A few thoughts on Pitt's three-commitment day yesterday.
- When Pitt hosted Shawn Lee, Josh Guerrier and Cole Woodson on the same official visit weekend three weeks ago, I was told by a source that the Pitt staff would be thrilled to land all three defensive backs.
Lee committed a few days after his official visit (or, at least, he announced it a few days later; I still think he might have committed during the visit), and on Monday, the staff cleared the final two bases by landing Guerrier and Woodson, and the excitement I'm hearing out of the South Side is palpable.
- Lee is the cornerback of the group, but Guerrier and Woodson both project as safeties. My thought is that Guerrier, who's a bit shorter, is more likely to be a field safety, while Woodson, who's a bit bigger, projects to play the boundary. But I don't know if the staff thinks that way; I think they like to get guys who are fast and athletic enough to play the field and then identify the players who are physical enough to line up on the boundary side.
- I think the Pitt staff is excited about all of the defensive backs, but the hype for Guerrier is really loud. As in, he's one of the better safety prospects Pitt has recruited in recent years. Obviously some of the guys they've recruited have turned out to be really good - Erick Hallett and Brandon Hill, for instance, or the potential of guys like Cruce Brookins and Jesse Anderson - but it sounds like the staff sees Guerrier as being on that level.
- I previously said I thought Elijah Dotson projected as a safety, but I think the Pitt coaches plan to use him at cornerback, at least initially. I could see him transitioning to field safety down the road. But he'll start off at corner.
- Throw in Mason Alexander, and this looks like another really, really good defensive back recruiting class for Pitt. Like, maybe one of the better ones - maybe the best one? - we've seen in quite a few years. The 2017 class was really good with Paris Ford, Damarri Mathis and Jason Pinnock. In 2018, Pitt signed Marquis Williams and Erick Hallett. And Brandon Hill and AJ Woods were in the 2019 class. Those all stand out (the verdict is still being rendered on the last few classes, with varying results to this point).
It's all projection right now, of course, but this group in the 2025 recruiting class really does seem like it has a chance to be special. All five guys are great athletes with pretty impressive speed (several of them are sub-10.9 100-meter runners).
- Pitt also landed a commitment from Denim Cook yesterday, and I think he's really intriguing. He's 6'4" and 245 pounds and plays as a stand-up pass-rusher at Bishop Hartley in Columbus, but Pitt likes him as a defensive end. He was plenty productive last season with more than 100 total tackles, more than 20 tackles for loss, 15 sacks and an interception. He's a bit like Pitt's other defensive end commitment - Julian Anderson - in that neither currently plays with his hand on the ground, but Cook is about 35 pounds heavier than Anderson, which puts him closer to where he needs to be in college.
(As a side note: it will be interesting to see if Anderson puts extra effort into bulking up for his post-grad year at Blair Academy in New Jersey.)
I think Cook looks like the ideal kind of guy to pursue if you're Pitt: he's got good size already (I think his 245 is legit) and he was super-productive in high school, and while there will be a transition to working as a down lineman, the athleticism and explosiveness are good ingredients to start with.
- Cook and Anderson join Trevor Sommers as the defensive line commitments in the class, with Cook and Anderson as ends and Sommers as a tackle. I could see the Pitt coaches standing pat with two ends in the class; I think they could use another tackle, because even though they took two last year (and possibly three, depending on Ty Yuhas' ultimate destination), that group still needs numbers. I'm not sure how much luck they'll have finding another tackle in the class unless they add someone late in the cycle.
- When Pitt hosted Shawn Lee, Josh Guerrier and Cole Woodson on the same official visit weekend three weeks ago, I was told by a source that the Pitt staff would be thrilled to land all three defensive backs.
Lee committed a few days after his official visit (or, at least, he announced it a few days later; I still think he might have committed during the visit), and on Monday, the staff cleared the final two bases by landing Guerrier and Woodson, and the excitement I'm hearing out of the South Side is palpable.
- Lee is the cornerback of the group, but Guerrier and Woodson both project as safeties. My thought is that Guerrier, who's a bit shorter, is more likely to be a field safety, while Woodson, who's a bit bigger, projects to play the boundary. But I don't know if the staff thinks that way; I think they like to get guys who are fast and athletic enough to play the field and then identify the players who are physical enough to line up on the boundary side.
- I think the Pitt staff is excited about all of the defensive backs, but the hype for Guerrier is really loud. As in, he's one of the better safety prospects Pitt has recruited in recent years. Obviously some of the guys they've recruited have turned out to be really good - Erick Hallett and Brandon Hill, for instance, or the potential of guys like Cruce Brookins and Jesse Anderson - but it sounds like the staff sees Guerrier as being on that level.
- I previously said I thought Elijah Dotson projected as a safety, but I think the Pitt coaches plan to use him at cornerback, at least initially. I could see him transitioning to field safety down the road. But he'll start off at corner.
- Throw in Mason Alexander, and this looks like another really, really good defensive back recruiting class for Pitt. Like, maybe one of the better ones - maybe the best one? - we've seen in quite a few years. The 2017 class was really good with Paris Ford, Damarri Mathis and Jason Pinnock. In 2018, Pitt signed Marquis Williams and Erick Hallett. And Brandon Hill and AJ Woods were in the 2019 class. Those all stand out (the verdict is still being rendered on the last few classes, with varying results to this point).
It's all projection right now, of course, but this group in the 2025 recruiting class really does seem like it has a chance to be special. All five guys are great athletes with pretty impressive speed (several of them are sub-10.9 100-meter runners).
- Pitt also landed a commitment from Denim Cook yesterday, and I think he's really intriguing. He's 6'4" and 245 pounds and plays as a stand-up pass-rusher at Bishop Hartley in Columbus, but Pitt likes him as a defensive end. He was plenty productive last season with more than 100 total tackles, more than 20 tackles for loss, 15 sacks and an interception. He's a bit like Pitt's other defensive end commitment - Julian Anderson - in that neither currently plays with his hand on the ground, but Cook is about 35 pounds heavier than Anderson, which puts him closer to where he needs to be in college.
(As a side note: it will be interesting to see if Anderson puts extra effort into bulking up for his post-grad year at Blair Academy in New Jersey.)
I think Cook looks like the ideal kind of guy to pursue if you're Pitt: he's got good size already (I think his 245 is legit) and he was super-productive in high school, and while there will be a transition to working as a down lineman, the athleticism and explosiveness are good ingredients to start with.
- Cook and Anderson join Trevor Sommers as the defensive line commitments in the class, with Cook and Anderson as ends and Sommers as a tackle. I could see the Pitt coaches standing pat with two ends in the class; I think they could use another tackle, because even though they took two last year (and possibly three, depending on Ty Yuhas' ultimate destination), that group still needs numbers. I'm not sure how much luck they'll have finding another tackle in the class unless they add someone late in the cycle.
