Vukovcan: Lack of Pitt Success in WPIAL Way Overblown

Since starting this website seven years ago, I’ve noticed a couple of things tend to be brought up by fans every year. 1.) Pitt’s inability to recruit the WPIAL, and 2.) Whether Pitt was the first school to extend an offer to a WPIAL player. I think both talking points are overrated.

To borrow a phrase from WWE superstar and film star The Rock — it doesn’t matter.

It’s ridiculous that fans still talk about whether or not Pitt was the first school to extend an offer to local kids. Whether Pitt is first, third, fifth or even last, it makes no difference. No matter what they say, the player isn’t going to make his college decision on how early a program offered him.

Over the last four or five recruiting classes, I could give you 10 plus examples of Pitt being the first school to offer a player — especially a WPIAL player — and it didn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.

While it’s not as irrelevant, another topic that Pitt fans should stop focusing on is how well Pitt recruits in the WPIAL. While it’s nice to have local kids stay home and play for the hometown team, it’s not going to be a huge factor in whether or not Pitt is a winning football program.

The job of Pat Narduzzi and his assistants is to bring in the best players possible, not the best players from the WPIAL. Yes, if Pitt offers a player from the WPIAL and they decide to stay home, that’s always a nice win, but if they go elsewhere, that doesn’t mean Pitt’s recruiting class is awful.

The Pitt coaching staff is scouring the country for talent and a lot of their efforts are being spent in three places that produce a lot more talent than Pennsylvania: Florida, Georgia and now even Texas. Fans focus on local kids because they’re familiar with the names and schools they’re from, despite not having seen them play a single down.

The Pitt staff and the NIL collective are still working hard to try and secure the best players from the WPIAL, and if they fail, it’s not for a lack of effort. Unfortunately, in some of these cases, players are making decisions based on helmets and conferences instead of something more important like opportunity and development.

When I talk about opportunities, I’m referring to looking at the depth chart of the team they’re going to and the teams they passed up. Maybe it’s just me, but if I’m a high-level athlete, aside from the education and relationship with the coaching staff, the biggest thing I’m looking for is my path to get to the field. I wouldn’t be interested in going to a school where I’d have to possibly wait until my junior team to get meaningful playing time.

Sometimes it may come down to bad advice or a preconceived notion, and others it may come down to a lack of understanding when it comes to the difficulty of cracking the roster of a “Blue Blood.” There are a lot of talented four- and five-star players out there. Case in point, Eli Holstein was a top-rated four-star recruit and found out that Alabama’s roster is filled with four- and five-star quarterbacks, and there’ll be more coming in every recruiting class. The same goes with a school like Notre Dame, which former Pitt commit Kenny Minchey will likely realize soon.

In the last couple of years, a few highly rated four-star WPIAL players that originally passed on Pitt found their way back home. Former Gateway running back Derrick Davis, Aliquippa cornerback M.J. Devonshire and Peters Township safety Donovan McMillon left LSU, Kentucky and Florida, respectively, after a couple of years. After just one season with Pitt, McMillion is on the radar of NFL’s scouts, Davis will likely feature in the new offensive scheme and Devonshire will likely be selected in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Going back to the last four recruiting classes, here are players who had offers from Pitt but elected to go play elsewhere. We’ll see how it ends up.

Class of 2020

TE Josh Rawlings (Woodland Hills): Virginia (2 career receptions)

OT Michael Carmody (Mars): Notre Dame, has since transferred to UCLA. (4 seasons, played in 12 career games)

LB Zuriah Fisher (Aliquippa) Penn State. (3 seasons — 23 tackles and 3.5 sacks)

Class of 2021

ATH Josh Hough (Beaver Falls): Syracuse. (Hasn’t played)

TE Khalil Dinkins (North Allegheny): Penn State. (2 seasons, 9 receptions for 110 yards and 3 touchdowns)

RB Derrick Davis (Gateway): LSU (Has since transferred to Pitt)

DB Donovan McMillan (Peters Township): Florida. (Has since transferred to Pitt)

CLASS OF 2022:

DT Donovan Hinish (Central Catholic): Notre Dame. (2 seasons, 10 tackles, 1 sack)

DE Tyreese Fearbry (Perry Traditional Academy): Kentucky. (2 seasons, 7 tackles)

CB Patrick Body (Gateway): Cincinnati (Has not played)

CLASS OF 2023:

WR Rodney Gallagher (Laurel Highlands): West Virginia. (1 season, 10 receptions for 74 yards)

LB Ta’Mere Robinson (Brashear): Penn State. (1 season, 2 tackles)

CB Lamont Payne (Chartiers Valley): Penn State. (Has not played)

In the recently signed class of 2024, Belle Vernon’s Quinton Martin signed with Penn State, Central Catholic’s Peter Gonzalez signed with Penn State, Central Catholic’s Cole Sullivan signed with Michigan, Central Catholic’s Anthony Speca signed with Penn State and Pine-Richland’s Ryan Cory signed with Wisconsin. Time will tell how these decisions end up working out.

The reality is that Pitt isn’t going to get every talented player from the WPIAL, and when one decides to go elsewhere, it’s not the end of the world. The Pitt football program has a lot of great things a potential recruit and doesn’t need to take a back seat to anyone. A Pitt football player will receive things such as top-notch development, state-of-the-art facilities to train in, exposure to many people in the football and business word, the ability to play major college football, a track record of getting players to the NFL and most importantly, the chance to receive a world-class education.

Pat Narduzzi will find a way to construct a depth chart full of talented players, and if they happen to come from the WPIAL, that’s excellent. But if not, that’s OK, too.