It’s not like college and pro football are the only ones getting ready for the new season. There’s high school football. Importantly to college football fans — recruits.
Pitt commit Lucas Nix got some love as the Trib has been writing about Western PA seniors for the past week.
“He’s so athletic,” Thomas Jefferson coach Bill Cherpak said. “He’s big. He can run. He’s nasty. He wants to not hurt you, well, yeah, he wants to hurt you, but I mean he’s not trying to do that, but he has all the tools, all the gifts. He’s not a complete player right now, but he’s got to keep working. The sky is the absolute limit for him. His potential is out the window.”
The five-star offensive lineman’s upside should be evident this year during his final season at Thomas Jefferson and then at Pitt, where he committed to play college ball. For now, Nix is focused on getting Thomas Jefferson back to the PIAA championship, where he helped the Jaguars to a state title in 2004 as a starting freshman.
“Since I’ve committed to college, I feel like I can just come here, try to lead this team and do the best I can to get us back to the state championship,” Nix said. “I was there once. It’s just, I guess, the thing you wait for all year. You work, try to go 16 weeks through the whole season, plus all summer, just to get to that one game and win that one game.”
Apparently he can do a split. That just hurts to think about it.
The best player in the City League this year is WR Ed Tinker.
And the offers came. Tinker has received interest from some prominent Division I schools, including Pitt, West Virginia, Louisville and Iowa. Still, in light of the acclaim, he refuses to be complacent.
“This whole summer I’ve been training and lifting, working on my routes and trying to get better,” he said.
Working alongside Pitt and West Virginia players at the Warrington Recreation Center on the South Side, Tinker has tried to lift his stock. He said he anticipates more scholarship offers throughout the season.
Rivals.com and Scout.com have him as a 3-star recruit. He doesn’t seem like a high priority for Pitt. He’s got a lot of tools and at 6′ 3″, 195 a good frame for a WR. He’s the second best WR in Pennsylvania (#22 overall according to Rivals.com), but I was under the impression Pitt was more interested in Vaughn Carraway (the #1 WR prospect in PA — also 3-stars from Rivals.com but 4-stars at Scout.com).
Finally, a raw project, maybe at linebacker in Chet Welc.
Welc has been a three-year starter on both the baseball and basketball teams, earning all-conference honors in baseball his sophomore and junior seasons and becoming both an offensive and defensive force on the hardwood. Now, Welc is about to begin his third season as a starter on the Vikings’ football team, and it’s this venue that he believes will give him the greatest opportunity to play sports at the collegiate level.
“I like all three sports,” he said. “Football is just what I’m going to do in my future.”
Welc said he has been scouted by several schools, including two of his favorites, Pitt and West Virginia.
“I grew up watching Pitt,” he said. “And West Virginia is an awesome team. I’ve been down there a couple times, and it’s just a great place to be.”
Welc at this point is an unranked, 1-star recruit. No actual offers yet. His athleticism may tempt Coach Wannstedt to offer late if a scholarship is still open. A big if.
