Pitt lands a kicker from Ohio

Pitt added one more piece to the 2020 class on Tuesday when Tipp City (Oh.) Tippecanoe kicker Ben Sauls announced his commitment to the Panthers.

Scholarship offers for kickers are not common, but Sauls is an uncommon kicker. He specialized in long kicks for Tippecanoe this season; he was 3-of-5 on field goals, connecting from 49, 50 and 55. His two misses were a 57-yard kick that went off the right upright and a 55-yard attempt was just barely wide left.

Sauls also regularly put kickoffs out of the end zone - and sometimes through the uprights - while averaging nearly 60 yards per kick.

That success drew scholarship offers from Georgia Tech, Boston College, Arkansas, Akron, Colorado State and Iowa State. Sauls committed to Boston College in June, but the situation with the Eagles changed when Steve Addazio was fired.

Pitt maintained contact with Sauls throughout the process. Pat Narduzzi and his staff hoped to bring him in as a walk-on initially and then put him on scholarship next January - the same path that Alex Kesssman followed when he enrolled at Pitt four years ago.

The Panthers even hosted Sauls for an unofficial visit two weeks ago and seemed to be close to landing his services.

Things changed last week when Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell visited Sauls and gave him a full scholarship offer. That led to Sauls committing to the Cyclones.

But Narduzzi didn’t back down; instead, the Pitt head coach got in touch with Sauls and gave him a full scholarship offer. That development left Sauls with a decision to make, but with the relative proximity to home, his long-standing interest in the Panthers and the fact that his good friend, Byron Floyd from Mentor, is going to Pitt as a walk-on long-snapper this summer, the choice for Sauls was clear.

Now Pitt has an on-the-roster replacement for when Kessman finishes his eligibility this fall.

“He’s got the strongest leg that we’ve seen at the high school level,” says Adam Tanalski, who has worked with both Sauls and Kessman through his Hammer Kicking Academy. “He’s Alex Kessman as a lefty. He’s got that kind of leg strength.”

Kessman will be a redshirt senior at Pitt this season. In the last two seasons, he has made six field goals of 50-plus yards, including a 55-yard kick in 2018 that ranks as the longest field goal in Heinz Field history by an NFL or college kicker.