Pitt FB Recruiting
Steel Valley 2023 3-Star Safety Cruce Brookins Making Pitt Official Visit
Pittsburgh Sports Now has confirmed a second player making an official visit this weekend to Pitt.
Steel Valley three-star safety tells PSN he’ll spend this weekend with the Pitt Panther football program.
The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Brookins is someone Cory Sanders and Pat Narduzzi would like to add to their future secondary.
Brookins, who was previously committed to Kent State, received his offer from Sanders back on November 29 and the Panthers have pursued him hard ever since.
Pitt offered Blessed!! @coachcsanders @210ths @DulinOlando @OneWayWo @sharkomartin #AGTG pic.twitter.com/Jg8esw75UO
— Cruce Brookins (@BrookinsCruce) November 30, 2022
Along with Pitt, Brookins also has Power Five offers from West Virginia, Syracuse and Cincinnati.
Brookins has completed 35-of-69 passing attempts for 711 yards with seven touchdowns, but a majority of his damage has come on the ground, where he’s added 1,625 yards and 33 touchdowns on just 123 carries.
And he’s added 30 tackles (16 solo), six interceptions and six pass breakups on defense — and added a punt return touchdown for good measure.
Brookins is a skilled player on both sides of the ball, but Pitt is no doubt recruiting him to play in their secondary.
And despite the obvious lure of Brookins’ stats this season, a local talent evaluator sees the comparisons between Brookins and some of the elite defensive back talent to come out of Pittsburgh in recent years.
“He, physically, is bigger than Damar Hamlin, Kenny Robinson, Paris Ford. At this stage, his approach to football is like a professional. He understands coverages, he can bait the quarterback — he knows when a bubble screen is coming. He’s a Power Five guy.”
Pitt’s 2023 class currently holds commitments from three-star defensive backs Shadarian Harrison (Lakeland, Florida) and Jesse Anderson (Fort Lauderdale, Florida).
The first official visitor that PSN confirmed to be making an official visit this weekend is Florida 2023 three-star defensive end Maverick Gracio.
2023 Kent State DE Commit Maverick Gracio Making Official Visit to Pitt
3* train keeps chugging along
I’m a Pitt fan but you can’t tell me that they can’t at least get a few 4 star recruits? It’s getting bad for Coach Average Narduzzi.
Chugged them right to an ACC title last year didn’t it? We all would like to see 4 and 5 star guys of course, but Pitt has a great deal of success with lower rated kids. They will have to continue to focus on the portal too.
Too bad the ACC was in a down year on 2021. I would like to see 4 star recruits and actually be the first to offer studs in western PA and not play second fiddle.
exactly. Pickett, Addison and a down year for Clemson was needed. Now Clemson and FSU are back. 6 wins next year
You said 4 to me. Make up your mind. They will win 8 or 9
Could very easily leave September 1 – 3 with the schedule Scott Barnes saddled us with. Cincinnati, WV and ND to start the season and the sports writers will poor mouth Pitt. 17-year olds are very impressionable. Try to convince a 5-star with this negativity. Good luck.
Pitt will be 3-1 in non conference next year. WVU and Cincinnati are going into rebuild with coaching and roster overhauls. Check out what’s happening with those two teams. Pitt is playing them early and at the right time.
To compete consistently for a Top 20 team we can’t make excuses. We need to recruit more 4 Star players and get lucky once in a couple yrs. with a 5 star. Look at all the locals we are recruiting again.
Well put. The portal will take care of a lot of the gaps.
We also need to heavily recruit from transport portal. Another opportunity to improve our program. Still losing to many quality and talented players from Western PA. That tells you something. Remember these local Coaches loved Wany!
No that was Pickett and Addison
He can be easily a 4 star. Very over looked. Saw him play 3 times. You are being a douche again