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Updated 10 hours ago
If Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi's wife and kids were unsure of his whereabouts on one particularly busy recruiting day last week, it's no wonder.
Where's Pat today? Maryland? North Carolina? Florida?
Narduzzi hit all three, efficiently hopping up and down the Atlantic coast on a Pitt booster's private airplane paid for by the university.
Notice anything about that travel itinerary? Western Pennsylvania wasn't on it.
Narduzzi's second exclusive recruiting class — he took the baton from Paul Chryst in 2015 — is almost complete. The national letter-of-intent signing day is Wednesday, and the breakdown of talent is surprising.
Of the 22 or more players Pitt expects to sign, only four played in the WPIAL: Steel Valley safety Paris Ford, Upper St. Clair offensive lineman Gabe Houy and tight ends Grant Carrigan of Pine-Richland and Tyler Sear of Neshannock.
That's the smallest number of WPIAL recruits for Pitt since Todd Graham signed three for his hastily assembled class in 2011.
Is it a problem that Pitt has a verbal commitment from only one of the WPIAL's top five players? Ford is ranked second according to Rivals.com.
History says it could be — but only if it becomes a trend.
“(Recruiting locally) is very competitive,” said Metro Index Scouting founder Joe Butler, who has evaluated local players for more than three decades. “It has really stepped up. You have a lot of big schools coming in here.
“They know kids are going to be well-coached, play hard and are resilient. They don't want to leave a stone unturned.”
Narduzzi has not let Western Pennsylvania limit his success in 2017. He has six current commitments from players in Florida — the most of any state. Pennsylvania is second with five, followed by Ohio (four), New Jersey (three) and one each from Maryland, Connecticut and Alabama.
But how much does local recruiting help — or hinder — a team's success?
The Tribune-Review tracked the college and NFL careers of Rivals' top-five-ranked WPIAL players in each of the 11 classes from 2007-2017.
Of those 35 players recruited in the first seven years, 15 reached an NFL training camp, including Woodland Hills tight end Rob Gronkowski, Jeannette quarterback Terrelle Pryor, wide receivers Jon Baldwin of Aliquippa and Tyler Boyd of Clairton and Central Catholic offensive lineman Stefan Wisniewski.
Only 12 of those 35 made little or no impact at their schools after two or more seasons.
Pitt has recruited successfully in Western Pennsylvania under Narduzzi and Chryst. Of the top five in each class from 2012-16, Pitt signed 14 of 25, and 10 made — or are expected to make — significant contributions.
This year's recruiting class chose to look at other options.
Defensive back Lamont Wade of Clairton and offensive lineman C.J. Thorpe of Central Catholic — the Nos. 1 and 3 players from the WPIAL — committed to Penn State, No. 4 Josh Lugg of North Allegheny plans to sign with Notre Dame and No. 5 Donovan Jeter of Beaver Falls already enrolled at Michigan.
Pine-Richland's Phil Jurkovec, the nation's No. 3 dual-threat quarterback and No. 2 player in Pennsylvania among juniors commited to Notre Dame for 2018.
Pitt's 2017 class is ranked eighth in the 14-team ACC and 36th nationally, one spot ahead of Texas.
Pitt, by far, has signed more top-five WPIAL and City League players in the past 11 years than any school. It leads Penn State, 21-13, in that category.
Pitt, however, has lost the top-rated WPIAL player in three of the past four years. Along with Wade, Woodland Hills running back Miles Sanders chose PSU in 2016 and Gateway defensive back Montae Nicholson chose Michigan State in 2014.
The exception is Central Valley's Jordan Whitehead, who chose Pitt in 2015 and is a two-year starter at safety for the Panthers.
“There are a number of reasons why they pick the schools that they pick, and they're never the same,” Yahoo Sports/Rivals.com East Coast recruiting analyst Adam Friedman said.
For example, he cited the “allure” of Notre Dame for Jurkovic and Central Catholic's David Adams and Kurt Hinish. That allure, however, could fade if the Irish don't recover from their 4-8 season.
Friedman said Wade is the first WPIAL player he Vegabet can recall choosing Penn State, which has three assistants with local ties (former Gateway coach Terry Smith and Central Catholic graduates Joe Moorhead and Matt Limegrover).
“But maybe the influence of Terry Smith or the rise of the program to win the Big Ten, going to the Rose Bowl … maybe that had something to do with it.
“But (Wade) had so many connections to Pitt (Boyd and several others from Clairton). It's hard to see him spurning them early in the process.”
Friedman said protecting Pitt's backyard is growing in importance. For the first time in many years, there are actually several players worth recruiting, he said.
“With Pennsylvania, the way it's been the past few years, not being a top-tier talent producing state, it's even more important when the state does have an upswing in talent,” Freidman said. “Especially the WPIAL, which is what we're seeing right now. And over the next year or two, it becomes even more important for Pitt to lock down its area.”
But Friedman doesn't believe losing a few local recruits will cause lasting problems for Pitt.
“Pitt took some strides this year as a program,” he said, noting victories against Penn State and national champion Clemson. “There were a lot of good things that happened this year. Injuries really sabotaged the team toward the end, kind of took away a lot of its momentum. That hurt them, obviously, in the recruiting trail.”
But Pitt has cast a wide net to attract players this season.
Punter Kirk Christodoulou of Australia enrolled in the school in January.
Friedman agreed there is a perception that if a Florida high school player leaves the state, he must have been discarded by Miami, Florida or Florida State. Only Lakeland cornerback Damarri Mathis (No. 76) is ranked among Rivals.com's top 100 players in Florida. And Pitt is working hard to add Lakeland running back A.J. Davis, who is Mathis' cousin and the No. 14 runnnig back in the nation, by Wednesday.
“The state of Florida is the deepest state for talent in the country,” Friedman said. “Yes, the top-tier guys are going to choose the in-state programs there or head to schools like Alabama or Georgia.
“But each of those schools can only take 25 guys or so a year. Outside of those guys, there's a lot of talent there still to be had.
“Whether or not those kids want to go to one of the in-state schools and wait their turn or head up to Pitt where they can maybe start for two or three years, Pitt can provide a pretty good option for them.”
Friedman said he believes Pitt is more active in recruiting than in three years under Chryst. That's apparent in Narduzzi flipping five of his recruits from other schools, including Akron running back Todd Sibley, who had committed to Ohio State.
“They are attracting more eyeballs,” he said.
Friedman said Ford is the jewel of Pitt's class, but there are others who could develop into good players. There are two four-stars (Ford and Steubenville, Ohio, tight end Charles Reeves) and 18 three-stars, according to Rivals.com rankings.
“There are some very good prospects in this class with a ton of potential, outside of Paris Ford who is the cream of the crop and could have gone anywhere nationally,” Friedman said.
“I like Reeves. I've heard very good things about (Findlay, Ohio, athlete) Kyle Nunn. And (Oakhurst, N.J., quarterback) Kenny Pickett has a really good chance to develop in that system.”
Friedman is especially optimistic about 6-foot-6, 320-pound offensive lineman Carter Warren of Wayne, N.J.
“He has a great frame, and Pitt proved over the past couple years they know how to develop offensive linemen,” he said. “They have a couple of good ones (Adam Bisnowaty and Dorian Johnson) who are headed to the NFL Draft this year.
“Warren has the quickness and the length to really attract a lot of NFL eyes because of that frame. If he develops that strength and techniques needed to play at a high level, I think he can end up being a cornerstone player for Pitt.”
Jerry DiPaola is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at jdipaola@tribweb.com or via Twitter @JDiPaola_Trib.
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