Pitt’s first official visit weekend of the year will start in 48 hours. We have been working to confirm all the visitors since things often change, even in the days before a visit weekend begins.
To that end, we've currently got 10 confirmed official visitors who will be at Pitt Thursday-Saturday this week. That’s down from 11, which is where the list stood at the beginning of the week, and the change is Tastean Reddicks. The three-star receiver from Fort Lauderdale said a week ago that he would be taking his official visit this weekend, but those plans have changed.
The reason appears to be that the coaching staff told Reddicks they they don’t want to have too many visitors on one weekend. We’ve seen Pitt host more than 10 in the past; back in 2018, on the first June official visit weekend ever, 18 recruits came to campus, and the Panthers hosted 22 on the first official visit weekend of June a year later.
But last year, Pitt didn’t bring more than eight recruits to any single June weekend, so they seem to be aiming for lower numbers in recent years.
With that in mind, the next two visit weekends will be interesting to watch. We’ve got 10 confirmed visitors for June 16-18 and 11 for June 24-26. We have also spoken to several recruits who say they’re still working to set up official visits for June, so it seems likely that 10 is not necessarily a hard cap, and flexibility will be shown to get top targets on campus.
In fact, I don’t think this weekend is necessarily capped at 10, and I think we don’t have the full list for this weekend just yet. So keep an eye out as we work to confirm additional visitors.
- In the meantime, we’ve confirmed the 10 recruits who are visiting this weekend:
Kenny Johnson
Jalen Thompson
Isaiah Neal
Shelton Lewis
DeeJay Holmes
Calvin Smith
Zion Fowler
Kenny Minchey
Brice Pollock
Antonio Camon
- All focus is on this weekend, of course, but we’re also looking ahead to the next few weeks of official visits, and one name we keep coming back to is Jordan Bass. I wrote about the outside linebacker prospect from Virginia last Friday after he took a late-week unofficial visit that compelled him to put Pitt in his top five, and I’m bringing him up again because he’s clearly one of the staff’s top targets.
The next step for Bass is scheduling official visits. He told me that he is only taking three visits, and I confirmed last night that the final plan might even be less than three but won’t be more than that. So the big question is which schools make the cut.
His top five is made up of Pitt, Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Boston College; at this point, I’m hearing that the Panthers are pretty high on the list for Bass and will get an official visit. Given his plans to only take a few visits before committing this summer, it’s hard to overstate how significant it will be for Pitt to get him on campus.
- Another outside linebacker prospect to watch is Collin Dunn. He took an unofficial visit to Pitt this spring and spoke highly of the experience; now he’s scheduled to be back in Pittsburgh for an official visit on the final weekend of the month.
I’m bringing up Dunn because Pitt is one of two official visits he has scheduled; the other is to Kansas State on June 17. He said he is considering one more visit, either to West Virginia or Coastal Carolina, but he’s not sure if he’ll get that scheduled or not, and that’s what stood out to me:
When a recruit only has two official visits scheduled despite having a dozen offers, that puts those two schools in prime position. So Dunn might get one of those other visits on the books, but I think it’s safe to say that Pitt and Kansas State are his top two at this point. Lots can change in June - spots can fill up and priorities can change - but right now, the Panthers seem to be in a two-school race for the three-star linebacker from Alabama.
- With Bass, Dunn, Jalen Smith and the Harris twins - Andrew and Michael - all visiting this month, I think Pitt is in position to get a really good class of linebackers. The Panthers can’t take all five of those guys, of course, but I expect them to get a few of them and close the book on linebacker recruiting for 2023.
Who will they get from that group? That’s the big question. Bass is a top priority. Smith is really, really good. The Harris twins have enticing speed. And Dunn seems to be ideal for the Star position.
On top of that, Pitt seems to be in strong shape for those guys. Smith has close to 40 offers, but his first two official visits were scheduled to Tennessee (this weekend) and Pitt (the final weekend of the month). The Harris twins have five visits scheduled, and Pitt will get the last crack at them. And like I mentioned above, Pitt is one of two visits for Dunn and is likely to get one of Bass’s maximum of three visits.
So that’s going to be really interesting to watch as it shakes out. And the best part for Pitt is, the Panthers will do well with just about any combination of those linebacker prospects. I think Bass and Smith are the top two from the group, so ideally the final haul will include at least one of those two guys; but if you put both of those guys with Dunn or one of them with the Harris twins, it’s going to be a really good linebacker class.
- Assad Waseem is an interesting recruit to watch. He’s a three-star receiver from Florida who visited this spring. He is looking to take an official visit, but first he’s going to be back on campus for another unofficial visit.
Waseem told me he’ll be at Pitt on June 7 to work out for the coaches. That’s not one of the prospect camps - those are on June 5 and June 11 - so Waseem is looking to do a private workout for the staff, after which he’s hoping to schedule his official visit.
It seems like this is an audition, of sorts. If Waseem impresses the staff, he should be able to get an official visit on the books. So we’ll be watching that.
- One other recruit to keep an eye on is Zakaih Saez. He’s a defensive end prospect from St. Thomas Aquinas in Florida - the school that sent Jahvante Royal and Daniel Carter to Pitt - and he saw the Panthers in person in April for an unofficial visit.
Saez is a Charlie Partridge target, which speaks for itself, and he’s looking to schedule an official visit. He’ll be at Oregon State this weekend for a visit; as long as he gets out of that visit without committing, Pitt should be able to get him on campus and go from there.
