Pitt FB Recruiting
Pitt QB Mason Heintschel Turned Down Michigan to Come Home
When Mason Heintschel committed to Pitt, he wasn’t a highly-ranked recruit. When he committed to Pitt, he didn’t have a ton of offers. He still doesn’t have a ton of offers — at least, on paper.
But there was a late push for Heintschel.
A source close to the situation told PSN that Michigan came calling before National Signing Day. If the Wolverines’ pursuit of Bryce Underwood had fallen through, Heintschel was a top target. He said no.
He said no to Michigan. And he said no to all the Power Four schools that arrived late in his process.
While other programs may have realized late in the process that Heintschel was way better than advertised, Pitt knew from the beginning. That’s why the coaching staff felt comfortable extending him his first Power Four offer — and accepting his commitment back in March. It went both ways though.
Pitt saw the potential in Heintschel, and Heintschel felt the love from Pitt. It meant a lot that the coaching staff told him straight up that he was the top target in the class. And it wasn’t just offensive coordinator Kade Bell either.
“We watched every single kid as a whole entire offensive staff,” Bell said Wednesday. “We sat down and watched every single kid. We all rated them, we wanted to make sure that we all saw the same thing, right? And the funniest thing is, out of all the quarterbacks we watched in the entire country, it doesn’t matter if it’s three-star, four-star, five-star, when we put our ratings together, Mason was the highest-rated guy on our board.”
Heintschel was excellent as a junior at Clay High, a small school in northwest Ohio. He produced huge numbers of a subpar squad, and while he had offers to join just about any private high school in the area, he turned them down.
He stayed at Clay all four years and led the Eagles to their first League title in 42 years as a senior, racking up 3,200 total yards and 41 total touchdowns.
His loyalty speaks to who Heintschel is as a quarterback — and a person.
It was secondary coach Archie Collins who initially identified Heintschel, and that relationship grew from Collins to Bell, and eventually the entire coaching staff. Pitt found him early, he visited and immediately fell in love with the program. That’s what mattered in the end.
Pitt quarterback commit Mason Heintschel
Pat Narduzzi was never against Heintschel, per se, but he wanted to make sure that his future quarterback wasn’t just a kid who received a snap and took off running. He wanted to see a quarterback who could stand in the pocket and make big-time throws.
So, Bell — who watched each and every game in Heintschel’s junior season — made it his mission to convince his boss. To make it 100% sure that Heintschel was the guy that the Panthers offered.
“We made a cut-up for coach (Narduzzi) of all the throws he had in the pocket from his junior year and when coach saw that that cut-up of all the throws from the pocket, he realized real fast that we had a steal,” Bell said.
“Because, man, there’s not many kids in the country that can make the plays he can make but also stay in the pocket with great feel and deliver balls with people in his face and with anticipation.”
If Bell made one thing clear during his National Signing Day interview, it was that Heinstchel is a steal.
Heintschel, who boasted offers from Akron, Bowling Green, Coastal Carolina, Kent State, Liberty, Ohio and Toledo, wasn’t one of the top recruits in the class. And while he’s cemented himself since, to the Pitt staff, at least, it hasn’t always been the case.
“Sometimes it’s weird when you see a kid like that who really didn’t have a Power Five offer at the time, and you’re like, man, are we right? And it’s funny, when we first brought him to coach Duzz, one thing you see about Mason you see that separates him from a lot of quarterbacks is his playmaking ability,” Bell said.
“He naturally makes plays, and he makes it off of feel. I think that’s what makes him so special is that he can do things that other people can’t do.”
Heintschel is a playmaker. He’s shown that. He has a huge arm, nearly 10-inch hands and the ability to turn what should be a sack into a touchdown. That improvisation stands out. It didn’t matter if he was forced to run for his life on every play (it worked out better that way sometimes), he thrived.
“He’s a tough football player … He’s not just the best player on the field, but he’s the toughest player on the field,” Bell said. “He’ll do anything to get a first down, anything to win the game.”
Pitt quarterback commit Mason Heintschel
Heintschel never wavered. His dad Eric played baseball at Michigan, and while he grew up as a Michigan fan (and saw the Wolverines as a dream at one point), he fell in love with the Panthers during his visit.
Once Heintschel committed to Pitt, that was it. He committed because he knew that the Panthers were it. He committed to Pitt because he loved what he heard from Narduzzi and Bell — but maybe more importantly, he loved what Pitt was all about.
Pitt worked itself into the picture because of Narduzzi and Bell — and that worked out.
“There were some schools that came in late that tried to (flip him),” Bell said. “And he never wavered. That was the great thing about it, relationships and just playing in this offense. He saw this year that the offense fits him with his quick release and the way we throw RPOs and the way he makes plays. He realized that the ball is going to be in his hands. He’s a very confident kid; he wants the ball in his hands. I think that was a big part of it.”
Heintschel grew up as a Michigan fan, considering his dad was a Michigan student-athlete, but once he committed to Pitt, he was locked in. Pitt is it, and that hasn’t changed since he committed. There’s a different level of loyalty.
“That’s just who Mason is also, just being around the kid and talking to the people in the school and his family, the kid’s a loyal kid,” Bell said. “The kid’s a competitor. We gave him his first Power Five offer, and that meant something to him.”
Heintschel is a young man who respects and values his teammates, and with that kind of bond, he isn’t someone who will hit the portal early.
