Here is an article from Karl about Peters Twp tight end Lucas Shanafelt and his thoughts on Pitt:
pittsburgh.rivals.com
Lucas Shanafelt isn't unfamiliar with Pitt, considering he grew up in the South Hills and has visited the South Side facility before, but his visit last weekend felt different.
Shanafelt -- a 6-foot-4, 235-pound three-star tight end from Peters Township -- visited Pitt last month, spending time with Pat Narduzzi and tight ends coach Jacob Bronowski, and a couple of coaches from the recruiting department.
This time, the players were there, all the coaches were there and everyone knew his name.
It was the first padded practice of the spring for the Panthers, with a few dozen of the top targets in the class of 2026 in attendance, but the coaching staff made him feel like a priority.
"Me and coach Bro have a great relationship," Shanafelt told Pitt Sports News. "We talk pretty much every day, and he was with me pretty much the entire practice. Obviously, he was coaching, but he was pretty fired up throughout the entire practice. He brought great energy, and he just kept coming over to check on me. He sat with me at lunch, walked with me everywhere else throughout the facility. He’s been awesome."
Shanafelt liked what he saw from the tight ends during Saturday's practice, watching Jake Overman leading a young room that includes Max Hunt and Malachi Thomas,
Shanafelt fits the mold of the modern tight end, serving as a big-bodied wide receiver at Peters Township, but he's versatile in what he offers as an athlete.
"I think he sees potential in my game and me playing receiver, there’s not much of me blocking, but he's pointing out all the things that I do well on defense that kind of can translate to the blocking game," Shanafelt said. "And then he likes the way that I catch a ball in front of me, all that stuff, speed at the top and ends of my routes and just the competitor mentality.
He's being recruited on both sides of the ball, and while he would be happy at tight end or defensive end, he's told Bronowski that where he plays -- exactly -- isn't going to impact his final decision.
It's about the cultural fit, the academic fit and where he feels most comfortable as a player at the end of the day.
Pitt is high on his list right now. He holds offers from Akron, Buffalo, Cornell, EMU, Delaware, Fordham, Harvard, JMU, Kent State, Liberty, Miami (Oh.), Navy, Penn, Pitt, Princeton, Toledo, UConn and West Virginia (with interest from half a dozen Power Four programs), but the most recent visit to Pitt felt different.
There was a different type of energy as he watched Saturday's practice, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
And there's a different sort of energy when it comes to the WPIAL emphasis this cycle. Shanafelt, along with four-star defensive end Reston Lehman (Peters Township) and three-star defensive tackle Lincoln Hoke (North Allegheny) is a major local target.
"I definitely noticed that," Shanafelt said. "I mean me and Reston are really good friends, so we definitely have been talking to all the guys who have like opportunities to go play at Pitt. Everyone seems pretty excited that we are getting the opportunities because I know it's kind of fluctuated up and down with the opportunities that the WPIAL has been given. But it’s been cool."
Shanafelt has thought about how cool it would be to be a "hometown hero," but that's not a deciding factor either. He's focused on checking out all of the schools interested in him, which includes Duke this weekend, Rutgers and Purdue next and Stanford and Penn State down the line. And, of course, Pitt again in April.
"Pitt is obviously one of my top contenders, but most of the schools I’m visiting, I don’t have offers from, so I can't obviously really touch on that, but Pitt has definitely shown me the most amount of love," Shanafelt said. "And then a few Ivy schools. Like Harvard has been in constant contact with me and I have a good relationship with all those guys up there. So, other than that, like I said most places I'm visiting I don’t have offers from, so Pitt’s love that they've been showing me throughout the last couple of months definitely means a lot to me."
Local 3-Star TE Lucas Shanafelt Feeling the Love from Pitt
2026 three-star tight end Lucas Shanafelt from Peters Township is feeling the love from Pitt in his recruiting process.
Lucas Shanafelt isn't unfamiliar with Pitt, considering he grew up in the South Hills and has visited the South Side facility before, but his visit last weekend felt different.
Shanafelt -- a 6-foot-4, 235-pound three-star tight end from Peters Township -- visited Pitt last month, spending time with Pat Narduzzi and tight ends coach Jacob Bronowski, and a couple of coaches from the recruiting department.
This time, the players were there, all the coaches were there and everyone knew his name.
It was the first padded practice of the spring for the Panthers, with a few dozen of the top targets in the class of 2026 in attendance, but the coaching staff made him feel like a priority.
"Me and coach Bro have a great relationship," Shanafelt told Pitt Sports News. "We talk pretty much every day, and he was with me pretty much the entire practice. Obviously, he was coaching, but he was pretty fired up throughout the entire practice. He brought great energy, and he just kept coming over to check on me. He sat with me at lunch, walked with me everywhere else throughout the facility. He’s been awesome."
Shanafelt liked what he saw from the tight ends during Saturday's practice, watching Jake Overman leading a young room that includes Max Hunt and Malachi Thomas,
Shanafelt fits the mold of the modern tight end, serving as a big-bodied wide receiver at Peters Township, but he's versatile in what he offers as an athlete.
"I think he sees potential in my game and me playing receiver, there’s not much of me blocking, but he's pointing out all the things that I do well on defense that kind of can translate to the blocking game," Shanafelt said. "And then he likes the way that I catch a ball in front of me, all that stuff, speed at the top and ends of my routes and just the competitor mentality.
He's being recruited on both sides of the ball, and while he would be happy at tight end or defensive end, he's told Bronowski that where he plays -- exactly -- isn't going to impact his final decision.
It's about the cultural fit, the academic fit and where he feels most comfortable as a player at the end of the day.
Pitt is high on his list right now. He holds offers from Akron, Buffalo, Cornell, EMU, Delaware, Fordham, Harvard, JMU, Kent State, Liberty, Miami (Oh.), Navy, Penn, Pitt, Princeton, Toledo, UConn and West Virginia (with interest from half a dozen Power Four programs), but the most recent visit to Pitt felt different.
There was a different type of energy as he watched Saturday's practice, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
And there's a different sort of energy when it comes to the WPIAL emphasis this cycle. Shanafelt, along with four-star defensive end Reston Lehman (Peters Township) and three-star defensive tackle Lincoln Hoke (North Allegheny) is a major local target.
"I definitely noticed that," Shanafelt said. "I mean me and Reston are really good friends, so we definitely have been talking to all the guys who have like opportunities to go play at Pitt. Everyone seems pretty excited that we are getting the opportunities because I know it's kind of fluctuated up and down with the opportunities that the WPIAL has been given. But it’s been cool."
Shanafelt has thought about how cool it would be to be a "hometown hero," but that's not a deciding factor either. He's focused on checking out all of the schools interested in him, which includes Duke this weekend, Rutgers and Purdue next and Stanford and Penn State down the line. And, of course, Pitt again in April.
"Pitt is obviously one of my top contenders, but most of the schools I’m visiting, I don’t have offers from, so I can't obviously really touch on that, but Pitt has definitely shown me the most amount of love," Shanafelt said. "And then a few Ivy schools. Like Harvard has been in constant contact with me and I have a good relationship with all those guys up there. So, other than that, like I said most places I'm visiting I don’t have offers from, so Pitt’s love that they've been showing me throughout the last couple of months definitely means a lot to me."
