**Couple of things that I’d like to bring up before we get into the recruiting notes.
- Joe Steigerwald (@Steigerwaldino), Alan Saunders (@ASaunders_PGH) are hoping to get together this week to discuss how plan on covering the upcoming Pitt football season plus the high school football season. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please send them to me at mvukovcan@gmail.com. We have big ideas for the upcoming season but want your input. Try and get these ideas in soon.
- I just want to say that I’ve never been more excited about the future of Pittsburgh Sports Now. I had a moment over the weekend where I realized that I can and want to make this site BIG and I’m going to put EVERYTHING I have into making that happen. But I need your help in whatever way you can do so. By that I mean: financial help (donations), anything that you can give helps. We hired Alan Saunders this week and have other ideas for the future, but considering we don’t have ads yet, donations are our lifeline. We also need suggestions on people/businesses that want to be a part of the site (mvukovcan@gmail.com), and we need you, our readers, to continue viewing our material and letting your friends know about us. Words can’t explain how excited and optimistic I am about what’s ahead but we need you too.
Let’s get right into some recruiting notes on the eve of the Fourth of July.
**From everything I’ve been reading over the last couple of months, it’s being assumed by many that the Jackson twins from Allderdice are going to attend Pitt after spending a year in a junior college. My sources are telling me a different story.
Last night a trusted source told me that by no means is it a lock that Tim and James Jackson will attend Pitt. In fact, after spending a year at a junior college in Oklahoma, I’m being told that the Jackson brothers could very well be heading to Iowa State.
New Iowa State coach Matt Campbell is a big fan of them and is working hard to land them.
**It isn’t taking long for a couple of the Pitt freshman players to make an early impression. A “Little Panther” is telling me to look for cornerbacks Damar Hamlin and Therran Coleman to push for plenty of playing time if not a starting cornerback job. Also, don’t be surprised if freshman George Hill and Henry Miller are moved to safety.
**There was plenty of speculation on Twitter yesterday that Pitt might be getting or received a commitment. With plenty of confidence I can tell you that no commitment was given to Pat Narduzzi and Pitt yesterday.
I know this won’t make people happy that I can’t give details now but I learned of an interesting situation that could be happening but at the moment am not at liberty to elaborate. It’s one of those situations where sources trust you with information and if I burn that source, I’ll never be trusted. At the proper time, everything will come out and hopefully I can be the first to reveal it. Stay tuned.
UPDATE (8:35 AM)-
**A lot of times when recruits commit early, they say that they’ll try and help their new team with recruiting other players. Most times those players don’t follow through with it. Pitt commit Owen Drexel is backing up with words by becoming an early leader of Pitt’s Class of 2017.
Here are some of the tweets that Drexel has sent out/retweeted in the past week:
https://twitter.com/PittEdits/status/749334736351404037
https://twitter.com/PittEdits/status/748955511773683717
UPDATE (12:31 PM)-
** Just had a brief discussion with A.J. DeShazor, an OLB for Lake Gibson High School in Lakeland, Florida. DeShazor is a Rivals 3-star recruit with offers from Miami (FL), LSU, Virginia Tech, Colorado and Indiana.
“With Pitt, my interest is still high,” said DeShazor. “I like the intensity and high motor that the coaches bring every day. Coach Conklin and Coach Harley have been on me pretty hard. I have a pretty good relationship with Coach Harley.”
Since Pitt already has 3 commitments at the linebacker spot, what position is Pitt recruiting DeShazor at?
“Outside linebacker and a rover strong safety. The coaches love the way I move out in space making plays and making open field tackles,” said DeShazor. Many evaluators believe because of his athleticism, DeShazor is a player that can be in the secondary and cover the opposing teams tight ends and running backs.
“I never have been to Pittsburgh but plan to take a visit sometime this year. I plan on taking all my visits and seeing how comfortable I feel at each place. Seeing what I like academically as well,” said DeShazor.
“I plan on deciding sometime after all my visits are done so maybe sometime during the season.”
UPDATE (1:13 PM)-
**Last week, James Hudson visited Pitt and it must have made an impression because today the elite defensive end put Pitt in his Top 10.
Hudson (6-5, 271) is a 4-star recruit from Toledo, Ohio and is rated as one of the Top 250 players in the country. Moments ago, Hudson announced his Top 10 of Pitt, Michigan State, Michigan, Alabama, Miami Fla, Nebraska, Tennessee, Penn State, Louisville and Kentucky.
I’m hoping to get an interview with Hudson later this afternoon.
Header image: Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh by Flickr user gam9551 | CC BY-ND 2.0
