Signed: Sam Vander Haar

Pitt lands commitment from 2022 Australian punter Vander Haar

Pitt brought in a punter from Australia once before, and opted to go that direction yet again in the class of 2022. Prokick Australia is a program that trains specialists from Australia headed by Nathan Chapman and John Smith. The program has sent numerous Australian natives to play college football, including current Pitt punter Kirk Christodoulou.

As Christodoulou's career comes towards the end, the Pitt coaching staff opted to go 'down under' yet again to find their next punter. Vander Haar has a background in Australian Rules Football. The Prokick Australia guys figured he would be a good fit when the Panthers came calling again for a punter.

Vander Haar's commitment back in May came as a surprise, as he was not really on anyone's radar.

“We sent some film off and they were interested in me and my abilities,” Vander Haar told Panther-Lair.com back in May. “I spoke to Andre Powell from there and just built a really good relationship with him. Over the last few months I kept sending more film and the offer came. Then I obviously spoke to Coach Narduzzi and a few other coaches from there as well.”

As he gets ready to make the full-time move to the United States, he did talk to Christodoulou about what college football is like.

“I’ve spoken to Kirk in depth over the last few months and he’s wonderful and he’s been a really good sounding board for me,” Vander Haar said. “He’s loved his time and experience there and he’s had such a great college career.”

Vander Haar is expected to join the team as an early enrollee.