Bryson stunned by Wannstedt news

Three-star running back Jeremiah Bryson was shocked by the news that Dave Wannstedt would no longer be coach at Pittsburgh. In fact, the 5-foot-8, 173-pounder had an in-home with one of Pittsburgh's assistants last night and is now contemplating what is next.

"I don't know on Coach Wannstedt, it's a total shock," he said. "He had four years left on his contract. I was expecting him to be there for awhile. I was building a relationship with him and Coach Clark.

"I had an in-home visit with Coach Clark yesterday. It was a total shock. He called me today and told me the bad news. Now, I've got a lot of thinking to do and I'm talking it over with my family."

Bryson maintains he is a verbal still for the Panthers, but is open.

"My heart was set on Pittsburgh," he said. "I didn't verbally commit just to switch it up. Now that Coach Wannstedt is gone, I have a lot of thinking to do. I guess I'm going to take a couple official visits.

"Right now I'm still verbally committed, I just have to see how things play out."

What is making him stick with Pittsburgh at this time?

"I mean, it's just the way I've built a good relationship with Coach Clark and Coach Wannstedt," he said. "It was his history of coaching, but it sucks he's gone. I verbally committed without taking an official visit. Now that he's gone that changes a lot of things. I do still plan on taking my official on January 14th."

The No. 12 prospect in Tennessee has yet to hear from other schools.

"I had a few other offers to choose from, Pittsburgh wasn't the only offer," he said. "I had Illinois, Maryland, North Carolina and Middle Tennessee was hard on me too.

"Now, I'm going to have to see what they have to offer."

In terms of his season, Bryson ran for 1,500-yards and 24 total touchdowns.

"The season was good," he said. "We went to the state championship, but came up short, we lost by two points on Saturday. We did well."