It’s becoming very clear that recruiting Western Pennsylvania talent is an early priority for Jeff Capel.
His first two recruiting trips after being named Pitt’s head coach were to Kennedy Catholic and then to Butler High School.
Pittsburgh Sports Now has learned that Capel will make an out of town recruiting trip this weekend to watch a local AAU team compete.
This weekend, the ITPS Wildcats, which is comprised of players from Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia will compete in a national tournament in Indianapolis. The ITPS Wildcats will be playing on the Adidas Gauntlet Circuit and have teams of 15-, 16- and 17-year-olds.
This weekend is the first of five live periods in which coaches can attend. Next weekend, the action will move to Atlanta and then the remaining three live periods will take place in July.
We are being told that Capel will be there to evaluate national talent as well as players on the 16 and 17 year Wildcat teams.
Three players on the 17-year-old team that he’ll be watching are Brandon Stone, Maceo Austin and Oscar Tshiebwe. Although he’s met and worked out Austin and Tshiebwe in person, this will be the first time Capel has seen or met Stone.
Four players on the 16-year old team that could catch Capel’s eye are Sewickley Academy’s Isiah Warfield, OLSH’s Donovan Johnson and David Early and Obinna Anochili, both from West Virginia.
Warfield and Johnson both have already received offers from Keith Dambrot and Duquesne. Early is a 6-foot-4 guard from Logan High School while Anochili is a 6-foot-9 forward that I’m told is “a diamond in the rough.”
