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The 3-2-1 Column: A big June, QB recruiting questions and more

MORE HEADLINES - What does Pitt AD Heather Lyke think of NIL? | Capel on NIL, the Olympics, the offseason and more | Film review: A look at Pitt RB commit Jordaan Bailey | Nonar's coach says "Pitt got a big fish" | A wild two weeks led 2021 TE Cole Mitchell to Pitt | PODCAST: New commits, QB recruiting and more | June rundown: Where things stand with Pitt's official visitors

In this week’s 3-2-1 Column, we’re thinking about quarterbacks, NIL, the month of recruiting and more.

THREE THINGS WE KNOW

That’s how you June
Is June a verb? No, it’s not. But we do these kinds of things on the Internet: We make nouns into verbs to be clever.

Or maybe they’re not so clever. Either way, I’m saying it:

As the month wrapped up, Pitt did some serious June’ing.

How do you June, you ask?

It’s simple: You bring a bunch of recruits to campus for visits and get commitments from a bunch of them.

Okay, it’s simple to type that out. The execution is a bit trickier, but the Pitt coaching staff has pulled it off. Over and over.

Not last year, of course. Last year, there were no official visits, and the annual June recruiting outburst suffered as a result (although the coaches made up for it with highly unusual April and May recruiting outbursts).

This year, though, things were back to what they should be. If anything, they were actually turned up a notch, as the last year of no recruiting activity seemed to put a little something extra into this year’s recruiting. June is always an active month in recruiting, but this year, it felt like it was on steroids.

By the numbers:

Pitt hosted 29 recruits for official visits this month.

Of those 29, one was already committed prior to his visit: Central Valley DL Sean FitzSimmons.

Of the remaining 28, 10 more have committed: RB Jordaan Bailey, WR Addison Copeland, WR Camden Brown, WR Che Nwabuko, OL Isaiah Montgomery, OL Ja’Kavion Nonar, LB Marquan Pope, DB Ryland Gandy, DL Jimmy Scott and 2021 TE Cole Mitchell.

Of the remaining 18, three have committed to other schools: WR Marcus Peterson (Cincinnati), OL Brian Parker (Duke) and DB A’Khoury Lyde (Wisconsin).

That leaves about 15 guys still on the board for Pitt, although there are obviously caveats and varying levels of interest from the staff as well as priorities on who they will take. But getting 10 commitments in a month - really, those 10 came in about a 16-day span from Jordaan Bailey on June 12 to Isaiah Montgomery on June 28 - that’s what June is supposed to be like.

Recruiting came back with a vengeance this month, and Pitt went all in on the June’ing.

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Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi landed 10 commitments in June,
Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi landed 10 commitments in June, (Matt Hawley)

A new one
It wasn’t entirely a typical June, though, because one of those commitments was pretty unique.

I’m talking, of course, about Cole Mitchell.

The tight end from Frederick (Md.) Linganore High School got his offer from Pitt after impressing the staff at the final prospect camp of the month. He returned to campus a week later for his official visit and committed before he left town.

That’s all pretty standard, but you probably know the key detail I’m leaving out:

Mitchell is a recruit in the class of 2021, which means he’ll be a freshman with the football team during training camp in August.

How does that happen? Well, as you might imagine, there are unique circumstances.

In Mitchell’s case, it was a combination of events. It started last summer, when Mitchell - like everyone else in his class - couldn’t attend any prospect camps due to the NCAA’s COVID dead period. Then his junior film was mostly defense, since he was recovering from mono and didn’t have the stamina to play both ways, so his coaches used him where they needed him most.

And finally, Mitchell’s senior season wasn’t played until this spring, which means he couldn’t put together a full season’s worth of highlight film at tight end until after Signing Day in February.

That’s how a guy slips through the cracks, and Mitchell intended to fix that by going to IMG Academy in Bradenton - where current Pitt freshman tight end Jake Renda went last year - in order to get more exposure and recruiting interest.

Before he moved to Florida, though, Mitchell went to Pitt’s prospect camp, and you know the rest of the story from there.

