2021 3-Star TE Gavin Bartholomew: Committing to Pitt a ‘Dream Come True’

Despite not having an official offer, tight end Gavin Bartholomew is someone that’s been on Pitt’s radar since last December, as he’s remained in contact with tight ends coach Tim Salem.

Those two talked again on Wednesday and Bartholomew got the news he’d been hoping for, which was that was Pitt extending him an offer. It didn’t take him long to change his mind on a previous commitment to Buffalo and let Salem and Pat Narduzzi know he was committing to Pitt.

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Bartholomew (6-foot-5, 250 pounds) is a three-star prospect from Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania and becomes the Panthers 21st commitment for their Class of 2021 and likely their third tight end, although Trey Andersen is also capable of converting to offensive tackle.

“Getting that news was amazing, I never thought that I’d end up at Pitt,” said Bartholomew. “Now that it happened, it’s a dream come true.

“The reason I pretty much got the offer was the fact that I’m able to enroll early. I guess a running back that’s committed but isn’t able to enroll early because his district won’t allow him to. That opened up a spot for me to come and I took it. Coach Salem and Coach Narduzzi called me on FaceTime and we were talking about little things and then they got down to business and offered me. I had a smile from ear to ear, it was awesome.”

Bartholomew is an above average receiver, route runner and receiver of the football. In his high school offense, he’s split out a lot in order to take advantage of his pass skills along with his size advantage over smaller defensive backs. His biggest goal coming into the season was working on getting out of his stance quicker in order to block and he believes that he accomplished that, which led to the offer.

First game highlights!!🔥 35-0 dub / 3 rec for 110 yards / 2 td / defensive player of the game‼️ https://t.co/u1MFYOK9JB

— Gavin Bartholomew (@GavinBartholom6) September 12, 2020

“They wanted to see more tape of me during my senior year so I knew that I had to step up my game,” said Bartholomew. “They like the physicality that I bring, my size and the speed that I have for my size.”

After receiving the offer, Bartholomew gave the Pitt coaches a pretty good idea that he was going to accept their offer but he first wanted to tell his parents but also call the coaches at Buffalo and let them know he was going to be de-committing. That call wasn’t easy since he originally committed to them back in June.

“It wasn’t easy,” he said. “All the recruits at Buffalo, we have a group text and talked all the time, We had a good connection going and I built a good relationship with the coaches. It was just one of those things where if something big came up, you had to take it and can’t look back.”