Andersen 'felt like I belonged' on first visit to Pitt

2020 has not been a normal year for anyone, and that’s especially true for recruits in the class of 2021, who will go their entire recruiting cycle without taking official visits and haven’t been able to interact with a college coach in-person since the first week of March.

But for some recruits, the situation is even more unique. Like Trey Andersen, a Pitt commit who chose the Panthers in June but did so without ever meeting the coaching staff in person, let alone seeing Pittsburgh or the University’s campus.

Andersen plans to enroll at Pitt in January, but he didn’t want that to be the first time he set foot in the city, so he and his father, former Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman Jason Andersen, took a flight from their home in Utah to Pittsburgh over the weekend.

“It’s funny: it was really last-second,” Trey Andersen told Panther-Lair.com. “When we heard the dead period was extended to April, I knew I wouldn’t be able to come out on an official visit before signing, and I felt like it would be tough to come out on my first day without seeing it before, so this was just to get a feel for Pittsburgh, see the facilities from the outside, see the school a little bit and get a feel for Pittsburgh in general.

“It really came together quick: my dad told me about the trip on Thursday and we left on Friday.”

Andersen and his father couldn’t meet with the Pitt coaches or take a guided tour during the visit due to the NCAA’s recruiting dead period, which was recently extended into April of next year. So they hit the streets on their own, checking out Pitt’s campus in Oakland, the football facilities in the South Side and the city as a whole.

“It’s the first time being here, but it was kind of what I expected because Coach (Tim) Salem has done a good job of sending me pictures of the city and facilities, so I could visualize what it was going to be like. Then I got here and it all came to life because I could see it with my own eyes. It was a really cool experience.

“I don’t know why - I’ve visited different colleges and it seems foreign and uncomfortable, but when I got to Pittsburgh, I didn’t have that feeling. It wasn’t awkward. I felt like I belonged here. I can’t explain it, but it felt right. It’s where I want to live for the next four or five years.”

Andersen’s recruitment didn’t operate through the traditional process. A 2019 graduate of Lehi High School in Utah, he committed to BYU but did not sign a Letter of Intent, instead leaving to serve a mission in Merced, Calif.

He spent the next two years there, and in the process he fell off the recruiting radar until a chance meeting between his father and Salem, Pitt’s tight ends coach, at the American Football Coaches Association convention in Nashville last January.

The elder Andersen and Salem met through a mutual friend, and the conversation turned to Andersen’s son, who was then starting the final year of mission. Andersen gave Salem some film to watch - his son had been filming clips of his route-running and pass-catching with other people on the mission - and those videos, in addition to Andersen’s high school highlights, had Salem intrigued.

From there, Jason Andersen met Pat Narduzzi in February, and in mid-June, Pitt offered Trey Andersen a scholarship. A week later, Andersen committed to the Panthers, sight unseen. He has talked to the coaches a lot since then, but he still hasn’t met them - which means that first meeting in January will be interesting.

“It’s going to be weird for everybody,” Andersen said. “It’s kind of an act of faith on both of our parts. I only know them from talking on FaceTime but they also haven’t seen me - they haven’t seen how tall I am or anything like that in person, so it’s an act of faith for both of us.

“I think it’s going to be an exciting moment. Probably a little weird at first but I’m looking forward to getting used to it pretty quick.”

Andersen couldn’t go into Pitt’s South Side practice facilities during his weekend visit, but he did get to check out the Panthers’ North Shore game day facilities when he and his father attended the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 36-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals at Heinz Field on Sunday.

“My dad was like, we can’t go to the facilities or see the coaches, so the best we can do is go to a Steelers game to see where you’re playing in college,” Andersen said. “The trip came together around the game. It was really good.”

The next step for Andersen is to make the full move to Pittsburgh in January. He has been back home in Utah since his mission ended last month, and he has spent that time hitting the weights. He was able to run and do body-weight exercises during his mission, but it was hard to consistently get in some weightlifting work.

At 6’6” and 250 pounds, Andersen is on the bigger side of tight end prospects; he even refers to himself as “more of a blocking tight end.” Naturally, then, a move to the offensive line is possible for his future, and he said he has discussed that with the Pitt coaches.

“When I was on the phone with Coach Narduzzi a month and a half ago or so, he was like, ‘We still don’t know what you’ll be coming in here,’” Andersen said. “So I’m starting at tight end and then if I bulk up, I’ll move to tackle. He told me that and I was like, ‘I have no problem with that. I just want to get on the field and start cracking people.’”