Another day, another former WPIAL star in the transfer portal.
Okay, it’s not quite that extreme, but with
Derrick Davis’ announcement last night that he is leaving LSU, there are now four standouts from the WPIAL looking for new college homes this offseason.
Davis joins Florida safety
Donovan McMillon and Kent State receiver
Dante Cephas, both of whom we’ve written a lot about, as well as Boston College quarterback
Phil Jurkovec, who is already on the books as Pitt’s first committed transfer of the year.
We’ll touch on McMillon and Cephas in a minute, but obviously Davis is the new name on the board, so we’ll start with him.
A four-star safety prospect in the class of 2021 at Gateway, Davis finished the recruiting cycle that year ranked No. 101 nationally and No. 6 in the state of Pennsylvania. He had an offer sheet to match that ranking, with Alabama, Baylor, Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Miami (FL), Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, Syracuse, Tennessee, Texas A&M, USC, Virginia, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Wisconsin joining Pitt and his eventual destination, LSU.
So yeah, pretty much everybody in the country wanted him.
Davis signed with LSU and enrolled in Jan. 2021. He played in 12 games as a freshman that season, almost all on special teams, and made two tackles.
This past season, his playing time dropped to just four games. He saw 20 snaps on defense against Southern University and seven two weeks later against New Mexico, but that was all of his playing time on that side of the ball, mixing in a handful of special teams snaps in those two games as well as the Week Three win over Mississippi State.
He then sat until LSU’s Week 12 game against UAB, when he got in for five snaps - on offense.
During LSU’s final full drive of the game, Davis lined up at running back and carried the ball on three consecutive snaps for 24 yards, picking up gains of 16, five and three. He was stopped for no gain on another carry later in the drive and rushed for five yards with one additional handoff on the final play of the game, giving him 28 rushing yards on five attempts.
He didn’t play in the season finale at Texas A&M or the SEC Championship Game, and officially went into the portal on Monday.
- That was Davis’ official portal entry, but rumors of him leaving Baton Rouge had been swirling since the end of the season (or even earlier than that). And along with those rumors came concurrent rumors that Pitt would be a top school in his second recruitment.
I don’t think those were just rumors, either. From what I’ve heard in talking with a few different sources, word got to the Pitt staff that Davis had high interest in coming home, even before he officially went into the portal. Davis himself didn’t talk to anyone at Pitt, since that would be tampering, but if a message needs to be sent, there’s always someone who can send it.
So I think the Pitt coaches anticipated Davis’ portal entry as well as his interest in becoming a Panther. But here’s the question:
How would he fit with Pitt’s roster?
At this point in time, I don’t think the Pitt coaches see hm as a defensive player any longer. And to be honest, there were questions when he was still at Gateway about how well he projected on that side of the ball in college. He is fast - he ran the 100 and 200 in high school - but it takes more than speed to play safety or even outside linebacker; things like flexibility and back pedal are important, and I’m not sure if Davis has the attributes in those areas to play at the Power Five level.
If Davis does come to Pitt, it will almost certainly have to be as a running back. And that’s not necessarily the worst possible outcome; his breakout junior season at Gateway saw him rush for more than 1,500 yards and score 28 total touchdowns, and while I can’t find any highlights from his five carries against UAB, his high school film is still impressive to watch.
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- But here’s the question. Two questions, actually:
Does Pitt need a transfer running back? And if the answer to that question is yes, is Davis the best option to fill that spot?
On the first question, I can see taking a transfer back. Israel Abanikanda and Vincent Davis are as good as gone, even if neither has announced as much. That leaves Rodney Hammond and C’Bo Flemister along with anyone Pitt signs in the 2023 recruiting class; they currently have
Montravius Lloyd committed, and I expect them to add
TJ Harvison as well.
That would put four scholarship tailbacks on the roster in 2023, which is a solid number, although two of them would be freshmen.
So yes, a transfer back makes some sense, and I think we’ve seen the Pitt coaches kick the tires on a few possibilities over the last week or two.
Then to the next question: if the staff does want a transfer back, should it be Davis?
This is the question Pitt will have to answer.
Rewatching those highlights, I’m reminded of how explosive Davis was. He’s a home-run hitter, and while he may not have a lot of shake-and-bake to his game, when he gets into the open field, he’s gone. That’s a good attribute to have; as we saw with Abanikanda this season, you will have a lot of success with guys who can go the distance on well-blocked plays.
So that’s the decision facing Pitt.
Personally, I would take Davis. I think he has shown enough playmaking ability to be worth a spot on the roster. I don’t think it’s an absolute lock, though; like I said, I think there is a decision to be made, and I expect it will be made at some point in the very near future, because everyone is working on a short timeline here.
And if Pitt does decide to pursue Davis, I think they’ll get him. I really do get the impression that Pitt’s the top priority for him. So this will be interesting to watch.
- A brief aside: there are a few challenges in recruiting former WPIAL guys out of the transfer portal. For one, if a former WPIAL star doesn’t excel at his first school and goes into the portal, there’s an almost automatic assumption that Pitt will take him - even if it might not make the most sense for Pitt. But if the coaching staff decides to pass (I don’t mean Davis specifically here; just a general thought), then they’ll get killed for it locally.
Second, if Pitt does take a former WPIAL star from the transfer portal and the player doesn’t pan out here either (after not panning out at his first school), then once again, the Pitt staff will get killed for it.
So there are a few complicating factors involved. Ultimately, you have to take the players who you believe can help you win.
- In looking up Davis’ rankings, it occurred to me that the
2021 recruiting class in Pennsylvania is an interesting one to consider. With one five-star prospect and 10 four-stars, it was one of the most star-studded classes in recent history, but almost all of those 11 four and five-star prospects left the state for college.
No. 1
Nolan Rucci went to Wisconsin. No. 2
Kyle McCord and No. 3
Marvin Harrison Jr. went to Ohio State. No. 4
Jeremiah Trotter Jr. went to Clemson. Davis, who was No. 6, went to LSU. McMillon, who was No. 8, went to Florida. No. 9
Elijah Jeudy went to Texas A&M. And No. 11
Tysheem Johnson went to Ole Miss.
Only
Elliot Donald (No. 5),
Nahki Johnson (No. 7) and
Lonnie White Jr. (No. 10) stayed in-state, with the first two going to Pitt and White Jr. signing with Penn State (although he ended up playing baseball after the Pirates drafted him No. 64 overall).
I bring that up because it has been interesting to watch the state of Pennsylvania branch out, so to speak, over the last few years in terms of where recruits go to play college football.
At the same time, Penn State seems to have been refocused by the near-shutout in 2021; the Nittany Lions signed six of the top 10 in the state last year and have commitments from five of the top 10 this year. So maybe the 2021 class was a blip more than a trend for PSU; either way, the diversified destinations from in-state prospects has been a notable trend in recent years.
The other interesting thing is that three of the Pa. top nine in the class of 2021 - Davis, McMillon and Jeudy - are in the transfer portal after two years in college.
Continued...
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