Look, I’m not going to sit here and say Mitchell is an under-the-radar All-American. That doesn’t happen very often. Elite prospects get found, even if COVID and mono and whatever else get in the way.

But what I will say is this: Mitchell is a big tight end who matches his “violent” blocking (that’s the term his coach used) with basketball-level athleticism (he’s a really good hoops player, too). He mostly blocked in high school, but he caught enough passes to show that his hands aren’t complete stones. And then he showed the Pitt coaches what he could do in person at the camp.

To me, that’s a lot of good ingredients to throw into the mix, especially when you’re talking about a late addition to the recruiting class.

The trend with offensive lineman
Pitt’s latest commitment was a really good one.

That would be Isaiah Montgomery, an offensive lineman from Virginia Beach who announced his verbal pledge for the Panthers on Monday, choosing Pitt over offers from Arizona State, Boston College, Florida State, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan State, N.C. State, Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Tech and West Virginia.

Montgomery was a big commitment for Pitt. He took his official visit the second weekend of the month and visited Illinois last weekend before committing on Monday. There’s a lot to like about Montgomery, from his versatility (he has always played tackle but could slide inside to guard) to his physicality (he applies some punishing blocks in his highlight film).

But one thing that really stands out to me is size. Montgomery is 6’5” and 290 pounds, and I’m going to emphasize that first part:

The 6’5” part.

That’s the part that makes Montgomery the latest in a trend.

Pitt’s 2019 recruiting class produced three offensive linemen: Matt Goncalves (6’6”), Liam Dick (6’7”, even if he’s not on the team anymore) and Jason Collier (6’7”). The 2020 class brought Branson Taylor (6’5”) and Michael Statham (6’7”). Last year’s class had four offensive linemen: Terrence Moore (6’5”), Kyle Fugedi (6’6”), Trey Andersen (6’6”) and Terrence Enos (6’4”).

And Montgomery’s counterpart in the 2022 class, so far, is Ja’Kavion Nonar, who checks in at 6’7”.

That means that, of the last 11 offensive line prospects Pitt has gotten, 10 have been listed at 6’5” or taller (and Terrence Enos, listed at 6’4”, is by no means small).

That stands out to me. It means the potential exists for Pitt’s two-deep along the offensive line in two years to be fairly massive.

Size isn’t everything, but it sure doesn’t hurt.

And I think these guys can move a little bit. Collier and Andersen were former tight ends. Goncalves was a basketball standout. Fugedi played hockey (that one really stands out). Nonar played basketball all his life. And Montgomery, Taylor, Enos and Moore have good athleticism, too.

Big guys who can move: seems like a solid recipe for successful development along the offensive line. And if Pitt’s offensive line in 2023 has Goncalves and Taylor at tackle, Moore at center and then maybe Enos and Fugedi at guard, I think that group has a chance to be pretty strong.

They’ll be big, if nothing else.

Virginia Beach OL Isaiah Montgomery
Virginia Beach OL Isaiah Montgomery (Rivals.com)

TWO QUESTIONS WE HAVE

Can you cash these tickets?
Speaking of offensive linemen…

I was doing some more research into recent Pitt commit Ja’Kavion Nonar this week, and his story is pretty interesting. This past year was his first time playing football; his background is as a basketball player, and the football coach at Glades Central - former Pitt great Rickey Jackson’s son, Rashad Jackson - saw a big-bodied forward that he needed to get on the football field.

For good reason, too. Nonar is a 6’7” 280-pounder who can get out and run on the basketball court. There are no questions about his athleticism; the only questions were about how he would adapt to the football field:

Would he develop the necessary physicality? Could he be aggressive as an offensive tackle?

The answer was pretty resoundingly yes, and Pitt was sold.

But still, there are questions about Nonar and how he will do in college. He’s raw in every sense of the word, and it’s going to take some real dedication on his part and good coaching on Dave Borbely’s part to help him reach his potential (and I’ve been told by a few people that his potential is sky-high, for whatever that’s worth).

The thing is, there’s no guarantee he will reach that potential. I mean, there’s never a guarantee that any recruit will reach his potential. But there are some factors that can increase the likelihood of that happening, things like experience and proven on-field success and all of that.

