Top WPIAL Recruits 2025
- Thread starter TheWerewolfFromTwilight
- Start date
And, to be clear, some of this is not on Narduzzi but rather on the state of college football. I'm sure these kids are being told there's going to be a new show, and the ACC won't be part of that. Hey, might not even be a lie. But it might also be time to not let FSU continue to drag this conference through the mud and leave it hanging in limbo. You'd be giving them exactly what they want, but oh well.
Haters? No. Realist? Yes. A lot of the players below could have been solid starters for Pitt. Should Pitt do better? Yes. But a few posters go over the top when it comes to missing local players. The vast majority do not pan out or live up to expectations. The names in BOLD could have definitely been difference makers. However, some of the players we did recruit elsewhere were more than adequate as replacements (Sirvocia Dennis, Izzy, Pickett, Rashad Weaver, Twyman, Jones, etc… Don't worry! Those who think they can do better and can't make it will be back and Pitt will welcome them like the prodigal son...
Class of 2024
Quinton Martin, Belle Vernon, Five-star, Penn State
Anthony Speca, Central Catholic, Four-star, Penn State
Cameron Lindsey, Aliquippa, Four-star, PITT
Cole Sullivan, Central Catholic, Three-star, Michigan
Ryan Cory, Pine-Richland, Three-star, Wisconsin
Class of 2023
Ta’Mere Robinson, Brashear, Four-star, Penn State
Rodney Gallagher, Laurel Highlands, Four-star, West Virginia
Lamont Payne, Chartiers Valley, Four-star, Penn State
Braylan Lovelace, Leechburg, Three-star, PITT
Cruce Brookins, Steel Valley, Three-star, PITT
Class of 2022
Jalen Klemm, Pine-Richland, Four-star, Kansas State (Transferred to Washington)
Donovan Hinish, Central Catholic, Three-star, Notre Dame
Sean FitzSimmons, Central Valley, Three-star, PITT
Patrick Body Jr., Gateway, Three-star, Cincinnati (No current team)
Jeremiah Hasley, Pine-Richland, Three-star, Duke
Class of 2021
Elliot Donald, Central Catholic, Four-star, PITT
Derrick Davis Jr., Gateway, Four-star, LSU (Transferred to PITT)
Nahki Johnson, West Mifflin, Four-star, PITT
Donovan McMillon, Peters Township, Four-star, Florida (Transferred to PITT)
Dorien Ford, Baldwin, Three-star, PITT
Class of 2020
Michael Carmody, Mars, Four-star, Notre Dame (Entered portal in December, no takers so far)
Dayon Hayes, Westinghouse, Four-star, PITT
Zuriah Fisher, Aliquippa, Three-star, Penn State
Aaron Beatty, Central Catholic, Three-star, North Carolina (Transferred to Albany)
Josh Rawlings, Woodland Hills, Three-star, Virginia
Class of 2019
Andrew Kristofic, Pine-Richland, Four-star, Notre Dame
M.J. Devonshire, Aliquippa, Four-star, Kentucky (Transferred to PITT)
Joey Porter Jr., North Allegheny, Three-star, Penn State - NFL
Will Gipson, Aliquippa, Three-star, PITT (Transferred to Fullerton College)
Michael Katic, Pine-Richland, Three-star, Indiana
Class of 2018
Phil Jurkovec, Pine-Richland, Four-star, Notre Dame (Transferred to Boston College, PITT)
T.J. Banks, East Allegheny, Four-star, West Virginia (Transferred to Akron)
Kwantel Raines, Aliquippa, Four-star, West Virginia (Transferred to Temple)
Devin Danielson, Thomas Jefferson, Three-star, PITT
Jake Kradel, Butler, Three-star, PITT
Class of 2017
Lamont Wade, Clairton, Five-star, Penn State
Paris Ford, Steel Valley, Four-star, PITT
C.J. Thorpe, Central Catholic, Four-star, Penn State
Josh Lugg, North Allegheny, Four-star, Notre Dame - NFL
Donovan Jeter, Beaver Falls, Four-star, Michigan
Class of 2016
Miles Sanders, Woodland Hills, Four-star, Penn State - NFL
Damar Hamlin, Central Catholic, Four-star, PITT - NFL
Kaezon Pugh, Aliquippa, Four-star, Pitt (Transferred to Howard)
Khaleke Hudson, McKeesport, Three-star, Michigan
Therran Coleman, Brashear, Three-star, PITT (Transferred to Western Michigan)
Kurt Kinish, Central Catholic, Three Star, ND - NFL
Class of 2015
Jordan Whitehead, Central Valley, Four-star, PITT - NFL
Sterling Jenkins, Baldwin, Three-star, Penn State (Transferred to Duquesne)
Alex Paulina, Canon-McMillan, Three-star, PITT (Transferred to Waynesburg)
John Petrishen, Central Catholic, Three-star, Penn State (Transferred to PITT)
Brett Zanotto, Franklin Regional, Three-star, Maryland (Transferred to Duquesne)
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The answer is you're missing the greater point, which has nothing to do with how the player pans out at the college level. The greater point it, Pitt is recruiting these WPIAL kids just as hard as PSU, but they're overwhelmingly choosing PSU. That's not good. Not just losing on our own turf, but getting crushed on it, for 9 years now. That can't happen. And if Duzz and staff are actually conceding their back yard to PSU, which I don't buy, that's even worse.
