Looking ahead to Pitt’s 2023 roster, the depth chart at guard will need to be refilled as Nike Sibande, Nelly Cummings, Jamarius Burton and Greg Elliott will all be playing their final season of college basketball.
In order to deal with that, one of Pitt’s top recruiting priorities next season will be to add high school guards or thru the transfer portal.
On Thursday, Pitt identified a player that they hope is part of their future.
Jeff Capel extended an offer to 2023 3-star point guard Ty-Laur Johnson from St. Benedict Prep in Newark, New Jersey. The 6’0″ guard has also received scholarship offers from Creighton, St. John’s, DePaul, VCU, Memphis and Seton Hall. 247 Sports ranks Johnson as one of the Top 20 point guards in the country and the No. 8 junior prospect from New Jersey.
Johnson has been staring on the AAU circuit with NY Rennaissance. Rivals.com basketball recruiting analyst Rob Cassidy wrote this about Johnson following his latest performance- “The emerging point guard controls the pace of games and is proving he can function as an elite facilitator at the highest level. The hard-nosed guard can hurt you in a number of ways, as he’s shown the ability to take over with 30-point games but is also capable of deferring and impacting contests with double-digit assist totals. The 6-foot floor general lacks elite length, but still manages to be a high-energy defender that can help create chaos for opposing guards.”
Johnson becomes the 8th point guard in the Class of 2023 to receive an offer from Pitt: Solomon Ball (Hagerstown, Maryland), 4-star Jaylen Curry (Fort Lauderdale, Florida), 4-star Robert Dillingham (Simi Valley, California), Rodney Gallagher (Laurel Highland HS), 4-star Jacoi Hutchinson (Bradenton, Florida), 4-star London Johnson (Norcross, Georgia) and 5-star Mikey Williams (Charlotte, NC).
