The 3-2-1 Column: Wrapping up a crazy June

MORE HEADLINES - PODCAST: June comes to an end | Official visit review: Breaking down all the June visits | 2024 OL Deontae Armstrong discusses recent Pitt offer | A look ahead: Pitt's future football schedules | Pitt gets Virginia Tech, Syracuse and Boston College as permanent annual opponents | Players, coaches led Anderson to commit to Pitt | Pitt visit impressed 2024 QB target

In this week’s 3-2-1 Column, we recap the month of June for Pitt athletics. As expected, it was a big month for the Panthers football team after hosting three giant official visit weekends. Pitt’s 2023 recruiting class went from two to 17 commitments during June. So now what? We also take a look ahead for how this recruiting class can finish from this point forward, and check in on the new ACC scheduling format for football which will be adopted in 2023.

Plenty to discuss yet again, maybe it will all slow down in July?

THREE THINGS WE KNOW

June lived up to the hype
You are reading this article on the morning of July 1st, and let’s kind of recap what all happened in the month prior in the world of Pitt athletics, and admittedly it was a lot...

Pitt football hosted 36 official visits in the month of June
Pitt played host to 36 official visitors from June 3rd up through last weekend. Of those 36, 14(+3) of them are committed to Pitt. I say (+3) because three players have yet to announce their decisions. Actually, 15 players committed in June, but one already decommitted. So yea, June can be crazy in more ways than one.

Pat Narduzzi hosted his first five-star recruit during his tenure for an official visit
Hykeem Williams was the highlight visitor of June for the Pitt football program. The nation’s third-ranked wide receiver made it a point to get up to Pitt this month, and by all accounts the Panthers are right in the thick of the recruitment with the likes of Georgia, Texas A&M, and Florida State.

The coaching staff added one more player to the 2022 roster in C’bo Flemister
C’Bo Flemister capped off an unusually large incoming group of transfers for the Pitt program for this upcoming season. The coaching staff signed a small 12-man recruiting class in 2022, but managed to bolster the roster with nine transfers. In addition to Flemister, Pitt added quarterbacks Kedon Slovis and Derek Kyler, wide receivers Bub Means and Konata Mumpfield, tight ends Dylan Deveney and Karter Johnson, along with linebackers Shayne Simon and Tylar Wiltz. Pitt had a pretty veteran team coming back in general, and the transfers only enhance that notion.

25 offered prospects in the class of 2024 visited Pitt in June, including two Top-100 players nationally and some notable quarterback prospects
June was not all about the 2023 recruiting class, as some high-profile 2024 prospects visited Pitt this month. The headliner of course is Jahsear Whittington, the four-star defensive tackle that committed to Pitt in the spring. Pitt also managed to attract top-100 players Nigel Smith and Hevin Brown-Shuler to come check out campus. Frank Cignetti Jr. and Jonathan DiBasio have been as active as any members of the coaching staff this offseason, and they brought some top-tier quarterbacks to town including four-star Jakhari Williams. The focus has been on 2023, but the staff laid some nice ground work in 2024 this past month.

The Pitt basketball program pulled off a stunner
It wasn’t all Pat Narduzzi this month, Jeff Capel had some magic up his sleeve as well. Pitt landed Dior Johnson, the talented four-star point guard in the class of 2022 that will be on the team this upcoming season. Johnson made it to campus this week and is expected to be a high-impact player. His story is well-known after attending numerous high schools and having prior commitments to Syracuse and Oregon, but he’s really good and sort of came in unexpected.

Not all Dior, two other players committed too
Pitt landed junior college transfer Cashius McNeilly to the roster for this upcoming season. He was once a four-star back in the class of 2019, and should provide an outside shooting presence to the team off the bench.

The Panthers also landed commitment No. 2 in the class of 2023 with Carlton Carrington making his decision on June 15th. He’s a talented three-star shooting guard known for his three-point shooting. He joins previously committed four-star Marlon Barnes, giving Capel a strong start to the 2023 class.

