This week continues to be an interesting one for Pitt recruiting. Here’s the latest on Pitt’s efforts in Florida, what the Panthers are doing at tight end and more.
- Pat Narduzzi was in Florida on Tuesday to visit one commit and one target. First, the Pitt head coach was joined by receivers coach Chris Beatty for a visit with receiver commit Aydin Henningham.
Then, Narduzzi and defensive line coach Charlie Partridge met up in Plantation to visit American Heritage safety Davonte Brown. Brown took an official visit to Pitt in June but fell off the radar a bit when two defensive backs - Tee Denson and Hunter Sellers - committed the same weekend Brown was in town, and then the Panthers landed another safety commitment a week later in Jahvante Royal.
Denson has since decommitted from Pitt, but he was a cornerback prospect, whereas Brown is a safety. Regardless, Narduzzi’s staff never fell out of contact with Brown, and now that Signing Day is approaching, they have visited him at home twice in the last two weeks.
The battle for Brown is centered around three schools: Pitt, Miami and UCF, and of those three, the Hurricanes seem to be the biggest threat. Brown’s father, Selwyn Brown, played defensive back at the U in the late 1980’s, and that creates an obvious connection. Still, Pitt can’t be ruled out. Brown was impressed with seeing Narduzzi in person for the first time since the official visit, and it’s notable that Narduzzi got an in-home visit this week - Miami head coach Manny Diaz had his in-home visit with Brown last week.
So if recency is a factor, Pitt has an edge. But it’s hard to get a read. Miami would seem to be the more likely option, but Brown seems to be open to the Panthers. My guess is Pitt won’t get him, but we’ll see.
- While Narduzzi was in Florida on Tuesday, offensive coordinator Mark Whipple was in Georgia for a visit with a tight end prospect. Jackson Manning plays at Mt. Paran Christian School in Kennesaw, and he’s an interesting recruit. He’s 6’5” and 240 pounds but his recruitment is pretty quiet; he has offers from UMass and Southern Illinois and he took an official visit to UMass last weekend.
Now he’s waiting to see what Pitt will do. Whipple showed a lot of interest during Tuesday’s visit and gave Manning the impression that he likes what he sees from the film, and Manning definitely enjoyed his conversation with Whipple, the question is this:
Will Pitt offer?
The answer to that could depend on factors beyond Manning’s control.
- Manning’s fate with Pitt will likely hinge on what happens this weekend. We’ve confirmed two tight ends who plan to visit the Panthers from Friday to Saturday: Noah Patty from Fort Worth (Tex.) and junior-college prospect Daniel Moraga.
Patty does not have an offer from Pitt; he said the coaches have told him they will discuss that matter with him during his official visit. Moraga does have an offer from Pitt, although everything has to be settled credits-wise for him to get out of Ventura College in December and enroll at a school in January.
At this point, I’m not entirely sure where Pitt stands with Patty. If all the paperwork checks out with Moraga, I think the Panthers will take him and add a veteran body to the tight end room, but Patty is a bit more of an uncertainty. As Carter Boatwright seems to be drifting back to Florida State, Allen Horace appears to be the only high school tight end prospect the Panthers seem to be pursuing; thus far, we haven’t confirmed his in-home visit for the week, but I doubt Narduzzi is going to make it to Texas before the week is over - his schedule is pretty full right now (more on that in a minute).
So it could be a matter of getting Patty on campus, seeing him in person and getting a feel for him before deciding to offer. If they do offer, you would think the coaches would be doing so with the thought that he will commit on the spot or shortly thereafter; if they don’t offer and decide to pursue Manning (or Bayne Tryon, who has also gotten some interest from Pitt), then you would have to think the plan is to recruit them through January, since this is the last weekend for official visits before the December Signing Day next Wednesday.
- Wednesday will be an interesting day for Pat Narduzzi. At 11:30 in the morning, he’ll join Eastern Michigan head coach Chris Creighton and a representative from Ford at the Detroit Lions practice facility for a press conference to preview the Quick Lane Bowl.
