Colin Van Rooy is 'completely locked-in' with Pitt
Colin Van Rooy had a feeling coming into this weekend that he would commit to Pitt. The 6’5” and 300-pound linemen from Strongsville (OH) worked out for the Pitt coaches earlier this month, and he quickly set up an official.
He had that feeling of committing in the back of his head all along, and the final stop on his official visit was a meeting with head coach Pat Narduzzi in his office. Van Rooy delivered the news to Pitt's head coach directly.
“It was literally the last thing I had scheduled for today, it was a meeting with Narduzzi,” Van Rooy told Panther-Lair.com after his commitment. “I told him and he was just ecstatic and he told everyone. It was a lot of congratulations and all that, it was great.”
Van Rooy had favored Pitt over other offers Akron, Ball State, Eastern Michigan and some FCS schools all along. Even knowing that going into this weekend, the official visit really sold him completely and it was tied to the relationships he forged with the offensive linemen on the team.
“Just being there with the guys and being there with the O-Line…it’s hard to explain, but I just felt like I connected with them really well,” Van Rooy said. “The coaches, I thought they were great with the other times I visited, but being with the guys really sealed the decision.”
His player host was Ryan Jacoby, a current junior offensive linemen on the Pitt team. Jacoby and Van Rooy hail from the same area in Ohio, which led to a quick bond between the two.
“He’s from Mentor, which is maybe a 20-25 minute drive from Strongsville,” Van Rooy said. “Just being from the same area it was a pretty easy way to connect…He’s just a great guy.”
Van Rooy was one of six offensive linemen to visit Pitt over the weekend. He joined a list of linemen that included Jordan Church, Nick Krahe, Jon Mould, Tai Ray and BJ Williams.
“It was pretty fun,” Van Rooy said visiting with a big group of linemen. “One of them I went to camp with and we both got offered on the same day and that was Jon Mold, he’s a great guy — love him. Nick Krahe, I met him there, too. He’s also a great guy.”
Now that he is committed, Van Rooy noted he may join the recruiting efforts for his two friends.
“I might as well, I like them,” he said.
Van Rooy said he is ‘completely locked-in’ with Pitt and won’t be looking at other schools now that he has committed. He is the 12th player in Pitt’s 2023 recruiting class. There are four other commitments that have not been named between last weekend and Sunday as well.