It’s been a rough 24 hours for Jeff Capel and Pitt.
First, the Panthers lost their ACC opener to #15 North Carolina then they suffered potentially a bigger loss.
Overnight, Pittsburgh Sports Now received word that Pitt is “out” for their top remaining 2019 recruiting target.
A source tells me that Oak Hill Academy center Kofi Cockburn has eliminated Pitt as one of his finalists. This is a major—and somewhat surprising—development because some people viewed Pitt as a dark horse contender for this elite talent.
Capel did a good job of getting Pitt in Cockburn’s final three teams by developing a good relationship with him and his guardian plus selling him on being the centerpiece of Pitt’s revival.
Apperantely things shifted in a major way towards Brad Underwood after Cockburn took his official visit there during the Christmas break. Capel was expecting to get an official visit from Cockburn sometime this month but that’s not going to happen as he’s going to commit to Illinois, possibly as early as today.
This eliminates another big man from Pitt’s 2019 list and starts to raise the question of whether they’re actually going to land one of their primary targets.
At this point, the last two options appear to be 4-star center Qudus Wahab and 3-star center Karim Coulibaly.
Extremely disappointing. Knowing how hard that staff works, I’m sure that good news will be coming soon.
I get it that Capel has a tough road to get a footing in recruiting but to lose a 5 star to Illinois? Really? Wouldnt bother me at all if this young man picked a blue blood but Illinois?
Wont even visit here? What the hell happened in Champaign on his visit?