Renda feeling at home in Pittsburgh
Home cooked meals just five minutes down the road? That’s exactly the college experience Jake Renda knew he was signing up for when he committed to Pitt.
Renda is a New Jersey native. He left his high school to attend the prestigious IMG Academy to play out his senior year during the fall. Pittsburgh, however, has always felt like a second home for the 2021 Pitt signee and he’s feeling comfortable in his first couple of weeks in Oakland as an early enrollee for the spring semester.
Renda, a 6’4” and 225-pound tight end, had a high level of comfort with Pitt and Pittsburgh long before he made his college decision.
“My dad is from Pittsburgh, so he grew up here,” Renda told reporters during a media session on Wednesday. “His parents grew up here, so it goes back in my family history for generations.”
His father attended Central Catholic High School in the shadows of Pitt’s campus. From an early age Renda and his dad would explore Oakland and the city, and that built up a comfort level in Pittsburgh for Renda.
“I was always in Pittsburgh, since I was like 2 or 3 just because I had family here,” Renda explained. “So we’d come up for Christmas and stuff like that, but I really started exploring Pitt probably around 7th grade. I’ve been to a couple of Pitt games in middle school and high school. I’ve just always been in Pittsburgh from a very young age. I’m very familiar with the city.”
Of course attending Pitt wasn’t always on the table for Renda. The tight end prospect originally committed to Michigan State on the Fourth of July. Pitt was recruiting him at the time, but an offer didn’t come until a few weeks after he made the decision to commit to the Spartans. He knew in the back of his head that if a Pitt offer ever came along that he would be a Panther.
“I really had to kind of turn around and make a quick decision, but I knew if Pitt ever came to the table I knew that was the offer I was taking and that’s what I did,” Renda said of his recruitment. “It really wasn’t a hard decision for me. They called me and informed me that I had an offer and I pretty much knew what I wanted to do the second I hung up the phone.”
Renda is now in Pittsburgh for the spring semester as a freshman anxiously awaiting spring practice. He joins a tight end room that is fronted by senior Lucas Krull, but also has experienced returning guys like Kyi Wright and Daniel Moraga. Renda and fellow 2021 tight end signee Gavin Bartholomew are the two newcomers to the group and are going through the process of getting acclimated to college life together
Renda celebrated his birthday this past week and was able to make a quick trip to pick up some food from his grandparents. He is a new resident of Pittsburgh, but feeling at home quickly.
Renda did get to step out and experience new things this past fall, however. He left his high school in New Jersey and got to live life on his own at IMG Academy, an experience he feels will help him in the long run. From living on his own to practicing and playing against top competition, this past year is something he trusts will pay off this year and beyond.
“I felt very connected to my old high school, so it was hard to leave, but going down there I can’t think of a better place to get ready for the next level,” Renda said of his year at IMG. “Everything is just taken so seriously and in a lot of ways it’s just like college. So for me personally, it helped me develop as a player just competing against some of the best talent in the country on a daily basis everyday at practice with the best coaching staff in the country. It also helped develop me as a person because I’m out there living on my own. So in a lot of ways it replicates the college experience.”