PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Head coach Pat Narduzzi has scoffed at recruiting rankings ever since he’s been at Pitt. Now that he has his highest rated class, he’s not changing his tune.
“I'm not into all the rankings,” Narduzzi said of his class in the top 25 in the nation. “It doesn't matter. We're going to find out who our best players are in the end in two or three years. The guys that were ranked, the guys that put them in there, it's all based on who you are and who you have working for you. I mean, it just doesn't make any sense. I mean, players are players. We have got to develop them. We have great character guys that are developable in themselves, and that's what it comes down to.”
Narduzzi said the coaching staff worked 12-hour days during COVID restrictions just locked into recruiting. He said it became an obsession for them because its all they had. They had a pair of players who have never been on campus and credit to their video staff for helping them sell these high school seniors. They believe they have found the right players for their program.
“It's not a needy class,” Narduzzi said. “It's a, ‘Coach, this is where we're going, let's go, I'm in.’ And then there's no turning back. And that's what I love about this class so far.”
“Six of them right in the backyard. And for a COVID year for us to have a loaded Pennsylvania area was a blessing really. It would have been hard to go down to Florida or go to Alabama or Georgia and scoop up a lot of guys. We got six of the top guys in the state of Pennsylvania and we are fired up about those guys.”
Narduzzi also fired up about a position where they have had very little success recently.
“Probably the best class of tight ends that I feel like we've signed since I've been here,” Narduzzi said. “Really excited about both of these guys. And we've struggled with that tight end category for a lot of reasons. So we're really excited to get both of our tight ends mid-year. That's going to give them a great advantage to help us in our run game as well as the pass game, but the much-needed run game, which, as you guys know, it's hard to have a different kind of style run game when you don't have any tight ends. That's kind of where we were most of the year when Lucas Krull went down.”
The two tight ends (Jake Renda & Gavin Bartholomew) are joined by seven others who will enroll next month--Nate Yarnell, quarterback; Malik Newton running back; Myles Alston, receiver and three linemen Terrence Enos, Terrence Rankl and Nahki Johnson.
“This class, I don't feel any differently than I felt than last class or my first class,” Narduzzi said. “We always get high-quality guys that want to graduate from the University of Pittsburgh. And they have, okay. Guys that want to graduate and guys that want to play football. And our guys are going to play until the end, every game, every year. And that's what I'm looking for is tough guys that match the city of Pittsburgh.”
