McKeesport High School basketball player Zeke Marshall has grown 2¹/₂ inches since last season and is almost 7 feet tall.

The list of colleges recruiting Marshall keeps growing, too.

Marshall, a 6-foot-11¹/₂, 209-pound junior at McKeesport, has turned into one of the most interesting stories in WPIAL basketball. He wasn't good enough to see much varsity time last season and played mostly junior varsity. But with his height and improvement over the summer, he said he now has scholarship offers from Pitt, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Akron. Many more schools are interested.

"I'm kind of surprised," Marshall said. "I didn't think I played hard enough to get all these offers. Now I know if I play harder, I can be even better."

Some colleges watched Marshall play this past spring and summer with the Pittsburgh Storm AAU team, coached by former Jeannette coach Rick Klimchock.

"He made incredible improvement from March to July," Klimchock said. "People are talking about him being one of the best shot-blockers in this class. That's probably the strength of his game right now. He's very good defensively and his offensive skills are improving."

Marshall's father is Jonathan Marshall, a star at Clairton more than 30 years ago. Jonathan Marshall is sixth on Penn State's all-time list for season rebounds with 288. His 25 rebounds in a 1974 game against Cincinnati is second all time at Penn State.

Saddler out

FSN Pittsburgh's first Thursday night game of the season is tonight when Gateway plays at McKeesport. But one of the top players won't be in uniform.

Gateway standout running back Cam Saddler probably will not play for three games because of a pulled left hamstring. Saddler rushed for 124 yards on 13 carries in the first half of the season opener against Cardinal Mooney before the injury.

When reminded McKeesport is a non-conference game, Saddler said, "I don't care if we're playing the Little Sisters of the Poor, I want to play."

Only one

If Kevan Smith is named Pitt's starting quarterback and the Panthers defeat Grambling Saturday, Smith will equal his win total from his senior year at Seneca Valley. In 2005, Seneca Valley was 1-9 with Smith as the starter.

Seeing Pryor

Would you like to see Jeannette star Terrelle Pryor play in a game? Your chance is 7:30 p.m. tomorrow when PCN shows the Jeannette-Washington game live. The game, produced by Comcast, also will be shown 9 p.m. Saturday on Comcast's FYI channel.

Pryor and Jeannette will be on live two other times this season. FSN Pittsburgh will show the Oct. 25 game against Greensburg Central Catholic as one of its Thursday night games, and ESPNU will show the Jeannette-Yough game Sept. 14.

Addressing parents

Maybe other schools wanting to quell problem parents should take notice of what Wilmington did recently.

The Wilmington Area school board adopted a code of conduct for parents and a letter that will be sent to parents of all athletes.

The letter outlines three areas that parents are not to discuss with coaches -- playing time, team strategy and other students or athletes.

Parents can address coaches for appropriate concerns, which are physical and mental treatment of one's child, concern about a child's behavior and ways to help a child improve.

Check this out

Woodland Hills had three graduates make NFL rosters -- Steve Breaston of the Cardinals, Jason Taylor of the Dolphins and Shawntae Spencer of the 49ers. Another former Woodland Hills player, Lousaka Polite, made it to the final cut with the Cowboys.