Pitt FB Recruiting
Pitt Makes Important Visit with 3-Star DB Davis Kinney
One of the high school recruits in Texas that the Pitt football staff has spent quality time with over the last couple of weeks is Davis Kinney.
Kinney is a 2026 three-star safety from Travis High School in Richmond, Texas.
At this point of his recruitment, Kinney holds offers from Pitt, Arizona State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Navy, New Mexico, Oregon State, Rice, Sacramento State, Stephen F. Austin, Texas State, Tulsa, UTEP, Wyoming and Yale.
Kinney has three official visits scheduled: Arizona State (May 16-18), Northwestern (May 30-June 1) and Pitt (June 12-14).
Junior Season Highlights https://t.co/ZrbPfhQAv0
— Davis Kinney (@htxdavis) December 18, 2024
Back on January 28, Randy Bates and Pitt became the first Power Four program to extend Kinney an offer and for the most part, Bates has handled the recruitment of Kinney.
Earlier this week things changed a bit as Pitt safeties coach Cory Sanders made the trip down to Texas in order to have his first face-to-face meeting/conversation with Kinney and his family at his house. This was important because if Kinney would select Pitt, Sanders would be his future positions coach.
“A coach coming by my house is definitely different than him coming by the school or talking with him on the phone,” Kinney tells Pittsburgh Sports Now. “The fact that Coach Sanders came to my house to talk with me and my family was very big for me. Earlier in the day, he first stopped by the school to see me, which was the first time I met him. And then tonight he stopped by the house in order to talk to my family, which was big. He wanted to let me, and my family know more about Pitt and not only how they develop players but how they develop people as well.
“Coach Sanders definitely checked off some of the boxes on the football side of what we’ve been wondering as a family on how he wants his safeties to play and how I’d fit into the system. For my family, he definitely checked off being a trustworthy coach that I would trust and would want to coach me. He just seems like a great man, and he definitely wanted me for the man I was and not just the player I am. In terms of my first impressions of him, we picked that Coach Sanders is a high IQ guy. He’s a guy that has put a lot of defensive backs in the league and he’s someone that’s been at Pitt for a long time and he’s there to stay and is looking to jump from school to school.”
This visit from Sanders was just the first of a busy next month for Kinney as he tells PSN that he has his Arizona State official visit next week, then one to Northwestern at the end of the month. At the beginning of June, Kinney will then travel to Rice before ending things with his Pitt official visit in mid-June.
As far as his timeline for a decision, is Kinney committed to make all of his visits or could he make a decision before mid-June?
“Well, I have a pretty good idea that I’m gonna make all of these visits,” said Kinney. “I have a few visits, and I want to be able to see what all these schools have to offer both football wise and especially academically. I believe I have some great visits lined up and want to really see what they offer. I have talked to my family about what we are looking for and even if I visit a school that checks all the boxes, I’m pretty sure that I’ll still make all of my visits.”
