Jeff Capel and Pitt have done a solid job adding highly skilled guards to their future roster and now are working on adding to their front court.
After watching him in person at recent tournaments in Orlando and Kansas City, the Pitt staff reached out this morning to 2023 4-star forward Coen Carr and informed him that he’d earned an offer to Pitt.
The 6-foot-7, 215-pound forward currently plays for Legacy Early College Prep School in Greenville, South Carolina but is from Georgia. Carr is rated by Rivals.com as a 4-star prospect and the No. 78 overall prospect in the Class of 2023, while 247Sports has him as the No. 59 overall player and one of the Top 10 forwards. Pitt joins programs like Clemson, UConn, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Indiana, LSU, Memphis, NC State, Tennessee and Vanderbilt that have extended offers to this elite forward.
Following his phone call with Capel, Pittsburgh Sports Now spoke with Carr about the conversation, his overall recruitment and learned about him as player.
Carr was a well-known player prior to this summer but his reputation was furthered enhanced following his performance at the NBPA Camp in Orlando, Florida and with the Georgia Stars (AAU) on July 6-10 in Kansas City, Mo.
“I had a feeling (more attention and offers were on the way) but it wasn’t something I wasn’t thinking about when I was playing,” said Carr. “I just kept my head down, worked hard and made sure everyone was seeing I was playing hard every game and every time I was on the court. After Kansas City, I felt like I had a pretty good showing and that some of this would be coming but I try not to worry too much about this and just let it happen.”
“I feel like I showed people that I could do more than just athleticism. I showed them that I was a good passer, that I have a good shooting touch and that I’m a good teammate. I believe the biggest strengths of my game are my defense and slashing, getting to the basket. I believe those are the things that I’m one of the top players in the country at doing.”
Those are things that the Pitt staff would love to add to their program and Carr found that out as he had his first conversation with Capel and it was one that he enjoyed.
“Coach Tim (O’Toole) was the first person to contact me a couple of days ago. Then he put Coach Capel on the phone today and Coach Capes told me how he saw me playing this past weekend and how he loved my game. He said that he loved my playmaking ability and the shooting touch that I showed. He said that he would love for me to play for his program and that’s when he offered me.”
“It was really great being on the phone with him today. He told me about some of his past jobs and some of his past players at Duke and Oklahoma. He was telling me how he really likes my game and how good he believes that I can be.”
Carr has already made official visits to Indiana and Vanderbilt and has one scheduled to Tennessee for later this month. Although the relationship is really just starting and it was only one conversation, it sounds like Pitt has a good shot at getting a visit from Carr.
“I feel like the Pitt offer is a great one,” said Carr. “They’re in the ACC and that’s a conference that I watch a lot. Being from Georgia, the ACC and SEC are conferences that I really watch a lot. I feel like Pitt has already made a good impression on me and I feel like I’ll probably take a visit there my senior season. Right now, I’m going to work on setting up that visit later. Yeah, they’ve made a great impression on me.”
