Pitt FB Recruiting
Rodney Gallagher Updates Recruitment Following Penn State Trip; Visit Planned to Pitt
It remains to be seen whether or not they’ll be his final choice but Rodney Gallagher is sure getting familiar with the Penn State football program.
For the second time in the last three weeks, the 2023 4-star wide receiver from Laurel Highlands High School (Pittsburgh) made an unofficial visit to State College and attended another Nittany Lions home game. The trio of Gallagher, 2023 4-star linebacker Ta’Mere Robinson (Brashear High School) and 2023 4-star cornerback and Penn State commit Lamont Payne (Chartiers Valley High School) attended Saturday night’s game against Indiana. The three of them were also at Beaver Stadium for the game against Auburn.
Courtesy of Rodney Gallagher
Nittany Sports Now caught up with Gallagher on Monday morning and asked him about a conversation he had with Franklin. The Penn State head coach gathered Gallagher, Robinson and Payne and delivered a message to them about their future decision.
“He told us that we belong here and it doesn’t get any better than this,” said Gallagher. “He then told us that our class could be special and would like to start with us and wants us to be there.”
Aside from this group conversation, Gallagher had one-on-one time with Franklin and his lead recruiter Terry Smith, who believe that he could be a similar player to the Nittany Lions current star wide receiver Jahan Dotson.
“They told me that I could be as special as him if I came there and how they could get me involved in the offense. They love my ability to create plays in open space. That’s something that I’m really going to have to consider a lot.”
Gallagher isn’t commenting on any leaders of his recruitment but Penn State will obviously be a team that he seriously considers. Now that he’s getting familiar with the program and State College, I asked him to pick out one thing that really stands out to him about Penn State.
“The atmosphere stands out the most,” said Gallagher. “How much the fans love the players and care about the Penn State football program.”
Gallagher has Penn State high on his list but isn’t ready to close down his recruitment. The Top 100 junior’s recruitment is still open and he’s seriously considering many other teams and will start making visits to check out other schools. While these visits haven’t been confirmed, Gallagher tells NSN that over the next few weeks, he’d like to get to Cincinnati this weekend, Virginia Tech the following week when they host Pitt and then go to Heinz Field the following week as Pitt hosts Clemson.
Wonder if this trio will feel the same way if Franklin decides to leave State College within the next 1-2 years….
This only matters if Franklin bolts for USC in December.
I hate to say this but this young man is not coming to Pitt. Visited PSU twice in last 3 weeks – 106K fans on whiteout night vs 30k empty seats at Heinz Field.
The Clemson game will be his second visit to Pitt since he was also at the opener. Attendance didn’t seem to matter to Nahki Johnson or Eliot Donald. Duzz has landed more area top 100 players than Jimmy F. so we’ll see how this plays out.
That’s the Pitt problem we can’t shake. We are stuck trying to secure area players. PA, and Pittsburgh isn’t what it was. Gotta get the studs nationwide and Franklins decimates the Duzz on that note.
There’s no problem to shake on this subject. Top 100 means top 100 in the country. Pitt beat out all the blue bloods for Donald & Johnson.
Donald and Johnson were sold on Pitt before they even were offered a scholarship.
Gallagher is not set on going to Pitt.
Apples to oranges.
Donald yes, Johnson no. His recruitment was a battle until he signed with LSU making a big push for him. Apples to apples.
Donald was always Pitt, and some kids want to stay home like Johnson. Others always want to go away, recruiting is an inexact science. What I meant is Duzz seems to overvalue getting the Pittsburgh kids when the abundant 4-5 stars typically reside elsewhere.
Pitt’s recruiting class for 2021 had 23 players (Malik Newton was declared medically ineligible) Four out of those 23 players were from Pittsburgh.
I guess it depends on what the players want. Penn State has taken local players and they barely register in the NFL (Lamont Wade, Miles Sanders). Pitt has taken local players and put them on a path to the hall of fame (Aaron Donald, Darrelle Revis). I don’t disagree that it would be fun to play in front of 100,000 people, but that doesn’t feed your family.
so Aaron Donald and Darrelle Revis would not have dominated in the NFL unless they went to Pitt? You are reaching with the NFL comparisons as the list of PSU players is very very long
Then the problem would be Fickell going to PSU. He’s a better coach and just as good a recruiter. How he gets kids to play at Cincy is nuts
PS is a football factory. The football complex has a larger footprint than our Oakland Campus. Enough said. Negative side, it’s called White U for a reason. College Avenue is three blocks long. No Cultural District, Heinz Hall, The Benedum, etc. Diversity is Pitt’s strong point. Kids can grow in Pittsburgh, there they are told from day one “This is as close to heaven as you will ever come”. Matriculated there, thought JoePa was a fraud 50-years ago. Half of what he did is still buried. The future of college football will be the transfer market. Need a QB, get… Read more »
White U, why do you go that route? So what is Pitt then? They also pack 100k fans every game while Pitt blacks out seats and hopes to draw 30k in a stadium not even it’s own. Without Pickett next year we better be looking at the TM
By the way, I grew up near the campus and if that’s as close to heaven as I get I’m in trouble.
When has Pitt blacked out seats?