Pitt FB Recruiting
Pitt Offers Top 2018 Linebacker
Pennsylvania already has one of the top quarterback prospects (Phil Jurkovec) in the Class of 2018 and it looks like they also have one of the top linebackers in 2018.
Matthew Bauer (6-3, 208) is an outside linebacker from Erie Cathedral Prep. According to 24/7, he’s rated the top linebacker in Pennsylvania and the #5 outside linebacker in 2018.
Pitt is getting in early on him and last night offered him a scholarship.
“Personally, I was very happy with the offer but because Pitt was the first place I visited, I always believed eventually the offer would come”, said Bauer.
“Coach Harley is the coach that I am in contact with but the offer came through my head coach so I’ll try to get in touch with Coach when I get back from Arizona.”
Iowa State, Virginia, Vanderbilt, Syracuse and Penn State have also offered Bauer. In fact, Virginia offered him during his freshman season.
Being from Erie and now getting an offer from Pitt, I had to ask Bauer about Erie native and current Pitt running back James Conner.
“James is an amazing strong person. Even though he went to our rival high school, he’s someone I can really look up to”, said Bauer. “He personally messaged me over Twitter one random day just to say he was happy to see me succeeding.”
“When I visited Pitt I was going to take James to one of my baseball games because his brother plays on one of the teams that were in the tournament. In Erie there is no one who doesn’t know who he is, which makes it just even more special.”
Although it’s early in his recruitment, I asked Bauer if anything stands out to him about the Pitt football program?
“I like the coaching staff, they are a bunch of great guys. Also, being in touch with the Steelers so much also makes Pitt alittle different then the rest of the colleges. Also I am very familiar with the baseball staff which is also a coaching staff that I like,” said Bauer.
Finally, I asked Bauer about being so young, yet quickly becoming a national recruit, how’s he handling it?
“Like I always say, I just keep my head down and keep working. Every offer that comes along pushes me more and more and the drive to succeed is almost possessive,” said Bauer. “I also stay down to earth by having my head coach, Mike Mischler there at my side for they whole recruiting process. He is such a great guy. He cares so much for the kids and about football. He is one of the driving and main factors why Prep football is so good. Also I have great parents that are always there to help me through things. Also I just pray a lot and just keep myself out of trouble.”