How about wrestling?
Pitt head coach Keith Gavin inked a new contract extension through 2027 at the end of June. This was on the heels of a successful recruiting month of his own, after picking up Vince Santaniello, a former state champion from New Jersey, and local standout Dylan Evans of Charters Valley, one of the best recruits in the state.

So, did you get all of that?

We hyped up what this June could mean for Pitt football all along, and I would say it delivered and then some. There were plenty of storylines, some that are still ongoing, but all in all it was a jam packed month with new recruits and information almost every day. Throw in an unexpected four-star addition for basketball, and the wrestling program making some waves, June 2022 probably exceeded expectations for what we thought it would be for Pitt athletics.

Hykeem Hysteria
I touched on the impact of Hykeem Williams visiting a bit already, but this guy deserves his own topic. Williams is a 6’4” and 205-pound wide receiver out of Fort Lauderdale. He is a five-star recruit and is ranked as the nation’s number three wide receiver in the class of 2023. He has 39 scholarship offers, and Pitt is firmly placed in his top-six with Alabama, Miami, Florida State, Georgia, and Texas A&M. If he’s down to six officially, I would put Pitt closer to the top.

Williams visited Pitt last weekend, and the Pitt coaching staff did everything it possibly could to roll out the red carpet for the talented receiver and his family. The relationship with Pitt wide receivers coach Tiquan Underwood brought him to town, and while at the early stages of his recruitment, it may have felt like a courtesy visit to Underwood, but now I’m not so sure. Pitt seems right in the thick of the race to land him with Georgia and Texas A&M.

The Pitt coaches did everything to put their best foot forward on the official visit, and it was well received by Williams on all accounts. Williams is not believed to be nearing a decision and this recruitment will likely drag on for a while, but I don’t expect Pitt to go away anytime soon either. Pitt is effectively going toe-to-toe for an elite recruit against the defending national champions.

The context of this visit can not be undervalued either. In the Rivals.com era, Pitt has landed two five-star recruits: Jonathan Baldwin and Dorian Johnson. The key with both of those guys was that they were from the WPIAL, right in Pitt’s backyard. Pitt has never had this much traction with a five-star recruit outside of Pittsburgh in a long, long time.

Williams is legit. He looks like an NFL wide receiver today, as he gets ready for his senior year of high school. I truly never thought Pitt would have this much of a chance with him, even with the official visit booked for months, but after the visit I think the Panthers are right there. It will be a long, winding road until he announces, but Pitt is in the game.

Charlie Partridge is a gem
Tiquan Underwood’s connection brought Hykeem Williams to town, but it was pretty notable that while he was on his visit, Pitt assistant head coach Charlie Partridge was right by his side the entire time as well. That’s not much of a surprise, Partridge is the best recruiter on the staff, and let’s just get it out of the way too, he’s one of the best assistant coaches in college football. Period.

Sometimes discussions on our Panther-Lair.com message boards spill into the 3-2-1 column, and that is exactly what is going on here. A question was posed about Partridge, and if there is any Pitt assistant coach that really matches in him in recent memory, and I truly can’t think of one. Partridges coaches his position well and puts guys in the NFL, he recruits his position well, and as a native of Florida, he recruits his area well too. No other Pitt coach in recent memory combines everything the way he does.

Let’s take a look at on-field production. Over the last three seasons Pitt has finished in the top three nationally in sacks every year. 151 sacks over the course of the past three seasons. For the style of defense Pitt plays, it's vital to get to the quarterback and they do quite often.

How about individual performances? Jaylen Twyman earned second team All-American honors in 2019. Patrick Jones and Rashad Weaver were both consensus All-Americans in 2020. Last season, Calijah Kancey collected third-team recognition.

Draft picks? Twyman, Jones, and Weaver all were selected in the 2021 NFL Draft. Kancey and Habbakkuk Baldonado are already generating first and second round interest for the upcoming 2023 NFL Draft. I wouldn't sleep on Deslin Alexandre hearing his name called too.

