The 3-2-1 Column: A big recruiting week for basketball and football

In this week’s 3-2-1 Column, we discuss both the Pitt basketball team adding not only one, but two commitments this week. The football team also had an impressive week on the recruiting trail by picking up a four-star in the class of 2024.

We also talk about who are the most valuable players to the Pitt football team for this upcoming season. Also the Pitt baseball team has a huge weekend series on the road coming up and we preview that.

Plenty to discuss on a Friday morning.

THREE THINGS WE KNOW

Capel picks up a pair of commitments
On Monday of this week, Pitt added another piece to the puzzle of the 2022-23 roster when Blake Hinson pledged to the Panthers. Hinson is a 6’6” forward that comes to Pitt from Iowa State by way of Ole Miss. He was a four-star recruit in the class of 2018 and signed to play with the Rebels over offers from Florida State, Illinois, Miami, Seton Hall, and more. In two seasons at Ole Miss he started 58 of the 60 games he appeared in and averaged 10.1 points and 4.6 rebounds in the 2020 season.

Hinson transferred to Iowa State after two years in Oxford, but never suited up for the Cyclones due to an injury prior to the 2020-21 season, and then he opted to transfer before the start of this past year.

There is some risk in taking a player that has not played a game in two years, but given Pitt’s roster situation it may be worth trying to see what he can bring to the table. Pitt is adding a player that started and averaged double figures in a power-five league. If Hinson can regain anything close to that form he showed at Ole Miss, then this is a really nice addition for Jeff Capel’s squad.

“I think they like my experience,” he told Panther-Lair.com following his commitment. “They like the fact that I’m a team guy that fits their system. The fact that I play multiple positions is a plus.”

Hinson is correct in that assessment.

Hinson does add versatility in that he can play on the wing (he has 91 made three’s in his career) but his size would allow for him to play the four spot as well even if he is a bit undersized.

Yesterday, Pitt added to the roster even further as 6'11" big man Fede Federiko pledged to the Panthers. Federiko is a junior college prospect that played for Northern Oklahoma College this past season. He has three years of eligibility remaining.

Federiko averaged 11.7 points and 8.6 rebounds per game and should add a shot blocking presence off the bench as a reserve to starting center John Hugley. Like Hinson, Federiko took a visit to Pitt last weekend. He quickly followed that up with a trip to South Carolina, but in the end what he saw at Pitt led him to a commitment on Thursday.

Pitt now has eight scholarship players for next season following the two most recent commitments, meaning the team has five available slots to fill prior to next year. The task now will be to complete the roster. Prior to last weekend, the buzz surrounding Pitt and players in the portal was on the lighter side, but it has started to pick up over the past week and a half.

The Pitt coaches hosted Hinson and Federiko last weekend. Earlier this week they played host to Ohio State transfer Meechie Johnson as well as 2022 local prospect Adou Thiero. Pitt is also slated to host UConn transfer Akok Akok this weekend, as well as 2022 prospects Guillermo and Jorge Diaz.

It all picked up rather quickly on the recruiting front for Capel and his staff, and if they can land a few more of these names they are after then the state of the roster will look a lot better in a hurry. Of course, there are more portal additions almost daily, even after the season has been over for about a month for most teams. Pitt is still reaching out to new names as well, but the mystery of who Pitt is after has dwindled down as some legitimate names and targets have emerged,. At this point, it’s just a matter of closing out on some of these recruitments and landing some commitments, but this past week was a positive development on that front.

The class of 2024 is under way
Pitt football's recruiting efforts in the class of 2023 have been slow to this point in the way of commitments. The coaches hosted over 50 offered prospects this spring, but to date they only have one commitment on the books in three star wide receiver Zion Fowler. The class of 2023 is taking some shape, however. A number of different prospects on Wednesday indicated they have locked in official visits to Pitts in the month of June, and that list will only grow in the coming weeks. It will be interesting to follow and by the looks of it, this June will be another surge for Pitt’s recruiting efforts like it has been in recent history.

