Tyree Johnson Gets Pitt Offer

1. Trivia question for you.   Who was the last recruit that Pitt has gotten from the state of Maryland?

Answer: running back Rachib Ibrahim back in 2013.

Since 2011, Pitt has only been able to land 3 recruits from Maryland: Ibrahim, LB Devon Porchia in 2012 and TE Sam Collura in 2011.

For the recruiting season of 2016, Pat Narduzzi and his staff offered these kids from Maryland but were unsuccessful: QB Dwayne Haskins, WR Marcus Simms, WR Devonte Young, OT Elijiah Johnson, OG Terrance Davis, DE Chinedu Udeogu, LB Keith Simms, LB Cameron Brown, LB William Kwenkeu, CB Zechariah McPhearson, CB Sir Patrick Scott, CB Kareem Felder, S Eric Burrell, S Patrick Johnson, Athlete Steven Smothers, Athlete Antoine Brooks, and DT Ellison Jordan.

Maryland is a state with a lot of talent so Pitt and Andre Powell (Maryland chief recruiter) will no doubt continue to recruit that state aggressively.

This morning the Panthers handed out their seventh offer already to a 2017 recruit, this time DE Tyree Johnson.

Johnson (6-4, 242) is a defensive end from St. John’s H.S. in Washington, DC. Including his offer from Pitt, Johnson now holds offers from Maryland, Virginia Tech, Temple, Rutgers and Wake Forest.

“Coach Powell called and told me that he like my film and told me that I had the offer. He then wanted to talk in order to get to know me more”, said Johnson.

Johnson tells me that he’s a quick, physical player.   Despite playing defensive end in high school, schools are recruiting him to play outside linebacker in college.

This past season for St. John’s, Johnson finished with 43 tackles, 21 tackles for losses and 10 sacks   (Johnson missed a couple games due to injury).

“I’m really excited right now, it’s kind of overwhelming (receiving D-1 offers) but you have to have to have fun with the recruiting process.”

So does Johnson know anything about Pitt and the city of Pittsburgh?

“Pittsburgh is a large city with a lot to do there”, said Johnson. “I love the city and I know quite a few great players that came out of Pitt like LeSean McCoy and Larry Fitzgerald.”

Like many 2017 recruits, Johnson is going to be traveling a lot over the next couple of months, checking out potential colleges.

“I’m going to Kentucky tomorrow, Maryland next week, Temple on the 17th, Wake Forest on the 20th and Pitt at the end of the month”, said Johnson.

“I’m just going to take this all one step at a time, it’s going to be fun and probably overwhelming. But I’m expecting this year to be great, I’m going to work very hard and I’m expecting big things.”