In this week’s 3-2-1 column, we discuss the ongoing month of June and the recruiting news that always comes with it, some long-term predictions at quarterback, along with some basketball thoughts.
THREE THINGS WE KNOW
One last big weekend in June
Here it is, the final official visit weekend of June. We talked at length before this month about how crazy it would be, and I’d say it mostly has lived up to the hype. We’ve seen 27 prospects take official visits to Pitt including the ones here this weekend. There have been four commitments this month, along with two decommitments as well. Throw on top of that all of the unofficial visits, new offers, prospect camps, and satellite camps – it’s been a busy month for the Pitt football coaches, as it was expected to be. The extended dead period put a lull into the recruiting world, and June has definitely spiced things up after a year of uncertainty.
This weekend the program is playing host to seven official visitors to wrap up the month. Panther-Lair.com confirmed all seven visitors yesterday and it’s a strong group that has a bit of diversity to it. Five different states will be represented this weekend, and none of the seven are from Pennsylvania. Pitt will be playing host to two linebackers, two wide receivers, two offensive linemen, and a cornerback.
There are some interesting storylines surrounding this final group of official visitors. Let’s take a closer look at who will be in town and their backstories.
Che Nwabuko brings track speed to Pittsburgh this weekend. He is one of the fastest players in the state of Texas, not an area Pitt generally devotes a lot of time in, but he is being courted by new wide receivers coach Brennan Marion, who has tried to open new avenues to Pitt on the recruiting trail.
Ja’Kavion Nonar was a top performer on the camp circuit this spring and the Pitt coaches dished him an offer after seeing him at an FIU camp. Nonar is a late-bloomer of sorts, but he’s 6’7” and can move well. Maryland was also impressed with him and offered as well.
Deuce Spurlock may be a bit of a surprise visitor, as he was a little off the radar to us. Pitt hasn’t recruited Alabama a ton, but the last time this staff went down there, they came back with Cam Bright, who has been a solid linebacker in this program for the past few seasons. Perhaps the staff finds another good linebacker from Alabama this weekdend?
Camden Brown is an athletic wide receiver from St. Thomas Aquinas, and was all set to visit Auburn this weekend. Things changed, and to Pitt’s benefit, he quickly scheduled an official visit here at the last minute.
Desaun Williams is a powerful interior offensive linemen from Virginia that lives up to nis nickname, ‘Tank’ as he checks in at 6’4″ and 315-pounds. He has a strong offer sheet, but this will be his first official visit.
Davison Igbinosun tweeted last night that he’s committing on July 3rd, so in essence, Pitt is getting the last shot to impress him. The New Jersey product could stay home and play for Rutgers. He took an offiicial visit to Duke as well Ole Miss has been a factor as well, but Pitt has a chance to make a lasting impression here.
Marquan Pope is a little-known player nationally, as he has just two power-five offers total. He is, however, a highly productive player in a competitive division in the state of Texas. Also, Pitt is recruiting him as a linebacker, specifically the star linebacker position. So they see him in a very defined role, despite him being listed as a defensive back. He could be one to watch this weekend.
Pitt basketball handled it right in June
I liked Jeff Capel’s approach this June on the recruiting trail. I think it was a good month for him in many regards for his 2022 recruiting efforts. Of course, the main positive being is that he landed a four-star shooting guard to anchor his class in Judah Mintz already. Pitt was able to attract some very good players to Oakland this month as well, and didn’t have to use too many official visits to make that happen. Only Mintz and Dominick Barlow took official visits this month.
Sean Jones is perhaps their top point guard prospect, and he was at Pitt on June 1st for an unofficial, the first day colleges could host prospects. Jerome Beya, Alphonzo Billups, Bryce Lindsay, Noah Batchelor, and Michael Moore – all guys that are on Pitt’s recruiting board and they all made it here this month for unofficial visits, with some talks for return trips for official visits as well.
Unlike in football, there isn’t the mad rush to commit on the spot in June in basketball. Obviously some commitments happen and we saw that with Mintz, but these decisions can tend to be a little bit more measured. Pitt’s 2021 recruiting sort of went off the rails for a variety of reasons. When you have a wave of transfers late in the season, then lose out on your top target in one of the strangest recruitments ever just months later – it can make for a strange offseason.