To that end, we've currently got 10 confirmed official visitors who will be at Pitt Thursday-Saturday this week. That’s down from 11, which is where the list stood at the beginning of the week, and the change is Tastean Reddicks. The three-star receiver from Fort Lauderdale said a week ago that he would be taking his official visit this weekend, but those plans have changed.
The reason appears to be that the coaching staff told Reddicks they they don’t want to have too many visitors on one weekend. We’ve seen Pitt host more than 10 in the past; back in 2018, on the first June official visit weekend ever, 18 recruits came to campus, and the Panthers hosted 22 on the first official visit weekend of June a year later.
But last year, Pitt didn’t bring more than eight recruits to any single June weekend, so they seem to be aiming for lower numbers in recent years.
With that in mind, the next two visit weekends will be interesting to watch. We’ve got 10 confirmed visitors for June 16-18 and 11 for June 24-26. We have also spoken to several recruits who say they’re still working to set up official visits for June, so it seems likely that 10 is not necessarily a hard cap, and flexibility will be shown to get top targets on campus.
In fact, I don’t think this weekend is necessarily capped at 10, and I think we don’t have the full list for this weekend just yet. So keep an eye out as we work to confirm additional visitors.
- In the meantime, we’ve confirmed the 10 recruits who are visiting this weekend:
Kenny Johnson
Jalen Thompson
Isaiah Neal
Shelton Lewis
DeeJay Holmes
Calvin Smith
Zion Fowler
Kenny Minchey
Brice Pollock
Antonio Camon
- All focus is on this weekend, of course, but we’re also looking ahead to the next few weeks of official visits, and one name we keep coming back to is Jordan Bass. I wrote about the outside linebacker prospect from Virginia last Friday after he took a late-week unofficial visit that compelled him to put Pitt in his top five, and I’m bringing him up again because he’s clearly one of the staff’s top targets.
The next step for Bass is scheduling official visits. He told me that he is only taking three visits, and I confirmed last night that the final plan might even be less than three but won’t be more than that. So the big question is which schools make the cut.
His top five is made up of Pitt, Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Boston College; at this point, I’m hearing that the Panthers are pretty high on the list for Bass and will get an official visit. Given his plans to only take a few visits before committing this summer, it’s hard to overstate how significant it will be for Pitt to get him on campus.
- Another outside linebacker prospect to watch is Collin Dunn. He took an unofficial visit to Pitt this spring and spoke highly of the experience; now he’s scheduled to be back in Pittsburgh for an official visit on the final weekend of the month.
I’m bringing up Dunn because Pitt is one of two official visits he has scheduled; the other is to Kansas State on June 17. He said he is considering one more visit, either to West Virginia or Coastal Carolina, but he’s not sure if he’ll get that scheduled or not, and that’s what stood out to me:
When a recruit only has two official visits scheduled despite having a dozen offers, that puts those two schools in prime position. So Dunn might get one of those other visits on the books, but I think it’s safe to say that Pitt and Kansas State are his top two at this point. Lots can change in June - spots can fill up and priorities can change - but right now, the Panthers seem to be in a two-school race for the three-star linebacker from Alabama.
- With Bass, Dunn, Jalen Smith and the Harris twins - Andrew and Michael - all visiting this month, I think Pitt is in position to get a really good class of linebackers. The Panthers can’t take all five of those guys, of course, but I expect them to get a few of them and close the book on linebacker recruiting for 2023.
Who will they get from that group? That’s the big question. Bass is a top priority. Smith is really, really good. The Harris twins have enticing speed. And Dunn seems to be ideal for the Star position.
On top of that, Pitt seems to be in strong shape for those guys. Smith has close to 40 offers, but his first two official visits were scheduled to Tennessee (this weekend) and Pitt (the final weekend of the month). The Harris twins have five visits scheduled, and Pitt will get the last crack at them. And like I mentioned above, Pitt is one of two visits for Dunn and is likely to get one of Bass’s maximum of three visits.
So that’s going to be really interesting to watch as it shakes out. And the best part for Pitt is, the Panthers will do well with just about any combination of those linebacker prospects. I think Bass and Smith are the top two from the group, so ideally the final haul will include at least one of those two guys; but if you put both of those guys with Dunn or one of them with the Harris twins, it’s going to be a really good linebacker class.
- Assad Waseem is an interesting recruit to watch. He’s a three-star receiver from Florida who visited this spring. He is looking to take an official visit, but first he’s going to be back on campus for another unofficial visit.
Waseem told me he’ll be at Pitt on June 7 to work out for the coaches. That’s not one of the prospect camps - those are on June 5 and June 11 - so Waseem is looking to do a private workout for the staff, after which he’s hoping to schedule his official visit.
It seems like this is an audition, of sorts. If Waseem impresses the staff, he should be able to get an official visit on the books. So we’ll be watching that.
- One other recruit to keep an eye on is Zakaih Saez. He’s a defensive end prospect from St. Thomas Aquinas in Florida - the school that sent Jahvante Royal and Daniel Carter to Pitt - and he saw the Panthers in person in April for an unofficial visit.
Saez is a Charlie Partridge target, which speaks for itself, and he’s looking to schedule an official visit. He’ll be at Oregon State this weekend for a visit; as long as he gets out of that visit without committing, Pitt should be able to get him on campus and go from there.
