Monday, November 10, 2008

Pitt Lands RB from FL

Paul Zeise reports thats Jason Douglas (5'6", 174) from Cypress Bay High School made a verbal commitment to Pitt.
ESPN's analysis on Douglas:
Reaches top-speed very quickly and utilizes his shorter stature to pick and slide through the hole and knife through the small run creases. Follows his blocks well through traffic. Runs with great body control, vision and balance. Shows great initial burst and acceleration through the hole when he spots a seam. Very decisive and shows excellent suddenness when he finds the small cutback crease. Lacks great yards after contact production but for a smaller back he does not waste much time squaring up his shoulder pads and running north-south; not a lot of wasted movements in this kid's game as a runner. Very elusive with his loose hips and excellent stop-start and jump-cut skills when he gets in space. Slippery to wrap up with his low center of gravity, quick-twitch burst and constant leg churning on contact. Durability is a concern but he does not give defenders a clean shot on him. Quicker than fast but displays an extra gear and great top-end speed when he reaches the second the level. Overall, Douglas is the real threat with the ball in his hands and can turn a short run into a big gain. Size could deter some programs but he does a great job masking it and also using it to his advantage as runner. Great change of pace back if finds an open spread offense. Potential to contribute at corner and in the return game as well.

I just watched some highlight tape of this kid and he is pretty impressive. I'm guessing his size deterred the big time Florida programs from offering him a scholarship. He's slightly smaller than Stephens-Howling, but man can he move. He's incredibly shifty and seems to hit the line of scrimmage with incredible burst. From the short video clip I watched he has outstanding feet and doesn't really shy away from hitting holes quickly. It's going to be great to see this guy returning kicks and giving a change of pace in the backfield.

4 comments:

  1. Nice pick up for Pitt. He comes from Cypress Bay high school which is also the former school of current Panther Buddy Jackson. Pitt is also recruiting 2 linebackers from Cypress Bay, Austin Gamble (6'1/230/4.7) and Shane Gordon (5'11/225/4.56). Gamble has already committed to Duke, but Gordon is still undecided with many offers from the SEC, Big East and others. Hopefully a teammate committing to Pitt will make Gordon look harder at them as I think he would be a very nice addition to the incoming class. God bless the Mustache and its recruiting prowess.

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  2. Duke over Pitt for football, huh? Nice choice.

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  3. here's his video

    http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?pr_key=78455&Sport=1

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  4. As expected latest commit Jason Douglas is playing the role of recruiter for the Panthers, trying to convince teammate Shane Gordon to come along with him. This is a sample of an article from Pantherlair today:

    Gordon's teammate, running back Jason Douglas, committed to Pitt earlier this week, and Douglas has been in the linebacker's ear about the Panthers.

    "He visited up there and he said that he likes it a lot," Gordon said. "So he's been talking about how I should come, too, but I don't know.

    "I do hear from Pitt a lot, but for now I'm going to take my time. We'll see what happens after I take my visits."

    He has a pretty impressive highlight tape:
    http://pittsburgh.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=1&pr_key=75905

    What do you guys think of him?

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