Pitt FB Recruiting
Pitt Target Jordan Buchanan Continuing Strong Family Football Tradition
Pitt has targeted a player with pretty good bloodlines in the Class of 2022 that could be a diamond in the rough.
Jordan Buchanan is a class-of-2022 athlete from North Gwinnett High School in Suwanee, Georgia and found out on Wednesday from Archie Collins that he’d earned an offer from Pitt. Buchanan (6’1″, 175) currently plays wide receiver, safety and cornerback but Pitt loves his potential in the defensive backfield.
Pitt has been very successful in the last few years landing defensive backs from Georgia with names such as Ryland Gandy (Buford, Georgia), Khalil Anderson (Atlanta, Georgia), Rashad Battle (Fairburn, Georgia) and Hunter Sellers (College Park, Georgia). The Panthers are hoping that Buchanan becomes their next commitment from the Peach State.
Courtesy Jordan Buchanan
On Thursday, Pittsburgh Sports Now spoke with this rising prospect and found out that he comes from a football family. Buchanan has two older brothers that played D-1 football (Baylen/Tennessee and Ray Jr./Northern Iowa) and his father is Ray “Big Play” Buchanan played 12 years in the NFL (Oakland, Atlanta and Indianapolis) and finished his career with 47 interceptions, 823 tackles and one Pro Bowl appearance (1998).
“I’m connected in with PitViper Sports and they were the ones that really got me connected with Coach Collins,” said Buchanan. “That started really sometime last week. I was able to send out some film to him (Collins) of some camps that I did, like some footwork drills and some of my stuff from last year. He was able to see that and he got in contact with me. Coach started off by telling me about what in particular that he was looking out for in the videos.”
Some videos from the field today pic.twitter.com/fUReu9ygGb
— Jordan Buchanan (@J_buchanan4) July 1, 2021
“One of the things that they like is that Jordan is tall has length and they like his speed,” said Ray Buchanan. “I don’t like advertising my kids a lot but they saw a highlight video of him and how his movement is. He played on the offensive side of the ball and they noticed how fast he was able to pick up on the footwork at defensive back and just noticed that he’s an athlete. The people at PitViper Sports put the tape out there and they have a good relationship with Coach Archie and that’s how it started to blow up. Once they saw him, they really picked up on the potential and growth in him.”
Wednesday was a big day for Buchanan because along with Pitt, he also received an offer from LSU, to go along with his first offer from Kentucky.
“I’ve really always been looking at them (Pitt) and realized what a good coach he is,” he added. “I know that he was able to get two defensive backs to the NFL last year. I just want to play big-time football and my goal is to eventually play in the NFL. When I got the news from Pitt, of course I was excited and happy. This is just a big opportunity for me.”
Courtesy Jordan Buchanan
Jordan’s father tries to stay in the background and allow his kids to go through the recruiting process themselves but he’s done his research on the Pitt program and tells PSN that he’s very impressed.
“I’ve been keeping up with Archie and noticing what he’s been able to do over the last couple of years,” said Ray. “This guy has taken over at Pitt and last year they led the ACC in interceptions with 14 and were 9th in the country. Not only that but the things he was able to do when he was in the MAC Conference. He’s building ball hawks down there not only that but they’re from Pittsburgh, which means that they’re a blue-collar football team that plays with toughness and effort. I look at that kind of stuff and that’s some of the things we talk about behind the scenes. Plus, Pitt provides you with a great education, a program that can possibly get him into the NFL and gives their players great coaching.”
All of this recruiting news has come late in the summer for Buchanan so he tells PSN that he’s in the process of determining some in-season visits that he’d like to make. Pitt has already talked to him about some potential games that they’d like him to come up and attend.