While the current class is always the focus, that does not mean the coaches aren’t working on some underclassmen as well. The class of 2024 got off to an unexpected hot start earlier this week when four-star defensive tackle Jahsear Whittington of Philadelphia committed to Pitt. Whittington stars for Philadelphia power Imhotep Charter, a program that regularly churns out power five talent year after year. He chose Pitt over offers from the likes of Penn State, Ole Miss, Nebraska, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

"I picked Pittsburgh because I have a great relationship with coach Partridge," Whittington told Rivals.com. "He loves me and I love him.”

It was unexpected for Pitt to land a prospect that is still a sophomore in high school, but after reading his quotes and talking to him personally, it really all makes a lot of sense. Whittington is a powerful, yet undersized defensive tackle. Pitt thrives with players like that and they have arguably the most disruptive defensive line in college football. It really feels like a match made in heaven. Of course, there is risk in committing this early. More schools will push for the talented defensive linemen, Michigan offered on Wednesday of this week, but in the end the fit here is what makes sense and as long as Charlie Partridge is coaching Pitt’s defensive line Whittington should make his way to Pittsburgh when it comes time to sign his letter of intent, even if it’s a long ways away from now.

Whittington was a huge piece to the class of 2024, but really we may have been underselling what Pitt is working on in that class. He was one of eight four-star prospects in the class of 2024 that have visited Pitt since the start of the new year. The other names are also very noteworthy:

That is an impressive group of visitors already, and that list will only grow over time for the 2024 recruiting class. The class of 2023 remains the primary focus of the staff, but after landing a prospect like Whittington, it reminds you that the class of 2024 has a chance to be really special as well.

Pitt has been doing a lot of things right lately: more guys have been drafted than previous regimes, players are earning big-time individual honors, and the team broke through and won an ACC title in 2021. When things like that start to happen around a football program, then it unlocks more doors on the recruiting trail. Pitt picking up a commitment from a four-star defensive linemen in April of his sophomore year only reinforces that.

Pitt baseball has a huge weekend series on tap
The Pitt baseball team is trying to punch a ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1995. The Panthers are 11-4 over their last 15 games and have collected four straight ACC series victories after starting conference play 1-5. Pitt currently holds a 21-14 record and the team sits in fourth place in the ACC Coastal standings with a 9-8 mark.

Over this recent hot streak, Pitt has taken out ranked teams such as Clemson, Louisville, and most recently Virginia with all of those series victories coming at home. This weekend’s test will likely be the greatest one the Panthers will face all year in the regular season. The Miami Hurricanes enter the weekend series with a 29-8 overall record and they lead the ACC Coastal Division with a 14-4 mark in league play. Miami is currently ranked No. 5 in this week’s Baseball America’s top 25 rankings.

Playing a top five team on the road is a daunting challenge on its own, but throw in the injury bug surrounding the Pitt team of late and that gives Mike Bell quite a challenge on his hands. Pitt lost to rival West Virginia 3-2 on Wednesday at PNC Park in 11 innings. The Panthers started that game without its entire starting outfield and both the starting third basemen and shortstop.

Even against a midweek pitching staff from the Mountaineers, the Pitt offense struggled without much of its firepower in the lineup. The Panthers mustered just three hits in 11 innings. Pitt did draw 12 walks, but that resulted in the Panthers leaving a total of 13 runners on base. It was an ugly performance by the offense, and a frustrating one at that, because if any of the five starters that missed the game played, it may have been enough to push the team ahead in the loss.

Now facing down Miami without some key players looks like a tall task ahead. Kyle Hess, the team’s centerfielder did pinch run on Sunday, and slugging left fielder Ron Washington Jr. was available to pinch hit that day. Perhaps a few of these guys are closer to playing and they were held out of the West Virginia game in favor of some extra rest ahead of the conference series beginning tonight.

