For Rouse, Pitt visit 'really showed me something'
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Pitt has been one of the offers on Walter Rouse’s ever-growing list since early April. But on Friday the Sidwell Spring (Md.) Sidwell Friends offensive tackle prospect visited the Panthers, and now Pat Narduzzi and company are a bit more prominent on that list.
“I liked Pitt coming in but there were some schools that were above Pitt; coming out of the visit, my mom and I were really surprised,” Rouse told Panther-Lair.com Friday night. “I feel like I have some really good relationships with those coaches now after meeting Coach Narduzzi in person and Coach (Paris) Johnson and Coach (Shawn) Watson and Coach (Tim) Salem and Coach (Andre) Powell - seeing all those guys together and interacting with them, I really loved it. They shot up my list a little bit. I feel like I’m reconsidering all my schools and what I’m looking for, what’s important.
“One of the things Pitt did well, they showed me Pitt as it is; they showed me what it is. They didn’t say it was better than this program or that; they just showed me, ‘This is our school, this is Pittsburgh,’ and I was able to see they were better than some other programs. There could be a school with a big football program, but what saw was that Pitt has big football plus really good academics and a lot of other things. They really showed me something.”
Rouse had been to Pittsburgh once before when he attended a basketball tournament last summer. But Friday was the first time he visited the Pitt football program, and he said that a few things caught his attention.
“Me and my mother were pleasantly surprised. I’ve visited a couple other schools, but they went above and beyond and surpassed our expectations.
“There were two things that really stood out. One was their Like Skills program; I learned about that and I was very surprised about it. I’ve never seen that before at a school before. That’s something that can really help the players and I really love their system.
“The second thing I loved was Coach Narduzzi - talking with him, his passion, his enthusiasm for the game. That really stood out.”
The Pitt staff made sure that Rouse got to know a lot of the Panthers’ coaches. That included sit-downs with offensive coordinator Shawn Watson and offensive line coach Dave Borbely, as well as a tour led by assistant director of player personnel Paris Johnson, Sr., and meetings with several other people around the program.
“I had a really good talk with Coach Watson,” Rouse said. “We didn’t talk football as much; we talked about how we got to football and that kind of thing, and it was a cool bonding experience. And then I talked to Coach Borbely about football and my personal life; he’s a pretty funny guy, I really liked that.
“I had a great tour of the campus with Paris Johnson; his son is a big-time offensive line recruit and we follow each other, so it was great getting to know him. Also, it was really interesting to sit down and talk with their head trainer; I’m interested in medicine, so it was great talking to him. And we sat down with academic advisor; she was really nice to talk to, very thorough - I really appreciated that.”
Pitt was the 14th school to offer Rouse, and his list is now at 36, including Power Five offers from Boston College, Duke, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan State, Nebraska, North Carolina, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, Stanford, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Wake Forest.
In May, he visited a lot of schools, with stops at Connecticut, Yale, Syracuse, Princeton, Penn State, Rutgers, Stanford, Duke and Virginia. Then he’ll follow Friday’s Pitt visit with a trip to Virginia on Saturday, a visit to Maryland on Monday, an official visit to Northwestern on Tuesday, a two-day visit to Notre Dame June 18 and 19, a stop at Vanderbilt and then one more visit June 23 and 24.
He’s not sure where that last visit will be, but he does think he’ll be making some changes to his recruitment soon.
“I’m going to sit down with my mom and start going over the schools this weekend, and then in the next week or so, I’ll cut the list down before the dead period do a top 10 or 12 and see where I am,” he said. “I probably won’t commit before the season; it will probably be during the season, at the earliest.”