Back in March, Jacob Oden made his first visit to Pitt to attend a spring practice. Fortunately for Pitt, Oden liked what he saw and made it a point to make a return visit.
The native of Harper Woods, Michigan tells Pittsburgh Sports Now that he will be in town on Saturday to attend the game against Tennessee.
Oden (6’1″, 182-pound) is a 4-star defensive back that is ranked as a Top 150 prospect by Rival.com. At this stage of his recruitment, Oden holds offers from Pitt, Arkansas, Cincinnati, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ole Miss, Missouri, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Penn State, Purdue, Tennessee and West Virginia.
Oden talked with PSN about making a return visit to Pitt and a big reason is the relationship between him and Archie Collins, which started back when he was a 9th grader.
“Ever since my visit to Pitt in the spring, I’ve wanted to come back and Coach Archie really wanted me to come back for a game,” said Oden. “I’ve never been to a Pitt game before, so I wanted to make sure that I got there to see one.”
“When I visited there earlier, something that really impressed me was their facilities which were really nice. Getting to just be around the program, the players and to get to meet the coaches was good. Getting to talk more with Coach Archie was really good so I wanted to come back to see more. Coach Archie is a cool dude. He’s been talking to me since my freshman year so things between him and I are really good. He was one of the first coaches to offer me, which was cool.”
At Harper Woods High School, Oden is a versatile player that excels for them on offense, defense and special teams but tells me that Pitt is recruiting him to play cornerback. With all of the attention that he’s receiving from programs around the country, I asked Oden what recruiting pitch Collins is using to try and get him to Pitt.
“He always tells me how Pitt produces NFL defensive backs, that’s been his main thing,” said Oden. “He tells me that if I go there, I would have the opportunity play early and get to the league. That’s the big thing.”
Oden will arrive in Pittsburgh Saturday morning and heard about the atmosphere at the Backyard Brawl and is looking forward to seeing the type of crowd and noise Acrisure Stadium will have for the big game against Tennessee.
“I really want to see the gameday atmosphere. Like I said before, this will be my first time there for a game, I want to see how loud the fans get and how they interact. I also want to see the coaches coach in tough situations because they’ll be playing one of the top teams in the country. I’m really looking forward to seeing the game.”
MSU bound
All about 💰of that the case…they do not impress me as a football team never did .. over rated