Pittsburgh (93.7 The Fan) - William Jeffress, a highly-recruited 6-foot-7 forward from Erie McDowell High School announced Tuesday he will play at Pitt. A short time later, the basketball program made it official.
Welcome to the City of Champions.--https://t.co/uvbZhwvoH2#ZooEra l #H2P pic.twitter.com/rc4sCtU4jU
— Pitt Basketball (@Pitt_MBB)
April 28, 2020 Jeffress, who is only 16, decided to graduate from high school a year early. He is rated the 58th best prospect in the country in the class of 2020 by 247 Sports and 75th nationally by Rivals. Jeffress chose the Panthers over a group of 10 finalists that included Stanford, Baylor, Virginia, Notre Dame and Penn State.
Jeffress becomes Jeff Capel's highest-ranked recruit and the most-heralded player to commit to Pitt since Steven Adams in 2012.
He explained his decision in a video on social media..
“I want to go to a team where we can strive together to reach the next level, to a place that intrigues me with its pursuit of excellence,” Jeffress said. “Even more, I want to be coached by someone who will challenge me as a dream-chaser, feed my hunger as a scholar and an athlete, and develop me as a leader. Most importantly, I want to go to a place where I can see myself grow as a young man. That place is the University of Pittsburgh. That coach is Jeff Capel. My heart now beats for the City of Champions. Hail to Pitt."
Commitment Video: Thank you to everyone who has supported me along this journey❤️Click the link to watch. https://t.co/8zZrpqZXrS pic.twitter.com/Y2ltPscwRL
— William Jeffress Jr. (@williamjeffress)
April 28, 2020 Jeffress is the fifth member of Pitt's 2020 recruiting class.
#H2P pic.twitter.com/Ipodf2sau6
— Jeff Capel (@jeffcapel)
April 28, 2020 Capel joined The PM Team with Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller to talk about landing the biggest recruit to date during his time at Pitt.
"This is a big deal for us," Capel said. "He's a really talented young man. When I say that, I'm not talking about just basketball. He's a really special young man. He's one of the most mature 16-year-olds that I've ever been around."
Capel addressed Jeffress being just 16-years-old but thinks their program is a great fit for helping him make the transition from high school to college.
"One of the things that will really help him tremendously is the guys that we have in our program...we finally have some guys that have experience. They have experience playing in the ACC, they've been able to win some games in the ACC. They've been through adversity and they're pretty good players.
Click the audio below to hear more from Capel on his prized recruit and expectations for the program moving forward as they're putting together a top 15 recruiting class.
