Pitt felt like home for Gilbert

Sean Gilbert made his name as a star defensive lineman at Pitt in the 1990's.

20 years later, his son plans to do the same.

"The Pitt Panthers are 'DLU' - defensive line university," said Charlotte (NC) South Mecklenburg defensive end Zack Gilbert.

"I call them that."

And now Gilbert will be part of that, as he committed to Pat Narduzzi on Tuesday afternoon. The commitment comes on the heels of Gilbert's official visit to Pitt over the weekend.

"The reason I committed is because I felt like I was at home," Gilbert told Panther-Lair.com. "It's home, and I felt like it was my calling to go there. It just felt like home.

"There was a point in the visit, it was the first day, and I was in the dorm hanging out with the players, just being with them and we were just getting along right and I was like, 'This is it, this has to be it.' Then when we were going through the campus and all that and seeing everything, it just felt right. It just did."

Gilbert picked Pitt over offers from Boston College, Cal, Duke, Florida, Kansas State, North Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and West Virginia, but his final decision came down to Pitt and Virginia Tech.

On his visit to Pitt, Gilbert watched Pitt beat Louisville 45-34 behind a five-sack performance from redshirt senior defensive end Ejuan Price. Gilbert checks in at 6'2" and 260 pounds, which is right around the same size as Price, and that similarity wasn't lost on Pitt's newest commit.

"I see myself fitting in well with the defense," Gilbert said. "Coach (Tom) Sims told me I could play on the weak-side or the strong-side, and he thought I would adjust to it well. They'll get me big, strong, fast and I'll fit in with it.

"They're redefining the defensive ends. You get to college and everybody thinks you have to be 6'5" or 6'6" to be a defensive end, but the guy who got five sacks was 6'1", so I think they're making a new name for defensive ends."

Gilbert also thinks Narduzzi, who has Pitt at 8-4 in his first season as head coach of the Panthers, is changing the look of the Panthers overall.

"I see him doing big things; I really do," Gilbert said. "He's going to help me to a promising future and I think he's building a really good program at Pitt."

In 12 games this season, Gilbert recorded 89 total tackles, 33 tackles for loss, 11 sacks, 57 quarterback hurries, three forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, three pass deflections and six touchdowns.

With Gilbert on board, Pitt now has 12 commitments in the 2016 recruiting class, seven of which are on defense. In addition to Gilbert, the Panthers have commitments from defensive tackles Bryce Hargrove and Rashad Wheeler, linebackers Kaezon Pugh and Chase Pine and defensive backs Therran Coleman and Bricen Garner.

One unique angle with Gilbert is that he plans to graduate from South Mecklenburg in December and enroll at Pitt in January. He is the second Pitt recruit in this class to plan for early enrollment, along with Bedford (Oh.) running back Chawntez Moss.

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