Recruiting season is in full swing, and there's a lot to discuss today, from a new transfer target to a decommitment to in-home visits and more. Here's the rundown.
A decommitment
The first bit of news came yesterday morning when three-star running back Jordaan Bailey announced that he was decommitting from Pitt.
Bailey committed to Pitt in June after impressing the staff at a camp at the University of Florida, and Pat Narduzzi and company were pretty excited to have him. They saw him as a dual-threat running back, the kind of back who can take handoffs and catch passes - he even worked at receiver at the Florida camp - and they were fairly set on him being their lone back in the class.
Bailey’s senior season was solid; according to MaxPreps, which has stats for 12 of his 13 games, Bailey put up more than 1,000 all-purpose yards and scored 11 touchdowns, and he had some flashy plays along the way.
But there was also talk of academic concerns, and it seems that Pitt eventually decided those concerns were too great and initiated this move.
I know there’s always debate about whether a decommitment comes from the recruit or the coaching staff, but I think each situation is unique. I think some of Pitt’s decommitments this year - we’ll run down the list in a second - were Pitt’s doing and some were the recruits deciding to go elsewhere.
In this case, I think Pitt made the decommitment happen.
The next step at running back
I don’t know if Pitt will be aggressive in looking to replace Bailey in this class. They are working on Iowa State commit Xavier Townsend, who is listed as an all-purpose back in the Rivals database and could play running back or slot receiver. But that pursuit has been ongoing for awhile, and while I expect Townsend to get a visit from Pitt this week - probably today - I don’t think that’s a reaction to the Bailey news.
There are a few other running backs with Pitt offers who are still on the board; we’ll see if any emerge as “new” targets this week. But with a fair amount of depth at running back on the current roster, plus running back being a position where young players can generally get on the field early in their careers, I don’t think it’s an absolute necessity to get a back in this class when the numbers are tight like they are.
A trend of decommits?
Bailey isn’t the first recruit to decommit from Pitt in this class, as we know. Here’s a list of the players who were committed to Pitt at some point and now are not.
Aveon Grose
Elijah Statham
Bradley Mann
Ja’Kavion Nonar
Camden Brown
Jordaan Bailey
Of those six, I would say that three - Statham, Grose and Bailey - were either Pitt’s decision or there was something of a mutual understanding that the recruit should move on. The other three - Mann, Nonar, Brown - were coveted by the staff and I don’t think Pitt wanted to lose them. In fact, the coaches continued to work on those three after they decommitted.
Is this a concerning trend? I don’t think so. I think we’ve seen an uptick in decommitments, both at Pitt and throughout the country, over the last few years. The June official visits have led to even more June commitments - and that was already a busy month - but also more decommitments as those recruits who visited and committed in June get fall interest from other schools and decide to look into those opportunities.
This has impacted Pitt, as we’ve seen a decent number of decommitments in the last three years, and I think it’s just part of the game now: June will be very exciting with a lot of commits, but at least a few of those recruits will end up somewhere else on Signing Day.
The other sentiment I’ve seen is that the rash of decommits seems to fly in the face of the success Pitt is having this season. I can understand that; we’d like to think that when Pitt goes 11-2 and win the ACC, recruits will be knocking down the door to be Panthers. But as I’ve said, that bump is going to come - with next year’s class.
The success this season should help Pitt close on a couple guys this year. Maybe it gives a late target or a transfer a little fonder view of the Panthers. But the real impact will be on that 2023 class when those recruits come to campus in the winter or spring or June and see the ACC championship trophy and watch highlights from the Peach Bowl and get to try on a conference championship ring - that’s when you’ll make the strong impressions.
A transfer target
The 2023 class should be a good one for Pitt, but the staff still has plenty of work to do right now. We’ll talk about some new 2022 targets, but even more pressing is the matter of transfers. I’ve said a few times that I think Pitt will explore the transfer portal for quarterbacks, and on Monday night, the first one broke through:
Florida State's Chubba Purdy
As you can see, Pitt offensive coordinator Mark Whipple visited Purdy, an Arizona native, last night and offered him. Whipple recruited Purdy out of high school in the class of 2020 and has a relationship there. Florida State ultimately flipped Purdy from Louisville on Signing Day in December 2019 - the Seminoles also signed Pitt target Tate Rodemaker that day, too - but from what I heard at the time, Whipple felt like he had a real shot with Purdy.
