Scenes from Signing Day: Gabe Houy

UPPER ST. CLAIR, Pa. -- Since committing to Pitt over the summer of 2016, Upper St. Clair (Pa.) offensive tackle Gabe Houy has had smooth sailing to National Signing Day. The 2017 Pitt signee ended his recruiting process on Wednesday, February 1st, by signing his National Letter of Intent alongside classmates and with the support of family and friends. Houy was joined by 18 other Upper St. Clair student-athletes at the event at the high school, a moment he’s been looking forward to for some time.

“It wasn’t too stressful. I always felt like Pitt was home for me since I got my first offer from them. Their coaches were always the best with me so I felt like it was the best fit and the best place for me to be… It feels great,” Houy said. “It’s great to finally have a home down at Pitt. I’m excited. They’re great coaches and there are great facilities, so I’m excited about everything. The relationships have definitely grown stronger. I know Pitt’s coaches better and I think it’s a great place to be. It’s great right now.”

Houy’s signing comes fresh off of an official visit to Pitt on the weekend of January 27th, the final weekend a prospect could make a visit before the start of the signing period. It was a great experience for Houy to bond with future teammates and close out his recruiting process.

“It was great getting to hang out with [Carson Van Lynn, Cal Adomitis, and others]. I loved meeting them and getting to hang out. They’re great guys and it’s going to be a great group, this class of 2017. We know each other pretty well. We all mess around with each other and it’s fun,” Houy said. “I haven’t been able to meet all of them in person yet, but you can see they all have great personalities.”

As any lineman worth his salt should, Houy made sure to enjoy the food made available to him on the University of Pittsburgh’s tab.

“I think it was nice being an official visitor and doing more stuff and going to nicer restaurants, stuff like that,” Houy said. “It was great, I had steak one night and a couple good breakfasts. I didn’t make it in Friday night because I had a basketball game, but it was a great visit overall.”

Houy’s basketball season is ongoing and he’s using it as a key part of his offseason conditioning ahead of his enrollment at Pitt in June. The Pitt signee had a standout senior year as a leader of his team before falling to McKeesport (Pa.) in the playoffs and he’ll be working to build on that progress and to prepare for a chance at cracking the depth chart at Pitt.

“I’m still going through basketball, so I’m definitely trying to go through that as best I can and trying to make a run in the playoffs. After that I’m doing a lot of lifting and training and going to ESI. Just training a lot and getting ready. Definitely,” Houy said, when asked if he could compete for playing time. “It just takes a lot of hard work and training and lifting and focusing on doing what I can to help the team.”

Check out photos of Houy’s signing ceremony embedded below and also in the album at this link.