Well, losing Partridge is going to hurt us in Florida. Where are we going to go to get players now???
Only 2 of those guys were worthy of their ranking. 4 of them were duds. That’s making a strong case for those saying the local recruits aren’t worth losing sleep over.
Ford was All American one season, so he's a bit of an anomaly. And Zubovic wasn't rated all that high, so it's at least a little nuanced. I could also say WPIAL guys like Dane Jackson, Zane Zandier, Geno Stone, Sky Moore, etc. outperformed their rankings, so it works both ways.
Wanny landed 70% of WPIAL players he offered for 2-3 years. That was during a down PSU time, I think but he definitely brought in talent. Wasnt a great coach but he had NFL talent all over the field
He did? These players were drafted during his time here and the 4 years after:
2005 Rob Petitti
2006 Charles Spencer
2006 Josh Lay
2007 Darrelle Revis
2007 Clint Session
2007 H. B. Blades
2008 Jeff Otah
2008 Mike McGlynn
2008 Kennard Cox
2009 LeSean McCoy
2009 Scott McKillop
2009 LaRod Stephens-Howling
2009 Derek Kinder
2010 Nate Byham
2010 Dorin Dickerson
2011 Jon Baldwin
2011 Jabaal Sheard
2011 Dion Lewis
2011 Jason Pinkston
2011 Greg Romeus
2014 Aaron Donald
2014 Tom Savage
2014 Devin Street
2015 T. J. Clemmings
That's 11 years and 24 players drafted, averaging 2.2 players per year.
Now let's do Narduzzi. He's been here since 2015 with the following players drafted:
2015 T. J. Clemmings
2016 Tyler Boyd
2017 James Conner
2017 Dorian Johnson
2017 Nathan Peterman
2017 Adam Bisnowaty
2017 Ejuan Price
2018 Brian O'Neill
2018 Jordan Whitehead
2018 Avonte Maddox
2019 Qadree Ollison
2020 Dane Jackson
2021 Patrick Jones II
2021 Rashad Weaver
2021 Jason Pinnock
2021 Jaylen Twyman
2021 Damar Hamlin
2021 Jimmy Morrissey
2022 Kenny Pickett
2022 Damarri Mathis
2023 Calijah Kancey
2023 Carter Warren
2023 Israel Abanikanda
2023 SirVocea Dennis
2023 Erick Hallett
2023 Brandon Hill
That's 9 years and 26 players drafted, averaging 20.9 players per year.
So, according your metric - NFL players, Narduzzi has been far better than Wannstedt. Yet another SMF myth blown to pieces.
I remember back in real time, I did the math. His best class (maybe it was the Baldwin/Saddler one), he landed 70%. There was another class or 2 before or after where he landed pretty close to or above 70%. Perhaps its misleading because I don't remember all who had PSU offers but there was a 2-3 year timeframe where he landed mostly everyone he wanted from the WPIAL.
You are not too bright if you think Pitt can cede Western PA to Penn State and be successful.
I don't care about the WPIAL and I wasn't addressing that. I was addressing your seeming comparison to Narduzzi's recruiting with your statement that Wannstedt "had NFL talent all over the field".
Count me as not bright then. We have been successful with very limited WPA recruiting. Any players are a bonus but not necessary for success. The WPA recruiting is too weak to worry about.
The ACC Championship had 2 local kids starting and the OC wasn’t a yinzer.
Last year we were 3-9, had the local boy QB’ing, a total of 8 local kids starting, and Cignetti the yinzer as OC. Worst year in a long time.
Last year we were 3-9, had the local boy QB’ing, a total of 8 local kids starting, and Cignetti the yinzer as OC. Worst year in a long time.
