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With one commitment, Pitt’s kicking game is locked up for the next five years.
The Panthers will need a new kicker in 2021 after Alex Kessman finishes his eligibility, and they got Kessman’s replacement on Wednesday when Tipp City (Oh.) Tippecanoe’s Ben Sauls signed his Letter of Intent.
“I chose Pittsburgh because it was the best fit academically and athletically,” Sauls told Panther-Lair.com.
Scholarship offers to high school kickers aren’t all that common, but neither are kickers like Sauls. A big-legged specialist who comfortably connects on field goals of 40-50 yards and beyond and who regularly puts kickoffs out of the end zone, Sauls drew more than one scholarship offer in the last year.
Georgia Tech, Boston College, Arkansas, Iowa State, Colorado State and Akron also offered Sauls in addition to Pitt, and unlike most kickers, his recruitment actually took several turns throughout the process.
Last June, he committed to Boston College, but when Steve Addazio was fired, the situation changed and he reopened his recruitment. Pitt got involved at that point - Sauls said that special teams coach Andre Powell was the first coach to contact him after he decommitted from Boston College - and the Panthers had him on campus for an unofficial visit two weeks ago.
Pitt’s hope was to get Sauls to spend the fall of 2020 as a walk-on and then go on scholarship next January, following the same path that Kessman did when he got to Pitt in 2016.
Then, last week, Sauls committed to Iowa State on a full scholarship following an in-home visit with head coach Matt Campbell and his future seemed to be set. But when news of his commitment reached Pat Narduzzi, the Pitt head coach decided to be more aggressive in his pursuit.
So Narduzzi called Sauls and made a full offer. Sauls didn’t want to decommit a second time, but the appeal of Pitt was too strong.
“I knew I wanted to go to Pittsburgh,” he said. “However, with the respect that Coach Campbell and Coach (Steve) Hauser showed me at Iowa State, I knew that it was going to be a very difficult phone (call) to make. Pitt was always my first choice, and when Coach Narduzzi called me, I knew that Pitt was going to be home.
“I have wanted to be a Panther and really enjoyed my relationship with Coach Powell. The Iowa State phone call (to decommit) absolutely crossed my mind, but I definitely wanted to be a Panther.”
Now he’ll share a sideline with Kessman, who has known for four years since the two started working together with Adam Tanalski and the Hammer Kicking Academy.
“He’s got the strongest leg that we’ve seen at the high school level,” Tanalski says of Sauls. “He’s Alex Kessman as a lefty. He’s got that kind of leg strength.”
Sauls said he is looking forward to learning from Kessman over the next year, but the Pitt redshirt senior kicker has already had an influence on the Panthers’ next field goal and kickoff specialist.
“Alex told me nothing but great things about the program,” Sauls said. “And I obviously follow his career; I love the confidence Coach Narduzzi and Coach Powell have in him with long field goals and I hope to carry on the tradition.”
