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As AJ Davis approached the final stretch in his recruitment in January, he focused on some key factors that mattered.
He wanted a chance to play. He wanted a school where he felt like he was home. And, perhaps most importantly, he wanted a coaching staff that truly wanted him.
Pitt checked all the boxes.
The opportunity to play increased with James Conner’s decision to go to the NFL. Pittsburgh became home when Davis visited in early December. And the coaches did their part for a solid 16 months.
“They showed me that they really wanted me,” Davis told Panther-Lair.com. “They started talking to me the beginning of my junior year and they said they would always stay in touch with me and they did.
“That was big because I really wasn’t expecting to go to Pitt. I didn’t talk to them too much early on but they came really heavy at me and I knew they wanted me.”
Pitt landed Davis on Signing Day when he announced on national television that he would be a Panther. And while Narduzzi and the Pitt staff celebrated after watching the announcement, they already knew where Davis was going.
“My last official visit was to Louisville, and after I got off the plane, I called the Pitt coaches,” he said. “They said there was a running back who wanted to commit on his visit and they asked me if they should tell him there wasn’t room because a back had already committed - meaning me.
“I said yes. I said I was solid and committed. So I really did it before Signing Day.”
Davis trusted the Pitt coaches to keep his commitment quiet, which they did. But that was hardly the first indication they had that he was interested in the Panthers. After laying low throughout his recruitment, Davis got the run-up to Signing Day started when he used his first official visit for a trip to Pitt.
He also took visits to Louisville, North Carolina, Missouri and South Florida, but that first visit stood out for the four-star running back prospect who ranks as the No. 14 back in the 2017 recruiting class.
“I loved it up there,” he said. “I felt like I was home.”
Even before he got on campus, Davis had an inkling that he might like what Pitt had to offer.
“I have a couple friends from Florida up there like Keyshon Camp, the (redshirt freshman) defensive tackle; he went to my school’s rival and we grew up together,” Davis said. “I was talking to him a lot about it once he got there. He said it’s nice, it’s like a city but it’s not like a big city. And it snows a lot sometimes.”
Snow turned out to be the capper to Davis’ visit.
“I saw snow for my first time the last day I was up there,” he said. I was surprised. I was like, I might as well get used to it now because I’m going to have to play in it a few years from now.”
Davis has his eyes on a big goal: playing in the NFL. And while that’s tough to project, his career thus far indicates he is on the right path. He was the leading rusher at Lakeland High School in each of his four years, finishing with 5,398 yards for his career. As a senior in 2016, Davis rushed for 1,498 yards and 16 touchdowns on 187 carries (8.0 yards per carry). And he was at his best in the postseason, rushing for 1,195 yards in seven career playoff games (170.7 yards per game).
Davis did all of that while playing in the 7A classification - the second-largest in Florida high school football.
Now he’s ready for the next step in the process. He’ll arrive at Pitt in June and jump right into a competition for the carries left available by Conner’s departure. He has been talking with Todd Sibley, Pitt’s other running back recruit in the 2017 class - “We’ve been saying we’re going to turn it around” - and the duo should be among the strongest sets of freshman backs the Panthers have seen.
