Pitt Offers 2019 Local Recruit Jayvon Thrift

Imagine a future secondary that includes Damar Hamlin, Paris Ford, Therran Coleman, Henry Miller, Kwantel Raines and Jayvon Thrift.

That’s the talent that Pat Narduzzi is hoping to be coaching over the next few years.

In case you’re not familiar with that last name on that you should because Jayvon Thrift is someone you’ll be hearing about a lot over the next couple of years.

Thrift (5-11, 180) made news today because he became the first recruit in the Class of 2019 to receive a scholarship offer from Pitt. This became his second official offer with the first coming from West Virginia.

The safety from Norwin was at Pitt’s practice today and got the news from Narduzzi himself.

Photo Courtesy- Jayvon Thrift

“I was really excited when I found out I got the offer. It felt pretty good, it’s the hometown school, right in my backyard. I was extremely humbled by it and it just felt good,” said Thrift .

“Coach Narduzzi invited me to his office and sat me down to talk to me. He went over the team’s defensive scheme. He believes the scheme we play at my school will help me transition over to the scheme in college.”

“Coach Narduzzi was pretty excited when he offered me. He said he watched two plays of mine on tape and knew that I was the guy he wanted,” said Thrift. “He liked my physicality, the way I get to the ball and my tackling ability.”

Pitt is trying to make inroads with local recruits and have been somewhat successful since Narduzzi became the Panthers head coach and Thrift has been impressed.

“I like how Pitt is on the build and how they’re on the upswing. They’re on the way to building something great and I feel Coach Narduzzi has a lot to do with that. He brings a lot of energy to the program. He got me pretty excited when I first met him and his energy is pretty up there. He made me feel really good about myself and he seems to bring the best out of people,” said Thrift.

Aside from Narduzzi’s energy on the field, another thing that Thrift noticed today was the amount of local players on Pitt’s practice field.

“It makes me feel even more comfortable. I played against a lot of them in 7 on 7.  Just knowing that they feel comfortable with that team, it made me feel that I should be able to fit in there too.”