Pitt Football has an opportunity to add local talent next year

For the Panthers to compete in the loaded ACC, Pitt head football coach Paul Chryst must be able to recruit locally as well as nationally.

If you look at the history of the WPIAL, you might be shocked by some of the names you see: Dorsett, Marino, Revis, Ditka, Namath and Montana. These are players who have won Heisman Trophies and National Championships in college, as well as Super Bowls and MVPs in the pros.

With such a rich base of talent here in Western Pennsylvania, Paul Chryst and company can win by effectively recruiting out of the local hotbed.

Last year’s recruiting class was certainly an important one for Pitt football because it was the first that Chryst was able to recruit himself. Overall, he and his staff did pretty well.

Pitt landed two must-have WPIAL targets when it signed Clairton’s Tyler Boyd — ranked No. 165 on the ESPN 300 list — and Belle Vernon offensive lineman Dorian Johnson, who placed 29th on the same list and was a five-star recruit, according to Rivals.com. There still is a lot of work to be done, though.

In order to build on last year’s moderate success, the 2014 recruiting class must be a historic one for the Panthers, not just because of the names they sign, but because of the types of athletes they attract. If the Panthers learned anything from their 41-13 loss to Florida State, hopefully it’s that they need more athletes like Boyd, who is currently 16th in the country with 173 all-purpose yards per game.

The Panthers are off to a decent start, as the team has signed important players, including Bethel Park offensive lineman Mike Grimm and North Allegheny safety Elijah Zeise. Both players are just three-star recruits on ESPN, though, so there is still much to be desired.

The Panthers are still looking at Aliquippa cornerback Davon Henry, Rivals.com’s 14th-ranked cornerback nationally and the 166th overall prospect; Gateway safety Montae Nicholson, who is the No. 1-ranked safety in the state and Rivals.com’s 126th prospect overall; as well as Gateway cornerback Anthony Davis, the 10th-ranked player in the state, according to Rivals.com.

The biggest competitors for Pitt in the Henry sweepstakes are West Virginia and Ohio State. For Nicholson, “Michigan State and Penn State are two of the favorites,” according to 247Sports.com, “along with Oregon, Pittsburgh and Florida State.”

And while defense will certainly be important to the Panthers moving forward, Chryst is renowned for his offense — especially his rushing attack — after previously serving as an offensive coordinator for Wisconsin and Oregon State. And it is on the offensive side of the ball where the Panthers might have the most work to do.

Currently, Pitt is courting three running backs in the top 40 of Rivals.com’s national running back recruit list: Western Pennsylvania native Shai McKenzie (20th), Chicago native Chris James (30th) and Harrisburg product Robert Martin (39th). The Panthers have placed an emphasis on finding running backs to complement their top young players such as Boyd and sophomore tight end J.P. Holtz.

This summer Martin verbally committed to Rutgers, but neither McKenzie nor James have made a final decision as to where they will commit.

Just this week James tweeted “#Pitt or #Wisconsin,” subtly indicating that the decision might come down to Chryst’s former employer and alma mater, Wisconsin, and his current employer.

McKenzie, the Washington, Pa., native, is supposedly considering the Panthers and two ACC rivals,  Virginia Tech and Florida State. McKenzie attended the Panthers game against Florida State on Labor Day, but he was on the Florida State sideline, visiting with the Seminoles.    

With the addition of three-star running back Qadree Ollison, from Buffalo, N.Y., the Panthers could be in the market for only one additional back. However, if both James and McKenzie decide to commit, rumor has it that Chryst and company won’t turn them away.

Currently the Panthers have either signed or are in the running to sign six of the top 10 Pennsylvania recruits. With Penn State currently inhibited by the NCAA recruiting sanctions, which resulted from the Jerry Sandusky scandal, and West Virginia struggling to acclimate to a new conference, one thing is clear: The time is perfect for the Panthers to strike in recruiting.