That obligation throws a wrench into things because Pitt doesn’t really have any targets it is pursuing in Detroit or Michigan at this point in the recruiting process; rather, Narduzzi’s interests are almost entirely in the southeastern part of the country. So after visiting Henningham and Brown in Florida on Tuesday, he had to fly to the Motor City Wednesday morning. I’m sure he can stop into one or two of the prominent high schools in Detroit, but it’s more or less a break in the recruiting action.
I don’t think the break will last long, though. After the press conference, Narduzzi will be back on the road for more visits. We’ll be tracking those down today.
On Thursday, Narduzzi and safeties coach Cory Sanders will visit Jacksonville (Fla.) Sandalwood safety Derek Bermudez. A Florida State decommit, Bermudez took official visits to Pitt and Georgia Tech in November, and for now, those seem to be the main schools he is considering. One thing to watch is that he had been targeting this coming weekend for an official visit to Ole Miss, but those plans got dropped when Matt Luke was fired. Now that Lane Kiffin has been hired to coach the Rebels, it seems like the contact has been reestablished, so we’ll see if he decides to take that visit after all.
I don’t know how strongly Bermudez feels about Ole Miss, but if he declines the visit, then you’d obviously like Pitt’s chances even more (and I already like them a fair amount).
In addition to Bermudez, I’m expecting Narduzzi to visit Valdosta (Ga.) quarterback Tate Rodemaker on Thursday. Rodemaker visited Pitt over the weekend but added a Baylor offer this week; as you can imagine, all of the late recruiting interest - and his four Power Five offers all came in the last month - has stretched Rodemaker pretty thin, so he has been a bit quiet this week.
Overall, I don’t have a great feel for where Rodemaker stands. Narduzzi and Whipple will visit him on Thursday and make their final push, and obviously it’s important to get a quarterback, but I’m getting the sense that Pitt may need to wait until February to sign a quarterback - if they sign one at all.
- Also on tap for Wednesday: Beatty will visit receiver commit Jaylon Barden and Partridge will visit defensive end commit Sam Williams.
- Pat Narduzzi was in Florida on Tuesday to visit one commit and one target. First, the Pitt head coach was joined by receivers coach Chris Beatty for a visit with receiver commit Aydin Henningham.
Then, Narduzzi and defensive line coach Charlie Partridge met up in Plantation to visit American Heritage safety Davonte Brown. Brown took an official visit to Pitt in June but fell off the radar a bit when two defensive backs - Tee Denson and Hunter Sellers - committed the same weekend Brown was in town, and then the Panthers landed another safety commitment a week later in Jahvante Royal.
Denson has since decommitted from Pitt, but he was a cornerback prospect, whereas Brown is a safety. Regardless, Narduzzi’s staff never fell out of contact with Brown, and now that Signing Day is approaching, they have visited him at home twice in the last two weeks.
The battle for Brown is centered around three schools: Pitt, Miami and UCF, and of those three, the Hurricanes seem to be the biggest threat. Brown’s father, Selwyn Brown, played defensive back at the U in the late 1980’s, and that creates an obvious connection. Still, Pitt can’t be ruled out. Brown was impressed with seeing Narduzzi in person for the first time since the official visit, and it’s notable that Narduzzi got an in-home visit this week - Miami head coach Manny Diaz had his in-home visit with Brown last week.
So if recency is a factor, Pitt has an edge. But it’s hard to get a read. Miami would seem to be the more likely option, but Brown seems to be open to the Panthers. My guess is Pitt won’t get him, but we’ll see.
- While Narduzzi was in Florida on Tuesday, offensive coordinator Mark Whipple was in Georgia for a visit with a tight end prospect. Jackson Manning plays at Mt. Paran Christian School in Kennesaw, and he’s an interesting recruit. He’s 6’5” and 240 pounds but his recruitment is pretty quiet; he has offers from UMass and Southern Illinois and he took an official visit to UMass last weekend.