Nonar doesn’t have a lot of that, but he has some basic physical tools - his size and athleticism - that make him intriguing enough for Pitt.

He’s a lottery ticket. Maybe not the long-shot odds of a Powerball, but he’s no $3 ticket where you win on every other scratch either.

The fact is, Pitt has to traffic in these kinds of linemen from time to time, maybe even frequently. You would like to get the elite offensive linemen every year, but I think you already know where those guys are going.

In the 2021 class, there were seven five-star offensive tackle prospects: two went to Alabama and one each went to Georgia, Wisconsin, Oregon, Clemson and Notre Dame. There were another 26 four-star tackles in the class, and you’d be hard-pressed to find more than one or two outliers in their destinations.

2020 was more of the same. There were only four five-star tackles; two went to Georgia, one went to Ohio State and one went to Stanford (incidentally, three of those four five-star tackles were from Georgia, reinforcing what we’ve been saying for awhile about the talent level in the Peach State). And of the 33 four-stars, there aren’t many schools that would surprise you.

My point is this: Pitt doesn’t typically land four or five-star offensive line prospects. Sometimes they’ll get one, but it’s not a regular occurrence, and that changes how the coaches have to approach recruiting offensive linemen.

You still shoot for some high-end guys, but you also have to look for guys like Nonar, players who fit certain measurable qualities but aren’t getting recruited at that top level for whatever reason (like a lack of experience).

Then you hope that some of them pan out.

I mean, you do more than hope. You put faith in your coaching and development practices and do everything you can to help them pan out.

But there’s a little bit of hope, too.

What’s up with the quarterbacks?
Not a lot, it seems.

Wait, did I just answer the question with five words in the first sentence? Seems like I did.

Let’s elaborate.

As Pitt has hosted official visits for and landed commitments from a running back, three receivers, two offensive linemen, a defensive lineman, a linebacker and a defensive back this month (in addition to another defensive lineman and a punter prior to June), one position has been noticeably absent:

Quarterback.

No quarterbacks have taken official visits to Pitt this month and none seemed to even really be considered for visits. Beyond that, there aren’t really even any clear and obvious targets at the position.

According to the Rivals database, Pitt has offered 11 quarterbacks in the class of 2022. Eight of those 11 are already committed. Of the other three, Henry Belin committed to Duke yesterday and Zion Turner and Davin Wydner don’t seem to be targets for the Panthers any more.

So there’s not much happening, and I think it’s understandable to wonder why. I mean, it’s only the most important position on the field, a position where Pitt has been caught - multiple times in the last decade or two - short-handed due to not just mis-evaluating but straight up under-recruiting. A position where Pitt hasn’t really had a game-changer since…

Alright, we’ll save the trip down memory lane and stay focused on the topic at hand. I have a few thoughts.

For starters, there’s the current depth chart. Pitt is going into the 2021 season with Kenny Pickett, Nick Patti, Davis Beville, Joey Yellen and Nate Yarnell. Say what you will about each of those guys, but that’s five scholarship quarterbacks, and three of them have at least three years of eligibility left (without counting the possibility of a super senior season).

Put another way, Beville, Yellen and Yarnell have two years of post-Pickett eligibility.

We all have opinions about the long-term potential for each of those players, but there are at least numbers.

Now, does that mean the staff should punt on quarterbacks for the 2022 class? Not necessarily, and I don’t necessarily think the staff is punting on quarterbacks for this class. My take is this:

I think Mark Whipple and company had a few guys they liked and pursued them until they lost them to other schools. At that point, my guess is the plan changed from going after top-of-the-board targets to the next category: the watch list.

I have to believe Whipple and the staff have a list of quarterbacks they intend to watch over the course of their senior seasons to see who emerges as offer-worthy. Given the upside-down nature of the last year, it’s not unreasonable to think there are some guys who could break out this fall, and I’m sure the recruiting staff has a list of breakout candidates they’ll be keeping an eye on.

The other thing is, there’s always the transfer portal. You don’t want to rely on that and you don’t want to make it a bedrock foundation of your recruiting strategy, but the reality is, the transfer portal is a part of recruiting.

