This evening, Kwantel Raines sat down in Aliquippa's city building and announced a commitment to West Virginia. Raines, a Rivals250 safety and long-time notable recruit in the Pittsburgh area, chose the Mountaineers over fellow finalists Pitt, Penn State, and Florida. For the last month or so, the Mountaineers had pulled ahead of Pitt, their primary competition for the local safety, in large part due to the efforts of defensive coordinator Tony Gibson to sell WVU's defensive scheme to the Aliquippa safety.
What led Raines to commit to WVU tonight? - Scheme is something that Raines has discussed in his recruitment as a deciding factor for months and months. I talked about it at length back in April, and Raines brought up the ideas of scheme and film breakdown with college coaching staff in a multitude of interviews (one, two, three examples). He discussed that more when announcing his decision this evening Sources indicated that there were concerns around Pitt and where exactly they would deploy him in the defensive scheme - whether he'd be a linebacker or a safety. Pitt has told him for the last several months that he would get first crack at safety, but after the Panthers' coaching staff worked him out at both linebacker and safety during a June camp, I don't think that's something that ever completely went away. Regardless of that, there's also a perception around those close to Raines that the way he would be deployed as a defensive back in the Mountaineers' 3-3-5 is something that fits his skill-set better than the way Narduzzi and Conklin utilize their safeties in the quarters 4-3 defense.
What does this mean for Pitt? - There's little doubt that if Raines' commitment to West Virginia survives the fall and winter, it will be a blow for the Pitt coaching staff. After swinging and missing on other top targets throughout the fall like Cole Beck, Brian Asamoah, and TJ Bradley, Pitt could have used a win here to turn momentum. The commits in the class have been strong on the field for the most part, which is a good sign, but it's been over two months since Pitt received a new commitment, since before the start of the college football season. Coupling those misses with Stanford's flipping of Jay Symonds and this one is tough to swallow. There were questions from some (and fair, I think) that perhaps Raines isn't as polished yet as his Rivals250 ranking would suggest and that he may not be an early impact player that some have hoped. Whether or not that's accurate - and I can weigh in more on that below if folks would like - it's indisputable that Pitt badly wanted him and has pursued him longer than almost any other recruit in this class. Local lands like Jake Kradel, Blake Zubovic, Devin Danielson, Noah Palmer, David Green, and others have been great adds, but Raines was the top remaining uncommitted WPIAL recruit. In 2017, Pitt went 1-for-8 on the 8 most highly-rated WPIAL recruits with Pitt offers. In this class, they went 4-for-8. It's an improved mark, but missing on blue-chip talent like Kwantel Raines, Phil Jurkovec, Lamont Wade, Donovan Jeter, CJ Thorpe, and others is tough to swallow for a program looking to contend for division titles in the future under Pat Narduzzi.
What's next? - The Panthers already have two strong defensive back commits in star Florida cornerback Marquis Williams and lanky defensive back Judson Tallandier of Maryland, who could ultimately play corner or safety but will get first crack at the former. There's always the possibility that Raines could continue taking visits after his decision, something he mentioned in the past to our own Chris Peak, but he's now seemingly shying away from that idea (per West Virginia Rivals analyst Keenan Cummings) and West Virginia will likely look to prevent him from doing so. In all likelihood, this year will be a similar story last year to what Pitt did with eventual commits Jason Pinnock and Damarri Mathis. If Pitt wants to add another defensive back, and they likely will, they'll mine the ranks of under-recruited or unreliably committed prospects in talented recruiting areas like southern Florida or the New England/New Jersey prep school ranks. With coaching instability already arising at programs like Florida and doubtlessly set to continue throughout much of the country as the fate of programs change, Pat Narduzzi and his staff will be able to do what they do best - opportunistically recruit and look to add talent to the class late. Jerry Drake, Michael Smith, and AJ Davis are prime examples out of the state of Florida from the 2017 class and a repeat effort could do wonders for the Panthers.
What led Raines to commit to WVU tonight? - Scheme is something that Raines has discussed in his recruitment as a deciding factor for months and months. I talked about it at length back in April, and Raines brought up the ideas of scheme and film breakdown with college coaching staff in a multitude of interviews (one, two, three examples). He discussed that more when announcing his decision this evening Sources indicated that there were concerns around Pitt and where exactly they would deploy him in the defensive scheme - whether he'd be a linebacker or a safety. Pitt has told him for the last several months that he would get first crack at safety, but after the Panthers' coaching staff worked him out at both linebacker and safety during a June camp, I don't think that's something that ever completely went away. Regardless of that, there's also a perception around those close to Raines that the way he would be deployed as a defensive back in the Mountaineers' 3-3-5 is something that fits his skill-set better than the way Narduzzi and Conklin utilize their safeties in the quarters 4-3 defense.
What does this mean for Pitt? - There's little doubt that if Raines' commitment to West Virginia survives the fall and winter, it will be a blow for the Pitt coaching staff. After swinging and missing on other top targets throughout the fall like Cole Beck, Brian Asamoah, and TJ Bradley, Pitt could have used a win here to turn momentum. The commits in the class have been strong on the field for the most part, which is a good sign, but it's been over two months since Pitt received a new commitment, since before the start of the college football season. Coupling those misses with Stanford's flipping of Jay Symonds and this one is tough to swallow. There were questions from some (and fair, I think) that perhaps Raines isn't as polished yet as his Rivals250 ranking would suggest and that he may not be an early impact player that some have hoped. Whether or not that's accurate - and I can weigh in more on that below if folks would like - it's indisputable that Pitt badly wanted him and has pursued him longer than almost any other recruit in this class. Local lands like Jake Kradel, Blake Zubovic, Devin Danielson, Noah Palmer, David Green, and others have been great adds, but Raines was the top remaining uncommitted WPIAL recruit. In 2017, Pitt went 1-for-8 on the 8 most highly-rated WPIAL recruits with Pitt offers. In this class, they went 4-for-8. It's an improved mark, but missing on blue-chip talent like Kwantel Raines, Phil Jurkovec, Lamont Wade, Donovan Jeter, CJ Thorpe, and others is tough to swallow for a program looking to contend for division titles in the future under Pat Narduzzi.
What's next? - The Panthers already have two strong defensive back commits in star Florida cornerback Marquis Williams and lanky defensive back Judson Tallandier of Maryland, who could ultimately play corner or safety but will get first crack at the former. There's always the possibility that Raines could continue taking visits after his decision, something he mentioned in the past to our own Chris Peak, but he's now seemingly shying away from that idea (per West Virginia Rivals analyst Keenan Cummings) and West Virginia will likely look to prevent him from doing so. In all likelihood, this year will be a similar story last year to what Pitt did with eventual commits Jason Pinnock and Damarri Mathis. If Pitt wants to add another defensive back, and they likely will, they'll mine the ranks of under-recruited or unreliably committed prospects in talented recruiting areas like southern Florida or the New England/New Jersey prep school ranks. With coaching instability already arising at programs like Florida and doubtlessly set to continue throughout much of the country as the fate of programs change, Pat Narduzzi and his staff will be able to do what they do best - opportunistically recruit and look to add talent to the class late. Jerry Drake, Michael Smith, and AJ Davis are prime examples out of the state of Florida from the 2017 class and a repeat effort could do wonders for the Panthers.
