The next addition to Pitt’s 2022 recruiting board is LJ Thomas, a junior point guard who has recently seen his interest from Pitt pick up.
“Coach Jason Capel has been talking to me,” Thomas told Pittsburgh Sports Now. “They’ve been on me for a minute now. We talk a lot. He texts me every two or three days. He is always checking up on me. He said he’s excited to watch me play this live period.”
He stands at 6-foot-4, 195 pounds, has a very strong frame with fantastic height for the point guard position. He uses his build to his advantage when driving through the lane as well as on defense, where he can guard multiple different positions.
“I am a scoring point guard but I find the balance between getting my teammates involved and lifting my teammates up, kind o being a good leader,” he said. “I’ve got a killer mid-range game, and I can shoot the three from deep. I score at all three levels.”
Thomas plays for Team Loaded North Carolina during the summer, and attends Bull City Prep during the school year. A native of Tampa, Florida, he moved to North Carolina last year and now resides there.
He is being recruited by many high major schools, including Auburn, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Texas A&M, Xavier, Maryland, and more. While he was originally a member of the class of 2021 and some schools have talked to him about reclassifying back up to 2021, he confirmed to PSN that he has not yet talked about reclassifying to 2021 with Capel.
“I know that the head coach previously coached under Mike Krzyzewski,” he said when asked what he has learned about Pitt. “I know that it is an ACC school, and that it is a nice school with nice facilities. The ACC is one of the conferences that I would love to compete in. It’s just got the all-around best competition. They play in the best league for college basketball.”
While he does not know exactly when he will be committing to a program, he did confirm that he has not discussed a visit to Pitt with the staff yet. While he still has not started his senior year yet, he has plenty of time to narrow down his options and find the right fit for him.
“I want to choose a program that I can trust,” he added. “I want a coach that is going to push me to get to the next level and align with my ultimate goal.”
He’s not coming to Pitt. 1000 to 1 shot.