Really? The last coach who did a pretty good job recruiting WPA was Wanny. His last years were his best and they were peppered with local players. Since then we have recorded in over ten years a steady diet of 6-5 with a couple of 8-4 years. We have had only one year that was worth shouting about, and you want to claim that we have been successful with far less emphasis on local players. The truth is WPA still produces talent. No, not nearly the numbers 3-4 decades ago, but there are playmakers and quality depth within a tank of gas drive. Not fighting for/giving up on these players is foolish.
Yeah, I'll count you in.
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And it is easy blueprint to repeat. Just flip a lowly-rated turned 1st Round QB from Temple, hope he doesn't transfer, and is still here when he is 23 due to an extra year caused by a global pandemic. Do that and we dont need local players that PSU wants. Also, a key player on that team was a local who couldn't sniff the field at PSU in Petrishen.
I don't know; I think that is fanangeling the stats a bit. Devonshire, Houy, Petrishen, Zubovic, Danielson, Green, and Kradel were all regular contributors on that ACC Championship team. Pickett, Kancey, and Addison were the main reasons we won that.
If you had an All Narduzzi WPIAL/City League team, it would be pretty damn loaded:
Bisnowaty-Johnson-Kradel-Zubovic-Bookser
DiNucci, I guess lol
Conner
Parrish
Ford/Matthews-Boyd
Orndoff
Hayes-Jarrett/Danielson/Mosley-Smith-Green/Soto-Price
Idowu/Petrishen-Wirginis-Lovelace/Zeise
Jackson-Whitehead-Hamlin-Pitts... Ford rotating
I'm probably forgetting a lot of guys, too. But that team could beat any Pitt team we've had in the last 40 years. Not saying they beat them 10 times out of 10, but you get the point.
Wanny got his clock cleaned in 2010 and he was a Pitt guy to the tilt.
Dieffenbach - His dad was the Pitt tennis coach
Ricketts - His dad played for Pitt
Jones - QB
Hull - LB
Graham - OL
Again the real issue as to recruiting the WPIAL as I see it is that Pitt football clearly doesn't have enough juice to keep even half of the best prospects in its own backyard. That's a problem, whether some on this board want to admit it or not.
I remember when Dooz was hired he emphasized what fertile recruiting ground WPA is and how he was going to hit the local turf hard. And now 9 years later here we are, getting ziggied on all the local guys worth getting.
Correct. We should be getting at least 40% of the guys Penn State/Notre Dame/Michigan/etc. want. Not 0%, as has been the case since 2021.
You know what's funny? The likes of the schools above would routinely take us to the shed and yet they seem to have no problem recruiting locally. Guess they didn't get the message from the board that the WPIAL is garbage.
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pittdan77
Athletic Director
Yep. I'm in. If you even paid half attention to this thread, you have seen that Narduzzi has had more NFL caliber players than Wanny. It doesn't matter what their address is.
1 HOFer, 1 sure fire HOFer to be, 1 fringe HOF candidate, Five 1st rd picks. Wanny only coached 6 years.
This is how you spend your time before 7AM? Get a grip, dude.
Any more hot betting tips for us today? I'm looking to make some money by taking all the opposites.
2 things -
1. We do not and have never "recruited" more so in Eastern PA then Western PA. I've coached on both sides of the state. PITT has a nice influence out east but nothing like it does out here.
2. Eastern PA football is not better.
He did? These players were drafted during his time here and the 4 years after:
2005 Rob Petitti - Walt recruit
2006 Charles Spencer - Walt recruit
2006 Josh Lay - Walt recruit
2007 Darrelle Revis - Walt recruit
2007 Clint Session - Walt recruit
2007 H. B. Blades - Walt recruit
2008 Jeff Otah
2008 Mike McGlynn - Walt recruit
2008 Kennard Cox - Walt recruit
2009 LeSean McCoy
2009 Scott McKillop - Walt recruit
2009 LaRod Stephens-Howling - Walt recruit
2009 Derek Kinder - Walt recruit
2005 Rob Petitti - Walt recruit
2006 Charles Spencer - Walt recruit
2006 Josh Lay - Walt recruit
2007 Darrelle Revis - Walt recruit
2007 Clint Session - Walt recruit
2007 H. B. Blades - Walt recruit
2008 Jeff Otah
2008 Mike McGlynn - Walt recruit
2008 Kennard Cox - Walt recruit
2009 LeSean McCoy
2009 Scott McKillop - Walt recruit
2009 LaRod Stephens-Howling - Walt recruit
2009 Derek Kinder - Walt recruit
