PITTSBURGH — Dave Wannstedt might be 57, but he's still trying to catch 82-year-old Joe Paterno.

When Wannstedt was hired as coach by alma mater Pitt before the 2005 football season, one of his first promises was that the Panthers would erect a virtual fence around Western Pennsylvania and dissuade the area's top high school recruits from going elsewhere.

Paterno and Penn State? They could go into Ohio or Michigan, New York or New Jersey, but Pittsburgh's backyard belonged to Pitt.

For a few years, Pitt was the dominant school not only in Western Pennsylvania, but also on some of Penn State's prime recruiting turf. Their best recruit, running back LeSean McCoy, came out of Penn State's epicenter in Harrisburg.

That's changing, however, and Penn State's renewed dominance is forcing Wannstedt increasingly to leave the state to land his prime recruits — and to explain why players who seemed likely to attend Pitt are going elsewhere.

Already this summer, the Panthers have lost linemen Miles Dieffenbach, the son of Pitt's tennis coach, and Tom Ricketts to Penn State. Ricketts' dad, also named Tom, was one of the top linemen in Pitt history and was a Steelers' first-round draft pick 20 years ago.

There's more. Of the first eight Western Pennsylvania players offered scholarships by Pitt, only one committed to the Panthers. Five committed to Penn State, which, despite Paterno's age, is coming off an 11-2 season and has won 40 games the past four seasons.

Pitt went 9-4 for its first winning record in Wannstedt's four seasons, only to lose to Oregon State 3-0 in an ineptly played Sun Bowl that took some of the shine off a season highlighted by a second consecutive victory over West Virginia.

Wannstedt is convinced a program that suffered offseason problems and that returned to the Top 25 for most of last season isn't going in the wrong direction less than two months before preseason camp begins.

Not long after Dieffenbach and Ricketts gave verbal commitments to Penn State, Wannstedt snatched T.J. Clemmings, a 6-foot-6, 266-pound defensive lineman from Paterson (N.J.) Catholic who was also sought by Penn State, Notre Dame, Florida, Tennessee and Rutgers.

Also giving a commitment was Jeff Knox, a safety from DeMatha Catholic in Maryland who was being recruited by Penn State, Michigan and Michigan State. Pitt also landed one of Pennsylvania's top wide receivers, Salath Williams of Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt, McCoy's former school. Williams had more than 20 offers.

"I think we're right where we need to be," said Wannstedt, who isn't permitted by NCAA rules to discuss specific recruits until February. "The key is to get a few of those top guys, wherever you can get them, and then hit on those bottom 10 guys or so, the ones who aren't as highly ranked.

"We're not going to have a good (recruiting) class, we're going to have a great class."