The Pitt coaches stayed on the road Tuesday, and they were pretty spread out, with assistants visiting recruits in a variety of locations, including Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey.
- We'll start local, as defensive coordinator Josh Conklin and linebackers coach Rob Harley visited with Brashear cornerback Therran Coleman. Both coaches visited Brashear to spend time with Coleman, and Harley also attended Coleman's workout later in the day. You might recall that Coleman set out with a plan to take all five official visits; in addition to Pitt, he intended to visit Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Arizona State.
The Wisconsin visit happened, but the other three non-Pitt visits won't. He will take one more official visit, and that will be to Pitt the weekend of Jan. 15-17. Coleman has been pretty solid with Pitt since committing over the summer, but the plans to take all of his official visits raised a red flag. So when he said that those visits will no longer happen, it re-solidified a pretty important commitment.
You can check out Coleman's senior highlights here. He's an impressive athlete with size and he should provide instant depth at cornerback and possibly compete for the starting job opposite Avonte Maddox.
- Coleman's visit in January will coincide with most of Pitt's other commitments, including four-star receiverRuben Flowers, who had a visit from receivers coach Kevin Sherman on Tuesday. We've confirmed thatThomas MacVittie, Bryce Hargrove and Chase Pine will also be on that visit, and I expect Kaezon Pugh,Maurice Ffrench and the Central Catholic kids - Bricen Garner and Rashad Wheeler - to be added to that group as well.
- Garner and Wheeler were initially considering this weekend for their official visits, but that plan changed when Central's PIAA semifinal playoff game against Cumberland Valley got scheduled for 1 pm Saturday afternoon in Altoona.
Speaking of that game, I expect a few Pitt coaches to be in Altoona Saturday afternoon. You may have noticed that Pitt this week's visits with Garner, Wheeler and Damar Hamlin yet; it's looking like this week's off-campus visit will be at the game. While that may seem to put Pitt behind Penn State and Notre Dame, who both had in-home visits with Hamlin this week, consider this possibility: the way the NCAA set up the recruiting calendar this year, the final Sunday before the dead period is still a contact period (as opposed to in the past, when the final pre-dead period Sunday was a quiet period, which meant in-person contact was not permitted off-campus).
Since Sunday is still part of the contact period, the Pitt coaches can go on the road, and I'm thinking they will go to the Central game in Altoona on Saturday and then visit Hamlin at his home on Sunday. Back-to-back visits - not a bad way to head into the dead period. We'll work to confirm those plans as the week progresses.
- Running backs coach Andre Powell has been in Virginia to start the week. On Monday, he visited linebacker commit Chase Pine and on Tuesday he was visiting the schools of various underclassmen, which is the other part of the contact period: not only are the coaches visiting 2016 commits and targets, but they're also making contact - limited as it may be - with 2017 and 2018 prospects. So we have seen the coaches hitting the schools of the top senior targets, but they have also had days where they didn't visit any seniors at all.
- While Powell was looking at 2017 prospects on Tuesday, cornerbacks coach Renaldo Hill was also in Virginia visiting Episcopal athlete Patrice Rene. A Rutgers commit who almost certainly won't end up at Rutgers, Rene is getting heavily-pursued, but Pitt is right in the mix. Ryan Snyder spoke to Rene Tuesday night and we'll have an article on him Wednesday morning, but the key is that Pitt is trying to get his fifth official visit.
Rene took official visits to Wisconsin and Boston College already and has one scheduled to North Carolina for the weekend of Jan. 15. He also intends to visit Rutgers, which leaves one more official visit; Rene is considering Pitt, Nebraska, Cal and Penn State for that final visit. The Panthers are doing a good job battling for that visit, but it will be a battle.
For what it's worth, Penn State is pushing for Rene but doesn't seem to be a factor. There is a lot of interest from PSU's side, but not much from Rene's.
- Another interesting note on Rene: on Tuesday night, coaches from Boston College visited his parents - in Canada (Rene is a native of Canada). While recruits living far from their parents is not common, college coaches visiting both - a recruit and his parents - does happen. For instance, last week tight ends coach Tim Salem visited Juwann Winfree's parents in New Jersey. Winfree is at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas and Sherman visited him there, but Salem spent time with Winfree's parents in the Garden State, and he'll stop in to see the family again this week in advance of Winfree's official visit to Pitt this weekend.