Recruiting his position? In recent classes, Partridge has landed four-stars like Elliot Donald, Nahki Johnson, and Samuel Okunlola. The current class of 2023 has standouts like Isaiah Neal and Antonio Camon already, and a number of other top defensive line prospects are interested in Pitt. Oh, and the 2024 class? Yea, Hevin Brown-Shuler and Nigel Smith stopped by Pitt for unofficial visits this summer coming from Florida and Texas, respectively, to get a chance to meet Partridge.

The Florida pipeline? Outside of Pennsylvania, the state that comprises the second most members on the current Pitt football roster is Florida. Partridge has a big hand in that as well. He is from Florida, and was the head coach at Florida Atlantic for a time and uses those connections to help recruit to Pitt.

After Isaiah Neal, a three-star defensive tackle from Baltimore, committed to Pitt in early June, he had a quote that struck me about Partridge when I interviewed him. Neal is a smaller defensive tackle, the same type of player that has thrived under Partridge like Twyman and Kancey, and he recognized Pitt was the best spot for him to grow as a player. He had this to say about the Pitt assistant:

“He has a crazy resume and is always looking for ways to improve his style of coaching,” Neal said of Partridge. “He is a coach who is willing to be coachable, which I haven’t seen too much in my recruiting process.”

College football has gone through a lot of changes in the past year or so, and Partridge is a coach that is adapting and always looking for ways to get better. Pitt is team that runs its defense based on having an effective pass rush, and there really isn’t a better guy that could be running the group than Partridge.

TWO QUESTIONS WE HAVE

What else does the 2023 class need?
The Pitt football 2023 recruiting class currently has 14(+3) commitments right now. After only signing 12 for the class of 2022, it was expected that this class would be a bit bigger, maybe even twice in size. There is no set number as to how big this class can get. The free extra season given to the NCAA by COVID has made that unclear for the time being. Pitt has 26 seniors, and 20 of them could come back for an extra year. It's pretty clear that number will be on the smaller side given how Pitt is recruiting, but it does make things difficult to read accurately. I do think the class will come in at the 22-25 range, so there is still work to be done. So what positions need addressed?

Quarterback (1): Pitt should be pretty set with Kenny Minchey as the lone quarterback in this class. Minchey is vastly underrated by the Rivals network, and his performance at the prestigious Elite 11 camp this week is only reaffirming that. He is one of the top quarterback prospects Pitt has landed in a while.

Running Back (1 or 2): Pitt currently has Montravious Lloyd as its lone running back in this class, but I wonder if they look to take another. Pitt will have two seniors on the roster this season in C'Bo Flemister and Vincent Davis, and the lone back in the 2022 class, Jordaan Bailey, did not make it to Pitt this summer. Javious Bond visited back in the first weekend of June, so he could be a candidate, but I could see them exploring a bit more as well.

Wide Receiver (3 or 4): Pitt has two wide receivers committed in Zion Fowler and Kenny Johnson. Of course, Hykeem Williams is the dream addition here for the Pitt coaches. But they have also hosted Tastean Reddicks, Lamar Seymore, and Daidren Zipperer for official visits in June. Remember, Pitt has three unannounced commitments right now. This would be a spot that makes sense where one of those could be given the timing.

Tight End (1): Pitt will likely add one tight end this class, but for now they do not have a commitment. Zach Ortwerth was the top target that visited, though it seems he may be leaning towards Iowa. Pitt also hosted Jackson McGohan, a Cincinnati commitment, who has yet to back down from that pledge. Aside from that, Pitt recently offered Ka'Morreun Pimpton and Buom Jock was a pretty intriguing visitor for one of Pitt's prospect camps in June. I'd expect more names to emerge.

Offensive Line (4 or 5): Pitt entered last weekend without an offensive linemen in the class, but now they are up to three. The Panthers secured commitments from Ryan Carretta, Tai Ray, and Colin Van Rooy. One of Pitt's top targets, Phillip Daniels, is announcing his decision tomorrow and the Panthers are one of four finalists. Erie native Nick Krahe is another name to watch. Stanton Ramil is probably the highest player on the board here, but he might be a tough pull given the competition. It will be interesting to see where Daniels picks tomorrow, and the approach Pitt will take from there in either direction.

