Vukovcan: Pitt Has Chance to Make WPIAL Statement

The never-ending discussion of Pitt’s ability to recruit in Western Pennsylvania is annoying, but the reality is that it’s one that will never go away.

From my perspective, I refer to it as annoying because it’s very overrated. Pitt’s objective should be to get the most talented player that fits their system, regardless of whether he’s from Western Pennsylvania, Miami or Baltimore.

Hey, I get it, Pitt fans are more familiar with players from the area than those they only know about from Twitter.

And let’s be honest, the other reason, and it’s a big one, is which schools are recruiting that player from the WPIAL. If a certain local player also has an offer from Penn State, Pitt fans want very much for Pitt to land that commitment and say they beat out Penn State.

Unfortunately, Pitt’s track record of beating out James Franklin for a local recruit hasn’t been strong lately.

Prior to Aliquippa four-star linebacker Cam Lindsey in 2023, the last player to commit to Pitt while holding an offer from Penn State was Baldwin defensive tackle Dorien Ford in the class of 2021.

In reality, since then, Pitt and Penn State haven’t truly been involved in a recruiting battle as a lot of these WPIAL players have committed to Penn State very early in the recruiting process. Some examples of that are Aliquippa four-star running back Tiqwai Hayes, North Catholic four-star OL Brady O’Hara, Latrobe four-star linebacker Alex Tatsch, Imani Christian four-star linebacker Dayshaun Burnett, Central Catholic four-star linebacker Anthony Speca, etc.

As I’ve already said, most years I don’t put much value in this fan topic. However, I’ll admit that this year, Pitt’s recruiting in the WPIAL is something to keep an eye on, particularly how they fare against Penn State.

As we’ve learned over the last couple of weeks, Pat Narduzzi and James Franklin will be going head-to-head for a handful of Western Pennsylvania players.

To be honest, I can’t remember a recent year in which there’ll be a true recruiting battle between these two schools as we’re getting this year.

Here’s an updated look at the WPIAL players in the class of 2026 that currently claim offers from both Pitt and Penn State.

Brendan Alexander: three-star offensive lineman from Central Valley.

Colsen Gatten: three-star linebacker from Pittsburgh Central Catholic.

Kyshawn Robinson: three-star defensive back from Westinghouse High School.

Ashston Blatt: three-star defensive end from Pittsburgh Central Catholic.

Reston Lehman: four-star linebacker from Peters Township High School.

David Davis: three-star athlete from Imani Christian.

One other player that could be added to that list soon is Peters Township three-star defensive end Lucas Shanafelt, who received a recent in-school visit from Franklin and assistant head coach Terry Smith.

Of this list, the four players that I find most interesting and “important” for Pitt are Lehman, Blatt, Davis and Shanafelt, if he gets that offer from Penn State. I would list Gatten, who’s extremely talented, but I find it very hard to believe that Pitt would be able to pull a talented legacy player such as Gatten.

Not to sound overly dramatic, but in my eyes, Lehman is a critical get for Pitt.

I know what I said earlier, but Lehman is different for a couple of reasons.

First off, Pitt was one of the very first schools to offer Lehman and to truly pursue him before being named a four-star recruit and going on a streak of receiving Power Four offers from Cincinnati, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Rutgers, Syracuse, UCLA, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Penn State.

Secondly, his father is a Pitt graduate, and his family is admittedly a long-time fan of the Pitt football program.

I realize Penn State is Penn State, but if Pitt can’t land Lehman, I’m not sure when they’ll be able to beat the Nittany Lions out for a high four-star recruit.

A lot of the same things can be said for Blatt, who’s someone who just looks like a player who could excel in Pitt’s defensive system. Pitt just has a history of being able to develop and get the best of Central Catholic players.

Davis is important for one big reason and that’s the strong pipeline of talent that comes from his school, Imani Christian. Despite offering a number of their players, Pitt has not been able to land one of these talented players from Imani.

If Davis can be the first, there’s a lot more talent coming from that football factory.

Aside from the Imani factory, Pitt would be getting themselves a talented player with offers from Cincinnati, Michigan State, Nebraska, Rutgers, Duke, Kentucky, Maryland, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Pitt was the first Power Four offer for Shanafelt and if Penn State offers and comes in after the fact and would be able to land in, that would be awfully hard for Pitt to swallow.

It’s just February and National Signing Day for 2026 is a long way away, but this is shaping up to be an interesting recruiting year locally for Pitt.

Aside from the players listed above, Pitt has also extended offers to North Allegheny 2026 defensive tackle Lincoln Hoke and Pine-Richland three-star defensive back Jay Timmons, who’s receiving a ton of interest nationally.

I stand by what I said earlier in that local recruiting is overrated as opposed to what it was years ago but it’s obvious that this year, Pitt has a lot of interest in this crop of WPIAL talent and appears to have a really solid chance to get some commitments.

It’s been since the class of 2021 that Pitt has received commitments from four WPIAL players (Nahki Johnson, Stephon Hall, Elliott Donald and Dorien Ford), but this is a year I believe they can match or surpass that number.

Talent is talent, and this cycle, the talent just so happens to be in Pitt’s backyard. Let’s see what happens with Lehman, Blatt, Davis, Shanafelt and Timmons.