter of Intent Day — when senior high school athletes sign with the schools of their choice.

“The response that we had from high school coaches and recruits when we first started off a couple of weeks [ago] maintained the same type of enthusiasm all the way through,” he said. “That’s a reason players are excited about the future of the University of Pittsburgh.”

Five defensive linemen and five running backs highlight the 24-member recruiting class. Four offensive linemen, three linebackers, two wide receivers, two defensive backs, two quarterbacks and one tight end make up the rest of the distribution. Positions are not all set in stone for some, though, Wannstedt said.

“Every one of these guys are outstanding running backs, but were also starters at either safety, corner or linebacker,” he said in reference to his five incoming tailbacks. “Once we get in here and get a chance to evaluate these guys, and — more importantly — evaluate the players we already have on our team.”

Despite saying that he still is not very familiar with the returning players he has, Wannstedt expressed confidence in his new recruiting class and the manner in which it was created. The recent departure of former head coach Walt Harris left Wannstedt and his staff with a lot of work to be done in a short period of time.

“The coaching staff did an outstanding job in a very difficult situation,” he said. “Whenever there is a coaching change, it is really difficult to hold onto recruits.”

Wannstedt said that, in terms of demographics, the diversity of the class is exactly how he envisions future classes at Pitt.

“There are plenty of quality players in the 300-mile radius of our campus, and that’s where our focus will be unless there is a special situation,” he said.

Players hail from seven different states, with nearly half of the class coming from Pennsylvania. Six players also came from the state of Florida, where Wannstedt is well known after coaching the NFL’s Miami Dolphins — credentials that, although he said he used, were not of utmost importance as selling points to him.

“It was only used in the context that we will run a pro-style defense and a pro-style offense. I don’t think it’s really fair — if I was a parent, I wouldn’t want a coach coming in and [that] be the first thing he said.”

Wannstedt pointed to the influx of recruits at the tailback and line positions as essential, since the positions are “wide open,” as he said.

“We really went after defensive linemen this year; I think it’s a need for us,” he said. “We are graduating two starters for sure from a year ago. You can never get enough defensive linemen.”

With the recruiting finished, Wannstedt said he is ready for the football to begin. After filling his staff with a new offensive coordinator, wide receivers coach, line coach and running backs coach, he said that one last appointment for somebody to handle recruiting could be made as early as Monday.