Pitt FB Recruiting
Pitt Included in 2024 3-Star ATH Javier Etheridge’s Final Cut; Commitment Coming Soon
Javier Etheridge cut his list of contenders to 10 in April, and he’s cut that list nearly in half just a week before he’s set to announce where he will be committing.
Etheridge — a 5-foot-11, 165-pound three-star athlete from Mt. Healthy High in Cincinnati, Ohio — has cut his list of offers to Pitt, Penn State, Indiana, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and West Virginia, and he plans to announce his commitment Saturday.
Final 6… #blessed💜 pic.twitter.com/DVJXtjosnl
— Javier “JayJay” Etheridge ⭐️ (@Javieretheridge) May 7, 2023
Pitt has been in the chase for Etheridge for quite a while, ever since Randy Bates extended Etheridge his first Power Five offer on Jan. 17. And over the last few months, he’s visited Pittsburgh for Junior Day in January and for a spring practice in March.
The bond between Etheridge and Bates has grown over the last few months to include Tiquan Underwood, Cory Sanders, Archie Collins and even Pat Narduzzi.
Those bonds, and having family in the city of Pittsburgh, helped Pitt stand out.
“Really the connection with the coaches, they’re really great guys, and based off the city I’m familiar with already, that’s really played a big role in why I chose them to be in my top six,” Etheridge told PSN.
As an athlete at Mt. Healthy, Etheridge has excelled on both sides of the football. And while Pitt’s coaching staff has looked at him at either wide receiver or defensive back, appreciating his versatility, he’s spent his most recent trips to Pittsburgh mainly with Underwood and the receivers.
“I was with the receivers,” Etheridge said in March. “It was great, (Underwood) really came with a lot of energy with his guys. But I was there with the receivers, and I was over there a little bit with the corners with coach Collins and coach Bates. It was just great.”
As an athlete who plays both wide receiver and defensive back at Mt. Healthy, he’s found himself asked quite a bit where coaching staffs most value him. Pitt sees his potential impact on both sides of the ball, but it’s likely going to be wide receiver heading forward.
And It’s certainly true that Etheridge excelled on both sides of the football as a junior, racking up 705 yards and nine touchdowns on 45 receptions offensively and 55 tackles (48 solo), two tackles for loss, one sack, two interceptions, five pass breakups and a forced fumble defensively.
247Sports rates Etheridge as the 827th-ranked recruit in the class (90th-ranked athlete and 35th-ranked recruit from Ohio). On3 rates him as the 75th-ranked athlete and the 38th-ranked recruit from Ohio.
Rivals hasn’t rated Etheridge yet, but that will most definitely change in the days and weeks ahead.
Etheridge plans to finish up his senior season at Mt. Healthy, with goals to win a state championship at the team level and improve upon his 1,2000-yard junior season individually and enroll early at whichever college he chooses.
“They gonna get a great guy that’s willing to work at any time, and they’re gonna get a hard worker,” Etheridge said. “Just a beast mentality. They gonna get somebody that works for it all and got their back like no other.”
Pitt has secured four-star wide receiver DayDay Farmer (Cocoa, Florida) and three-star cornerback Tayshawn Banks (Cincinnati, Ohio) already in the class of 2024, and Etheridge could end up on either side of the football — were he to choose Pitt.
