With one official visit weekend left before Signing Day, there’s plenty to watch on the recruiting front, both with high school prospects and transfers. Here’s the latest on what we’re hearing.
- Right now, we’ve got two high school recruits who are expected to be in town for official visits this weekend.
- There’s
Maverick Gracio, the defensive end from Cardinal Newman in West Palm Beach (Fla.). The former Kent State commit backed off that pledge about five days after being “re-offered” by Pitt, and while USF also jumped into the mix with a post-decommitment offer and hosted him for an official visit last weekend, the Panthers remain the team to beat for the three-star defensive end prospect.
- We’re also hearing that Steel Valley defensive back
Cruce Brookins will take his official visit this weekend. Pitt offered Brookins at the end of November; six days later, he announced his own decommitment from Kent State. While that announcement coincided with Kent State head coach Sean Lewis taking the offensive coordinator position at Colorado, I think it was only a matter of time before Brookins backed away from the Golden Flashes.
Since getting the offer, Brookins has been in regular contact with the Pitt coaches. Staff members attended his playoff game against Westinghouse at West Mifflin two weeks ago and he was in the South Side last Saturday to watch the Panthers practice.
Now he’ll be returning for an official visit, and while he has announced that he will make his commitment on Signing Day, it seems to me like the outcome is fairly inevitable at this point. I expect Pitt to land him.
- I have similar expectations with Penn State transfer quarterback
Christian Veilleux. His name was linked to Pitt shortly after he entered the transfer portal, and I’ve heard nothing to change that in the last two weeks.
We talked about this a lot last week and a little less this week, but coaching staff has been working to add three pieces to the quarterback room this offseason:
A veteran, experienced transfer to win the starting job in 2023. A young transfer to develop over the next year in anticipation of competing for the starting job in 2024. And a high school prospect to come in and grow over the next few years.
They got the veteran starter in Boston College transfer/Notre Dame transfer/Pine-Richland standout
Phil Jurkovec. They got the high school prospect in
Ty Dieffenbach. Now they just need the young transfer. Veilleux - pronounced VAY-air - has been at or near the top of the board from the jump, and I think the interest has been mutual.
Veilleux has familiarity with Pitt, having visited in the spring of 2019 (which feels like a really long time ago). And it seems like he and his family have liked what they’ve heard from Pitt offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti. I also get the impression that everyone more or less understands the situation, as far as what Pitt is looking for from its transfers for 2023, 2024 and beyond.
I’ve heard that Virginia Tech is the main competition for Veilleux (or, at least, it has been). But I don’t think the Panthers should have too tough a time beating the Hokies. My guess is we’ll see Veilleux in the class by the end of the weekend, although given that every commitment has an actual date and also an announcement date - since there’s often a delay while waiting for graphics and videos and all the social media accoutrements - word might not get out until a day or two after the visit.
Ether way, I expect the result to be the same.
- Those are three visitors we know of for the weekend, but I think there’s a decent chance there will be more. One transfer candidate we’ll be watching is Eastern Kentucky receiver
Jayden Higgins. He went into the portal on Dec. 6 and almost immediately started getting FBS offers. Mississippi State offered him the day he announced his transfer. Iowa State, Virginia and Tulane offered the next day. Middle Tennessee and Troy were the day after that, followed by Minnesota.
On Monday of this week, Higgins announced an offer from Pitt, and receivers coach Tiquan Underwood had an in-home visit with him on Tuesday. Now Higgins is looking at an official visit to Pitt this weekend. It’s not scheduled yet; he’s still considering his options. But Underwood is making a push to get the 6’4” 210-pound receiver on campus for an official visit.
Higgins may be coming from Eastern Kentucky, but he was a standout for the Colonels. He caught 29 passes for 394 yards and three touchdowns as a freshman in 2021, making Phil Steele’s All-ASUN third team for his performance. He was even better in 2022, putting up 757 yards and 10 touchdowns on 58 receptions in 12 games while making Steele’s All-ASUN second team.
We’ll see what Higgins ends up deciding to do this weekend. I’m guessing we’ll hear something today.
- I also think there’s a chance we hear something on Florida transfer
Daejon Reynolds. Underwood visited him last week and I think he’ll be back to visit him again in an effort to try to get the redshirt freshman on campus for an official visit this weekend.
EDIT: I'll clarify that I'm not sure if Underwood visited/is visiting Reynolds this week. But I do think there is still contact there.
- I don’t know the likelihood of Pitt getting Higgins and/or Reynolds in for a visit. My guess is it is low, but the efforts are being made, so we’ll see what comes of it. I imagine we’ll have a pretty clear idea of what’s going to happen by tonight or tomorrow morning.
- I also think we’ll hear something soon about Indiana transfer tight end
AJ Barner. He has played 30 games over the last three seasons, dating back to his freshman year of 2020. He caught 42 passes for 361 yards and four touchdowns over that span. He was a team captain as a junior this past season, and I think he’s viewed as a really solid “program guy” who could be a nice complement to Gavin Bartholomew at tight end next season.
Last week, I heard that Pitt was in strong position, with all signs pointing toward him landing as a Panther. But our Michigan site reported this week that sources were indicating he would be taking an official visit to Ann Arbor this weekend, and that would certainly throw a wrench into the gears.
I’m hearing that Frank Cignetti might be visiting Barner today, and maybe he can convince Barner to come to Pitt this weekend instead. I’m not too confident about that happening, so a situation that looked like a near-lock - and that’s what it was, from what I heard last week after talking to a couple different sources - is now slipping away. If Pitt wants a transfer tight end, the coaches will have to go back to the drawing board.
UPDATE: In the time since I posted this, I've heard from two sources that Barner is actually at Pitt today for an unofficial visit. So it's not completely over there.
- Pitt did offer Colorado State tight end
Tanner Arkin, but on Wednesday, he committed to Illinois, so that’s one less option on the board. We’ll have to see what they come up with.
- Kent State transfer and former Penn Hills standout
Dante Cephas has been a priority target for Pitt and a lot of other schools since he entered the portal, and we’ve talked a lot about him here. He visited Pitt a bunch of times, but in the last week the momentum seems to have shifted pretty firmly to Penn State or maybe a school in the SEC.
But things might be taking another twist, as rumors are starting to surface that Cephas might have some issues getting credits to transfer, leading him to end up right back where he started: Kent State.
Now, I’m sure schools like Pitt and Penn State will do everything they can to get him in. And as I’ve said, if the credits can transfer, then my guess is Cephas will end up at Penn State or Georgia or Tennessee. But don’t be surprised if things don’t work out and he finishes his career with the Golden Flashes. I’m not saying it will happen, but I’ve heard from a couple people that it’s a distinct possibility.
- It should be an interesting day or two leading into the official visit weekend. Speaking of the weekend, I know we previously talked about
Jaquez Keyes and
Jaden Skeete coming in for official visits, but neither one of those is happening. I think Pitt backed off Keyes after
TJ Harvison committed, and honestly, I didn’t really understand Pitt’s pursuit of Keyes in the first place; I’ve heard from multiple sources that he’s probably not a Power Five player (although he tweeted on Wednesday that he’s taking an official visit to Wake Forest this weekend, so maybe Dave Clawson sees something in him).
As for Skeete, it appears Pitt simply backed off, for whatever reason. I do think the Panthers have two good receiver commits in
Lamar Seymore and
Kenny Johnson, but it would seem like they could use another one.
Either way, we’ll see what this weekend brings.
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