- Speaking of Winfree, he doesn't have any official visits set up beyond this weekend's trip to Pitt, but he still says he plans to take visits to East Carolina and Colorado. It remains to be seen if that will happen; Pitt would certainly like to secure a commitment this weekend.
- Speaking of Salem, he was at De Paul Catholic on Tuesday to visit with a trio of targets there: Nebraska defensive end commit Quayshon Alexander, Virginia receiver commit Hasise Dubois and Penn State defensive end commit Michael Dwumfour. Alexander will take an official visit to Pitt this weekend; the other two are undecided. Dubois definitely has interest in visiting, but nothing has been set up yet. And if Dubois visits, there's a decent chance that Dwumfour would come with him.
- Pitt commit Zack Gilbert will get a visit from Powell on Wednesday, and that will probably be his last one before enrolling in January.
- While Powell is in the Charlotte area, he will also have an in-home visit with running back Robert Washington. And I wouldn't be surprise if he stops in to see Duke running back commit Elijah Deveaux as well. Deveaux made the trip north for Pitt's win over Louisville at Heinz Field this season with his father, former Pitt running back Glenn Deveaux, and his younger brother, 2018 running back prospect Caleb Deveaux. I haven't confirmed that Powell will visit Deveaux - and given that Deveaux is trying to lay low while he is still committed to Duke, it will be tough to confirm - but I have a feeling that visit will happen.
- I am far more confident that McKeesport safety Khaleke Hudson will get a visit from Pitt on Wednesday.
- One other name to keep in mind is Largo (Fla.) Indian Lakes running back/fullback Theo Anderson. The Pitt coaches haven't visited Anderson during the contact period so far and there doesn't seem to be a plan to do so, although Harley is expected to be in Florida for a visit with East Bay cornerback K.J. Sails, who is about 45 minutes from Anderson. Either way, Anderson told me Tuesday night that he is still eyeing an official visit to Pitt in early January, probably the weekend of the 15th. So that's an interesting development (or, rather, a continuation, since Anderson has maintained interest in Pitt dating back to before the summer).
- One visit that did happen in Florida on Tuesday was offensive line coach John Peterson visiting North Marion guard Zack Williams. Williams said the visit went well; he'll take an official visit to Pitt this weekend, and at this point, I will be surprised if Williams doesn't commit on his visit.
- We'll start local, as defensive coordinator Josh Conklin and linebackers coach Rob Harley visited with Brashear cornerback Therran Coleman. Both coaches visited Brashear to spend time with Coleman, and Harley also attended Coleman's workout later in the day. You might recall that Coleman set out with a plan to take all five official visits; in addition to Pitt, he intended to visit Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Arizona State.
The Wisconsin visit happened, but the other three non-Pitt visits won't. He will take one more official visit, and that will be to Pitt the weekend of Jan. 15-17. Coleman has been pretty solid with Pitt since committing over the summer, but the plans to take all of his official visits raised a red flag. So when he said that those visits will no longer happen, it re-solidified a pretty important commitment.
You can check out Coleman's senior highlights here. He's an impressive athlete with size and he should provide instant depth at cornerback and possibly compete for the starting job opposite Avonte Maddox.
- Coleman's visit in January will coincide with most of Pitt's other commitments, including four-star receiverRuben Flowers, who had a visit from receivers coach Kevin Sherman on Tuesday. We've confirmed thatThomas MacVittie, Bryce Hargrove and Chase Pine will also be on that visit, and I expect Kaezon Pugh,Maurice Ffrench and the Central Catholic kids - Bricen Garner and Rashad Wheeler - to be added to that group as well.
- Garner and Wheeler were initially considering this weekend for their official visits, but that plan changed when Central's PIAA semifinal playoff game against Cumberland Valley got scheduled for 1 pm Saturday afternoon in Altoona.
Speaking of that game, I expect a few Pitt coaches to be in Altoona Saturday afternoon. You may have noticed that Pitt this week's visits with Garner, Wheeler and Damar Hamlin yet; it's looking like this week's off-campus visit will be at the game. While that may seem to put Pitt behind Penn State and Notre Dame, who both had in-home visits with Hamlin this week, consider this possibility: the way the NCAA set up the recruiting calendar this year, the final Sunday before the dead period is still a contact period (as opposed to in the past, when the final pre-dead period Sunday was a quiet period, which meant in-person contact was not permitted off-campus).
