Plenty of factors led O'Brien to choosing Pitt
Pitt added 22 recruits this past year for the 2021 signing class. The last player to join the group was Phillip O’Brien, a 6’2” and 190-pound safety out of Deerfield Beach, Florida.
'PJ" O’Brien’s commitment actually came on Christmas day, which actually followed the early signing period. He was able to enroll early anyway and is now in Oakland getting ready for his first spring practice with the Pitt program.
O’Brien held a commitment to Auburn throughout most of his senior year, but a late coaching change for the Tigers had him rethinking that decision. Pitt was in the position to make a late push for him thanks in large part to assistant coach Charlie Partridge.
“He’s been on me since like my sophomore year of high school and once I de-committed from Auburn, he just chopped it up with me and the connection just got back like this,” O’Brien told reporters on Wednesday over Zoom.
Of course it wasn’t Partridge alone. Pitt has built up a strong connection to South Florida for years now on the recruiting trail, and some current Panthers also reached out to the Deerfield Beach standout like Vincent Davis, Aydin Henningham, and Marquis Williams.
Pitt was the program that showed the most interest at the end of the recruiting process, and O’Brien felt it was important to see the school in-person. He took a trip to Pittsburgh on his own ahead of his decision, and seeing the city helped make up his mind, even if it wasn’t a traditional official visit.
“Coming close to signing day it was very important because I had to just figure out an option and a home to be at,” O’Brien said of his last minute trip to visit Pitt. “When I came up to Pittsburgh it was just like amazing, especially the city, the people, coaches. It was amazing, that was huge.”
The relationship with Partridge and current players helped shape this decision for O’Brien. Seeing the campus also played a factor, too. On top of all of that, he simply just likes the type of style Pitt plays with on defense and sees a fit for himself.
O’Brien described himself as a ‘hard-hitter’ and he particularly liked what he saw from Pitt’s starting safeties in 2020.
“I love it,” he said of Pitt’s defense. "Like Damar (Hamlin), Paris (Ford) - they were some big-time players and I can attribute my game, my style of game to them. They were definitely some of my role models.”
While he admires both players, he sees an opportunity with both guys out of eligibility at Pitt for next season. O’Brien believes he can make an impact in year one with some playing time to be had at the safety position.
“I feel like it was a great chance,” O’Brien said of one of the reasons he picked Pitt. “I can get a chance to play and get my feet wet this year and contribute to the team.”
The defensive back culture at Pitt is something O’Brien is aware of and a legacy he wants to join someday. From Jordan Whitehead winning a Super Bowl just a few weeks, to Dane Jackson earning playing time as a rookie this past year, and now to Hamlin and Ford likely hearing their named called in this April’s NFL Draft, there’s a lot for a young defensive back to like about Pitt’s secondary in recent history.
Even with all of that, O’Brien said he is staying in the present.
“You think about going to the NFL, that’s my dream, but right now I got to get things done now in college,” he said.