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The 3-2-1 Column: Spring game preview, transfer portal talk, and more

There is plenty to discuss in this week’s 3-2-1 Column. The Pitt football program is set to wrap up spring football tomorrow with the annual Blue-Gold game at Acrisure Stadium. Pitt has plenty of storylines around the team itself and also on the recruiting trail.

Speaking of recruiting, Jeff Capel and his staff have been hard at work in that department and added a significant addition earlier this week, and will also be hosting a priority target this weekend. There has been some movement in the past week inside the Petersen Events Center on the women’s basketball front after Tory Verdi being introduced as the program’s newest coach. We take a look at the job he has before him.

Zack Austin is Pitt's first pickup from the portal (USA Today)
Zack Austin is Pitt's first pickup from the portal (USA Today)
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THREE THINGS WE KNOW

Pitt gets its first transfer portal addition
On Tuesday of this week, High Point transfer Zack Austin committed to Jeff Capel and the Pitt basketball program. Austin is, um, a 6’7” forward who has two years of eligibility remaining. He just wrapped up his second season with the High Point Panthers and averaged 14.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game. Austin has also made over 60 3-pointers in each of the past two seasons with a 32.7% career average from behind the arc.

Austin can defend multiple spots, help on the glass, and he fits into Pitt’s offensive scheme as a willing shooter. The North Carolina native is also a career 75% free throw shooter. Simply put, he is a veteran who fills a need and should slide into a significant role on this team right away. His ability to defend guards and forwards combined with his rebounding ability should allow for him to coexist with Pitt returning star player Blake Hinson. They have similar profiles, but Austin’s athleticism will be a significant boost defensively.

Pitt seemed to find a good fit with Austin on many levels. Capel and the whole team really talked so much about the chemistry they had last season and Austin looks like he can gel with his game and personality. He talked to Panther-Lair’s Houston Wilson prior to making his decision official and Austin comes off as genuinely appreciative of the opportunity to play for a coach he trusts in a league he grew up watching.

“I had great conversations with Coach Capel and we connected really well being from the same area and there are a lot of things we both relate to growing up in North Carolina and on Tobacco Road,” Austin said on why he committed. “I have been watching ACC basketball since I was little and it has always been a dream to play in that conference. I also immediately clicked with the players and it just felt like a place where I can become better at basketball and a better man.”

Austin’s commitment gives Pitt ten scholarship players at this moment for next season, meaning they have three more scholarships to use. Pitt has a good blend of roster pieces at the moment. Austin, Hinson, and William Jeffress gives the Panthers some versatile forwards who can play on the wing and provide help as rebounders.

The Panthers also have a promising trio of post players with Federiko Federiko and the Diaz Graham twins. The roster is then rounded out by four freshmen who will be playing on the perimeter. Jaland Lowe, Carlton Carrington, and Marlon Banres are make for a strong recruiting class, and of course the wild card in the bunch is Dior Johnson. We all know his story, but you have to remember he is also the highest rated player Capel has ever landed.

There is a lot of upside in the backcourt, but also a layer of mystery as well.

Given the ten names already in the fold, there are some obvious areas where Capel is looking to bolster the roster. Pitt needs a veteran guard, and we’ll touch on that a little later. They also likely need more outside shooting, and they could probably justify taking two players who fit that profile. But if not, I think another post player wouldn’t be a bad idea either. Federiko’s injury in March certainly tested Pitt’s depth and showed they probably could use another option there.

I think for now Pitt is off to a strong start for the 2023-24 season and there does feel to be a bit of upward momentum behind Capel and the program. There is a good returning core with Hinson, Federiko, and the twins. They four newcomers plus Johnson all feel like they add some potential and value to the roster, but at the same time this team needs more immediate help which appears to be what the coaches are trying to address.

Tory Verdi has a tall task at hand
Tory Verdi was named as the tenth head coach in Pitt women’s basketball history last Friday by Athletic Director Heather Lyke. Verdi comes to Pitt after a successful seven-year run at UMass. He guided the Minutewomen to back-to-back 26 win seasons prior to accepting the position with the Panthers. Verdi took UMass to just its third NCAA Tournament ever back in 2022. He has 202 career wins with a prior stint at Eastern Michigan and brief interim run at Columbia. Verdi worked under Lyke during his time at Eastern Michigan, which explains the mutual interest from both sides.

Verdi’s job at UMass was remarkable, as he took a program with virtually no history and made them competitive and relevant. He left UMass women's basketball much better than he found it, and frankly Verdi’s task at Pitt is going to be a similar challenge.

