Stalling’s First Major Offer

Kevin Stallings first job as Pitt’s coach was to try and keep together the teams 2016 recruiting class.  Mission accomplished.   Consider there’s only one scholarship left for 2016, much of his emphasis now is attacking the Class of 2017.

This past weekend the Pitt coaches were at AAU tournaments in New York and Dallas, which led to Pitt extending an offer to a big-time talent.

Aamir Simms (6-8, 215) is a 4-star forward from Blue Ridge HS in Palmyra, Virginia. Simms is rated by Rivals as a Top 100 player.

“When Pitt blessed me with my 15th offer, I was surprised”, said Simms.  It caught me off guard because I had no idea they were recruiting me until Coach Sutton arrived about a week ago (he was recruiting Simms previously with Georgetown).

“Yesterday night, Coach Stallings contacted me and told me he loved my game and was gonna recruit me and was going to trust coach Sutton and his word on what I can be.”

Simms describes himself as a versatile stretch forward who can defend anywhere, rebound and score.  He prefers face up offense but doesn’t mind having his back to the basket.

Until he received the Pitt offer, many recruiting experts had Simms as a lock to commit to Georgetown.  Simms told me that he’s “weighing his options” but that Georgetown is on his list.

“Is Pitt a place I can see myself attending? As of right now I don’t know because I haven’t visited”, said Simms.

Stallings will no doubt push Simms to make a visit Pitt.  One thing that’s going to help them out is the conference they play in.

“Since I was 12 I’ve wanted to play in the ACC, it has produced household names for 50+ years. So it would be a dream come true BUT! I’m just weighing my options. ”

Simms doesn’t  have any planned visits yet but he’s starting to pick where he’d like to visit.

Will the Pitt Panthers get a visit?