The 19th commitment of Pitt’s 2017 recruiting class came in the form of Florida cornerback Damarri Mathis, who provided an early Christmas present to Panthers' fans on December 22nd. Mathis committed to Pitt fresh off of an official visit to campus, just a few weeks removed from a decommitment from South Carolina.

SEE ALSO: Damarri Mathis discusses Pitt official visit | Senior highlights for Damarri Mathis

Things came together quickly for Pitt and Mathis, who is a Lakeland (Fla.) native, after he was visited by defensive coordinator Josh Conklin early in the contact period and set an official visit date for December 9th. Mathis says that Pitt’s increased contact and his decommitment from South Carolina coming at nearly the same time was not exactly a coincidence.

“Pitt has always been with me through my recruiting process before and after I was committed,” Mathis said in an interview with Panther-Lair on November 30th. “I guess you could say they played a role in making that decision [to re-open his recruitment].”

Mathis is a 5-foot-11, 178-pound cornerback and a native of Lakeland (Fla.), a community midway between Tampa and Orlando in the Sunshine State. He chose Pitt over offers from schools like South Carolina, Ole Miss, Louisville, Minnesota, South Florida, Cincinnati, and several others. Pitt defensive coordinator Josh Conklin took the lead role on Mathis’ recruitment, but Pitt assistant Renaldo Hill has played a role as well.

“I’ve built a pretty strong relationship with coach Conklin, I’ve been talking with him pretty much all through my whole recruitment,” Mathis said in November. “Then I got introduced to [Pitt cornerbacks coach Renaldo Hill] by him a couple months after I’d been getting to know coach Conklin. I’ve started to build a relationship with coach Hill as well now too.”

That visit to Pittsburgh on the weekend of December 9th helped Mathis to solidify those relationships with the coaches and confirm that it wasn't just something he felt over the phone.

“It was great getting up to Pitt’s campus for the first time. Campus was great and the city has a lot of history to it and cool things to see. I got to be with the coaches and the players and see how they do things at Pitt,” Mathis said of his official visit. “You can really tell that the coaches care about the players they have at Pitt and want them to not just be better players, but also better men. They care about them a lot.”

A breakout senior season helped Pitt to commit to going all-in on Mathis and he quickly reciprocated the interest. When Conklin made his pair of in-home visits to Mathis, a key part of the discussion was scheme. Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi is well-known for his success as a defensive coordinator at Michigan State and while Pitt’s defensive suffered a regression in his second year, the Narduzzi scheme is still widely-respected by recruits.

“It pretty much just felt like my size and athleticism was really big for them. I would fit perfectly in Pitt’s system because I’m a long cornerback who can run, cover, and tackle… By working on my technique, I felt like I couldn’t be beat,” Mathis said. “That’s just going in and working hard on my technique, I just felt pretty confident in my game.”

Mathis is the second defensive back commitment for Pitt, joining Rivals100 safety Paris Ford of Munhall (Pa.) Steel Valley. He’s the fifth commitment for the Panthers from the state of Florida, joining Ft. Lauderdale (Fla.) linebacker Albert Tucker, defensive end Deslin Alexandre of Deerfield Beach (Fla.), offensive tackle Jerry Drake of Palm Beach Gardens (Fla.), and Plantation (Fla.) wide receiver Dontavius Butler.

Mathis’ commitment gives Pitt 60 points in the Rivals.com team recruiting rankings, boosting them to 1299 points and a spot as the 36th overall recruiting class in the country for the 2017 class. That move places Pitt directly behind ACC foes Virginia Tech (t-33rd) and North Carolina (35th).

You can click this link to view senior highlights for Mathis. Stay posted for more information and quotes from Mathis on his decision to commit to Pitt.