If you follow Pitt football recruiting, you probably know about Charlie Partridge’s great connections in Florida. Or maybe you’ve seen Tim Salem’s relentless efforts in the Northeast. Obviously you see Pat Narduzzi tweet out his usual, ‘Pitt is it!’ when the school lands a commitment.

That is the known part of recruiting at the University of Pittsburgh, but what about behind the scenes?

Do fans even know the names Graham Wilbert, Adam Caltury, or Karlo Zovko?

There is a lot more to to the recruiting process then a Pitt coach sees a prospect and offers him. There are evaluations, camps, visits, social media, and much more that happens when Pitt recruits an individual prospect.

Wilbert, Pitt’s Director of Player Personnel, has held that position for five seasons now. He’s a behind the scenes guy to the fans, but also a vital part to Pitt’s whole recruiting operation. The efforts led by Wilbert did not go unnoticed to Pat Narduzzi at his signing day press conference.

“I think we got the best recruiting office in the country,” Narduzzi said unabashed. “They got a great feeling, and again it's every year that makes it a little bit easier. Especially on me and the staff because they have so much control."

In his compliments of the staff, the Pitt head coach seemed to be asking the administration for additional help in the recruiting office for the future.

“I don't think we have the most guys working in an office, and we're always working to get our numbers up,” he explained. “That’s something we'll work on in the offseason as far as getting more people in that office because I think as these NCAA rules change, the portal changes, as we're now allowed to do videos and do all this different stuff that we need more people in that office to continue to do what we've done.”

The recruiting landscape has changed for better or worse in the past few years. There were the challenges of recruiting last season during the pandemic. The added year of eligibility given to players due to COVID has thrown a wrench into the numbers. Also, the giant black hole of the transfer portal has literally changed the sport.

It’s a lot to navigate for not only Narduzzi and his coaching staff, but for the recruiting staff on how they have to lay out a plan each day.

Take for instance Pitt’s class that was announced yesterday. It only featured 12 names, and that’s because Pitt may have a number of seniors opting to return for an extra year. On Pitt’s end, they say they don’t rush decisions for these players despite it making the numbers tough to navigate on the recruiting trail.

“We could have some more spots, we might not,” Wilbert told the media after Narduzzi’s signing day press conference. “Those guys got to make their decisions and Coach (Narduzzi) does a great job of not pressuring these kids and letting them take their time because it’s their lives.”

The smaller numbers are an issue for this year, but obviously last year’s challenges were a completely different issue. Recruiting during the pandemic was totally unfamiliar to past seasons, as kids weren’t allowed to visit college programs.

According to Narduzzi, some of those techniques they used to recruit last year were brought into their pitch this season, whether it’s more videos or FaceTime calls showing perspective recruits around the team’s practice facility.

“Again, by Graham and Adam coming up with great ideas of how do we get Pitt in their living room wherever they live, and I think that's something that we've done a good job,” Narduzzi said.

The transfer portal has also been a change in the way college football operates, and Pitt has a planned mapped out there and at this point, it has become a daily thing to monitor.

“Every morning we’ve got one of our guys — that’s kind of his job,” Caltury said of watching the transfer portal. “He goes through the transfer portal, everyone from the previous day. He puts it on a list and sends it out and then we kind of go through, especially positions of need. We start there, pull their film, and kind of get a good idea of them and then we start that process of OK we think he’s good enough to start that feeler process.”

Despite hundreds of players entering the transfer portal since the season has ended, with it growing every single day, Wilbert noted that’s not where Pitt wants to spend most of its time in roster management.

“The portal, I think, will always just be bolstering your team, filling in the holes here and there when things don’t work out,” he explained. “We never want to live in the portal too much.”

There are new challenges that have come to light in recruiting in recent years, but the usual problems from years’ past remain. Kids decommitting, preparing for official visits, scouting - all those things.

In the case of Pitt’s 2022 class, the program lost a few players along the way. Jordaan Bailey was one of those players, though he ultimately signed with the school yesterday. Wilbert said it’s important to continue to pursue players after they decommit.

“There’s a reason he committed in the first place,” he said. “There’s a relationship there. Obviously something has happened so you want to go in and find out what that it is…there’s so much time invested in him you want to fight until the end with these guys.”

Pitt has operated the same way the past five recruiting cycles. The NCAA instituted an early signing period in December, thus allowing official visits to take place in June. Pitt likes to host those then, rather than during the season.

Due to scheduling conflicts, four-star signee Samuel Okunlola had to take his visit during the season, leading the recruiting staff to host the visit while the coaches prepared for a game. It’s not an ideal situation according to Wilbert, though in the end Okunlola committed to Pitt yesterday.

“It’s a lot different, and I don’t like it because at the end of the day the coaches are the ones that coach them,” he said of hosting in-season visits. “We don’t coach the kids. So I like it when the kids are with the coaches as much as possible.”

So next time you think about Pitt’s recruiting, remember it’s more than just an offer from Partridge, and a Narduzzi tweet once a player commits. A lot goes into it, and the behind the scenes guys like Wilbert have as big of a role as anyone.