Relationships made the difference for Baldonado
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While Pitt impressed Habakkuk Baldonado on his official visit two weeks ago, it still wasn’t enough to convince the Clearwater International Academy defensive end prospect that he wanted to be a Panther.
The day after he got back from Pitt, Baldonado hosted a trio of coaches from Michigan State - including head coach Mark Dantonio - for an in-home visit, and at that point, he was favoring the Spartans.
But Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi and linebackers coach Rob Harley got the next in-home visit, coming in one day after MSU visited Baldonado and spending nearly eight hours with him, hoping to make the case for Pitt.
As it turns out, that in-home visit was successful: Baldonado signed with Pitt today.
“After the official visit, I felt good about it but I was still leaning to Michigan State,” Baldonado told Panther-Lair.com. “But after I thought about the relationship with Coach Harley and Coach Narduzzi, I felt like going to Pitt. They’re both great schools in academics and football, but it was about coaches and where I was feeling better.”
All told, Baldonado picked Pitt over offers from Michigan State, UCF, Nebraska, Illinois, UConn, UMass, Coastal Carolina and more, but his final decision came down to Pitt, MSU and UCF. He visited each of those schools over the last three weeks of the contact period, but he almost didn’t make the trip to Pitt.
“I got sick that week; I had a fever that was 101 or 102 degrees, so I was giving up on the Pitt visit,” Baldonado said. “I was supposed to go to UCF and then Pitt on the same weekend, but told them I wasn’t going to go to Pitt, just UCF because it was closer and it was an easy trip and I didn’t feel like flying to Pittsburgh.
“But Coach Harley came to my house with the defensive coordinator and he convinced me to go there. He talked about the school, the academics, the programs there and talked about Coach Narduzzi and brought up the fact that they are in the city. So I started thinking about it and he sold me on the school.”
Harley was Baldonado’s main point of contact at Pitt, and their relationship was an important factor in the decision to sign with Pitt, as was his relationship with Narduzzi. But Baldonado said that defensive line coach Charlie Partridge also played a key role after their interactions on his official visit to Pitt.
“I spent some time with him on my visit and he was a big part of the deal,” Baldonado said. “When I chose Pitt, a lot of it was because of him. He’s a great teacher and he’s going to develop me and help me become the best that I can be.
“I’ve only been playing for four years so I’m a little raw, but he liked the technique I have, my hip movement, my hand movement and all of that. He’s going to help me with the technique to help me become a better player.”
Baldonado is right that he’s somewhat raw, but it’s hard to argue with the production. In his lone year at Clearwater International Academy, he recorded a whopping 30.5 sacks, which put him on the radar for a lot of college programs in a hurry, especially considering that was his first year playing football in America. A native of Italy, Baldonado moved to Florida last summer in the hopes of landing a Division I scholarship.
His mother still lives in Rome, but while she’s a long way from Pittsburgh, Baldonado said she is on board with the decision.
“She’s happy about it,” he said. “She has FaceTimed with Coach Narduzzi and Coach Harley a couple times. She went with me to the Michigan State official visit, and then she FaceTimed with Coach Narduzzi and Coach Harley that Sunday right after the visit. Then when I was at Pitt for my visit, she FaceTimed with them again, so they’ve been talking a little bit. She really liked all of them. She knows they’re good people.”
Now Baldonado is looking forward to the next step in his career.
“I’m excited to start a new adventure,” he said. “I can’t wait to play some D-I ball. That’s the best part.”