Pitt just simply does not have much of a history with its women’s basketball program. The NCAA Tournament for women’s basketball began back in 1982, and Pitt only has four appearances in the Big Dance in program history.

Pitt’s only period of any sustained success happened back in the Big East under Agnus Berenato. She led Pitt to the postseason five consecutive seasons with three NCAA Tournament bids and two berths in the NIT. In 2008 and 2009 Pitt made it to the Sweet 16 in back-to-back seasons with a pair of top 25 finishes.

In the years that have followed, it has been a disaster for Pitt. The Panthers have only one NCAA Tournament appearance in their first ten seasons as members of the ACC. Pitt is 33-132 in ACC conference games over the past ten years. Lance White was let go after his five year tenure, which produced a dismal 42-99 record with only 11 conference wins.

There is nowhere to go but up, right?

Pitt should not be in this dire of a position as a program. I do think women’s basketball is a tough sport to climb the ladder for programs with no history like Pitt, but there is enough in place for Verdi for this thing to turn around to a degree.

Pitt might not turn into a powerhouse anytime soon, but competing for some NCAA Tournament bids every once in a while and not finishing in the bottom third of the league annually is not asking too much. It might take a bit, but Verdi’s previous two stops showed significant climbs in improvement year by year. He is a program builder and that is what needs to happen at Pitt.

Pittsburgh area high school basketball has not been known to be a hotbed on the boys side historically, but girls basketball in the region certainly produces talent. I mean Verdi’s star player at UMass this past season was Sam Breen from North Catholic. There is some talent in the area, opportunities to build quickly from the transfer portal, and a good school and facilities to sell.

There is certainly a buzz around Pitt athletics right now. The men’s and women’s soccer programs are on the upward swing. The volleyball program has been one of the best in the country for years now. Football and men’s basketball are both coming off of solid seasons.

There is no denying there are some programs lagging behind, and truth be told, women’s basketball is probably the most glaring of them all. Lyke’s hire of Lance White went about as poorly as it could go, and bringing in Verdi is a chance for a reset for this program and align itself with some of the more successful teams at Pitt.

We all know the two college sports with the most eyeballs will always be football and men’s basketball, but in recent years I think the popularity of women’s basketball has taken off considerably. Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese are household names now, the ratings for the women’s Final Four were very good, and it feels like a successful women’s program at Pitt, even just a competitive one, would make a splash.

Verdi comes with a strong resume, he’s walking into a successful athletic department, and now it’s a matter to see if he can make it work.

All eyes will be on Phil Jurkovec at the Blue-Gold Game
All eyes will be on Phil Jurkovec at the Blue-Gold Game

Spring Game takes center stage
The Pitt football team will take the field tomorrow afternoon for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff at Acrisure Stadium for the annual Blue-Gold Game. It will give Pitt fans a chance to get a first look at the 2023 roster in action and will wrap up the team’s spring football session for the year.

The Pitt football program is in a bit of a weird spot and I don’t really know how else to describe it. The Panthers are set to replace their leading passer, rusher, receiver, and roughly their six best defensive players from last year’s team. Given all the turnover and the talent lost, there does seem to be a universal sense of optimism for the team heading into next season.

I think there is reason for some guarded optimism around this team because there are a lot of experienced players in the fold, but there are also some some causes for concern as well. The spring game will either answer some questions, create some more, or do nothing at all.

The thing with spring games is that they don’t really tell us a whole lot about the team most of the time. Remember last year’s Blue-Gold game? Yea, me either. It was a 10-7 snoozer of a game if you were wondering. Daniel Carter carried the ball ten times as he suited up for both teams. Carter only carried the ball 16 times in the 2022 season, so sometimes what you see in April hardly resembles what things will be like come September.

Now with keeping all of that in mind, we’re still going into tomorrow looking for anything we can gather about this team. It’s only natural to go into the spring game with questions you are hoping will be answered, right? And Perhaps a new format may help give us a better look. Pitt is doing away with its usual position draft this year and will have the first team offense compete against the first team defense, second versus second, so on and so forth. Pat Narduzzi believes it will create a little more excitement around the game.

Whatever the format may be for tomorrow's games, the questions about this team are pretty straightforward.

Can Phil Jurkoevec elevate the position this season?

Can Christian Veilleux be a suitable option behind him?

Who are the playmakers on offense beyond Rodney Hammond?

Can Frank Cignetti Jr. get Gavin Bartholomew involved this year?

Is Ryan Baer going to force his way onto the field?

