In this week's 3-2-1 column, we talk about the aftermath of Tyreese Fearbry's decision, Justin Champagnie's decision, and plenty more.

THREE THINGS WE KNOW

Tyreese Fearbry committed to Penn State
Pittsburgh defensive end Tyreese Fearbry committed to Penn State on July 4th. It was only a couple of days ago, but man it feels longer than that, doesn’t it? Well I think that’s because we’ve talk about it at length, and for good reason. Feabry is a really good prospect from Pitt’s backyard. He visited Pitt seemingly every other day during the month of June, but in the end he felt like Penn State was the best choice for him and made that decision earlier this week.

It’s certainly deflating to lose a four-star prospect from your home turf to your biggest rival, and there’s really no other way to put it. Pitt really wanted Fearbry, but in the end it just didn’t work out that way. I’m not sure if Pitt did anything wrong in this recruitment. Pitt has a good defensive line coach in Charlie Partridge, with whom Fearbry really seemed to connect with during his recruitment. The coaches got him on campus as much as possible during June. They let him try on the new all-white uniforms first before any other recruit. I mean they did a bunch of things and sometimes it just doesn’t matter. He just might feel more comfortable somewhere else, and I think that’s what happened here.

Penn State has plenty of things to sell. It is a good football program that wins games and plays in front of big crowds. It is also a good school and they also put their guys in the NFL. They have a lot to offer, and not to mention they have some real recruiting momentum right now, and that can be a real thing.

Is Pitt’s class going to survive without Feabry? Sure. They have a good defensive end prospect in the fold already with Jimmy Scott. They’ve recruited the position very well in recent years, and there’s still plenty of time to recover before signing day. Fearbry is a good prospect, there’s no denying that, but losing a good, local prospect to Penn State probably stings the most above all else.

This class is lacking ‘star’ power
We can stay on topic here with football recruiting. Fearbry is a four-star recruit, something that Pitt currently does not have in the 2022 class. Will that lack of high-end prospects affect Pitt’s recruiting ranking? Of course it will. If you want a top-25 recruiting class, you need four-stars and right now there doesn’t appear to be one directly linked to Pitt. I suppose Pitt is in the final five for offensive linemen Ryan Baer, but I don’t believe they are the frontrunner in that race.

Does that mean the class is bad? I don’t think so at all. Of Pitt 11 current commitments, I think there are some good, solid players in the mix already. Pitt looks to be bringing in some playmakers at wide receiver with Addison Copeland, Camden Brown, and Che Nwabuko. Rylandy Gandy, Jimmy Scott, and Sean FitzSimmons all look like really good defensive prospects. They have two offensive linemen so far, with a few more likely added to this class before it’s all said and done.

I just don’t know if this class will move the needle on the final Rivals.com recruiting rankings the way things are working at the moment. The class currently sits 45th in the country and is ranked 9th in the ACC. There’s room for improvement, but there is that same room for improvement for everyone else as well. In the end, it’ll probably sit in the 40’s to early 50’s range, which is less than ideal in most cases.

Pitt has had success in finding a late four-star to add to the class in recent years. Rashad Battle joined the class pretty late in 2020, and NaQuan Brown was a late addition in the most recent signing class. I think this staff is pretty resourceful and will make a push when it needs to, and I could see a scenario play out like that again where they are in the right place to make a move on a four-star that needs a home.

So for now, I see a lot of good prospects in this class. Some of them may grow into really good college players. I don’t want to get too caught up in stars do or don’t matter, but when you look at this class right now, there’s plenty of guys to be excited about, but it’s missing that one guy to be REALLY excited about. Last year there was Elliot Donald and Nahki Johnson, two years ago it was Dayon Hayes, and this year, well let’s wait and see.

The world of college athletics has changed
I am still having a tough time about what to make of the name, image, and likeness stuff. I don’t feel like I’m alone either. This is a new world for college athletics, and nobody seems to have a good grasp on what it all means just yet. We’re still trying to learn what’s legal and what’s not and we’re all eagerly awaiting to see what happens next.

On one end of the spectrum, this whole proposition looks pretty scary for the schools that aren’t among the nation’s elite in football and basketball. On the other side of it, don’t those elite schools always get the top recruits anyway? Is that really going to change things all that much? That’s not a rhetorical question. I don’t know yet, this whole thing has only been live for a little over a week.

What I do know is this: I’m totally fine with a player profiting off of, well, his or her own likeness and image. Why shouldn’t an athlete be able to do that? If Trevor Lawrence wanted to host an autograph session at some restaurant in South Carolina, then he certainly should be allowed to make a few bucks off of himself scribbling his name down on some helmets and jerseys. We saw the NCAA shun guys like Reggie Bush and Terrelle Pryor for some rather simple offenses that seem very silly in retrospect

So while we await what happens with the NIL stuff as it pertains to schools and recruiting advantages, and all of the nonsense that comes with that. Personally, I’m fine if I turn on my TV and see Kenny Pickett in a commercial and he’s allowed to make a few bucks from it.

TWO QUESTIONS WE HAVE

Did Justin Champagnie make the right decision?

OK, lets talk some basketball. Justin Champagnie’s name will be in the pool of players to be selected for July 29th’s NBA Draft. We already knew that, of course. He declared a while ago and made his intentions known that he will be hiring an agent and staying in the draft.

