How Pitt's recruiting has had to 'adjust, change and modify'

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How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed things for Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi?

For starters, he’s sending his own mail.

That’s recruiting mail, and since he’s stuck at home, far from the behind-the-scenes hold-it-all-together efforts of recruiting administrative assistant Lynnie Koontz, Narduzzi has been sending mail to recruits himself.

Those daily trips to the mailbox aren’t the only things that are different about Narduzzi’s recruiting routine these days. The NCAA has created an emergency dead period that started in mid-March and is currently scheduled to run through May 31; for that period of time, high school prospects cannot visit college campuses and college coaches cannot go on the road to watch recruits work out.

That’s a major shake-up at a crucial point in the recruiting process, but don't think it means Pitt's coaching staff has taken a step back. During a Zoom session with local reporters on Friday, though, Narduzzi said things have gone in an opposite direction.

“Recruiting hasn’t slowed down; it’s actually maybe sped up for us," he said. "Although these kids aren’t coming on campus, these great student-athletes out there all over the country, we’re having more - I mean, there’s more phone calls, FaceTimes with players than ever before because I’ve got nothing else to do. We’re not worried about spring ball or a spring game or a banquet or spring breakfast; we’re not worried about those things so we’ve got more focus.”

The key for Narduzzi and Pitt's staff is to adjust to the changes and move forward. That's what the Panthers' head coach said he and his assistants have done.

“We can continue to go this way,” he said. “I talked to kids all last week about their strategy. Everybody’s strategy has got to change; our strategy in recruiting has changed. I won’t get into details of what we’re doing or how we’re doing it because I want to keep that kind of tight and I don’t want anybody else to maybe have our ideas as we try to steal other people’s ideas. But I think we’re cutting-edge as far as some of the things we’re doing and our recruiting office has done a great job.”

The key in any recruiting scenario is constant contact, and Pitt’s staff has been using all available avenues to accomplish that, from social media direct messages to text messages to FaceTime calls to phone calls and even online video games. If it creates communication between a coach and a recruit, then Narduzzi wants his staff to participate.

But all the phone calls and video conferences in the world can’t make up for visits - or the lack thereof. Recruits were able to visit schools in January but couldn’t take any trips in February due to a dead period that was new this year. The quiet period, which allows for on-campus visits, started on March 1, but that lasted less than two weeks; on March 13, the NCAA announced the emergency dead period that was initially slated to run through mid-April and then got extended to the end of May.

So recruits in the 2021 class, who are finishing their junior years of high school and were planning to use the spring visit period to set the foundation for future official visits and an eventual commitment, are missing two and a half important months of the process.

From Narduzzi’s perspective, though, it’s not all dark clouds for Pitt. While the Panthers have increased their focus in Florida and Georgia in recent classes and showed a new interest in Texas this year, their home base is strong for the class of 2021.

There are nine four-star prospects in the state of Pennsylvania this year, including three in western Pa. In total, Pitt has offered 21 recruits from the state and seven from the region; both of those numbers surpass the totals for the 2020 class, as does the Panthers’ current commitment list, which boasts two Keystone State commitments - West Mifflin defensive end Nahki Johnson and Imhotep safety Javon McIntyre - after Pitt signed just one from the state last year.

“What makes me feel good is the city of Pittsburgh, western Pennsylvania, the state of Pennsylvania is as good a class as has been intact in this state since I’ve been here,” Narduzzi said. “We’ve had a lot of Pennsylvania kids on this campus. If this was a bad year - and I don’t want to say last year was a bad year; we got the best player in the state in Dayon Hayes and we try to keep our standards - this year is a heck of a year in Pennsylvania, which makes me feel a little better. I can sleep a little bit better knowing there are players in our backyard this year as good as it’s been in five years.

“I hope everybody’s smart enough that they don’t want to get on an airplane from the city of Pittsburgh and go anywhere else. They can stay right here in Pittsburgh. That’s what we want to do: keep them here.”

If the emergency dead period does, in fact, end on May 31, Pitt will be in position to repeat its June success from the last two years. Since the NCAA began permitting spring official visits two years ago, the Panthers have struck in June and landed the bulk of the last two classes in that month. Losing that month, which is a possibility given the uncertainty of the situation, could be a serious curveball for Pitt’s recruiting efforts, but Narduzzi said the staff is trying to be ready for anything.

“We’re certainly prepared for June visits. If June visits don’t happen, maybe the NCAA changes the calendar and we go to July visits. But we’re prepared until we don’t have that preparation available anymore.”

In addition to recruiting visits being on hold, Pitt will also be missing on another rite of summer: the prospect camps. The University and the Athletic Department announced on Friday that all summer camps scheduled for May and June have been canceled, and that includes the annual prospect camps that the football staff holds.

Those events draw hundreds of high school players to the South Side and give the coaching staff a chance to work them out in-person. This year, the coaches won’t have those camps, but once again, Narduzzi’s theme is the same.

“It’s something that we have to adapt, change and modify what we’re doing,” Narduzzi. “We’re not going to have them, and if we’re not having them and someone else is having them, we’re allowed to get nine of them in so we’ll travel to whatever state we need to. If someone in Florida or Georgia is having a camp, we’ll try to zip down there and see what we can see.

“But we’ll make it happen without them. We’re just going to rely a little bit more on those personal relationships we’ve built here throughout the last few months during this quarantine time and rely on our video tape and go back and watch that video tape again and try to diagnose as much as you can without seeing these kids live.”

Overall, as coaches and recruits deal with significant changes to a process that had become very familiar in its operations and procedures, both sides are learning to adapt.

“Recruits have to do the same thing we’re doing: change your strategy a little bit to adjust and modify on what they’re doing to make their decision. They have to understand. They have to change. It’s not the same.”