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Khalil Anderson knew he liked Pitt and Michigan State the most out of his 21 offers, but he didn’t feel like he had all the necessary information to make a decision.
More specifically, he hadn’t visited those schools, and he didn’t think he could commit without seeing them in person. But with the NCAA extending the recruiting dead period through the end of July, Anderson wasn’t going to have a chance to visit Pitt or Michigan State anytime soon.
So he and his family took matters into their own hands this week. On Wednesday, they flew to Detroit and rented a car to drive to Pittsburgh, where they drove around the city and walked around the campus. They then drove back to Detroit, spent the night and got up the next morning for a drive to East Lansing to see Michigan State’s campus.
By Thursday night, they were on a plane flying home to Georgia. And Anderson had seen all he needed to see.
“It just felt like home as soon as I walked on campus,” Anderson told Panther-Lair.com, and on Friday night, he committed to Pitt.
“The only thing that was holding me back from committing was not seeing the campus,” he said. “It was hard to get a good feel for the campus and a good feel for the school because I had never been there. So that was big. It was very eye-opening when I got onto campus, and once I got there, I could see myself in Pittsburgh colors.”
In addition to Pitt and Michigan State, Anderson, a 5’11” 175-pound cornerback from Riverwood High School in Atlanta, had offers from Duke, Kansas, Kansas State, Syracuse, Wake Forest and more.
“Really, it was a close decision between Michigan State and Pitt,” Anderson said. “Pitt was just a better overall school for me as far as setting me up the best to be successful in the future. The business program and how serious they are about getting their football players set up academically - that really stood out to me.
“My relationship with [cornerbacks coach Archie Collins] and [head coach Pat Narduzzi] played a big role, too. We’ve been talking consistently for the last three months, so we just built a really good relationship and it just felt like home.”
Pitt offered Anderson in early April, but his relationship with the coaching staff predates that offer.
“We’ve been talking ever since last September,” Anderson said. “Coach Archie followed me on Twitter at first - actually, this one day in September, the whole Pitt staff followed me at one time. Then my DB coach is very good friends with Coach Archie and he told Coach Archie about me, so he got my phone number and we’ve just been talking a lot since then. We have the same mindset about a lot of things.”
Anderson is the 16th recruit to commit to Pitt in the class of 2021 and the second cornerback prospect, joining Seffner (Fla.) Armwood three-star Noah Biglow, who committed last week. The Panthers are expected to try to load up at cornerback in this class, and Anderson thinks he fits what the coaches are looking for.
“Coach Archie said he likes the dog that I play with and he likes the kind of instincts that I have,” Anderson said. “He likes my ball skills and he likes how I tackle. He likes how I pursue the ball-carriers. He just likes the dog that’s in me and my instincts. Personally, I think my biggest strength is my football IQ. I can slow down the game; what separates you in football is that you have to be great at the smaller things. I think that’s my biggest strength.”
