Ford on Pitt: "This is where I belong"
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Pitt’s first commit in the class of 2017 has been the Panthers’ strongest supporter for the last 14 months, and while there was some anxiety among the public in recent weeks, Paris Ford had no such uncertainty.
Ford, who committed in October of 2015, made some headlines two weeks ago when he was quoted as saying he planned to visit Miami and could flip to the Hurricanes. That visit never materialized, and Ford says the whole incident was made out to be bigger than it was.
“I was supposed to take a visit but it blew out of proportion,” he told Panther-Lair.com this week.
Still, those comments had many Pitt fans wondering if the Panthers’ top-rated commit in the class might be wavering on his pledge. Ford says that Pat Narduzzi and the Pitt coaching staff had no such concerns.
“They know I’m solid,” he said. “They know I’m not going anywhere.”
That’s not for lack of trying from other schools’ coaches - or other schools’ recruits. The No. 5 safety prospect in the nation and the No. 51 recruit overall, Ford has heard from plenty of college coaches this winter, with schools like USC and Michigan visiting Steel Valley in December. Plus, he participated in the Under Armour All-American Game in Orlando earlier this month, which put him in the company of some of the nation’s best prospects.
Many of those prospects are committed to other schools, and they used the opportunity to talk to Ford at length about attending their school. That included Penn State-bound WPIAL stars Lamont Wade and CJ Thorpe, as well as recruits who are committed to Miami and Ohio State, among others.
But all of that talk didn’t move the needle much for Ford, because, as he sees it, Pitt offers him something that none of those other schools can.
“Man, this is my city. I feel like this is where I belong. And Pitt has a lack of DB’s, so I feel like I can really come in and make an immediate impact. And why not do it for your hometown, you know?”
While commits from other schools have been trying to recruit Ford, he has been doing some work of his own on that front. Most recently, he spent last weekend with five top Pitt targets - and six other Pitt commits - during an official visit with the Panthers. Ford used that opportunity to get in the ears of some recruits the Pitt staff is hoping will join the class in the next two weeks.
“It felt like I knew guys forever, but I just met them over that past week; you would think we knew each other forever,” Ford said of the visit. “Those guys like Tyjuan Garbutt, Nathan Proctor, Jason Pinnock, who just recently committed, all of us were just hanging like we knew each other. The flow was real and everything seemed surreal; there were no fake vibes or anything.”
Ford has maintained contact with those recruits - Garbutt, Proctor and Pinnock - since the visit, but the official visit wasn’t just about Ford being a recruiter; he also spent some time as a recruit himself.
“It was awesome. It was the most fun visit,” he said. “To be honest, I thought, at first, it was going to be kind of boring. Because, being a kid from Pittsburgh, I’ve seen everything. But the coaches had everything set up well, they fed us a lot, I met a lot of new people - the visit was really a ten.”
Ford’s visit included all of the regular activities, including a film session with defensive coordinator Josh Conklin to get a sense of how Ford would fit into Pitt’s defense.
“He showed me the role I would have to fill and stuff like that,” Ford said. “They said they like my range, that I can cover from sideline to sideline.
“They said I have an opportunity to work my way in. I just have to get down there first and things will take care of themselves from there.”