Pitt WR commit is an all-state performer
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When Pitt got a commitment from a three-star receiver in Alabama on Aug. 1, the news didn’t exactly create a huge stir.
Sure, Cameron O’Neil’s junior film was impressive. He was a prolific pass-catcher in 2016, pulling in 75 receptions for 638 yards and seven touchdowns in helping the Glenwood Gators reach the playoffs, and he was named an all-state second-team performer by multiple outlets.
But he was a long way from Pittsburgh in Phenix City, Alabama - about 800 miles, depending on the route - and even his recruitment by Pitt was a bit of an extended relationship.
“We got on him through some contacts, some people down in south Georgia,” Pitt receivers coach Kevin Sherman said on Signing Day last Wednesday. “He was just across the bridge, the Georgia state line.”
Sherman, who recruits Atlanta for Pitt, was tipped to O’Neil last spring. The process started with taking a look at O’Neil’s junior film, and from there, Sherman liked what he saw.
“You go do your homework and find out he’s a good kid and a pretty good player on tape,” Sherman said. “That’s when you create the relationship and try to find out what kind of player he is and how he fits in your system.”
Pitt liked O’Neil’s fit well enough, and the coaching staff offered him before the end of the school year. In late July he visited campus for the first time, and a few days later, he committed to the Panthers.
O’Neil then embarked a senior season that, in several ways, surpassed his junior year. He caught fewer passes - 44, as opposed to 75 - but made them count for more, averaging 16 yards per reception to finish with 705 yards and scoring 10 touchdowns.
That included a huge game in Week Three, when he caught 11 passes for 224 yards and three touchdowns in a 36-35 loss to Lee-Scott Academy.
For his performance as a senior, O’Neil was named to the Alabama Sports Writers Association all-state first team.
“I think he’s a kid that brings some size, some length and more importantly some toughness,” Sherman said. “We’re trying to get some bigger, taller guys in that room and he’s one of those guys that we’re excited about getting in to create some competition with those guys.”
O’Neil was Pitt’s only receiver commitment in the 2018 class until the first day of the December signing period, when Florida three-star Shocky Jacques-Louis chose the Panthers over Tennessee and Kentucky. Pitt also added another receiver last week in Indiana transfer Taysir Mack, but O’Neil was the first.
“You just never know,” Sherman said about the approach to recruiting receivers in the 2018 class. “Recruiting changes daily and we knew we were going to take one. Cameron was the first one to say ‘I want to come to Pitt’ and we’re excited to have him.”