A collection of recruiting notes for the morning:
- Probably the biggest non-commitment update from the weekend came via a few quotes in the post-visit article from Gabriel Williams.
Specifically this quote, which was in response to a question from me about the remaining official visits Williams has scheduled:
“I’m going to have to figure it out, but I probably won’t take that many. This might be my last one.”
That quote caught everyone’s attention, and rightly so: Williams is a four-star recruit, a top-30 outside linebacker and one of the top targets on Pitt’s board. He clearly liked his Pitt visit a lot, but if he came out of the trip with an eye on canceling his other visits, that would seemingly point toward an imminent commitment.
That’s not the case, though. Williams told me he still plans to visit Virginia Tech this weekend, so it doesn’t seem like a commitment is coming, at least in the next few days.
Naturally, that is less than ideal. The best-case scenario would be for Williams to cancel all future official visits and declare his undying devotion to the University of Pittsburgh. But despite the intention to take at least one more visit, I still see the Panthers as the favorite. As long as he takes more visits, the door is going to be open for another school to impress him.
That said, the bar has been set really high. Everything I hear has Pitt as the favorite for Williams, and Virginia Tech, USC and Nebraska - his three scheduled visits - are going to have to really blow him away in order to land him.
And that’s if he takes all three of those visits. I think there’s very much a possibility that Williams visits Virginia Tech and decides to cancel the rest of his visits and commit to Pitt.
So it’s not the best possible news, but things still look positive on that front.
- Koy Beasley is coming in this weekend, and while Pitt just landed two defensive backs this weekend with one already in the class, I think the Cincinnati three-star prospect is a top priority for the coaches as a safety target.
I’m bringing him up here because it looks like Pitt is a top-three school for Beasley. He told me he’s only looking to take three visits this month: Pitt this weekend, Wisconsin next weekend and Purdue the weekend after that. So it’s Pitt vs. the Big Ten. That’s not always an easy battle to win for a recruit from Ohio, but the staff has done well to get in this position, considering his other offers beyond those three schools came from Boston College, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas A&M, USC and West Virginia, among others.
It’s usually not ideal to have the first visit, and Pitt will have to outlast Wisconsin and Purdue. But that’s the competition right now.
- Pitt is in a similar situation with Nigel Maynard, who is also visiting this weekend. The three-star defensive back from Smyrna (Tenn.) Stewarts Creek has just two official visits planned for June: Pitt this weekend and Michigan in two weeks. It’s not too much, then, of a leap to deduce that the Panthers and the Wolverines are his two favorites.
Michigan is tough competition, of course, but here again, the Pitt coaches have put themselves in good shape by getting into the final two. It will be interesting to watch how the situation plays out, though. Like I mentioned, Pitt already has three defensive backs committed and these two guys - Beasley and Maynard - visiting this weekend. We know the Pitt staff likes to take as many defensive backs as possible, but at some point, the spots do run out.
In the case of Maynard, Michigan only has one defensive back committed, and according to the Rivals database, the Wolverines have just a few DB’s set for official visits - Maynard and Terhyon Nichols, who is also visiting Pitt this weekend, incidentally.
So Michigan would seem to be unlikely to run out of spots, whereas the Panthers could fill up quickly. I imagine that last point will be emphasized with Beasley, Maynard, Nichols and Chasen Johnson this weekend. I have to think only one or maybe two of those guys could commit before there’s no more room at the inn.
It’s a balancing act on both sides of the equation, and some of the recruits might have to make business decisions - or decide if they want to gamble.
- Speaking of spots filling up, Pitt might be nearing max capacity on the offensive line. The Panthers have two commitments in Jiavani Cooley and Adham Abouraya, and I believe the staff will only take two more.
Chances are, those two additional spots might get filled quickly. DeMatha tackle Mason Lindsay is announcing his commitment today at 3 pm, and I think Pitt is the favorite to land him. I also think the Panthers are in strong position with Fairburn (Ga.) Creekside guard Caleb Holmes. I would go so far as to call them the favorite, and I would not be surprised at all to see him commit in the near future.
If that comes to pass - if Lindsay and Holmes announce for Pitt - then I think that would effectively close the shop for offensive line recruiting in the class. Things can always change, of course; there can be decommitments or top-tier talent that expresses interest, and both of those developments would alter the state of things. But I think Pitt will add Holmes and Lindsay to go with Cooley and Abouraya and call it a day (for the time being).
- The newest name we added to this week’s official visit list is Brockton (Mass.) athlete Cameron Monteiro. We’ve talked about him a bunch on the board: he’s a versatile athlete who scored touchdowns as a passer, runner and receiver last season. College coaches like him as a wide receiver at the next level, and it’s not hard to see why. He’s a playmaker.
He’s also very high on Pitt. Monteiro took an official visit to Virginia last weekend and will be in Pittsburgh this week. He doesn’t have any other official visits scheduled, and unless something unexpected happens, I would put him on a tentative commitment watch this weekend.
