Pitt Staff Visits 3 Elite Juniors in Last 24 Hours

Jeff Capel came to Pitt with the earned reputation as one of the top recruiters in the country.

However, that Capel has yet to reel in that big-time national recruit shouldn’t come as a surprise. Recruiting is all about relationships and this staff has been trying to build those with players over the last year.

If you’re looking for a time frame of when the “Jeff Capel impact” will begin, you might might want to start with the the Class of 2020.

The reason for that is Capel and his staff have been talking with this class for two years now and introducing them to his vision of Pitt basketball.

The following are good examples of the level of recruit that Capel is trying to bring in next year. In the last 24 hours, Pitt has visited three of the top juniors in the country.

On Wednesday, Capel was at DeMatha Catholic (Hyattsville, Maryland) to see 2020 five-star center Hunter Dickinson and 2020 four-star forward Earl Timberlake. This morning, Tim O’Toole was in New Jersey watching 2020 cour-star center Cliff Omoruyi.

Dickinson (7-foot-1, 260 pounds) is ranked as a top 25 junior, Timberlake (6-foot-5, 180 pounds) currently is a Top 40 junior while Omoruyi (6-foot-10, 230 pounds) is viewed as a top 50 recruit.

Pitt has been able to get all three players in for unofficial visits: Dickinson and Timberlake were in Pittsburgh the weekend of the Pitt-Penn State football game while Omoruyi made a visit last month.

The plan now is trying to get them to make a return visit in the near future.

Courtesy of Cliff Omoruyi

Following this mornings workout, Pittsburgh Sports Now caught up with Omoruyi, who said that with the interest he’s receiving from Pitt, he realizes that he’s a major 2020 priority.

“Yes, they’ve told that to me and hearing that just makes me want to workout even more and get better,” Omoruyi said. “They’re telling me that they can help me become  a great player as well as helping me and giving me a shot to go to the league. I like the staff and believe they’re great coaches.”

As far as having any leaders, Omoruyi says he doesn’t and that he’s seriously considering every school that has offered him.

A few other highly ranked juniors that the Panthers are heavily pursuing: four-star forward Henry Coleman, four-star shooting guard Demarr Langford, four-star forward Marcus Bagley, four-star point guard Ethan Morton, four-star wing Donovan Johnson and four-star wing DJ Gordon.