Now he’s waiting to see what Pitt will do. Whipple showed a lot of interest during Tuesday’s visit and gave Manning the impression that he likes what he sees from the film, and Manning definitely enjoyed his conversation with Whipple, the question is this:
Will Pitt offer?
The answer to that could depend on factors beyond Manning’s control.
- Manning’s fate with Pitt will likely hinge on what happens this weekend. We’ve confirmed two tight ends who plan to visit the Panthers from Friday to Saturday: Noah Patty from Fort Worth (Tex.) and junior-college prospect Daniel Moraga.
Patty does not have an offer from Pitt; he said the coaches have told him they will discuss that matter with him during his official visit. Moraga does have an offer from Pitt, although everything has to be settled credits-wise for him to get out of Ventura College in December and enroll at a school in January.
At this point, I’m not entirely sure where Pitt stands with Patty. If all the paperwork checks out with Moraga, I think the Panthers will take him and add a veteran body to the tight end room, but Patty is a bit more of an uncertainty. As Carter Boatwright seems to be drifting back to Florida State, Allen Horace appears to be the only high school tight end prospect the Panthers seem to be pursuing; thus far, we haven’t confirmed his in-home visit for the week, but I doubt Narduzzi is going to make it to Texas before the week is over - his schedule is pretty full right now (more on that in a minute).
So it could be a matter of getting Patty on campus, seeing him in person and getting a feel for him before deciding to offer. If they do offer, you would think the coaches would be doing so with the thought that he will commit on the spot or shortly thereafter; if they don’t offer and decide to pursue Manning (or Bayne Tryon, who has also gotten some interest from Pitt), then you would have to think the plan is to recruit them through January, since this is the last weekend for official visits before the December Signing Day next Wednesday.
- Wednesday will be an interesting day for Pat Narduzzi. At 11:30 in the morning, he’ll join Eastern Michigan head coach Chris Creighton and a representative from Ford at the Detroit Lions practice facility for a press conference to preview the Quick Lane Bowl.
That obligation throws a wrench into things because Pitt doesn’t really have any targets it is pursuing in Detroit or Michigan at this point in the recruiting process; rather, Narduzzi’s interests are almost entirely in the southeastern part of the country. So after visiting Henningham and Brown in Florida on Tuesday, he had to fly to the Motor City Wednesday morning. I’m sure he can stop into one or two of the prominent high schools in Detroit, but it’s more or less a break in the recruiting action.
I don’t think the break will last long, though. After the press conference, Narduzzi will be back on the road for more visits. We’ll be tracking those down today.
On Thursday, Narduzzi and safeties coach Cory Sanders will visit Jacksonville (Fla.) Sandalwood safety Derek Bermudez. A Florida State decommit, Bermudez took official visits to Pitt and Georgia Tech in November, and for now, those seem to be the main schools he is considering. One thing to watch is that he had been targeting this coming weekend for an official visit to Ole Miss, but those plans got dropped when Matt Luke was fired. Now that Lane Kiffin has been hired to coach the Rebels, it seems like the contact has been reestablished, so we’ll see if he decides to take that visit after all.
I don’t know how strongly Bermudez feels about Ole Miss, but if he declines the visit, then you’d obviously like Pitt’s chances even more (and I already like them a fair amount).
In addition to Bermudez, I’m expecting Narduzzi to visit Valdosta (Ga.) quarterback Tate Rodemaker on Thursday. Rodemaker visited Pitt over the weekend but added a Baylor offer this week; as you can imagine, all of the late recruiting interest - and his four Power Five offers all came in the last month - has stretched Rodemaker pretty thin, so he has been a bit quiet this week.
Overall, I don’t have a great feel for where Rodemaker stands. Narduzzi and Whipple will visit him on Thursday and make their final push, and obviously it’s important to get a quarterback, but I’m getting the sense that Pitt may need to wait until February to sign a quarterback - if they sign one at all.
- Also on tap for Wednesday: Beatty will visit receiver commit Jaylon Barden and Partridge will visit defensive end commit Sam Williams.
