Pitt FB Recruiting
‘They Set the Bar Really High’: 2025 DT Enjoys Pitt Junior Day
Pitt was the first school to offer Taylor Brown, picked up an offer from new running backs coach Lindsey Lamar late last month, and it kicked off a run of five offers within a week.
Brown — a 6-foot-4, 220-pound defensive end from Wise High School in Upper Marlboro, Md. — decided to check out Pitt in person over the weekend for Junior Day, getting a feel for the coaches and the facilities first-hand for the first time.
“The visit went pretty good,” Brown told Pittsburgh Sports Now. “I liked the campus, I liked the basketball game, the facilities, the field, the weight room and all that stuff.”
Since Pitt offered him on Jan. 23, he picked up offers from JMU, Marshall, Memphis and Temple, and he checked out Pitt first.
Great weekend at pitt!!! much love #agtg @LindseyLamar5 @CoachRapp_O pic.twitter.com/V96i9oJnec
— Taylor Brown (@tank3n1x) February 4, 2024
It’s still relatively early in the process between Brown and Pitt, but he’s been able to build a solid relationship with Lamar through the first couple of weeks — spending a lot of time with Lamar during Junior Day.
“The bond is there, it’s still growing,” Brown said. “He spent time some time with my family, talking to my mom, just building our relationship. He said I was a good kid, I’m staying on top of my stuff and my film looked outstanding. All good stuff.”
It was the ability to spend time with the coaches, meeting most of the coaching staff in person for the first time, that stood out during the afternoon in Pittsburgh. The Pitt coaching staff sees the potential in his play.
Brown was an impactful defensive end for Wise as a junior, racking up 22 tackles (15 solo), 11.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and a pass deflection. He’s long and lean, with the ability to pack on added muscle in the years to cone.
The major recruiting services (247Sports, Rivals and On3) haven’t rated Brown yet, but as his recruiting process has picked up over the last couple of weeks, that should be changing throughout the spring.
He’s been hearing from all five of the schools that have extended offers throughout this point in his recruiting process, and the plan is just to plan out where he wants to go this spring and summer and see how it is with each school. Support from the coaching staff and open communication will be paramount when it comes to building strong bonds with schools.
The plan right now is to head back to Pittsburgh in the spring for a practice and continue to build that connection with the coaching staff.
“(Pitt) set the bar really high for other schools that I go on visits to, so I’m looking forward to it,” Brown said. “(They’re) pretty high, but there are still some other schools still on my mind, but they’ve set the bar very high for other schools.”
Pitt landed its first commitment in the class of 2025 Monday night in the form of Trevor Sommers, a defensive lineman from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and there could very well be more on the way in the coming days and weeks.
The Panthers are in the mix for four-star linebacker Dayshaun Burnett (Pittsburgh, Pa.), three-star athlete Emmanuel Taylor (Virginia Beach, Va.), three-star offensive lineman Raphael Greene (Cincinnati, Ohio), four-star wide receiver Jadyn Robinson (San Juan Capistrano, Cal.), three-star running back Jeffrey Overton Jr. (Woodbridge, Va.), three-star athlete Jaiden Brown-Demery (Mest Mifflin, Pa.) and three-star edge rusher Sharlandiin Strange (Wyncote, Pa).