Defensive Line (3 or 4): Pitt landed Isaiah Neal and Antonio Camon the first weekend of official visits, and it will be interesting to see who they can land beyond those two. Jalen Thompson and Desmond Umeozulu are two four star prospects that visited that have yet to make any kind of announcement.

Linebacker (3): Pitt has a pair of commitments in Braylan Lovelace and Rasheem Biles here. I suspect one of the unannounced commitments is also a linebacker as well. So Pitt should be pretty well set here.

Defensive Back (4 or 5): Pitt landed commitments from four defensive backs in June, but only three remain committed. Shelton Lewis may have gotten caught up in the moment and rushed his decision, but even so the Panthers landed three good ones in Jesse Anderson, Shadarian Harrison, and Brice Pollock. I suspect after only landing one defensive back in 2022, the staff may look to bring in two more, certainly at least one. Jaremiah Anglin was on the last official visit, and he may be the top guy on their board for now. But again, this spot could evolve with some new targets.

What are we doing?
College football lost its soul a long time ago, and it has been on a hellbent war path for money and greed ever since. With imbalanced television revenue deals, each school has and will always continue to look for the conference that makes the most sense financially, rather than what makes logical sense for the purpose of the sport.

Who cares if the soccer team is playing 1,000 miles away for a conference game, that sweet new TV deal will pay for it anyway.

There has been a long play going on right before our very eyes, and maybe we missed out on what has actually happening in front of us since 2004. It was reported yesterday that USC and UCLA are exploring the possibility of joining the Big Ten, which seems to be a done deal. Two schools in Southern California are going to be in the same conference as Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Rutgers. Step aside AAC, the real American conference is here.

I mean, what are we even doing right now? Follow the money. The Big Ten is going to make USC and UCLA more money, plain and simple. But who knows, they might not be the only California teams in the league for long…

It’s pretty clear, however, that these potential moves are only part of what is to come for college athletics. Just like when Texas and Oklahoma bolted for the SEC last year, there are always corresponding moves. Now, what becomes of Oregon, Stanford, Cal, and the Arizona schools? We should find out soon. The PAC 12 can try to save face and add Boise State and San Diego State, or their other member institutions will look for new homes, and I suspect it will be the latter.

Every few years one of the major conferences gets squeezed out in some way. In the era of the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) there were six major conferences. Well, we all know what happened to the Big East. Miami and Virginia Tech went to the ACC in 2004, with Boston College following a year later. The Big East recovered somewhat with the additions of Louisville and Cincinnati, but Pitt and Syracuse saw the writing on the wall and eventually followed to the ACC in 2013. West Virginia had to catch a lifeboat to the Big 12, and Louisville made its way to the ACC the same year.

The Big East was an understandable casualty in all of this. The newer developments are the more puzzling ones. The death of that league left five major conferences, but we have slowly watched the Big 12 fall to the same fate as the Big East for over a decade now. Missouri and Texas A&M jumped to the SEC, Nebraska moved to the Big 10, and Colorado found life in the Pac 12. The additions of West Virginia and TCU kept it afloat, but once Texas and Oklahoma made their intentions known last year about heading to the SEC, the league lost its star power. Sure Houston and UCF might help keep it alive for a few years the same way Louisville and Cincinnati preserved the Big East for a time, but as we saw these type of patchwork additions have a shelf life.

The same thing is about to happen to the PAC-12, too. The USC and UCLA bombshell creates an air of uncertainty around college athletics about where everyone will land after the dust settles, but it goes back to the larger point: this thing isn’t over yet. The giant conference movement has been slowly evolving for almost two decades now, and it’s going to continue further.