Purdy was a four-star prospect in the class of 2020, the No. 10 overall prospect in the state of Arizona and the No. 8 pro-style prospect in the country. He played in three games - including one start - as a true freshman last season at FSU and completed 50.9% of his passes for 219 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. This season, he appeared in one game - a 59-3 win over UMass - and threw for 98 yards and two scores on 5-of-5 passing.
Whipple obviously likes Purdy’s potential and has for quite some time. Here are his senior highlights if you want to check them out:
You only need two clips to see the appeal: he’s got a big arm and he can run. That seems like a winning combination. We’ll see what develops with Purdy; I’m guessing that for a lot of transfers, especially quarterbacks, time is of the essence and they’ll be looking to make a decision sooner rather than later so they can get on campus at their next school in January.
Not the only one
Here’s the other thing about Purdy: I don’t think he’ll be Pitt’s last quarterback target in the transfer portal.
I mean, I suppose if he commits today or takes a visit and commits this weekend, then he could be the only target. But I’ve mentioned a couple times that I expected the staff to explore the transfer portal for quarterbacks, and I still think that’s the case.
The impression I get is that Pitt believes this season’s success, both for the team and for Kenny Pickett, plus the returning personnel, should make the Panthers very attractive for a transfer quarterback. And, as such, they are setting their sights a little higher.
I expect Pitt to make a play for some of the bigger names in the transfer portal at quarterback. Again, that could change if somebody decides to jumps on a Pitt offer quickly, but as the process drags out, I think the coaches will offer a couple of the top transfer quarterbacks.
Now, not everybody fits the system, either due to skill set or prior experience. I think Pitt wants somebody who can come in and slide right into the offense well enough to either start or put up a good fight for the starting job. So not all of the big names out there are necessarily good fits.
But a few of them are, and I think we’ll see Pitt get linked to a couple more guys over the next week or two, including possibly some who are not in the portal yet.
It’s going to be interesting.
A decommitment
The first bit of news came yesterday morning when three-star running back Jordaan Bailey announced that he was decommitting from Pitt.
Bailey committed to Pitt in June after impressing the staff at a camp at the University of Florida, and Pat Narduzzi and company were pretty excited to have him. They saw him as a dual-threat running back, the kind of back who can take handoffs and catch passes - he even worked at receiver at the Florida camp - and they were fairly set on him being their lone back in the class.
Bailey’s senior season was solid; according to MaxPreps, which has stats for 12 of his 13 games, Bailey put up more than 1,000 all-purpose yards and scored 11 touchdowns, and he had some flashy plays along the way.
But there was also talk of academic concerns, and it seems that Pitt eventually decided those concerns were too great and initiated this move.
I know there’s always debate about whether a decommitment comes from the recruit or the coaching staff, but I think each situation is unique. I think some of Pitt’s decommitments this year - we’ll run down the list in a second - were Pitt’s doing and some were the recruits deciding to go elsewhere.
In this case, I think Pitt made the decommitment happen.
The next step at running back
I don’t know if Pitt will be aggressive in looking to replace Bailey in this class. They are working on Iowa State commit Xavier Townsend, who is listed as an all-purpose back in the Rivals database and could play running back or slot receiver. But that pursuit has been ongoing for awhile, and while I expect Townsend to get a visit from Pitt this week - probably today - I don’t think that’s a reaction to the Bailey news.
There are a few other running backs with Pitt offers who are still on the board; we’ll see if any emerge as “new” targets this week. But with a fair amount of depth at running back on the current roster, plus running back being a position where young players can generally get on the field early in their careers, I don’t think it’s an absolute necessity to get a back in this class when the numbers are tight like they are.
A trend of decommits?
Bailey isn’t the first recruit to decommit from Pitt in this class, as we know. Here’s a list of the players who were committed to Pitt at some point and now are not.