- Probably the biggest non-commitment update from the weekend came via a few quotes in the post-visit article from Gabriel Williams.
Specifically this quote, which was in response to a question from me about the remaining official visits Williams has scheduled:
“I’m going to have to figure it out, but I probably won’t take that many. This might be my last one.”
That quote caught everyone’s attention, and rightly so: Williams is a four-star recruit, a top-30 outside linebacker and one of the top targets on Pitt’s board. He clearly liked his Pitt visit a lot, but if he came out of the trip with an eye on canceling his other visits, that would seemingly point toward an imminent commitment.
That’s not the case, though. Williams told me he still plans to visit Virginia Tech this weekend, so it doesn’t seem like a commitment is coming, at least in the next few days.
Naturally, that is less than ideal. The best-case scenario would be for Williams to cancel all future official visits and declare his undying devotion to the University of Pittsburgh. But despite the intention to take at least one more visit, I still see the Panthers as the favorite. As long as he takes more visits, the door is going to be open for another school to impress him.
That said, the bar has been set really high. Everything I hear has Pitt as the favorite for Williams, and Virginia Tech, USC and Nebraska - his three scheduled visits - are going to have to really blow him away in order to land him.
And that’s if he takes all three of those visits. I think there’s very much a possibility that Williams visits Virginia Tech and decides to cancel the rest of his visits and commit to Pitt.
So it’s not the best possible news, but things still look positive on that front.
- Koy Beasley is coming in this weekend, and while Pitt just landed two defensive backs this weekend with one already in the class, I think the Cincinnati three-star prospect is a top priority for the coaches as a safety target.
I’m bringing him up here because it looks like Pitt is a top-three school for Beasley. He told me he’s only looking to take three visits this month: Pitt this weekend, Wisconsin next weekend and Purdue the weekend after that. So it’s Pitt vs. the Big Ten. That’s not always an easy battle to win for a recruit from Ohio, but the staff has done well to get in this position, considering his other offers beyond those three schools came from Boston College, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas A&M, USC and West Virginia, among others.
It’s usually not ideal to have the first visit, and Pitt will have to outlast Wisconsin and Purdue. But that’s the competition right now.
- Pitt is in a similar situation with Nigel Maynard, who is also visiting this weekend. The three-star defensive back from Smyrna (Tenn.) Stewarts Creek has just two official visits planned for June: Pitt this weekend and Michigan in two weeks. It’s not too much, then, of a leap to deduce that the Panthers and the Wolverines are his two favorites.
Michigan is tough competition, of course, but here again, the Pitt coaches have put themselves in good shape by getting into the final two. It will be interesting to watch how the situation plays out, though. Like I mentioned, Pitt already has three defensive backs committed and these two guys - Beasley and Maynard - visiting this weekend. We know the Pitt staff likes to take as many defensive backs as possible, but at some point, the spots do run out.
In the case of Maynard, Michigan only has one defensive back committed, and according to the Rivals database, the Wolverines have just a few DB’s set for official visits - Maynard and Terhyon Nichols, who is also visiting Pitt this weekend, incidentally.
So Michigan would seem to be unlikely to run out of spots, whereas the Panthers could fill up quickly. I imagine that last point will be emphasized with Beasley, Maynard, Nichols and Chasen Johnson this weekend. I have to think only one or maybe two of those guys could commit before there’s no more room at the inn.
It’s a balancing act on both sides of the equation, and some of the recruits might have to make business decisions - or decide if they want to gamble.
- Speaking of spots filling up, Pitt might be nearing max capacity on the offensive line. The Panthers have two commitments in Jiavani Cooley and Adham Abouraya, and I believe the staff will only take two more.
Chances are, those two additional spots might get filled quickly. DeMatha tackle Mason Lindsay is announcing his commitment today at 3 pm, and I think Pitt is the favorite to land him. I also think the Panthers are in strong position with Fairburn (Ga.) Creekside guard Caleb Holmes. I would go so far as to call them the favorite, and I would not be surprised at all to see him commit in the near future.
If that comes to pass - if Lindsay and Holmes announce for Pitt - then I think that would effectively close the shop for offensive line recruiting in the class. Things can always change, of course; there can be decommitments or top-tier talent that expresses interest, and both of those developments would alter the state of things. But I think Pitt will add Holmes and Lindsay to go with Cooley and Abouraya and call it a day (for the time being).
- The newest name we added to this week’s official visit list is Brockton (Mass.) athlete Cameron Monteiro. We’ve talked about him a bunch on the board: he’s a versatile athlete who scored touchdowns as a passer, runner and receiver last season. College coaches like him as a wide receiver at the next level, and it’s not hard to see why. He’s a playmaker.
He’s also very high on Pitt. Monteiro took an official visit to Virginia last weekend and will be in Pittsburgh this week. He doesn’t have any other official visits scheduled, and unless something unexpected happens, I would put him on a tentative commitment watch this weekend.
