When Pitt's football coach held a news conference to discuss his recruiting class in past years, it usually brought out many members of the media. But when Dave Wannstedt spoke about Pitt's 2006 recruiting class yesterday at the team's South Side offices, the throng of reporters and TV personalities was much smaller than usual.

Franklin standout Nate Byham a big catch for Pitt

A pparently, some event in Detroit this week has attracted many members of the local sports media.

How ironic, because this Pitt recruiting class commands more attention than possibly any Panthers' group in the past 20 years.

Yesterday was the first day high school seniors could sign binding letters of intent with colleges and Pitt's class of 25 players is receiving high marks. Almost every scouting service ranks the Panthers as one of the 15 best in the country.

"I think they're one of the surprise classes in the country this year, just because they aren't coming off a winning record," said Allen Wallace, national recruiting analyst for scout.com and publisher of Super Prep magazine. "Dave Wannstedt clearly knows how to recruit."

Wallace has Pitt's class ranked 11th in the country. Scout.com also ranks the Panthers 11th, espn.com 16th and rivals.com 21st.

National recruiting rankings have become popular in the past 15-20 years. The previous time a Pitt class was this heralded was 1987, when Pitt coach Mike Gottfried landed the likes of Marc Spindler, Lou Riddick, Steve Israel, Darnell Dickerson and Nelson Walker.

"We have a lot of guys who told big-time schools, 'I'm going to the University of Pittsburgh,' " Wannstedt said.

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"They should do recruiting rankings three years from now," Pitt recruiting coordinator Greg Gattuso said. "They don't because everybody wants to know things now. But rankings are important. We want to be in the top 10 in recruiting rankings. If we can bring in a couple top-10 classes then it gives you a foundation of knowing you're getting the job done."

Bobby Burton, editor-in-chief of Rivals.com also called Pitt's class one of the "biggest surprises" in the country.

"But at the same time, you had some rumblings of this last year," Burton said. "You got the feeling that Dave Wannstedt might be a force to be reckoned with in recruiting, especially in Western Pennsylvania."

Wallace said: "I think Pitt is a great example that sometimes you don't have to put together a great season to pull in players. I think Mike Stoops and Arizona is another example of that. Arizona and Pitt both had excellent classes."

This class has a big Western Pennsylvania flavor as Pitt signed 10 WPIAL players, the most since the Panthers got 10 from the league in 1988. That class included Gateway linebacker Curtis Bray, now a Pitt assistant.

Among the WPIAL players are West Allegheny receiver Dorin Dickerson, the Post-Gazette's Player of the Year and Super Prep's No. 32 player in the country. Duquesne receiver Elijah Fields was the Pennsylvania Class A Player of the Year.

One of the Panthers' best recruits came from just outside the WPIAL. Nate Byham played at Franklin High School and is Super Prep's No. 1 tight end in the country. He was offered scholarships by colleges across the country.

"We went into situations where we knew it was going to be against Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State. But we didn't put our heads down," Wannstedt said.

This class is strong on the defensive line with seven recruits for that position. One of them is Franklin Regional's John Malecki, who developed into one of the top defensive linemen in the state.

Pitt also got a top defensive lineman late in the recruiting race as defensive end McKenzie Mathews of Syracuse, N.Y., decided Tuesday night that Pitt was it for him. Mathews (6 feet 3, 235 pounds) chose Pitt over Michigan, Boston College and Syracuse.

As of last night, Pitt was still waiting word on receiver Tamarcus Porter of Pahokee, Fla. He committed to Pitt a few weeks ago but was thinking about signing with Wake Forest.

"We signed, arguably, as good an offensive and defensive player as there was in New York," Wannstedt said.

Wannstedt was speaking of Mathews and running back Kevin Collier, who rushed for 1,947 yards this past season and more than 5,000 in his career.

"I think Kevin Collier will have an opportunity to make an impact early," Wannstedt said.

Among the other top players in the class are defensive back Jovani Chappel of Trotwood, Ohio, offensive lineman Jeff Otah of Valley Forge Military Academy (Pa.), and offensive lineman Joe Thomas of Cleveland. Chappel already is enrolled at Pitt for the spring semester along with offensive lineman Kevin Hughes of Allendale, N.J.

Wannstedt said some players could see plenty of playing time as freshmen.

"We have to find a way to get Dorin Dickerson the ball 8 to 10 times a game," Wannstedt said. "You look at cornerback and the receiver position. ... These young kids are going to have a chance to come in here and compete early."