Pitt FB Recruiting
New Jersey DB Naiim Parrish ‘Impressed’ by Visit to Pitt
With the arrival of the NIL, things have changed a bit in high school recruiting. As someone that’s covered recruiting for over 10 years, I’m noticing that teams and programs are trying to keep unofficial visits under wraps from their competitors throughout college football. If another team really likes a player and they see that they’re visiting another program, they could attempt to discourage the player from making the visit or they could ramp up their interest in fear of losing that player.
With that in mind, last week, Kentucky transfer cornerback Jaremiah Anglin Jr. visited Pitt over the weekend and made a commitment on Sunday.
A couple days prior to that, Pat Narduzzi and Archie Collins hosted a highly regarded prospect in the Class of 2025, as three-star athlete defensive back Naiim Parrish traveled from New Jersey to Pittsburgh for an unofficial visit.
Parrish attends Bergen Catholic High School in Oradell, New Jersey and is a player the Panthers have had their eye on for a while, having extended him an offer in May 0f 2023.
Pitt isn’t the only program with interest as Parrish also holds offers from Arizona State, Boston College, Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, Michigan State, Minnesota, Penn State, Tennessee, West Virginia, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Wisconsin.
JUNIOR SEASON HIGHLIGHTS 🤞🏽https://t.co/0uDxKbhSCD
– State Champion (3Peat)
– 5 INTs (2x Conference Leader)
– 41 Tackles (28 Solo, 13 Assisted)
– 1 FF , 1 FR pic.twitter.com/Ul9M7aLTz2— NAIIM PARRI$H (@callmenaii_) November 30, 2023
This past weekend, Parrish was in Morgantown, as he attended the West Virginia spring game.
Pittsburgh Sports Now caught up with Parrish and asked him for a quick summary and highlights from his stay in Pittsburgh. A good thing for the Panthers was that his time spent with his possible future position coach was a big highlight for Parrish.
“My day was great,” said Parrish. “The thing that impressed me most was Coach Collins. We talked a whole bunch about coverages, schemes, and all of that. He was the first coach that has done that with me. … The Pitt coaches believe that with my frame, I could play anywhere in the secondary but mainly either free safety or cornerback.”
I asked Parrish what got him to travel to Pitt for a visit and it just so happens that he has a personal connection.
“My 7-on-7 coach Oren Wilson just got a job at Pitt and it just connected all of the dots. The communication was lost a little bit because [former New Jersey area recruiter] Coach Salem wasn’t working here anymore, but Coach O helped bridge the gap.”
With all of the interest that he’s receiving nationally, it was important for Pitt to get someone like Parrish on campus for a visit before he starts to line up his official visits for the summer.
“They improved their chances for sure,” said Parrish. “I definitely did not expect to enjoy Pitt as much as I did. We’re working on scheduling an official visit now and I’ll get back to you if we do or do not.”
Pitt’s Class of 2025 has three commitments so far: 3-star WR Bryce Yates, 3-star QB Mason Heintschel and 3-star DE Trevor Sommers
