Pitt FB Recruiting
Big Cleveland OT Gets Pitt Offer
Over the last couple of months, the Pitt football coaches have offered few offensive tackles and yesterday another name was added to that list.
Darian Kinnard is a mammoth lineman (6-foot-6-inches, 315 pounds) from St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, Ohio and yesterday he found out that he holds an offer from Pitt.
“I haven’t had a lot of contact with Pitt. I’ve been talking to them here and there. It’s been a little bit since I’ve heard from them so the offer was kind of a shock but I had a feeling it would come eventually. They’ve seemed like they were interested in me from the beginning so I thought I’d get the offer sooner or later so it was cool,” said Kinnard.
Photo courtesy of Darian Kinnard
Pitt now joins Boston College, Cincinnati, Kentucky, Iowa State, Maryland, Minnesota and Purdue as schools that have officially offered Kinnard. As with most prospects, this is a stressful time for recruits as they wait to see who contacts them.
“It’s difficult. To be hearing from coaches and to know you’re wanted for the talent you’re working on and the craft you’ve been beating on. Just knowing that these schools want that talent in their program is great but it’s nerve racking because you’re trying to figure out what schools you might attend. But you still have a responsibility to go lifting and do everything you can for your high school team to be great next year,” said Kinnard.
Ohio State and LSU are two schools that could be next with offers but that’s something Kinnard is worried about. The junior prospect is working on getting better for his senior season.
“My strengths are my length and ability to move around pretty quickly. I need to work on my footwork and my pass protection. My pass protection is not terrible but it’s not where I need it to be. I have OK technique but it needs to be better if I’m going to play at the next level.”
Photo courtesy of Darian Kinnard
As far as Pitt goes, Kinnard says that he’s still researching them but knows that the “facilities are nice, the university is pretty and the campus is beautiful.”
Despite being from Ohio, the hometown school isn’t a dream offer but he does a “dream” and there’s one thing he’s looking for when picking his college team.
“Honestly, my only dream is to get a great education for a cheap price, basically nothing. Ohio State is a great school and they’ve produced a lot of NFL players and obviously that’s something I’m looking for,” said Kinnard.
“But regardless, I’m looking for a college that will develop me as a player so that I can play at the next level and maybe even one day get to the next level.”