Even if the offense is limited, Pitt should have a chance against the Hurricanes if the starting pitching remains to be a plus. Matt Gilbertson has won his last five starts as the team’s Friday night man, while Billy Corcoran has earned three straight victories working on Sundays. It has been a lethal 1-2 punch for this team, as both pitchers rank inside the top 15 in the ACC in wins, ERA, and innings pitched. They have been reliable options and have kept Pitt in many games this season already, but they may have some added pressure this weekend.

Both Baseball America and D1Baseball have the Panthers currently in the field of 64 in their latest mock brackets. The Panthers have 19 games left in the regular season, however, so there is a lot of baseball yet to be played. After Miami there are conference series against Duke, Notre Dame, and Georgia Tech. There is also seven non-conference games mixed in there for the team to add some wins to the resume. Pitt is in the conversation right now, much like the team was a year ago. There is an opportunity this weekend to really add to the tournament resume, but given the opponent and a host of players missing, it won’t be easy.

TWO QUESTIONS WE HAVE

Who are Pitt’s most valuable players?
I brought this topic up on the message boards this week, but I think it is worth a little further discussion. We know Pitt returns some All-Americans and all-conference players off of last year’s team. It is a group that is deep and experienced on both sides of the ball, but who are the team’s most valuable players? Not necessarily the best players, although there is some crossover when looking at it both ways. But who are the guys this team can’t really afford to lose? I think that’s where value triumphs overall talent a bit.

There are different ways determining value to a football team, but a lot of it can be pointed to depth behind certain players. If Player A goes down, will there be a significant drop-off when Player B enters the game? That is how I am looking at this at least.

So I’ll give you my five, but of course this is all subjective. Interestingly enough, I did not include a quarterback on my list. Obviously that is the most important position on the football field and a lot of Pitt’s success will be dictated on the play of the starting quarterback…whoever that may be. The thing is if one of the two contenders for the starting job were to get injured prior to the start of the season, I do get the sense the team can be successful with either quarterback.

Here are my top five valuable players on the 2022 Pitt football roster.

1) Sir’Vocea Dennis
I think this one is pretty simple, for me at least. Pitt has one proven linebacker on its roster and that’s Sir’Vocea Dennis. That’s not to say new starters like Bangally Kamara and Solomon DeShields won’t be good this year, or that transfers Shayne Simon and Tylar Wiltz can’t make significant impacts, it’s just that all of those players are still a bit of an unknown. Dennis is not an unknown, he is a known commodity, and a very good one that.

He is the best linebacker Pitt has had since Pat Narduzzi has taken over the program back in 2015. He was a third-team all-ACC pick in 2020, and a second team selection last year. Dennis led Pitt with 81 tackles last year and finished third on the team in tackles for loss at 9.5. He can play all three spots and without him on the field, Pitt does not have another linebacker that has started a game for this team prior to this season. Dennis isn’t the best player on Pitt’s team, he’s up there, but he is the most important player on the defense in terms of his position group’s lack of experience. He will be counted on to not only be the best player for this group, but also be a leader here. The team would look a lot different without him on the field.

2) Jordan Addison
Jordan Addison is a difference maker. He is coming off a historic season as he became Pitt’s third ever Biletnikoff Award winner following in the footsteps of Larry Fitzgerald and Antonio Bryant. He caught 100 passes for 1,593 yards and 17 touchdowns. Addison can turn a good Pitt offense into a great one every time he steps on the field.

The Panthers appear to have plenty of weapons in the passing game heading into this season with returning standouts like Jared Wayne and Gavin Bartholomew as well as newcomer Keyonta Mumpfield. If Addison were to miss some time, the passing game should continue to be effective, but Addison is the player that takes it over the top.

3) Calijah Kancey
The talk about the Pitt defense always starts with the defensive line, and the Panthers should have another good group in the 2022 season. Calijah Kancey is the best of the bunch among a talented group, and he really could take an even bigger step forward after being named a third team All-American a year ago.

The Panthers have experienced players to line up alongside him in Devin Danielson, Tyler Bentley, and David Green. There are also promising underclassmen like Elliot Donald and Sean FitzSimmons to consider, but much like Addison, Kancey sort of takes the group over the top. There aren’t many defensive tackles in the entire country that can do what he does.