And that’s just the offensive side of the ball...

Can Pitt’s strong defensive run continue for another season?

Can they be a top five sack team yet again?

Is Bangally Kamara going to take that next step we’ve been hearing about?

Who replaces Hallett and Hill at safety?

And of course, we can’t forget about the...I would say...comical punting situation facing this program at the moment. There is not a shortage of questions surrounding this team, and here is to hoping the spring game can bring more clarity as we head into a long offseason.

Aliquippa star Cameron Lindsey takes in a spring practice
Aliquippa star Cameron Lindsey takes in a spring practice

TWO QUESTIONS WE HAVE

Who were the top visitors this spring?
I think probably the biggest storyline this spring has not necessarily been about the team itself, but rather the efforts on the recruiting trail. Pat Narduzzi has not necessarily been known to get off to fast starts in recruiting, but he bucked that trend with his start to the class of 2024.

Pitt is up to ten commitments, with six of those happening this spring. The Panthers have been known to do most of their recruiting work in June, but the program got hot this spring and it extended beyond just the commitments. There was an impressive group of players who made it to Pittsburgh who remained uncommitted. Here are the eight biggest names Pitt hosted this spring.

Pitt is still working on landing a 2024 quarterback, and there are a few standing out above the rest at the moment. Hasselbeck is intriguing because of his bloodlines, as his dad, Matt, is a former NFL quarterback. He is also a high-level two-sport star, as Hasselbeck is committed to Maryland to play lacrosse. Pitt is competing with fellow ACC programs Boston College and Georgia Tech for his services, but Pitt made a good first impression this spring.

“You can tell that the Pitt football program has a championship mindset, and that’s what I liked the most,” Hasselbeck said of his visit.

Pitt landed in the top seven for Micah Gilbert last week after hosting him back on St. Patrick’s Day. Gilbert is based out of North Carolina but his family ties are deeply rooted in the Pittsburgh region. His uncle, Sean Gilbert, starred for Pitt, as did his cousins Darrelle Revis and Jordan Whitehead. Gilbert is a big time athlete and checks in as a 6’3” wide receiver. His other finalists include Duke, Michigan, North Carolina, Notre Dame, South Carolina, and Virginia Tech.

Speaking of Aliquippa, Pitt hosted one of the top prospects from Pennsylvania this spring in Cameron Lindsey, who stars for the Quips. He has beena. Frequent visitor to Pitt during his recruitment and will likely make a return in June for an official visit.

“Pitt said about taking an official visit one of the first two weekends in June, probably the first weekend,” Lindsey said of his next visit to Pitt. “I think I’ll go for that. I’m not sure where else I’ll go, but they’re definitely one of the schools I want to see on an official visit. They’re one of my top schools. You can’t go wrong being a hometown kid; it’s right in the backyard, which is super nice. Their school is really good, too. Their academics are really important.”

Brian Robinson is one of the top prospects in Ohio, and the Youngstown native seemingly visits Pitt any chance he can get. He has been a fixture for Pitt spring practices in each of the past two years and was at a number of games in the fall as well. Robinson is believed to be a Michigan lean, but I don’t think he’s wasting his time by coming to Pitt as much as he does either. He would have to rank near the top of Pitt's recruiting board for the entire class of 2024.

Gabriel Williams is one of the top defensive prospects in Maryland for the class of 2024. He checks in at 6’4” and 195-pounds and could profile at a few different positions at the next level. Following his visit to Pitt, he said the Panthers moved up on his list. “I was surprised by it. I really was,” Williams said. “The coaches kept saying I had to come see it, and then once I saw it - you know, sometimes you don’t know what to expect, but then you get there and it beats your expectations,” he said of his visit. “Pitt was definitely like that. I see what people see in Pitt to have them high on the list.”

Williams is expected to take an official visit to Pitt in June.

Pitt has a pair of offensive line commitments already, and they hosted a few impressive ones this spring as well who would make for some big time commitments. Grant Brix is a four-star and a somewhat of a surprise visitor out of the state Iowa. He has the typical build of a Big Ten linemen, but getting him to stop in for a visit was definitely a nice win. Colin Cubberly is one of the top prospects out of New York and has visited on multiple occasions at this point. Given his 6’6” and 300-pound frame and strong offer sheet, it’s easy to see why Pitt likes him.

Pitt has a talented defensive back commitment out of Cincinnati in Tayshawn Banks, and they are in the running for another out in Koy Beasley. He has been to Pitt on multiple occasions, and his most recent visit made a strong impression. The Panthers are in a battle, but they are in the running for this talented defensive back.

