Both the Pitt football and basketball staffs were busy this week recruiting up and down the east coast.
For Jeff Capel and his staff, they were in with 2019 players that they eventually hope to land and also strengthening relationships with underclassmen.
As for the football staff, it was about checking in on current commitments as well as evaluating–and in some cases offering–current juniors and sophomores.
Throughout the week, Alan Saunders kept you updated on offers that the staff made, most of which went to players in Florida.
The football staff will be out today and tonight before getting back to Pittsburgh to prepare for their matchup next Saturday vs. Duke.
Here are some notes that we’ve gathered concerning both the football and basketball teams.
PITT FOOTBALL
**I’m told that Charlie Partridge was at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Tuesday and spoke with running back Daniel Carter. This 4-star recruit has been offered by a ton of elite schools like Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia Tech and West Virginia. While some of these offers may no longer be committable because the school may have already gotten their running back, the fact remains, he was talented enough to receive an offer from them. It’s interesting that Carter has only taken two official visits so far: Pitt and Kansas State. Pitt is looking to add another running back to this class and Carter would be a major addition.
**Speaking of Partridge, he will be in Montgomery, Alabama today to see current 2019 commit defensive end Brandon Mack. Not sure if Partridge will visit him during school or attend his game tonight.
**PSN has confirmed that offensive coordinator Shawn Watson will in South Carolina tonight to watch his future quarterback Davis Beville. We believe this is the first time that Watson will watching one of Beville’s games live. Last week, he told us that he’ll be graduating high school in December and enrolling at Pitt early.
**Pat Narduzzi will have the big visit tonight as he’ll be in Beaver County with Randy Bates to watch Aliquippa 4-star cornerback MJ Devonshire, who is Pitt’s top defensive back target. At this point, it appears Devonshire’s recruitment could come down to Pitt and West Virginia although I’m hearing the star cornerback has been hearing from some SEC schools lately. Not only is Devonshire Pitt’s top defensive back target, he might be the top overall target on their recruiting board.
**A name to keep an eye on is Drew Singleton. Earlier this week, he announced that he would be transferring from Michigan. He’s a former 4-star linebacker from Paramus Catholic in New Jersey. Pitt was one of his finalists before he selected Michigan and Singleton tells me that Pitt is a place that he would still be interested in. We’re hoping to talk more with Singleton about this.
**Pitt almost had an unofficial visitor this weekend. Last night, Michigan 2020 3-star quarterback Anthony Romphf told me that he was planning on visiting Pitt this weekend but due to a family issue, he was forced to delay it. He’s one of six junior quarterbacks that currently hold an offer from Pitt and from the sound of things, Pitt sounds like a school that he’s definitely interested in.
PITT BASKETBALL
**Will Jeff Capel get his first commitment for the Class of 2019 this weekend? Tomorrow, Brewster Academy 4-star forward Anthony Walker is scheduled to make his decision. From all indications, this decision will come down to Pitt and Miami. Walker is a player the Pitt staff has recruited hard and he’d definitely fill a need they have in the front court.
**2019 4-star forward Akok Akok also has Pitt as one of his four finalists. This weekend, Akok is taking his official visit to Syracuse and then next weekend, he’ll be at Pitt which will be his last official. Although they started recruiting him late, Pitt has appeared to gained a lot of ground with him.
**Yesterday, Jeff Capel was in Virginia watching a scrimmage between Oak Hill Academy and Hargrave. Oak Hill has three players with Pitt offers: 2019 5-star center Kofi Cockburn, 2019 5-star point guard Cole Anthony and 2020 4-star shooting guard Cam Thomas, who they just offered. To Capel’s credit, despite Pitt being an underdog to land either Anthony or Cockburn, both players still list Pitt as one of their finalists. Capel has made his reputation on recruiting elite talent and that’s what he’s dealing with in Anthony and Cockburn. It’s obvious, he won’t quit recruiting them until they make a final decision.
**One other junior player to keep an eye on and that’s 4-star forward Che Evans from Dulaney High School in Maryland. Earlier this month, Evans announced his Final 10 teams but after a visit yesterday from assistant coach Milan Brown, Evans added Pitt to his list. Previously, he had named Boise State, Boston College, Florida, Georgetown, Ohio State, Long Beach State, Rutgers, TCU, Texas Tech and UCLA. Rivals currently ranks Evans as the 65th best junior in the country.
