Heintschel: 'I knew it was home'
Pitt picked up its second commitment of the class of 2025 on Saturday evening, but it is a prominent one. The Panthers added their quarterback to the recruiting class as Mason Heintschel, a 6’2” and 200-pound prospect, from Oregon (OH) revealed his decision on Sunday afternoon.
Heintschel stars from Clay High School. He accounted for over 3,000 yards and 33 touchdowns as a junior. Pitt offered the Ohio prospect back in February and he made an unofficial visit a month later before ultimately deciding.
“It just felt like home as soon as I stepped on campus,” Heintschel told Panther-Lair.com after his commitment. “I’ve able to build a great relationship with some of their coaches. I had an awesome visit when I went there. It was just…I knew it was home.”
Pitt is the only power-four offer from Heintschel and he pounced on the opportunity. He chose Pitt over additional FBS offers from Akron, Bowling Green, Coastal Carolina, Kent State, Liberty, and Toledo. A big part of his decision went into his belief in first-year offensive coordinator, Kade Bell.
“I’ve gotten to know him for the past month or two and he just seems like a really great coach, just somebody that I would love to play for,” Heintschel said of his future offensive coordinator. “We went over the offense a little bit and it was just something that I could very well see myself playing in, not only playing in, but thriving in. I mean, their offense looks explosive and it’s just something that if I saw myself wearing that Pitt jersey and in that offense, I definitely feel like I could do some damage.”
Heintschel noted aside from the coaching staff, he liked the environment around the program with Pitt’s urban campus, and it not being too far from home as well.
“It's awesome, you’ve got all these different kind of pro sports teams around, that’s definitely something cool added onto it, but the big city, that’s great,” he explained. “When we got on campus when came in the night before, it was gorgeous. It definitely played a role.”
Heintschel’s next step will be getting an official visit planned, which the two sides are working on at the moment. Quarterbacks typically sign onto classes early to help aid in some recruiting efforts, which Heintschel said he plans to do.
For the moment, however, he was excited to get his decision announced and tell the coaches.
“I mean, they were fired up,” he said. “They were just as fired up as I was. I called them and let them know I wanted to make it happen and we got it done, it’s been great.”