This 2022 cycle feels a bit more conventional for Pitt, and that’s because it is for a lack of a better way of putting it. Hosting prospects on campus helps paint a picture for fans and media alike and we just didn’t have that last year. The 2021 recruiting class was pretty strange because nobody could ever pinpoint who else was on their board after Efton Reid. Heck, Chris Payton committed literally out of the blue on day, he was hardly on anyone’s radar.
Pitt is off to a good start with Mintz. They had positive reviews from all the visits they hosted, and Capel appears to be in the mix for some very good players heading into the fall. All in all, it was a good bounce-back month for a program that needed one.
Georgia still on the mind
Switching gears a bit back to football. If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll often see that I retweet just about any kid that claims he has an offer from Pitt. That can be a tedious thing at times, because as we know not every offer is always 100% legit, and miscommunications can happen. But setting that aside, I do want to hit on how much of a factor Georgia has become for Pitt on the recruiting trail.
In the class of 2020, Pitt netted three commitments from the Peach State. It was the first sign of any sort of concentrated effort in the state, and it yielded some strong results, as guys like Jaylon Barden and Rashad Battle appear to have bright futures with the program. Pitt followed that up this past class by signing two players from Georgia, and one of Pitt’s six current commitments, Ryland Gandy is also from there.
But back to the offers for a minute. Pitt offered 40 players from Georgia in 2020, 38 in the class 2021, and currently have 40 offers out in this class. As for future classes, the Pitt coaches have 13 out in the class of 2023, and five in 2024, with some of those happening in the past week after Archie Collins and Ryan Manalac both spent some time at Georgia’s 7 on 7 camp. And of course those numbers will inevitably grow.
It was an interesting decision ahead of the 2020 recruiting class to simply just start trying to hit Georgia in a big way. Pat Narduzzi signed 0 players from there in his first five recruiting classes, though they did offer players, albeit to no avail. But Pitt never focused too much time there, but they tasked Archie Collins with that venture. Collins is a Midwest guy by nature, but he’s had success cracking in there right away. Manalac also has some connections and has been spending time in Georgia as well in his first year with the program.
It’s just funny how one area can pretty much be a non-factor for so long, then all of the sudden you expect Pitt to end up with a few Georgia players in each class now. It takes time to break in to a new area, but it’s been interesting to watch this happen in real time with Pitt recruiting Georgia.
TWO QUESTIONS WE HAVE
Who will Pitt’s quarterback be in 2022?
In my most recent mailbag, I was asked this question and I think it’s worth expanding on further. Truthfully, this question should really be about this upcoming season, but the NCAA granted players an extra year last season, and Kenny Pickett unexpectedly took advantage of it, and thus delayed Pitt having to break in a new quarterback for this year.
So, do we really know the answer to this question yet? No. We have talked at-length about the internal options. The No. 2 quarterback job actually was one of the bigger storylines during spring ball, and Pat Narduzzi was asked about it often. There seemed to be moments for each of the guys in spring: Davis Beville, Joey Yellen, and Nick Patti. Even true freshman and early-enrollee Nate Yarnell would receive some praise on occasion.
We saw what happened in the spring game: Patti and Beville each threw for over 100 yards and a touchdown in a winning effort for the Gold team, while Yellen struggled to get much going for the Blue team. We don’t have much to go on, but there seemed to be enough positive signs from Beville and Patti in that scrimmage to carry some momentum into fall camp. Yellen, however, was the top backup in 2020 and started two games, so he’s still right there.
But does being the No. 2 in 2021 have anything to do with being the starter in 2022? I’m not sure it does. I think they are two different roles entirely actually. Whoever can manage the team the best this season if Pickett goes down is totally different than being the guy in 2022, in my opinion.
