Stallings Offers First Recruit

The Kevin Stallings era at Pitt is officially underway as he’s offered his first player as Panthers head coach.

Point guard Aaron Thompson (6-2, 1645) from Fairfax, Virginia (Paul VI High School) received the offer tonight from Stallings.  As you’d imagine, Thompson is a player that Stallings was recruiting at Vanderbilt.   In fact, some recruiting services list Vanderbilt as the leader for the talented point guard.

Moments ago, I spoke with Thompson and asked him about the offer from Stallings and Pitt.

“Coach Stallings said he wanted me to be his point guard to run his team and that he would love to get me on campus.  Coach also told me how much he loved my game”,  said Thompson.

Since Stallings has been recruiting Thompson for awhile, I asked him his impression of the new Pitt coach and to describe him.

“When I went on my visit to Vanderbilt and I talked to him, I could just tell he was a down to earth person and really cares for his player”, said Thompson. “He also holds each and everyone of his players accountable.   He holds himself to a high standard as a man and teaches his players to do the same.  I really like him as a coach and think he’s a great teacher of the game and knows what he’s doing. Coach will develop your individual game as well as teach you how to play with other good players.  At the end of the day, he always has his players back no matter what.  It’s a family.”

Wow, that’s a pretty strong endorsement of Stallings.

Aside from Pitt and Vanderbilt, Thompson has offers from Penn State, Temple, VCU, Miami, Georgia Tech, SMU, Nebraska, Virginia Tech and DePaul. Depending on what recruiting service you look at, Thompson is either a 3 or 4 star point guard.

I asked Thompson what he considers to be his biggest strength.

“Its controlling the tempo of the game and getting my teammates involved as well as getting into the paint and making plays.”

Now that he holds an offer from Pitt, are they a serious contender for him?

“I don’t know much about Pitt but I do know that I’d like to take a visit”, said Thompson. “Pitt is a serious offer that I’ll consider.  It’s a great school with a great program in a great conference.”