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One of the top playmakers in the WPIAL in 2018 is now one of Pitt’s top targets in the WPIAL for the class of 2019 after the Panthers offered Aliquippa receiver Will Gipson on Monday night.
Pitt was an offer Gipson had been hoping for, but when it happened, he wasn’t even sure if the phone call from head coach Pat Narduzzi was real.
“I knew it was coming but I didn’t know it would be today,” Gipson told Panther-Lair.com Monday night. “I had just had an in-home visit with Rutgers so I took a nap and my phone woke me up. It was Coach Duzzi and he said,’ Congratulations, you got the offer.’
“I was like, whoa. I was barely even woken up so I thought it was a dream.”
The offer wasn’t a dream; it was the next step in an evaluation process that dates back at least to June when Gipson was one of the standouts at Pitt’s prospect camp. Since then, he turned a strong camp season into an even stronger senior season on the field, catching 53 passes for 1,494 yards and 19 touchdowns in Aliquippa’s new-in-2018 passing attack.
“It’s very different from last season because we were a run-first type of team, but this season has been an opportunity for me,” Gipson said. “Our coach knew what type of offense could be successful, and he knew that with all the athletes we have, the only way to use all of them was in a spread offense. This makes me wish I was a junior.”
Gipson, of course, is a senior receiver prospect who previously committed to Ball State but reopened his recruitment this fall as his exploits on the field drew attention from college coaches and football fans alike.
In fact, his performance had Pitt fans and WPIAL fans openly pining for Gipson to get an offer from the Panthers.
“It’s honestly surreal,” he said of finally receiving the offer. “I had the whole Pitt fanbase rooting for me to get an offer. They were blowing up my Twitter saying they hoped they offered me, and it was crazy.
“Having a school that close that I like, it’s a perfect situation. It’s in the ACC where there’s nothing but opportunities. I saw them win the division and that brought even more attention to Pitt, so say I go there next year and play as a true freshman, you can be seen. I want to go to a school where I can get a shot to get to the next level, and that’s what they have.”
Pitt and Rutgers are the two Power Five offers for Gipson, 6’3” 189, so far. He has scheduled an official visit to Rutgers for the weekend of Dec. 14-16, but he plans to be at Pitt sooner than that.
“I’ll probably go to one of Pitt’s practices this week,” Gipson said. “I can go to Pitt any time for an official visit. But really, I just want to put on a Pitt jersey and take a picture. I know the campus, I have family and friends. I know it well.”
Gipson said his recruitment has an end date on it.
“Right now, I’m going to let these three weeks play out until signing day and whatever comes, comes. That’s when I’ll make my decision.”