That’s especially true of quarterbacks. Guys just aren’t sticking around. By my quick count, more than 50 FBS quarterbacks have entered the transfer portal just since January.

That’s insane. And it doesn’t even include the dozens who went in over the months prior to the end of the calendar year.

College coaches simply can’t expect every quarterback to stay on the roster if they don’t see a clear path to playing. Look at Joey Yellen, for example: He goes to Arizona State in 2019, plays in one game and then leaves when fellow freshman Jayden Daniels wins the starting job.

Yellen didn’t see a future as a starter, so he left. I’m not saying this to start a discussion about competition or perseverance or adversity or anything like that; I’ll leave that for the coaches at the pulpit.

I’m just here to say that, when it comes to quarterbacks, certain realities have emerged. Players are going to move, sometimes more than once, until they find a place they can succeed. And that means two things for coaches:

1. It means you can’t count on every quarterback you recruit staying on your roster for five years.

2. It means there are always - always - going to be guys available in the portal.

So if you have a bunch of guys on your roster like Pitt does and you think at least one or two of them can actually play in the future and you also don’t really feel great about any currently available options in the high school ranks, the transfer portal gives you just enough insurance to wait and see if any seniors emerge in the fall.

If they do, try to go get them. If they don’t, you can turn your focus to the 2023 class, knowing that the transfer portal will be there to fill in any holes that might show up down the road.

Is that a sound recruiting strategy? Well, dude, we just don’t know.

Pitt QB Davis Beville
Pitt QB Davis Beville (Matt Hawley)

ONE PREDICTION

What NLI is bringing
The talk of college sports this week, at least in Pennsylvania and most other states, is the Name, Image, Likeness legislation that will allow student-athletes to profit off of their, well, names, images and likenesses.

So if you were working on a comic book about the misadventures of the two Trey Andersons/Andersens who have played at Pitt, you might want to slow down because you’ll owe those guys some money.

Look, this is a terrible topic for the prediction section of the column, and not because it’s lacking in noteworthiness or relevance. It’s a terrible topic for the prediction section of the column because nobody really has any idea what’s going to happen here.

We all have theories. I have theories. You have theories. Coaches have theories. Administrators have theories. Student-athletes have theories. A whole bunch of people looking to make money off the players have a whole bunch of theories.

But nobody really knows.

There are extreme possibilities, like this:

And there’s far more everyday stuff where kids will get a commission or something for tweeting things if people click through (do a Twitter search for #GoPuffPartner and you’ll see what I mean).

The reality will include all of those and everything else possible in-between. Like Barstool Sports giving free stuff to basically any student-athletes who ask for it because…well, I don’t really know why they’re doing that. As a joke? Maybe.

Like I said, nobody has any idea what’s going on. Yesterday was Day One of this era. Things like this are rarely operating at full capacity on Day One. 12 months from now, things will look different. 24 months from now, even more so.

Right now? Who knows?

I do think there will be interesting ramifications to all of it. Recruiting will be impacted. College coaches might not be able to recruit on their players getting really good deals, but recruits talk to the players themselves - or just see the promotions on social media - and inevitably they’ll find out what the deals are.

That’s going to have an impact, and it might not entirely favor the bigger schools. As Craig Meyer at the Post-Gazette pointed out, maybe it will lead more kids to stay home or closer to home where they are somewhat established as a “brand” or at least a known entity from their high school carers.

It’s going to affect transfers, too. If the star point guard gets a good deal with Antoon’s or something, his backup is going to say, “I want a deal with Antoon’s but I can’t get one because I’m not playing enough.” So he’ll transfer to a place where he thinks he can play - and get the endorsement money.

The transfer portal was already wildly active this offseason with guys looking for better opportunities. Now they’re going to have even more motivation to seek greener pastures.

Pun intended.

Now, I’m not going to get crazy and talk about the death of college sports or anything like that. I don’t think that’s going to happen. But I do think it’s going to be really, really interesting to see what the next year or two brings and what college sports look like in couple years.

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