Aveon Grose
Elijah Statham
Bradley Mann
Ja’Kavion Nonar
Camden Brown
Jordaan Bailey
Of those six, I would say that three - Statham, Grose and Bailey - were either Pitt’s decision or there was something of a mutual understanding that the recruit should move on. The other three - Mann, Nonar, Brown - were coveted by the staff and I don’t think Pitt wanted to lose them. In fact, the coaches continued to work on those three after they decommitted.
Is this a concerning trend? I don’t think so. I think we’ve seen an uptick in decommitments, both at Pitt and throughout the country, over the last few years. The June official visits have led to even more June commitments - and that was already a busy month - but also more decommitments as those recruits who visited and committed in June get fall interest from other schools and decide to look into those opportunities.
This has impacted Pitt, as we’ve seen a decent number of decommitments in the last three years, and I think it’s just part of the game now: June will be very exciting with a lot of commits, but at least a few of those recruits will end up somewhere else on Signing Day.
The other sentiment I’ve seen is that the rash of decommits seems to fly in the face of the success Pitt is having this season. I can understand that; we’d like to think that when Pitt goes 11-2 and win the ACC, recruits will be knocking down the door to be Panthers. But as I’ve said, that bump is going to come - with next year’s class.
The success this season should help Pitt close on a couple guys this year. Maybe it gives a late target or a transfer a little fonder view of the Panthers. But the real impact will be on that 2023 class when those recruits come to campus in the winter or spring or June and see the ACC championship trophy and watch highlights from the Peach Bowl and get to try on a conference championship ring - that’s when you’ll make the strong impressions.
A transfer target
The 2023 class should be a good one for Pitt, but the staff still has plenty of work to do right now. We’ll talk about some new 2022 targets, but even more pressing is the matter of transfers. I’ve said a few times that I think Pitt will explore the transfer portal for quarterbacks, and on Monday night, the first one broke through:
Florida State's Chubba Purdy
As you can see, Pitt offensive coordinator Mark Whipple visited Purdy, an Arizona native, last night and offered him. Whipple recruited Purdy out of high school in the class of 2020 and has a relationship there. Florida State ultimately flipped Purdy from Louisville on Signing Day in December 2019 - the Seminoles also signed Pitt target Tate Rodemaker that day, too - but from what I heard at the time, Whipple felt like he had a real shot with Purdy.
Purdy was a four-star prospect in the class of 2020, the No. 10 overall prospect in the state of Arizona and the No. 8 pro-style prospect in the country. He played in three games - including one start - as a true freshman last season at FSU and completed 50.9% of his passes for 219 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. This season, he appeared in one game - a 59-3 win over UMass - and threw for 98 yards and two scores on 5-of-5 passing.
Whipple obviously likes Purdy’s potential and has for quite some time. Here are his senior highlights if you want to check them out:
You only need two clips to see the appeal: he’s got a big arm and he can run. That seems like a winning combination. We’ll see what develops with Purdy; I’m guessing that for a lot of transfers, especially quarterbacks, time is of the essence and they’ll be looking to make a decision sooner rather than later so they can get on campus at their next school in January.
Not the only one
Here’s the other thing about Purdy: I don’t think he’ll be Pitt’s last quarterback target in the transfer portal.
I mean, I suppose if he commits today or takes a visit and commits this weekend, then he could be the only target. But I’ve mentioned a couple times that I expected the staff to explore the transfer portal for quarterbacks, and I still think that’s the case.
The impression I get is that Pitt believes this season’s success, both for the team and for Kenny Pickett, plus the returning personnel, should make the Panthers very attractive for a transfer quarterback. And, as such, they are setting their sights a little higher.
I expect Pitt to make a play for some of the bigger names in the transfer portal at quarterback. Again, that could change if somebody decides to jumps on a Pitt offer quickly, but as the process drags out, I think the coaches will offer a couple of the top transfer quarterbacks.
Now, not everybody fits the system, either due to skill set or prior experience. I think Pitt wants somebody who can come in and slide right into the offense well enough to either start or put up a good fight for the starting job. So not all of the big names out there are necessarily good fits.
But a few of them are, and I think we’ll see Pitt get linked to a couple more guys over the next week or two, including possibly some who are not in the portal yet.
It’s going to be interesting.
