Pitt FB Recruiting
4-Star Georgia CB Rashad Battle Signs with Pitt
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Once again Pat Narduzzi’s program has pulled some signing day magic by added a highly rated player late in the Class of 2020.
Wednesday morning at his high school in Fairburn, Georgia, four-star cornerback Rashad Battle announced his commitment to Pitt over Virginia Tech and NC State. Battle made the decision following his official visit to Pittsburgh last weekend.
Battle becomes the Panthers’ 19th commitment to their Class of 2020 and adds another four-star recruit to the class joining DL Dayon Hayes, OL Branson Taylor, RB Israel Abanikanda, WR Jordan Addison, DB Jahvante Royal, WR Jaylon Barden and LB Bangally Kamara.
Battle (6-foot-2, 185 pounds) joins Royal to make a pair of four-star defensive back recruits, which is important considering the losses in the secondary they’ll be dealing with following the 2020 season with Paris Ford, Damar Hamlin, Jason Pinnock and Damarri Mathis all slated to be NFL-bound.
It should be noted that earlier this recruiting period, Pitt lost a cornerback commitment from Georgia in three-star recruit Tee Denson, but replaced him with a four-star recruit from the same state.
Battle adds to the list of players that Pitt has been able to land late in the signing period under Narduzzi: Rashad Weaver and Keyshon Camp in 2016, AJ Davis and Jaylen Twyman in 2017 and Mychale Salahuddin in 2018.
Pitt has now signed four defensive backs in this recruiting class: Battle, Royal, safety Buddy Mack and fellow Georgia Hunter Sellers.
With the addition of Battle and two-star Ohio kicker Ben Sauls on Wednesday, the Panthers are at 86 scholarships for the fall, one over the NCAA limit. They have plenty of time to get below that figure.
Welcome to Pittsburgh Rashad Battle. Looking forward to watching you lock things down in that Pitt secondary. Today is a good day. #H2P
Knucklehead Narduzzi can recruit. Been saying it for years. He can stockpile some talent. Just can’t figure out how to win 10-11 games with the talent he has… Its the dilemma. He offers stability. But with him its like 7 and 8 wins will be the norm. He’s a terrible coach on game day and he’s just mediocre. But he can recruit–have to give him credit there.
Tom why are you busting your paisan?
You’re probably one of those “fans” that complains about “soft” opponents and think Pitt should be playing the Steelers, Patriots and ’49ers out of conference. Meanwhile Clemson and Alabama use the out of conference schedule to play nobodies. This season we play 12 games in 13-weeks just like the pros. I remember a certain school in the middle of the state playing Ohio U when most people couldn’t find Athens. We play 8 conference games and Notre Dame. In 1976, we played 10-independents out of 12 games. A lot has changed in 45-years.