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Pitt FB Recruiting

Welcoming Bob Lichtenfels to the PSN Team

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Pat Narduzzi and Jeff Capel aren’t the only ones who can recruit around here.

All of us at Pittsburgh Sports Now are thrilled to announce that we’ve added a new member to the PSN family. It’s a name that anyone following the early days of the online recruiting scene should be familiar with, Bob Lichtenfels.

Pitt football recruiting coverage sponsored by
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Bob will be writing a variety of content, chiefly analyzing potential Pitt football recruits and commits, WPIAL standouts, and providing invaluable insight. Many of his articles will be PSN Die-Hards exclusive.

If you’d like to become a Die-Hard member, here’s the link to do so. It’s only $38 a year and less than $4 per month.

Subscribe to PSN Die-Hards

And now for the unacquainted, a little bit more about our newest member.

He is a Western Pennsylvania native and he still maintains a great relationship with a number of high school and college coaches across the commonwealth and the country. He played collegiately at Thiel College and played his high school ball at United High School a former District Six powerhouse.

Bob served as an assistant coach at United and Blairsville for 15 seasons. He worked as a recruiting analyst for the Panther Digest as part of the Scout.com Network. After one year, he was promoted to a role as the East Coast Recruiting Analyst. After three years, he was promoted to a National Recruiting Analyst which he held for four years. During his work as an analyst, Lichtenfels also worked one season as a lead talent evaluator for MSL Combines. He also coached the defensive line on the Under-Armour Combine Tour.

“I have listened to overtures from a number of people and companies in the industry, but for this season I want to do a part-time schedule,” said Lichtenfels “I still read some of the stories on some of the recruiting sites. I do follow the Pittsburgh Sports Now content and I like what they’re doing. There are a lot of folks there whom I respect and I’ve gotten to know over the years. Being in Pennsylvania I’ve always followed the players that we have in this great state and hopefully I can add to that coverage.”

Lichtenfels left Fox Sports News/Scout.com for 247sports where he served as a recruiting analyst and site publisher for two years. He then joined Preps.com as Director of Football Operations. During his work on the Under-Armour Combine circuit he had the pleasure of working with talented players across the country, many of whom are playing in the NFL currently such as Aaron Donald, Everson Griffen, Jerrell Casey, Tim Jernigan among others.

“When you rank and predict what kids are going to be and what you see, you’re opening yourself up to a whole world of people who will disagree with you,” He said. “You’re going to hit on some and miss on some. All you can do is evaluate what you see. You can’t predict a player’s work ethic or if he is going to properly develop in the system that he plays in. It can be a very humbling experience.”

He stepped away from the recruiting industry for a few years to help his own sons focus on their athletic endeavors and now his youngest son is a senior and going through the recruiting process in wrestling.

“Traveling the country and watching football for a living is a dream job,” Lichtenfels said “Being a father, is my dream job and I just couldn’t justify being an absentee dad. How can you go watch other kids on a Friday night and not see your own? I had to make a decision and I returned to the private sector. We’re on the last legs of my youngest son’s journey and I missed the action of seeing the top players in the country and seeing the best the keystone state has to offer.

“I still go to some of the camps and I talk with a lot of the coaches at the high school and college level and I started to miss it,” he said “I’m not sure that I’ll get into the way I once did, but sometimes you have to step away from things you love and recharge your batteries and get that fire back in your gut.”

Lichtenfels has been a guest for a variety of media outlets over the course of his career including ESPN, Fox Sports, FSN Pittsburgh, NFL Network, The Big Ten Network along with various local radio shows and newspapers.

Sandy Schall, Coldwell Banker
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