Vukovcan: Narrative About Pitt Recruiting WPIAL is BS

A topic that unfortunately gets my blood boiling mostly because of the stupidity of the entire premise surfaced again today.

Pitt recruiting in the WPIAL.

It’s a topic that gets discussed and Pitt takes unfair criticism because of the untrue facts and misconceptions that are thrown out there by fans, high schools and former players.

More garbage on this topic was shown this morning and we appreciate WPIAL Insider for bring this to light.

In this tweet shown, former Pine-Richland and Indiana Hoosier offensive lineman Michael Katic had some interesting things to say about Pitt’s recruitment of him back in 2019.

Pine-Richland and Indiana alum Michael Katic has some HARSH words about Pitt and his recruitment from 2019.

Do you agree with Katic’s statements here? Sound off 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/Ow29WpGHHx

— WPIAL Insider (@WPIAL_Insider) May 9, 2025

While I won’t get into specific things that Katic had to say, I will address the never-ending line of BS regarding Pitt’s recruitment of the WPIAL.

The bottom line is that Pitt does a tremendous job of recruiting WPIAL players that deserve to get recruited to the Power Four level of football and are early with getting offers out.

Does it matter if Pitt is the first program to extend a local player a Division I or Power Four offer? No. Reason being is that in a great majority of those cases, it means absolutely nothing in that players recruitment.

Let me repeat, it means absolutely nothing to that player that Pitt was the first program to offer. I could write an entire story about that but just some examples of players that Pitt were first with were Belle Vernon 4-star RB Quinton Martin, Pine-Richland 4-star QB Phil Jurkovec, Pine-Richland 4-star OT Andrew Kristofic, Aliquippa 4-star RB Tiqwai Hayes (second to offer as freshman), Central Catholic 4-star LB Anthony Speca, Brashear 4-star LB Ta’Mere Robinson (1st Power 4 offer), Rodney Gallagher (second to offer as freshman), North Catholic 4-star OT Brady O’Hara.

Pitt was the first Power 4 offer for WPIAL 2027 studs Zachary Gleason and Jimmy Kalis. How do you think that will turn out?

Want me to continue because I certainly could.

What I’m going to say isn’t mean to disrespect any player, but it simply comes down to this — in most cases, a lot of the highly recruited 3 and 4-star players feel they’re better than Pitt. They make their college selection mostly because of the brand name of the school or conference they play in and completely overestimate their ability and chance to get on the field.

When reality sets in a couple of years later, these players enter the transfer portal after becoming frustrated by not advancing on the depth chart as they sit behind other 4-star players.

Sorry but that’s the truth, unlike the narrative that Pitt doesn’t actively recruit WPIAL players, which is complete bullshit.

Pat Narduzzi and the Pitt coaches’ main job is to recruit a roster that can compete to win the ACC Championship. His job isn’t to fill his roster with WPIAL players. With all due respect to the WPIAL, one of the reasons the Pitt staff recruits states like Georgia Florida, Texas, Michigan so aggressively is because of the lack of Power Four talent in the area.

That’s not a shot at local football, it’s just the truth. Filling up your roster with players from Western Pennsylvania is thing of the past. The WPIAL still produces talented players but nowhere near the amount that it did 15-20 years ago.

High school recruits and their families certainly have the right to choose whatever college they feel is best for them, but please can we stop with the crap that Pitt doesn’t pay attention to or is late recruiting WPIAL players because it’s simply not true.

The real narrative that should be spread because it’s a lot more accurate is that local football players don’t pay enough attention to and completely disregard going to Pitt, which in many cases, turns out to be a mistake for their football careers.