Pitt FB Recruiting
Pitt Football Continues to Be Excellent Pipeline to NFL under Narduzzi
National Signing Day for the Class of 2023 is just 28 days away.
Starting on December 15, high school recruits are able to officially sign their Letter of Intent with their school and their commitment becomes official.
This is also the day that fan bases across the country evaluate how their favorite team did and since they’ve likely never watched a player in person, their opinion comes from what star ranking a player is given by one of the national recruiting services.
Recruiting isn’t an exact science, as every team finds out on a yearly basis. Some 4 and 5-star recruits end up not living up to the expectation placed on them or the school they go to ends up not being a good fit.
4 and 5-star recruits are obviously more coveted but by no means does this star designation guarantee them success. By the same token, fans shouldn’t be disappointed by signing 3-star recruits, with the Pitt Panthers being a prime example of that lately.
Over the last handful of years, Pat Narduzzi’s program has done a tremendous job of developing players that have gone on to make NFL rosters and the vast majority of those players have been 3-star recruits.
Defensive tackle Calijah Kancey is catching the eye of NFL teams with his performance this season and he wasn’t a 4 or 5-star recruit coming out of the hotbed of Florida. The same can be said for Kenny Pickett, who developed into a first-round pick and is now the starting quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Before Signing Day arrives, PSN wanted to remind everyone of the players drafted recently from Pitt and what star recruit they were when arriving at Pitt.
Pitt Players Drafted in the NFL Under Pat Narduzzi
Kenny Pickett, QB: 3-star recruit, Power 5 offers from North Carolina, Iowa and Boston College. Recently became the 1st round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Damarri Mathis, CB: 3-star recruit, Power 5 offers from South Carolina, Ole Miss, Minnesota, Louisville and Indiana. 4th round pick of the Denver Broncos.
Damarri Mathis (21) – October 23, 2021 David Hague/PSN
Jimmy Morrissey, C: not ranked, No Power Five offers, came to Pitt as a walk-on. 7th round pick of the Las Vegas Raiders.
Damar Hamlin, S: 4-star recruit, 30+ offers including ones from Auburn, Clemson, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Stanford, UCLA and Wisconsin. 6th round pick of the Buffalo Bills.
Jaylen Twyman, DT: 3-star recruit, Power 5 offers from Tennessee, South Carolina, Rutgers, Purdue, Missouri, Michigan State, Maryland, Louisville, Indiana and Florida. 6th round pick of the Minnesota Vikings.
Jason Pinnock, CB: 3-star recruit, Power 5 offers from Boston College. 5th round pick of the NY Jets.
Rashad Weaver, DE: 2-star recruit, dropped from Michigan’s recruiting class and signed with Pitt on Signing Day in 2016. 4th round pick of the Tennessee Titans.
Patrick Jones, DE: 2-star recruit, Power 5 offers from Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Virginia, NC State, Illinois, Duke and California. 3rd round pick of the Minnesota Vikings.
Dane Jackson, CB: 2-star recruit, Pitt was his only Power 5 offer. 7th round pick of the Buffalo Bills.
Dane Jackson (11) November 30, 2019 — David Hague/PSN
Qadree Ollison, RB: 3-star recruit, Power 5 offers from Boston College, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Penn State, Rutgers, Syracuse and Wisconsin. 5th round pick of the Atlanta Falcons.
Avonte Maddox, CB: 3-star recruit, Power 5 offer from Purdue. 4th round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Jordan Whitehead, S: 4-star recruit, Top 100 recruit in the country with Power 5 offers from Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Tennessee. 4th round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Brian O’Neill, OT: 3-star recruit, Pitt was his only Power 5 offer. 2nd round pick of the Minnesota Vikings.
Another Temple QB Commit from Ocean Township NJ trained by same guy as KP8! Make it Happen Cignetti/Narduzzi/DiBaso…
Not sure why the Negative Votes, we just had Minchey decommit. The comment was in regard there is a Temple Commit from the same High School and QB Coach that Kenny Picket had named Tyler Douglas.
Having more 4 and 5 star players on your roster translates to more wins. Pitt’s strategy of always having to develop diamond in the roughs translates to 8-4 and 7-5 seasons. This author is just trying to calm the storm before an abysmal recruiting class signing. 50th nationally and like 11th in the ACC. How is Duke and Wake out recruiting us?