Newcomer to Football Earns Pitt Offer

Jayson Oweh is an incredibly gifted athlete.

How gifted? Oweh earned a Power 5 scholarship despite just playing one year of high school football.

The Blairstown, New Jersey native visited Pitt for Junior Day on Saturday and walked away with a scholarship from the Pitt Panthers.

“I played basketball prior to football. The school that I previously attended didn’t have a football team. When I transferred to Blair Academy my whole idea was to pursue football because I wanted to expand my opportunities. I tried football out and I really liked it,” said Oweh.

Courtesy of Jayson Oweh

Pitt really liked him too and Saturday he received the news from offensive coordinator Shawn Watson that he’d earned a scholarship.

“Coach Watson offered me. He loved how athletic I was considering that was my first year playing football. He thought I did a lot of things well and I looked very experienced. He also loved how I used my two hands to catch and not my body. They liked my frame and size.”

Oweh mentioned using his hands. The interesting aspect to that is that most teams are recruiting him as a defensive end but Pitt sees him playing tight end in college.

“I believe that I can play both sides of the ball but most colleges are recruiting me as a defensive end. I’d like to play tight end and Pitt is my first offer to play tight end. Penn State is also recruiting me as a tight end,” said Oweh.

Right now, Oweh (6-foot-6, 240 pounds) has seven scholarship offers including ones from Rutgers, Boston College, Louisville, Temple and Central Florida. Oweh tells me that he has visits planned to Syracuse on March 4 and Penn State on March 22.

As far as Pitt goes, Oweh says that he’d like to come back and visit when they start spring practice in the middle of March. He saw enough on Junior Day that makes him want to continue exploring the Panthers.

“It was a great visit. I didn’t really know that Pitt was such a prestigious school like that, the way their academics and athletics are up to par like that. After the game, we went to a meeting room and talked to some people from the university. They showed us all the ways Pitt tries to get you to be greater after the game of football and to be a better man. That was really good stuff.”

Courtesy of Jayson Oweh

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