D.J. McCormick had Pitt and UCF listed at the top of his recruiting chase in April, and while he committed to UCF earlier this month, he’s still taking an official visit to Pitt.
McCormick — a 6-foot-1, 195-pound three-star linebacker from Rockledge High School in Rockledge, Fla. — told Pittsburgh Sports Now that he will make his official visit to Pitt this weekend from June 22-24. This is his second official visit he has taken this June.
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He’s earned offers from Appalachian State, Charlotte, Duke, FAU, Indiana, Kansas, Liberty, Pitt, Temple, UCF, USF, West Virginia and Western Kentucky, among others, this cycle.
“Pitt has really been recruiting me hard, both their head coach (Pat Narduzzi) and [wide receivers] coach (Tiquan) Underwood,” McCormick told PSN in April. “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 [Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback] Kenny Pickett working out today. That’s a cool thing and definitely would be a motivating factor if I were to pick Pitt.”
He toured Pitt’s campus, including the classrooms and facilities, and he spent most of his time with linebackers coach Ryan Manalac.
Manalac sat down with McCormick and they watched film together, seeing where he’d fit in Pitt’s defense and evaluating McCormick’s own game, and McCormick liked every second of it — the challenges during film session and all.
Manalac praised McCormick’s form, and his ability to chase down opposing players for tackles.
McCormick led Rockledge as a junior with 119 tackles, two sacks, three interceptions, three pass breakups, four forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries. He also ran the ball three times, scoring twice, and he returned two of his interceptions for touchdowns.
247Sports rates McCormick as the 805th-ranked recruit in the class (72nd-ranked linebacker and 114th-ranked recruit from Florida) while On3 rates him as the 777th-ranked recruit in the class (88th-ranked linebacker and 93rd-ranked recruit from Florida).
Rivals hasn’t rated McCormick yet, but he does hold a 5.6 Rivals Rating.
With McCormick coming to town, he’ll be one of the last linebackers coming to town for official visits. And it comes after Pitt has earned commitments from four-star Cameron Lindsey and three-star Davin Brewton — with an announcement on the way from three-star Jeremiah Marcelin.
It once again appears that McCormick’s commitment will come down to Pitt and UCF.