I know the main focus as of late has been on how the 2017 Pitt recruiting class is going to finish out - and for good reason - but that doesn't mean the Pitt staff hasn't been putting in the work on the junior class as well. Barring a change in status from Phil Jurkovec, the WPIAL's top available recruit in the 2018 class is Aliquippa (Pa.) safety/athlete Kwantel Raines.
I spoke with Raines a bit yesterday just catching up with him and seeing where things are at. He says he's been in contact with a number of coaching staffs, including schools like West Virginia and Ohio State and other places, but the two big programs to watch in my opinion are still Pitt and Penn State.
"I'll be at Penn State on January 29th and then I'm heading to Pitt for their junior day in early February, I just have to see what date they're planning to do that on," Raines said, confirming a tweet he put out earlier in the week.
A Pitt source confirmed that "early February" is the timeline for their junior day, but they haven't established a date yet. The Panthers have back-to-back-to-back home games against Syracuse, Virginia Tech, and Florida State in February and it seems likely that Saturday, February 11th against Syracuse would be the most logical date for a junior day.
Raines is going to be a critical priority throughout this entire cycle for Pitt and Pat Narduzzi, Rob Harley, and other Pitt staff members are working hard to get him in the fold for this class. Aliquippa has been a Pitt pipeline for a long time and they want to maintain that. Of course, Penn State's James Franklin and Terry Smith and West Virginia's Tony Gibson and Dana Holgorsen are working hard to prevent that from happening. Should be a very high-profile recruitment in the region.
I'll be seeing Raines on January 14th for the Evolve 7v7 tryouts in Pittsburgh (along with a ton of other top prospects), so expect more from him then.
I spoke with Raines a bit yesterday just catching up with him and seeing where things are at. He says he's been in contact with a number of coaching staffs, including schools like West Virginia and Ohio State and other places, but the two big programs to watch in my opinion are still Pitt and Penn State.
"I'll be at Penn State on January 29th and then I'm heading to Pitt for their junior day in early February, I just have to see what date they're planning to do that on," Raines said, confirming a tweet he put out earlier in the week.
A Pitt source confirmed that "early February" is the timeline for their junior day, but they haven't established a date yet. The Panthers have back-to-back-to-back home games against Syracuse, Virginia Tech, and Florida State in February and it seems likely that Saturday, February 11th against Syracuse would be the most logical date for a junior day.
Raines is going to be a critical priority throughout this entire cycle for Pitt and Pat Narduzzi, Rob Harley, and other Pitt staff members are working hard to get him in the fold for this class. Aliquippa has been a Pitt pipeline for a long time and they want to maintain that. Of course, Penn State's James Franklin and Terry Smith and West Virginia's Tony Gibson and Dana Holgorsen are working hard to prevent that from happening. Should be a very high-profile recruitment in the region.
I'll be seeing Raines on January 14th for the Evolve 7v7 tryouts in Pittsburgh (along with a ton of other top prospects), so expect more from him then.