Since Sunday is still part of the contact period, the Pitt coaches can go on the road, and I'm thinking they will go to the Central game in Altoona on Saturday and then visit Hamlin at his home on Sunday. Back-to-back visits - not a bad way to head into the dead period. We'll work to confirm those plans as the week progresses.
- Running backs coach Andre Powell has been in Virginia to start the week. On Monday, he visited linebacker commit Chase Pine and on Tuesday he was visiting the schools of various underclassmen, which is the other part of the contact period: not only are the coaches visiting 2016 commits and targets, but they're also making contact - limited as it may be - with 2017 and 2018 prospects. So we have seen the coaches hitting the schools of the top senior targets, but they have also had days where they didn't visit any seniors at all.
- While Powell was looking at 2017 prospects on Tuesday, cornerbacks coach Renaldo Hill was also in Virginia visiting Episcopal athlete Patrice Rene. A Rutgers commit who almost certainly won't end up at Rutgers, Rene is getting heavily-pursued, but Pitt is right in the mix. Ryan Snyder spoke to Rene Tuesday night and we'll have an article on him Wednesday morning, but the key is that Pitt is trying to get his fifth official visit.
Rene took official visits to Wisconsin and Boston College already and has one scheduled to North Carolina for the weekend of Jan. 15. He also intends to visit Rutgers, which leaves one more official visit; Rene is considering Pitt, Nebraska, Cal and Penn State for that final visit. The Panthers are doing a good job battling for that visit, but it will be a battle.
For what it's worth, Penn State is pushing for Rene but doesn't seem to be a factor. There is a lot of interest from PSU's side, but not much from Rene's.
- Another interesting note on Rene: on Tuesday night, coaches from Boston College visited his parents - in Canada (Rene is a native of Canada). While recruits living far from their parents is not common, college coaches visiting both - a recruit and his parents - does happen. For instance, last week tight ends coach Tim Salem visited Juwann Winfree's parents in New Jersey. Winfree is at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas and Sherman visited him there, but Salem spent time with Winfree's parents in the Garden State, and he'll stop in to see the family again this week in advance of Winfree's official visit to Pitt this weekend.
- Speaking of Winfree, he doesn't have any official visits set up beyond this weekend's trip to Pitt, but he still says he plans to take visits to East Carolina and Colorado. It remains to be seen if that will happen; Pitt would certainly like to secure a commitment this weekend.
- Speaking of Salem, he was at De Paul Catholic on Tuesday to visit with a trio of targets there: Nebraska defensive end commit Quayshon Alexander, Virginia receiver commit Hasise Dubois and Penn State defensive end commit Michael Dwumfour. Alexander will take an official visit to Pitt this weekend; the other two are undecided. Dubois definitely has interest in visiting, but nothing has been set up yet. And if Dubois visits, there's a decent chance that Dwumfour would come with him.
- Pitt commit Zack Gilbert will get a visit from Powell on Wednesday, and that will probably be his last one before enrolling in January.
- While Powell is in the Charlotte area, he will also have an in-home visit with running back Robert Washington. And I wouldn't be surprise if he stops in to see Duke running back commit Elijah Deveaux as well. Deveaux made the trip north for Pitt's win over Louisville at Heinz Field this season with his father, former Pitt running back Glenn Deveaux, and his younger brother, 2018 running back prospect Caleb Deveaux. I haven't confirmed that Powell will visit Deveaux - and given that Deveaux is trying to lay low while he is still committed to Duke, it will be tough to confirm - but I have a feeling that visit will happen.
- I am far more confident that McKeesport safety Khaleke Hudson will get a visit from Pitt on Wednesday.
- One other name to keep in mind is Largo (Fla.) Indian Lakes running back/fullback Theo Anderson. The Pitt coaches haven't visited Anderson during the contact period so far and there doesn't seem to be a plan to do so, although Harley is expected to be in Florida for a visit with East Bay cornerback K.J. Sails, who is about 45 minutes from Anderson. Either way, Anderson told me Tuesday night that he is still eyeing an official visit to Pitt in early January, probably the weekend of the 15th. So that's an interesting development (or, rather, a continuation, since Anderson has maintained interest in Pitt dating back to before the summer).
- One visit that did happen in Florida on Tuesday was offensive line coach John Peterson visiting North Marion guard Zack Williams. Williams said the visit went well; he'll take an official visit to Pitt this weekend, and at this point, I will be surprised if Williams doesn't commit on his visit.
