The trend of elite high recruits making unofficial visits to Pitt continued on Wednesday.
2024 four-star safety Jacob Oden (Harper Woods, Michigan) traveled to Pittsburgh for his first in-person look at the Pitt Panthers football program.
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Oden is one of the highest-rated players to visit Pitt this spring. The 6-foot-1, 175-pound safety is rated as a four-star recruit and is ranked by Rivals as one of the Top 10 safeties and the No. 117 overall sophomore in the country. Along with Pitt, Oden holds offers from Arkansas, Cincinnati, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Purdue, Tennessee and West Virginia.
Courtesy Jacob Oden
Pittsburgh Sports Now caught up with Oden on Thursday morning and got his thoughts about his Pitt experience and catching up with his chief recruiter Archie Collins.
“I’ve been trying to get down to Pitt for a while and my 7-on-7 team was coming down to Maryland for a tournament, so we made a stop at Pitt and to also see Coach Archie,” said Oden. “Coach Archie started recruiting me during my freshman year. He’s from Detroit anyways so that makes our relationship stronger. I got to see him yesterday and we got a chance to sit down and talk about football and everything. He’s really a cool dude and a good coach.
“While I was there, we spent most of the time in the film room and breaking down what they’re doing on the field,” Oden said. “Coach was trying to teach me new techniques while watching their film. He told me what I’m good at and also some things that I need to work on. But when I had a chance to look around (Pitt’s facilities), they were really nice, they have a super facility. Coach also told me that I need to get back up there.”
Pitt wants Oden to make a return visit, but did he see enough from Pitt to want to make a return visit?
“I’ll be back to Pitt later this year, for sure.”