Pitt FB Recruiting
Pitt First Power 5 Offer for 2023 Pa. TE Joey Schlaffer
The majority of Pitt’s recruiting news lately has come from the states of California, Texas and Florida but that changed on Tuesday with an in-state offer.
The Panthers became the first Power Five program to offer Class of 2023 tight end Joey Schlaffer (6-foot-6, 210 pounds) from Exeter, Pennsylvania.
Schlaffer received the news Tuesday morning while working out with his brother, Michael Menet, a former 4-star center at Penn State, who is currently preparing for the 2021 NFL Draft.
Pittsburgh Sports Now spoke with Schlaffer after getting the news of his offer from Cory Sanders, which completely caught him off-guard.
”This news just came completely out of the blue for me. There’s a broadcaster up here that has many connections to coaches and tweeted out the other day and then DM’d it to a couple Pitt coaches,” Schlaffer told PSN. “In that same day, I had two coaches from Pitt follow me back, including Coach Sanders. Then this morning, I’m down here with my brother and he talked to Coach Sanders and the offer came.
”Coach said that they believe I could turn into a really good tight end and that I just have to put on the weight. He sees that I have really good body control and a nice catch radius and that I move well for my size. If I can put the weight on, I could be a nice, explosive tight end.”
https://twitter.com/joey_schlaffer/status/1326657774193938433?s=21
Schlaffer said that he hasn’t stressed about getting that first Power Five offer and hoped it would arrive soon. That happened today and, as you can imagine, it was quite emotional.
”When he told me that, my body was shaking to be honest with you,” said Schlaffer. “Prior to today, my best offer was Bowling Green and this is no disrespect to them but that’s not a Power Five offer. To get an in-state offer from a big, Power Five program I didn’t know what to do ir think. I was just freaking out.
”My first call after getting the news was to my dad. I FaceTimed him and he told me that when he found out from our athletic director that he had tears in his eyes. I was really proud at that moment because he was proud of me and that I’m doing the right things and moving in the right direction.”
Along with excelling in football, Schlaffer also is a standout basketball player. He told PSN an aspect of the game that he does well on the football field is getting up and pulling down high passes and winning the jump ball battles with defensive backs.
@joey_schlaffer hits the 3 to end the first @BoysExeter leads 9-5 @BadgleyBruce @MDrago59 @PaulRobertsCuse pic.twitter.com/Y91cdrErHm
— Exeter Boys Basketball (@BoysExeter) February 10, 2021
Time out with 2:13 in the 3rd Eagles 26-24 @Adam75740907 to @joey_schlaffer for 2 pic.twitter.com/y1cZU4mC4U
— Exeter Boys Basketball (@BoysExeter) January 17, 2021
Prior to today’s news Schlaffer had earned offers from Bowling Green, Old Dominion and Jacksonville State.
Schlaffer becomes the seventh player from Pennsylvania in the Class of 2023 to receive an early offer from Pitt (Rodney Gallagher, Cooper Young, Ta’mere Robinson, Rahmir Stewart, Shawn Battle and Semaj Bridgeman).
