A story today on Anthony Jackson’s verbal to Pitt following a big showing at the Pitt camp.

Jackson had an impressive showing at Pitt. Not only did he turn in the sub-4.4 40 on two coaches’ stopwatches, but he also had a standing broad jump of 10 feet, 11 inches – or more than 5 yards – in testing.

Pause for a “huh?” Maybe I don’t understand the test or how defined, but wouldn’t “more than 5 yards mean at least 15 feet? 10′ 11” is quite impressive, I would say, but that is more than 3 yards. There’s an error/discrepancy in one of the numbers.

“He’s got great hips,” said Scout.com recruiting analyst Bob Lichtenfels, who watched Jackson perform. “That 4.31 speed almost reminds you of (Steelers cornerback) Ike Taylor. That’s a good comparison. Cover corners are scarce to begin with, especially ones who run a 4.3.”

Pitt was the first school to offer Jackson a scholarship, but he said Bowling Green, Central Florida, Colorado State, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Minnesota and Southern Illinois were showing interest.

Obviously he has great speed and athleticism that he relies upon. He is apparently on the raw side, so he will be something of a project to actually teach.

Last week Dom DeCicco committed to Pitt. Another article about him today.

“Just the coaches and everything down here,” DeCicco said Monday afternoon. “I just felt really at home down here on the visit.”

DeCicco, 6 feet 3, 206 pounds, met with Panthers coach Dave Wannstedt and came away ready to commit immediately. Thomas Jefferson coach Bill Cherpak — who was in Hershey for the Big 33 game last weekend — advised DeCicco via phone to sleep on it for a night.

He reconsidered and thought he might wait longer but made the commitment Friday.

“I just wanted to get it over with now,” said DeCicco, who also had considered Ohio State — his childhood favorite team — West Virginia, Iowa, Arizona State and Georgia Tech.

I think Coach Wannstedt caught a lot of schools off guard last year by being so aggressive early in recruiting and getting commits. A quick glance over the archives from a year ago, shows that Pitt ended the month of June very strong with about 10 verbals. Most of them, though, came in the final week.

But what stands out, is that schools like Penn State, WVU and ND had nothing from Western PA at that point. This year we are hearing and seeing those schools move much more aggressively and sooner in the area. Other schools seem to have adjusted to the situation. I think that is part of the reason Pitt seems to be moving slower in accumulating the number of early verbals.