Last-minute call to Narduzzi leads Daniels to Pitt
After Phillip Daniels took his official visit to Minnesota, he was pretty sure he knew where he wanted to go to college.
The trip to see the Gophers was Daniels’ first visit of June, but it impressed him enough to convince him to attend the Big Ten school. His visit to Pitt the following weekend gave him a lot to think about, but in the week leading up to his planned July 2 commitment, he came to the same conclusion.
It was Minnesota.
So, on Saturday morning with his 2 pm announcement looming, Daniels started wrapping up loose ends by calling the coaches of the schools that had been recruiting him to inform them of his decision.
That included a call to Pat Narduzzi, but the Pitt head coach offered more than “Thanks and good luck” for the Cincinnati (Oh.) Princeton offensive line prospect.
“I called him and he was just being real with me,” Daniels told Panther-Lair.com. “I called him to tell him I was going to Minnesota, but after talking to him, I kind of changed my mind.”
In fact, when it came time for Daniels to pick a hat during his live announcement on Instagram Live, the 6’5” 292-pound tackle skipped the maroon of Minnesota and went for the yellow hat with the blue Pitt script on it.
“I was talking to my mom and my head coach and I just felt good about playing for their program,” Daniels said. “It was really the people there and the culture they have. I was thinking about the visit and talking to my mom, and we said the people were the big thing. The staff, Coach Borbs (offensive line coach Dave Borbely), everybody I talked to there - that was a big part of it.”
Daniels earned his offer from Pitt at one of the Panthers’ prospect camps in June. That day, he worked extensively with Borbely, and the relationship between recruit and coach only grew when he returned for his official visit, during which he watched film with Pitt’s offensive line leader.
“It’s awesome with Coach Borbs,” Daniels said. “I can call him anytime I want to and he’s a really good coach. We watched film together and he critiqued my game, and it was good to work with him at the camp. I feel like he can be a good coach for me. He likes how nasty I play and how I work.”
Daniels is the fourth offensive line prospect to join Pitt’s 2023 recruiting class, and all four committed in the last 10 days. The run started with Colin Van Rooy, who committed during his official visit last weekend, and continued with Tai Ray, who committed after getting home from his official visit. In between was a commitment from Ryan Carretta, who visited earlier in the month but committed on Sunday.