4) Gavin Bartholomew
After years of frustration from the tight end spot for Pitt, the position finally emerged last season as Lucas Krull and Gavin Bartholomew combined for 66 catches and 10 touchdowns. Krull is off to try his hand in the NFL, leaving Bartholomew to man the position for the 2022 season. Bartholomew did just about everything in his freshman season to lead people to believe he can be a very good player in his career and the expectations are high for him entering his sophomore year.

The tight end depth looks better than it has in previous seasons, as Bartholomew was one of three tight end recruits in the class of 2021, but it's still a work in progress. He is the only one in the group to play and produce at a high level. Should he miss any sort of time, Pitt would be faced with a rather significant drop-off. He is a very valuable asset to this team with his blocking and pass catching abilities.

5) Brandon Hill / Erick Hallett
Safety is one of the more demanding positions to play in a Pat Narduzzi defense. It can take time to really get adjusted to all the nuances that is asked of this spot for this defensive scheme. Frankly, it’s not for everyone. We’ve seen talented players take years adjusting to it, so it is a nice luxury for Pitt to have both starters returning in 2022.

Brandon Hill and Erick Hallett were not perfect players in 2021, but both players got better as the year went progressed. Hallett picked off two passes in Pitt’s ACC Championship win over Wake Forest. Brandon Hill was named a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award. I think both of these players get overlooked at times, in part because of where Pitt ranks nationally in pass defense, but I think they both can really play and it would be tough to lose either one. PJ O’Brien looks to be a promising player for the future, but again, I think one of the strengths of Pitt’s defense this season is having both players on the back end returning.

Those are my picks for most *valuable* players, though I think arguments could be made for plenty of other players as well. Like I said, the quarterback position is the key to everything and once a starter is named, perhaps he slides into one of these spots. Obviously Pitt struggled a bit when Jake Kradel went down last season, so you could make a case for him and some of the other offensive linemen. Haba Baldonado has a chance to be a pretty elite pass rusher, and even with depth built up at defensive end, he is valuable member to Pitt’s defense. Plenty of ways to look at it.

Offseason topics, gotta love ‘em.

What do recruits say about Pitt?
It’s a unique position to follow Pitt's recruiting from my vantage point. From the moment a high school recruit tweets his offer up until wherever he choses his college commitment, I track what’s going on in their recruitment. Any valuable information or potential leads to see which way a particular prospect is leaning, I’m trying to find what I can.

I check their Rivals profiles constantly for new information, I keep spreadsheets and lists, I message writers from other team sites, but perhaps the most interesting thing about this job is that I get to talk to these prospects directly and I simply just have conversations with them.

It can be monotonous and repetitive at times, as you ask a lot of the same questions hoping for different and unique answers. But the one time of year it is more interesting than others is following a recruiting visit to Pitt’s campus and practice facility. Each prospect can have a different viewpoint from a particular visit or something might catch their eye that maybe another guy did not see. The relationship with the coaches can be different as well. There are just so many factors that go into it.

Spring football is a big time for college coaches to host players on campus, and it was no different for Pitt this year. So what do recruits think about Pitt? I went back from the past two months and picked out some of the more interesting and unique answers about what they enjoyed from their visit to Pitt. Here are some of the best answers i got from the recruits Pitt hosted this spring, (and of course the best way to see these interviews all the time is to join Panther-Lair.com...)