It’s only relevant to bring up now because the deadline for college players returning happened this week and we saw some notable names opt to return to college basketball. Kofi Cockburn, Marcus Bagley, Hunter Dickinson, and yes even Julian Champagnie. Those guys are all pretty good players, but obviously they didn’t like what they were hearing about their draft positioning for later this month.

Did Justin Champagnie decide too early that he wasn’t going to return to Pitt? Did he make the right decision to leave? Will he even get drafted? We’ll find out in a few short weeks on some of those things, and perhaps some of those questions might take a little longer than that.

Look, I get it from all sides. I’ve always wondered if Champagnie, a 6’5” forward that isn’t a great shooter, would be able to get drafted into today’s NBA. Still, there’s a lot to like about his game. He is a great rebounder, he lets offense come to him, and he just has an overall good feel for the game. He’s an excellent basketball player and him being named All-ACC as a sophomore was certainly not on accident, he was that good this past season.

I’m not a pro basketball scout and I’m not pretending to be one, but I thought there were some areas of his game that could have benefitted from an extra year of college basketball. Given Pitt’s roster turnover, I get why he may have possibly been reluctant to come back to the program. Not because he didn’t like Pittsburgh or Jeff Capel - I don’t think it was anything like that. But some of the skills he needed to develop may have been hard to do as he was trying to carry Pitt’s team. In cases like that, sometimes you sacrifice individual development to help the team win, and I think that was part of his decision.

For Justin personally, he did a lot in two years at Pitt and really outplayed what many thought he would be. Champagnie really worked hard to overcome a pair of knee injuries. He also turned himself from a three-star recruit, in a league with a lot of five-stars, and was arguably the best player in the ACC as a sophomore.

I’m interested to see how things work out for Justin Champagnie. I think the best possible outcome for him, and Pitt for that matter, is for him to get drafted. It’s always good to put your guys in the pro’s and use it as a recruiting tool. He has a bright future in basketball whether that’s in the NBA or another professional league.

How does Pitt basketball fill out the recruiting class?

Sticking with basketball, we’ll see a lot of activity on the recruiting trail this month. June marked the return of on-campus visits, while July is a live period, and coaches will be on the road at different events evaluating players. We missed this stage of the recruiting process last year, but there won’t be many secrets this year as the world continues to get back to normalcy.

We’ll see Capel and his staff all over checking out different players and we’ll have more clarity on who the top targets are for the rest of the 2022 recruiting class. But about that class itself, we know Pitt has a good start in four-star shooting guard Judah Mintz. So who else do they want, or maybe a better question is what else do they need?

I think Pitt probably goes for a four or five man recruiting class at this point for the class of 2022. Trying to figure out exact numbers is almost a waste of time with the amount of transfers in college basketball anymore. Recruit what you think you need, then worry about the rest later seems like the new model.

Having said that, I think adding a point guard is definitely a big need in this class, along with some help in the post as well. The Pitt coaches had a productive month of June with plenty of guys on campus for visits, so there are some names worth monitoring.

Point Guard - I think Sean Jones would be an ideal piece here. The quick, Ohio point guard would be an instant spark plug to this Pitt roster. Pitt’s also talked to Jayden Epps, though he has plenty of suitors. Bryce Linday is a guy that has visited, and he’s a quality prospect as well. Mason Manning is another name to consider, a prospect out of nearby First Love Christian.

Shooting Guard - Pitt should probably be set here with Judah Mintz. He can score at all three levels and will be a nice addition to the program immediately.

Small Forward - Alphonzo Billups was on campus for an unofficial, now we’ll see if Capel gets him back for an official. The Virginia wing should be near the top of Pitt’s wishlist here.

Power Forward - Dominick Barlow was one of two players to take an official visit in June, along with Mintz. He has some Justin Champagnie to his game, and would be a good addition. Fray Ngiumbi of First Love is another name to watch, and perhaps even Jonathan Beagle from New York.

Center - Jerome Beya was on campus for an unofficial visit, and he seems to hold Pitt in pretty high regard. The coaches offered Shawn Phillips last month, so the next step will be to see if they can get a visit. Christ Essandoko was another June offer, though there’s a lot of competition for his services. Michael Moore could be a name to keep an eye on as well.

I don’t know how exactly Pitt will fill this class, but they have some intriguing names that visited last month and we’ll see who they focus on in the coming days during the live period to get a better feel for how this class finishes up for 2022. In any event, it’s off to a better start than usual as the past few classes started off slow. Landing Mintz in June was a big win for Pitt.

ONE PREDICTION

Pitt gets another commitment here *very* soon
OK, I’m not one to blow up anyone’s spot. When a high school prospect makes his decision, I have always felt above all else that it is his moment. This website has never made a player’s commitment about us, and we always let the player have his spotlight first and foremost. It’s not up to us to announce a decision, that’s just how it is.

If you are reading this website, then you probably follow Pitt recruiting pretty closely. You know when is something is coming and it’s kind of a routine by now: some members of the staff start tweeting cryptic tweets, Pat Narduzzi eventually sends out his, ‘Pitt is it’ Tweet, and then we start tracking down who that commitment might be, and in a few minutes, hours, or days that player eventually reveals himself and we interview him. It’s a pretty cut and dry anymore and it's down to a science.

We started to see some of that process play out earlier this week on Twitter. There are a few players with Pitt offers that have commitment dates for this weekend. So you can do the math here. There is very likely to be a 'Pat Signal' here this weekend. So as always stay tuned to Panther-Lair.com for when that moment happens and the coverage that follows.