Pitt FB Recruiting
2024 3-Star S Cornell Allen Felt ‘Amazing’ After Picking Up Offer From Pitt
Pitt is one of a handful of schools to offer Cornell Allen over the last week, and while he’s grateful for every offer, he’s very happy about being offered by Pitt.
“It feels amazing,” Allen told PSN. “I have gotten a couple of Power Fives recently, but that’s a big offer.”
Allen — a 5-foot-10, 165-pound three-star safety from Trinity Episcopal School in Richmond, Virginia — has picked up offers from East Tennessee State, Davidson, Harvard, Tulsa, FAU, Western Michigan, Florida A&M, Pitt and Kansas over the last week or so, and those six join the likes of Akron, Arizona State, Central Michigan, Indiana, James Madison, Marshall, Toledo, UCF and Washington.
Blessed to receive an offer from the University of Pittsburgh @CoachTimSalem @ARCHIECOLLINS_ @coachcsanders @CoachGabe34 @RivalsFriedman @BHoward_11 @ChadSimmons_ @Andrew_Ivins @Pitt_FB @247fbrecruiting @24k7v7 @JeremyO_Johnson @KiddRyno_Rivals pic.twitter.com/z0hIbVUVWr
— Jalon “JT” Thompson (@_4Jalon) May 10, 2023
Former Pitt assistant Jeremiah Bogan, who is now the assistant director of player personnel at LSU, originally kicked off Pitt’s relationship with Allen. He was out for a Pitt game last season, and Andre Powell made a visit to Trinity Episcopal School in Richmond on Tuesday — the same day as his offer.
Powell has moved into that lead recruiter role in Allen’s process, and as the two caught up in person on Tuesday, it felt good.
“It’s always good things, you know?” Allen said. “He’s a really old-school guy, so it’s kind of just plain and simple.”
And while he hasn’t spoken with Archie Collins or Cory Sanders yet, Powell has passed on their messages, their praise about the way he plays the game of football from the secondary. There’s been interest for a while, but Pitt’s coaching staff waited until it felt the time was right to officially extend an offer.
Pitt sees Allen largely at safety, but his versatility that intrigues Collins and Sanders.
“It’s really anywhere, but it’s definitely safety,” Allen said. “They play a lot of man with their safeties, and I’ve been working my man technique, trying to perfect it.
“I’m a dawg. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to win. Team first, but if it’s me playing safety, corner or linebacker, I’ll do it all. I’m just trying to get a win.”
Allen’s ball-hawk ability, with seven interceptions on an undefeated state champion Trinity Episcopal squad last season, attracted Collins and Sanders, but he’s also a twitchy, aggressive kind of defensive back that fits the defense well. It doesn’t hurt that runs a sub-11 second 100-yard dash either on the track.
As he watched Brandon Hill and Erick Hallett play safety at Pitt last season, he saw two players with similar size to his playing an aggressive style of defense.
247Sports rates Allen as the 120th-ranked safety and the 39th-ranked recruit from Virginia while neither Rivals nor On3 have rated him yet. But like most unranked recruits in the class of 2024, his summer will change that.
Allen has set official visits to Arizona State, Charlotte and Connecticut so far this summer, and he’s still considering where to spend his two other visits. His relationship with Pitt is still pretty fresh, but there’s a good chance he come back for an unofficial visit before deciding whether or not to use one of his officials.
He plans to release a top schools list when the school year ends, after coaching staff stop hitting up schools, and he wants to be locked into a commitment over the summer. Pitt — despite the recency of the offer — is still in the mix.
“It’s definitely just getting started,” Allen said. “That’s how a lot of schools are, at least now a day, relationships aren’t really built until after the offer, but I would put them in my top ten right now. But the relations is just getting started so there’s no telling where it could go.”