“I like the fact that they were right next to the Steelers. If I go there I get to be right next to the pros all day everyday. They share the same cafeteria, facilities. I like that Aaron Donald is always up there, he’s my favorite player.” - 2024 DT Jahsear Whittington

“The head coach is very involved and I love that. Every drill, he was just hyping everything up and he has a great personality. We sat down with him and he wanted to get to know me better as a person. He was asking my mom questions about me. She really liked that and she really liked the visit.” - 2023 DE Zakaih Saez

“I think it’s pretty cool they are sharing the facilities with the Pittsburgh Steelers.” - 2023 OL Rico Jackson

“What stood out is there are a lot of South Florida guys, which is kind of crazy and made it feel like home a little bit. There are a lot of South Florida players on the team, it made me feel like I was watching a game from home.” - 2023 WR Tastean Reddicks

“Well first of all, it’s the farthest I’ve been north. Just seeing the city and all the different things: the cold and it started hailing in the middle of the spring game, so it was cool to see just the different environment. It was different, but it was cool to see for the first time.” - 2024 QB Judd Anderson

“Their enthusiasm and energy was very high at practice. It was really good to see the players have the energy and get after it and they were competing at a very high level in practice.” - 2023 OL Amir Herring

“It was a light day so I didn’t see much action, but the one thing I did notice is the high energy that the coaches and the players brought.” - 2024 TE Tayvion Galloway

“There’s some South Florida players there from down my way from the same school I went to, and the way that they felt comfortable and the way that they play and the way that the coaches trusted them, that kind of stood out to me.” - 2023 DB Jesse Anderson

“Everything about it stood out to me. I’m a Pitt fan, I’m an Aaron Donald fan.” - 2024 DE Brian Robinson

“I love how it’s combined with the Steelers. I’m a big Steelers fan so I just like how it’s organized.” - 2023 DE Kamari Burns

“The facility was nice, they had a lot going on and then Heinz Field was just crazy. I know they told me before that they share it with the Steelers, but once I was in there you can actually see the locker room and all that. It was just real nice just seeing what they got going on with that type of stuff.” - 2023 OL Anwar O’Neal

“I was the only cornerback there so it felt really cool being in there feeling like one of the players. Then we went to practice, and they practiced at Heinz Field, so that gave like a professional type vibe. It was good.” - 2023 DB Brice Pollock

ONE PREDICTION

Pitt will head to the transfer portal again for a quarterback
I started to dig a little more deeply into Pitt’s recruiting efforts for the class of 2023 this week. I plan to do a big board for each position about who the top targets are, and naturally the first one I published was the one about quarterbacks.

As I went through the names for Pitt’s quarterback targets in the class of 2023 it became apparent that it looks more and more likely Pitt will head to the transfer portal yet again to get a quarterback in this class.

Pitt has only signed one high school quarterback in the past three recruiting classes. Nate Yarnell came to Pitt in the class of 2021. In 2020, the staff opted to bring in Arizona State transfer Joey Yellen. This current offseason saw Pitt land USC transfer Kedon Slovis. And given the names they are involved with in the class of 2023, I could see a transfer being the ultimate choice yet again.

Part of it could be the turnover at the offensive coordinator position. Pitt is on its third coordinator in five seasons after Frank Cignetti Jr. came in to replace Mark Whipple in January. Each coordinator may have a different vision for the type of quarterback they would like to recruit, which in turn flips the board quickly.

Cignetti has offered 13 quarterbacks in the class of 2023 since taking over the job. Of those 13, six have already committed elsewhere. Pitt did manage to host three of those guys for visits: Hank Brown, Kenny Minchey, and Emory Williams and they all remain uncommitted and could be options for this class.

Pitt also did recently offer Lincoln Kienholz, a bit of an unknown prospect from South Dakota as well. Perhaps Pitt does land one of those four guys, but it’s clear they are not getting a big-time high school prospect unless something changes between now and signing day. As we know, quarterbacks generally decide early on in the recruiting process to lock in a spot, so as time passes it’s not like there will be new names emerging. What is out there is out there for the most part.

Perhaps 2024 will be the year Pitt lands a high school quarterback. Cignetti has offered three in that class to date, but that’s a topic for a different day.

Pitt has a chance to piece together a strong class in 2023, but it looks like it very well could be another year without a quarterback in the recruiting class, and eventually that may catch up to them...or it won’t. If Kedon Slovis has the season many expect him to have, then perhaps Pitt can keep passing down the line with transfers. For now, that seems to be the plan.