Jalen Williams became verbal #2 yesterday when he committed to Coach Chryst and company. Williams is a Safety from Newburgh, New York (maybe the h after the burg closed the deal) and a 3 star prospect on both Rivals and Scout. Rivals also has him ranked as the 6th best prospect in New York. While New York isn’t exactly a football hotbed, it’s still impressive to be a top 10 prospect in the state. One quote from an interview with PantherLair jumped out at me and really affirms the recruiting philosophy:
When they were recruiting me, they weren’t arrogant about anything, they weren’t lying to me; they were being honest with me. They’re just a good staff.
Williams is listed at 6’2 180 and had offers from Syracuse, Temple, Buffalo, and a few others. He was on an unofficial visit and was here to participate in an invite only workout with 10 or 11 other players. His primary recruiter was DE/LB coach John Palermo.
I know a lot of people aren’t pleased with the lack of results thus far and a few of the players we haven’t landed, but as I mentioned on the Optimistic portion of my OvP column on recruiting: it’s an end game. It’s not over a player chisels his name into stone faxes over his Herbie Hancock. Sorry, I forgot which antiquated method of communication is used to submit a verbal.
One chiseled stone we’re eager to get is Washington, PA RB Shai McKenzie. McKenzie released his top 5 in order of preference yesterday. Right now, the list is Florida State, Pitt, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, and Arkansas. Local paper the Observer Reporter had an interview with Shai and he told Jason Mackey how he narrowed his list down.
“Who was honest,” McKenzie answered. “Relationships. What did I like about a lot of these schools. Which coaches kept in contact with me and showed their interest. If I was a priority or not.”
That seems to bode well for us. If we aren’t showing McKenzie that he’s a top priority something is very wrong. Given that we’re #2 on his list it’s safe to assume he knows how desperately he’s wanted. If Chryst and company land McKenzie and Keller Chryst, no one will complain about recruiting for a few months.
Who the hell am I kidding? Yinz will always find something to complain about; it’s Pitt sports. There’s always a reason. On a personal note, sorry for the lack of posts from me lately. I’ve been busy and had some personal issues to deal with (sorry for the twitter whining, followers) but hopefully things will ease up a little bit soon.
