More On Jaylen Twyman And A.J. Davis

PITTSBURGH — Pitt landed a pair of big-time recruits on signing day in 3-star defensive tackle Jaylen Twyman from Washington, D.C. and 4-star Lakeland, Florida running back A.J. Davis.

Both players made Pitt work until the wire to get them to sing their names on the line, but both were extremely complimentary of head coach Pat Narduzzi, the program at Pitt and are looking forward to seeing themselves in it.

“[Narduzzi is] the most [loyal], down to Earth coach I’ve ever met,” Twyman said.

While Twyman was the second-to-last member of the class to commit, he had made up his mind pretty early on in the process that Pitt was where he wanted to land.

“Basically, after my junior day, I knew Pitt was the place to be,” Twyman said. “After I lost my brother in a tragic shooting, they were there the whole way. They flew in. They checked in on me almost every day of the week.”

Photo Courtesy of Jaylen Twyman

The connection that Twyman has with Narduzzi and the coaching staff is obvious and played a big part in him coming to Pittsburgh. But he also likes what he’s seen out of the defense that Narduzzi and coordinator Josh Conklin have put in place and how he fits into it.

“They let you play football. I’ve learned in talking with Coach Sims and Coach Conklin that they just want me to get in the backfield and cause havoc before the ball even gets to the quarterback or running back,” Twyman said. “They just want me to play ball.”

The desire to quickly fit into a scheme held true for Davis, as well, even though the Pitt doesn’t currently have an offensive coordinator. The offensive blocking schemes that Pitt has run under offensive line coach John Peterson.

“I’ve been used to the offense,” Davis said to ESPN.

Davis had also know for at least a little while that he would be picking Pitt. While Narduzzi was quick to say that he wasn’t sure that Davis would sign until the saw him put a Panthers hat on during Davis’ announcement on ESPN2, Narduzzi was confident enough that he would land Davis that earlier in the day, he told running back Kyshaun Bryan to move along. Bryan ended up committing to Iowa instead.

Davis said that relationships with teammate Damarri Mathis and former teammate Keyshon Camp helped sway him to Pitt. Davis was also considering Louisville and South Florida up until signing day. Another thing that helped way the young rusher was the presence of his role models in the offices next door — Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell.