Pitt FB Recruiting
Pitt Jumps to the Top For 2024 3-Star LB DJ McCormick After Eye-Opening Visit
DJ McCormick was excited when he received an offer from Tiquan Underwood and Pitt back in January but being a native of Florida, his knowledge of Pitt was limited.
McCormick’s impression and knowledge of Pitt completely changed over the last two days as he made his first visit to Pittsburgh.
The talented three-star linebacker from Rockledge, Florida arrived in town with family on Wednesday and continued his stay through Thursday afternoon before flying back home.
Courtesy DJ McCormick
As he awaited his flight back to Florida, McCormick spoke to Pittsburgh Sports Now about his eye-opening visit to Pitt and tells us that Pitt has climbed to the top spot in his recruitment.
“Pitt has really been recruiting me hard, both their head coach (Pat Narduzzi) and coach Underwood,” said McCormick. “Because of that, I was very interested in them and wanted to come up here for a visit to see things for myself.
“I just loved the visit. I loved the city of Pittsburgh, I loved everything about Pitt and their campus, and I liked how the campus felt like a city. I liked how you can see NFL players while at Pitt because they share facilities with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Actually, I saw Kenny Pickett working out today. That’s a cool thing and definitely would be a motivating factor if I were to pick Pitt.
Courtesy DJ McCormick
Along with seeing as much of the campus, the classrooms and facilities as possible, McCormick was able to watch the Panthers practice this morning and spent some meaningful time with linebacker coach Ryan Manalac.
“I spent a lot of great time with their linebackers coach,” said McCormick. “We sat down and watched a lot of their film and a lot of my film and talked about where he sees me at in their defense. Coach said he really likes how I tackle and the form that I have. He challenged me a little bit on the board about things and got me out of my comfort zone. I really liked that. I can tell that he’s a very detailed coach, and I was listening to everything he was saying while on the board. I can tell that Coach (Manalac) is very detail-oriented and coaches hard.”
McCormick holds offers from Pitt, Duke, Florida Atlantic, Indiana, Kansas, Liberty, Central Florida, South Florida and West Virginia. Prior to this visit, Central Florida was his sole leader, but things have changed.
“I would like to make my final decision sometime coming up in early May,” McCormick said. “Pitt definitely has a chance at me. Pretty much after this visit, Pitt is at the top of my list along with UCF.”