We went from six BCS conferences, to a power five, to maybe down to four here very soon. There feels like one outcome at the end of all of this: the major conference schools break away from the NCAA and form its own league. I mean, is that really all that farfetched at this point? Does Ohio State and Alabama really care to be in the NCAA with Toledo and Georgia Southern? Not when there’s this kind of money involved. We are heading down a predetermined road at this point and there are ‘No U-Turn’ signs everywhere you look. It’s full steam ahead into the great unknown, with Name, Image, and Likeness, free transfers, and teams from California and New Jersey all in the same league. If nothing else, it is a humbling future reality for the schools and athletic departments that aren’t in the upper echelon like Ohio State, USC, and Texas etc.

Maybe the giant schism between the major schools and the NCAA is down the line a bit, but it is certainly closer now than it has ever been. What does this mean for Pitt in the immediate future? The ACC is still standing today, but the water is starting to feel murkier as time passes. The SEC is going to call Clemson and Florida State, or I should say, call them more often. Can the league add Notre Dame and maybe some other castoffs from the Big 12 and Pac 12 to keep this thing going, or will the ACC fall to the same fate of the Big East, Big 12, and PAC 12?

I don’t know if anyone has that answer.

ONE PREDICTION

The new scheduling format won't change much for the ACC
The idea had been floating around for some time, and earlier this week the ACC announced that it would be doing away with the two division format in football, and will alter the scheduling model beginning in 2023. Pitt will no longer play as a member of the ACC Coastal, but rather all 14 teams will be in the same conference standings beginning in 2023.

Each team will play three opponents annually, while the other five games will rotate each year. Pitt will play Syracuse and Virginia Tech every year, two programs the Panthers have faced annually since joining the ACC anyway, along with old Big East foe Boston College. The other ten teams in the league will rotate on a year to year basis creating more opportunities to see different teams more regularly.

This scheduling model will allow for more variety in league schedules. Under the two division format, Pitt played the same six ACC Coastal teams each season, along with Syracuse as its annual crossover opponent. That left one spot to rotate between the six other teams in the league.

Frankly, it hardly felt like Pitt was in the same conference as Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, NC State, and Wake Forest on most seasons. For instance, Pitt has been in the league since 2013 and Wake Forest has yet to play in Pittsburgh, and the Panthers have yet to play a game at NC State. The giant conference realignment from a decade ago sort of killed regional rivalries for many programs, but if you’re going to be in a new league, you might as well play some of these teams once in a while, right? I think this new format is good for the sake of jumbling up the schedule and playing more teams if nothing else.

Naturally the concern would be: how does it affect Pitt in terms of winning the ACC in the future? The Panthers have won two of the last three ACC Coastal titles, and are currently the reigning conference champions. Pitt is also one of the favorites to win the Coastal again in 2022 and should have a shot at a second straight league championship.

The two division format meant you had to finish higher than only six other teams in order to reach the ACC title game, and now you have to finish higher than at least 12 programs. It’s a big change when it is laid out like that, but ESPN’s David Hale pointed out that 7 of the past 8 ACC Championship games would have looked the exact same under this current format. Only in 2016 would there have been a change, with Louisville finishing second in the Atlantic with a 7-1 league record over Coastal champion Virginia Tech’s 6-2 record. Even Pitt’s 2018 Coastal title would have held up under this new model, as the Panthers posted a 6-2 record and had a head-to-head win over second place Atlantic team Syracuse.

So what does this mean for Pitt and the other ACC teams? Those teams need to go 6-2 or better if they want to play for an ACC Championship. So, pretty much how it has been for the past decade. You would have to go back to 2012, before Pitt was even in the league, to see a team with a 5-3 record playing for an ACC Championship. The new format eliminates any team backing into a title, and puts the two best teams in the league playing for the championship. It gives the winner of that game one more quality win to bolster its College Football Playoff resume as well. All in all this makes sense. The schedule adds more variety for everyone, while keeping some annual rivalries. Teams still have to be very good to win the league, which has always been the case. And lastly, the league will get to put its best foot forward on conference championship Saturday making sure the two best teams in the conference are playing.

Isn’t that what we should all want anyway?