INKED: WR Cameron O'Neil signs to Pitt

Cameron O'Neil became the 11th player to sign with Pitt’s football program in the 2018 recruiting class on National Signing Day, joining his classmates signing today in the class at Pitt. O'Neil is a 6-foot-2, 190-pound wide receiver from Phenix City (Ala.) Glenwood Academy. Here’s a brief look back at his journey as a recruit and his history with Pitt:

Pitt offers O'Neil: From the very beginning of O'Neil's emergence on the Rivals.com network, it was all Pitt, all of the time for the Alabama product. Pitt offered O'Neil in the summer before his senior season and although he had yet to ever visit campus, O'Neil named Pitt as his top school in mid-July. Wisconsin, Virginia, and Illinois were the other Power Five programs to offer O'Neil, as well as a slew of Group of Five and FCS schools. The relationships with coaches at Pitt were strong from the jump for O'Neil and simply never let up.

O'Neil commits to Pitt: It seemed clear from O'Neil's comments following his summer offer from Pitt that the wide receiver was deeply enamored with the opportunity he had at Pitt. When O'Neil finally had the chance to see Pitt's campus in late July, he was "amazed" by what he saw and said that the coaching staff "felt like family" in an interview with Panther-Lair.com. Just a little over a week later, O'Neil made the decision to commit to Pitt on August 1st and end his recruitment.

In his words: "I’ve lived in a lot of places due to the military, so I’m used to traveling everywhere and going somewhere new,” O’Neil said. “I was excited to see a new environment and I was sure I’d like it, but it was nothing how I thought it would be - it was way better. I really liked the facilities and what they had to offer for me as a football player and education. It was good to put faces with the voices I’ve been talking to. I already had a relationship with them, but to finally meet was a good feeling.” In addition to the interview linked in the article, check out this video with O'Neil from Rivals southeast analyst Chad Simmons.

O'Neil's Impact: "He’s a physical, strong, and hard-nosed player, more physical than most of his peers and willing to engage and help out in run-blocking efforts. Perhaps more impressive than O’Neil’s frame is his athleticism. It can be difficult to measure skill position players’ athletic talents off of film when they play small-school competition... If the leaping ability and speed that O’Neil shows off in high school is able to translate to the rigors of Power Five competition, he could represent an exciting young playmaker for the Panthers in the future. O’Neil’s ability to go up and get the ball over top of a defender makes him valuable in red-zone situations." Read more about the impact of Cameron O'Neil's commitment here.