Recruiting Notebook
Monday Recruiting Notes
Today’s a big day for one reason, vacations are over with and the Pitt coaching staff will all be back together on the South Side. The coaches won’t all have time off like this again until next summer.
** An impressive prospect from the state of Florida has included Pitt in his Top 10. Michael Nesbitt is a 3-star cornerback from Lauderdale Lakes, Florida and has included Pitt in his list of finals: Pitt, LSU, Kentucky, Louisville, West Virginia, Auburn, Central Florida, Arkansas, South Carolina and Missouri.
** A major Pitt basketball 2017 recruit plans on narrowing his list. 4-star forward Naji Marshall says that he’ll reduce his list next week. Marshall was one of the first players that Kevin Stallings offered after getting the Pitt job.
** More basketball recruiting info, this time on a local product. Mars 2018 Robby Carmody spent the weekend participating in the Super 64 baseball tournament. In between traveling, I got a quick update from Carmody on his recruiting.
Photo courtesy of Rob Carmody
The junior told that his most recent offer came from DePaul and that both Michigan and Ohio State are showing interest and could be next to offer. Other news teams showing interest are Vanderbilt, Villanova and Davidson.
Duquesne was out watching him this weekend, do they have a shot and does he have any leading schools right now?
“Right now I don’t have any leaders, everyone’s pretty much equal,” said Carmody. They (Duquesne) have as good a chance as any at this point.”
I asked Carmody about Pitt and he said that he hasn’t spoken with Kevin Stallings, but that he has spoken with Stallings’ staff.
UPDATE (6:34 AM)-
** A month ago, elite Florida defensive end Jacob Lichtenstein released a Top 6 and it included Pitt. It looks like he’s ready to cut that list in half.
Lichtenstein (Weston, Florida) confirmed to me that although he doesn’t have a date yet, he’ll be dropping his list of schools from 6 to 3. One school that’s almost certain to be a finalist is USC, a place that he just visited.
Assuming USC makes it, Lichtenstein will choose between Pitt, Alabama, California, Virginia and Georgia Tech for his last 2 spots.
UPDATE (9:53 AM)-
** New Jersey 4-star DT Fred Hansard is a player that Pitt fans have been talking about for a while but they may be done talking about him. 247 Sports is forecasting that the big defensive tackle will eventually sign with Florida, a place he just visited. While Hansard had Pitt as one of his finalists, I never got the sense that he was that serious about Pitt. The Panthers #1 target at defensive tackle is and has always been Beaver Falls star Donovan Jeter.
Fred Hansard visiting Pitt during Junior Day – Photo courtesy of Fred Hansard
UPDATE (10:02 AM)-
**The Duquesne basketball team has offered the #1 center in the state of Illinois. Cameron Krutwig (6-9, 240) is a 3-star center from Algonquin, Illinois and now has 20 D-1 offers including ones from UW-Milwaukee, East Carolina, Kent State, Bowling Green, Belmont and Toledo.
Photo courtesy of Cameron Krutwig
UPDATE (11:15 AM)-
** This morning, the ACC media voted and picked Pitt to finish 3rd in the ACC Coastal Division this season. Pitt finished with 14 first-place votes. The 191 media members picked the teams to finish in this order:
1) North Carolina 2) Miami 3) Pitt 4) Virginia Tech 5) Duke 6) Georgia Tech 7) Virginia
Projected Finish of Atlantic Division
1) Clemson 2) Florida St 3) Louisville 4) NC State 5) Boston College 6) Syracuse 7) Wake Forest
UPDATE (11:58 AM)-
** The Duquesne coaches spent the weekend recruiting in Florida and one of the 2 players from that state that picked up an offer was Brion Whitley (Sarasota, Florida).
Whitley (6-4, 195) is a shooting guard from Riverview High School. Aside from Duquesne, Whitley also holds offers from Georgia Southern, James Madison, Wofford, Winthrop, Rider and Rice.
“Coach G (Rich Glesmann) offered me and I had no idea about it until I was offered! Coach Ferry saw me in Atlanta and then the assistants did in Las Vegas! I am a high energy guard that is a three level scorer that means I can shoot from 3, mid range and attack the basket,” said Whitley.
“UT- Chattannoga, UNC-Willimgton, Harvard, Winthrop, Wofford, James Madison, Steston are all showing major interest! And I’m open to all the schools so I’m looking at them all right now but I would definitely consider Duquesne. I like that it’s in Pittsburgh and in a great conference!” Said Whitley.
Photo courtesy of Brion Whitley