With that being said, I’m not sure if Pitt’s starting quarterback in 2022 is on the roster yet. He might be, but actions on the recruiting trail can sometimes tell a story. Here’s the thing: Pitt is not directly linked to any 2022 quarterbacks at the moment. None of the 27 official visitors this month were quarterbacks. So what does that say? It at least says that they could be waiting to see what happens in the transfer portal this year or find a high school player late. We’ll keep an eye on it, but as time passes, the likelihood of landing a 2022 quarterback goes down, and the likelihood of looking to the transfer portal for another quarterback, possibly a starting quarterback, could be growing by the day.
Who is still on the board for offensive line recruiting?
If you are with us on the message boards, then you know we like to talk about offensive line recruiting. Well, I don’t know if we like it, but we talk a hell of a lot about it anyway. Pitt has six commitments for the class of 2022 as of today, none of them are offensive linemen. Let’s examine things further.
Pitt hosted 27 official visitors this month, and seven of them were offensive linemen. Brian Parker visited, but committed to Duke a few weeks late. Leyton Nelson was in town earlier this month, but later received an offer from Florida, and he’s making a decision soon and Pitt isn’t a finalist.
So what does that leave? Jackson Brown, a Pitt legacy from California, he’s taken a few more visits and should be deciding soon. Isaiah Montgomery visited from Virginia, and he remains out there also. Earlier this week, Pitt hosted Bradley Mann, and currently Desaun Williams and Ja’Kavion Nonar are on their visits right now.
Can Pitt land a commitment or two from those five guys? I think it’s possible, and probably even likely. If they happen to land two or three of those names, then that might be the offensive line class right there. If not, then we’ll have to see a more aggressive approach in the fall and in December to fill out the offensive line recruiting. It’s still a wait and see type of thing after the dust settles from this month.
A few things to consider: the class of 2022 is expected to be on the smaller side. Pitt did sign four offensive linemen plus a transfer in the most recent class of 2021. It should also be noted that Pitt has five senior offensive linemen, but only one is playing out his ‘super senior’ season this year (Keldrick Wilson), while the other four would technically be eligible to return in 2022 should they and Pitt both choose. Throwing all those factors in, I think Pitt probably takes about three offensive linemen and generally this staff is always active in the transfer portal, so that’s always an avenue to consider.
ONE PREDICTION
Most of the 2022 class will commit after the season starts
Let’s take a look back at all of Pat Narduzzi’s full recruiting classes at Pitt, and see how many of those prospects committed before the start of their senior year of high school football
Class of 2016: 24 commitments, 10 before September.
Class of 2017: 24 commitments, 14 before September
Class of 2018: 20 commitments, 12 before September
Class of 2019: 19 commitments, 14 before September
Class of 2020: 18 commitments, 14 before September
Class of 2021: 22 commitments, 16 before September
As you can see, there’s a bit of a trend there, especially starting in 2019 because that’s when colleges were able to start hosting official visits in June, something the Pitt coaches hopped on board with immediately. This coaching staff likes to host visits and secure commitments starting in June. I just don’t know how much of that will happen this year. As we’ve pointed out, Pitt has six commitments right now.
Between this weekend and early July, that number of six will probably grow a bit with another round of official visitors in the mix, plus some scheduled commitments for a number of players on Pitt’s board. But even so, this 2022 class is not going to be nearly full heading into fall camp, and that’s unique for this staff, at least basing things off the past three years.
It will be interesting to watch how they will handle that. There may have to be more of a concentrated effort to recruit during the season, and also that little window between the last game and the December signing period. As evidence by those first three classes, that’s nothing foreign to Narduzzi, or any coach really. That’s how things were in this sport for, well, forever. But this staff has really taken full advantage of the openness in recruiting during the month of June, so it’ll change their approach for sure.
The volume of commitments this month across the country does feel down than it has from previous years. I think that’s a consequence after a year-long dead period: recruits are being more calculated in trying to see as many schools as they can before deciding, and in some cases, that might not have been accomplished this month. Some recruitments may drag on a bit, and that’s just another side effect that the pandemic did to the sport.
Again, I think this class will be on the small side. I also think they add a few more commitments here in the next couple of weeks, but on paper there’s going to be more work to do after the summer for the first time in a few years, and that’ll keep things interesting.