“I’ll probably take all of my official visits in June,” Beasley told Panther-Lair.com. “I’ll probably go to Purdue, Georgia, USC, Pitt and maybe one more. Those are my top schools, if I’m going to be honest. I like all four of those schools. I think Pitt’s a really good program and a good city, and I liked the vibe and the environment out there.”

uelz Goff is part of a strong in-state class for Pitt
uelz Goff is part of a strong in-state class for Pitt

Can Pitt make some more noise in Pennsylvania?
When looking at Pitt's early 2024 recruiting class, one thing is very noticeable and that's the success of landing some in-state prospects. Pitt has five commitments from its home state headlined by four-star defensive tackle Jahsear Whittington. The Panthers also have commitments from Central York running back Juelz Goff, offensive linemen Adham Abouraya and Jivani Cooley, and Central Catholic defensive linemen Ty Yuhas.

Pitt only signed three high school prospects from Pennsylvania in 2023, and just one in 2022, so with five committed already, there are some significant signs of progress on that front.

But there’s also another way of looking at it, and some news last Friday night reminded us of that. Quinton Martin, the top ranked prospect in the state, committed to Penn State last week. Martin guided Belle Vernon to a state championship as a junior, a high school that sits about 45 minutes south of Pitt’s campus. Martin joined a growing list of top local prospects to get out of Pitt’s grasps on the recruiting trail, and heading to Penn State to boot makes it all the more frustrating for the Panthers.

Martin choosing Penn State marks the third straight year the top-rated Western Pennsylvania recruit has gotten away from Pitt. But unlike some previous years, there is some real depth with homegrown talent in this class and it gives Pitt a little more room for error.

Pennsylvania has over 40 prospects with at least one Power-5 offer in the class of 2024. It's the best and deepest class in quite some time. Pitt hasn’t landed many Pennsylvania prospects in recent classes, but they really haven’t offered that many either. It’s a bit different this year.

Pitt does have those five in-state commitments in the fold, and there are still some talent in the state available for the Panthers to land in this class. While missing on guys like Martin and Anthony Speca stings, they still have chances to add some talented players. The Panthers hosted players like Cameron Lindsey, Mylachai Williams, Caleb Brewer, Tre McLeod already this year, and are set to bring in more guys for visits like Deyvid Palepale and Sam Cooper.

The landscape of recruiting in Pennsylvania has changed a lot through the years. The class of 2024 is definitely strong, and despite missing on some big fish, the Panthers already have capitalized on the uncharacteristically good year for Pennsylvania recruiting and they still have a chance to add to it.

ONE PREDICTION

Pitt lands Ishmael Leggett
There is no type of inside information I am passing off here, but rather this is simply an off-the-cuff prediction, or just a hunch if you will, but I'm pretty optimistic Pitt can bolster its 2023-24 basketball roster a little more in the upcoming days.

Pitt is set to host Rhode Island transfer Ishmael Leggett this weekend and my prediction is that Capel will eventually reel him into the fold. Leggett is a 6’3” guard who averaged 16.4 points per game for the Rams this season to go along with 5.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists. He is a heady veteran guard, and would fill a void on the roster.

Pitt has some promising young guards on the roster, but it’s clear Capel wants a few veterans to mentor them. The Panthers’ success this past season was directly tied to having some veteran guards on the roster and Leggett would check that experience box.

He also has a sturdy 6’3” frame and is comfortable getting to the rim. There are definitely some similarities to his game with Jamarius Burton, and I’m sure that will be part of Pitt’s recruiting pitch this weekend.

Again, this is just a prediction, nothing more, I still want to be clear on that, but part of my optimism for Pitt to land Leggett goes back to something Capel has always harped on when he talks about recruiting. He has always stressed their best chance at recruiting happens when they get guys on campus. I’m sure that’s true of any program, but he routinely mentions how kids are surprised, in a good way, once they get to Pittsburgh.

(I am not sure if everyone’s outside perception of Pittsburgh still involves a bunch of steel mills, but maybe it does?)

In any event, Pitt does well when they bring recruits on campus. Leggett is the only scheduled visitor this weekend and the red carpet will be rolled out and the full attention of the staff will be on him. They made quick work with Zack Austin and I could see this recruitment following a similar path. Tracking transfer portal activity is tedious at times, but when a recruit gets to campus, it’s means things are getting pretty serious. Pitt does well when they get guys to campus and I think they can get it done again with Leggett.

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