Pitt FB Recruiting
Recruits Reaction to Visiting Pitt This Weekend
As we’ve been reporting on, Pat Narduzzi and his staff were busy the past couple days hosting a number of out of town recruits.
While their were some local recruits, a large number of the players were from out of town and held offers from Pitt. Following their stay, Pittsburgh Sports Now has been reaching out to these players to get their thoughts on what they saw and heard.
As we hear back from more players, we’ll add their comments to this list.
Asaad Brown, 2023 cornerback, Virginia Beach, Virginia, cousin of Tony Grimes.
This coming season, Brown will be a freshman but will be a starting cornerback on the varsity team. He’s being described as one of the next great players to come out of Virginia. He’s getting the early jump on recruiting and visiting college programs. This was the first time Brown has visited a college program.
“I was a bit nervous but I was just trying to keep my cool but yeah I was nervous. Something that impressed me about the visit was watching practice and how competitive all the players on Pitt were and it was really fun watching them scrimmage. I had a chance to talk with Coach Beatty and he just was wishing me luck as a freshman and almost told me to stay humble throughout the recruiting over the next few years. As far as the strengths of my game, I’m a good cover corner, I get to and attack the ball and I can hit you.”
Tony Grimes: 2021 4-star cornerback, Virginia Beach, Virginia, #1 rated cornerback in the country.
“Pittsburgh was a wonderful city. Pitt has so much around it, also the Pitt university is also one of the top rated colleges. As far as the football program, I found out about so many players that came out of Pitt than I didn’t even know about. They just have a really good football program. Something that really impressed me was the Cathedral of Learning. Learning the background story of it, all the different rooms it has, that just made it even better. That’s just so unique and not many colleges have something like that. As far as the football practice, it was very intense. I loved the way the players competed against each other, trash talking that they were doing and just going head-to-head against one another. They really have a lot of athletes especially on defense and I won’t be surprised if they go very far this year. Coaches were recruiting me and letting me know how much of a family atmosphere they have at Pitt. Coach Beatty is my guy and told me that they’re going to continue to recruit me and that no one will recruit me harder. It was my first time meeting Coach Narduzzi and he was really cool. You don’t meet too many head coaches that are willing to sit down with you and not just talk about the football program. He talked to me about life and how Pitt is more than just about football. He was just real with me and I appreciated that.”
Courtesy of Tony Grimes
Nate Evans: 2021 4-star athlete, Virginia Beach, Virginia, offers from Pitt, Florida State, Maryland, Virginia and Virginia Tech.
”I really liked how it’s not that far from anything and almost anything is walking distance. What stood out was the facility and that they share with the Pittsburgh Steelers. I was very excited to see the Cathedral which had many different rooms all with there own culture. I also liked all the bridges and there are 446. I will definitely be back down to Pitt. It feels like a place I could call home.”
Courtesy of Nate Evans
Antonio Webb: 2020 3-star cornerback, Colonial Heights, Virginia, offers from Pitt and Virginia.
“Honestly, I feel like the day went really well. I liked the atmosphere, the school, how Pitt runs things, the entire coaching staff. Things went really well. Pitt is one of my top schools, I really enjoyed it there. I had a chance to talk with Coach Collins and I asked him their coverages, how they run things in practice, game-day coverages and afterwards we were able to watch film. He told me that he loved my film and next time I come, they want me to bring my family. Coach Collins is a great dude, I like him a lot. I actually may be coming back to Pitt in a week or so. As far as making my decision, I want to make a commitment to a school before the summer, like between now and the first week of June.”
Courtesy of Antonio Webb
Nehki Meredith: 2020 4-star safety, Virginia Beach, Virginia, offers from Pitt, LSU, North Carolina, TCU, Texas A&M, Louisville, Nebraska, Penn State, Tennessee and Virginia Tech.
“It’s pretty cool that the Pitt facility is shared with the Steelers and I really liked the food. It was cool watching film with Coach Sanders. We also went to the Cathedral and saw a lot of cool things in that building which was so big. We also got a chance to watch a live practice on the game field.”
Courtesy of Nehki Meredith
Joseph Johnson: 2020 3-star cornerback, Colonial Heights, Virginia, offers from Pitt, Penn State, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Indiana, NC State, Tennessee, Rutgers, Virginia Tech and West Virginia.
“I enjoyed the visit to Pitt. We got to see the facilities and got a tour of the campus. It was also fun to see Heinz Field, the stadium. I got to sit down with Coach Collins and talk about football, my impact and things like that. I also sat down with Coach Narduzzi and had a great conversation. I got to bond with a lot of the coaches and I can’t wait to come back.”
Courtesy of Joseph Johnson
Charles Bell: 2020 3-star safety, Gaithersburg, Maryland, offers from Pitt, Maryland, Boston College, Syracuse, East Carolina and Temple.
“I would have to say that I was equally impressed by the graduation rate and the energy of the Pitt team during practice. Of course, the graduation rate impressed me because education is most important to me and as far as the team, they practice like a team that has a desire to win. Emotions were high and you can tell they really care about their craft. The tour of the facilities was amazing and so was the campus tour. The food was good. I was also impressed by the fact that the team shares facilities with the Pittsburgh Steelers. I think as a player that wants to go to the next level, that’s important to see and I can grasp that by watching them. Overall, it was a great visit and I’m blessed to have Pitt as an option. #Hail2Pitt.”
Courtesy of Charles Bell
Omega Williams: 2021 3-star offensive tackle, Chesapeake, Virginia, offers from Pitt, Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Tech and East Carolina.
“I really enjoyed my visit to Pitt. It was one of my best visits yet. I went up with my mentor Coach Redd along with Antonio Webb, Gerrien Christopher, Keontae Jenkins, Nate Evans, Katron Evans, just to name a few. The Pitt facilities are nice but I didn’t know the Steelers work out of the same building as well as practice on the same fields as well. Then Aaron Donald was there working out and I got a chance to have a conversation with him. Then coach PJ showed us the Cathedral of Learning which is a very unique place that reminds me of a Harry Potter movie but it’s like a 40 story tall building. It has just about everything a school needs in it as far as education but the best part is each and every class room there is dedicated to different ethnicities. For me that’s big because it shows that the school is aware of how important diversity is at Pitt and also shows that they understand that we’re still kids who get bored easily so making the learning environment more attractive, interesting and appealing in itself will have the same effect in the learning experience. It was a good visit and I’m sure that I’ll be back in the Steel City soon.”
