It didn’t take Pitt long to actively begin to pursue a priority recruit that recently entered the transfer portal.
Pittsburgh Sports Now has confirmed that Jeff Capel and staff conducted a Zoom Meeting on Thursday morning with former Fordham center/forward Joel Soriano, who entered the transfer portal this week.
Soriano is a 6-foot-11, 250-pound sophomore forward from Stepinac Basketball in White Plains, New York, the same high school that Pitt assistant Tim O’Toole graduated from. Last season with Fordham, Soriano averaged 27.1 minutes, 10.4 points, 9.2 rebounds per game and shot 55.8% from the field.
The best case scenario that Capel envisions is paring Soriano with 2021 5-star center Efton Reid, who plans on announcing his college decision a week from today.
A source tells PSN that “Soriano is so overwhelmed right now with the amount of calls and texts he’s receiving from programs across the country and is shutting down his phone”, because of the activity it’s getting. We’re told that just some of the programs he’s heard from are Oklahoma State, St. John’s, Oklahoma, Illinois, Creighton, Virginia Tech, Penn State, VCU and South Carolina.
PSN is hoping to speak with Soriano soon to hear his take from today’s meeting with Pitt.
Update (3:47 PM)-
During his first conversation with them on Tuesday, Capel and O’Toole message to Soriano was that Pitt was a place that would give him a opportunity to come in right away and play major minutes and have a major role for a ACC program. They also talked with him about the ability to help develop his game to play at the next level.
