PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – At a time in college football where South Carolina has a recruiting class of only 14, Duke has 15, Baylor 12, Colorado 11, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi touted his 21 high school signees and his commitment to staying with high school players as the center of his program.
Narduzzi said 75% of his current team is from the high school ranks, and that’s just the percentage he wants.
“We are averaging over 22 players each recruiting class,” Narduzzi said. “That tells you how important high school recruiting is. I talked to some coaches signing two or three kids, that’s not good.”
“We want to still build our football team with high school football players. I want to make sure that is clear.”
Narduzzi pointed to the true freshman who made an impact on the 8-4 season-QB Mason Heintschel, running back Ja’Kyrian Turner, kicker Trey Butkowski, corner Shawn Lee.
WPIAL
There are four local players from the WPIAL
· DL Reston Lehman (6’4”, 230 pounds)-Peters Township
12th ranked player in Pennsylvania
Other offers-Oklahoma, Indiana, Penn State, North Carolina, WVU
· DL Lincoln Hoke (6’2”, 260 pounds)-North Allegheny
2nd Team All-State, 80 tackles as senior, 12 TFL, 4 forced fumbles
Son of Steelers Super Bowl champ Chris Hoke, WVU among other offers
· OL John Curran (6’3”, 305 pounds)-Pine-Richland
All-State offensive lineman
Other offers-Marshall, Buffalo
· S Da’Ron Barksdale (5’10”, 195 pounds)-Steel Valley
Post-Gazette ‘Fabulous 22’, 2,086 rushing yards as senior, 4 interceptions
Other offers-WVU, UNLV, Syracuse, James Madison
“I don’t think anybody takes more players and develops more players from the WPIAL than the University of Pittsburgh,” Narduzzi said. “When I say I don’t think, I know. There’s nobody that takes more than Pittsburgh. There’s nobody that develops them more than Pittsburgh. There’s nobody that develops more NFL guys from the WPIAL and state of Pennsylvania than Pittsburgh. We’ve taken more local kids than anybody since I’ve been here.”
Class breakdown
· Offense 11 (three offensive linemen, two quarterbacks, one running back, one tight end, four wide receivers)
· Defense 10 (three defensive linemen, three linebackers, three safeties and one corner)
· 16 will enroll in January
· 4-Pennsylvania, 5 Florida, 4 Texas, 2 Ohio, 2 Georgia, 2 Virginia, Michigan, Maryland