While Pitt’s basketball and football teams struggled often last year, this year’s incoming freshmen have many fans feeling optimistic about the future of Pitt sports. While Pitt’s basketball and football teams struggled often last year, this year’s incoming freshmen have many fans feeling optimistic about the future of Pitt sports.

A 6-foot-11 woman presumed to be the world’s tallest teenager and Pennsylvania’s all-time leading rusher highlight a group of new athletes that will begin their Panther careers on the basketball court and the football field this year.

Here are some of the newcomers looking to contribute to Pitt athletics:

Football

Rushel Shell, Running back

6-foot, 205 pounds

Hopewell High School, Aliquippa, Pa.

Rushel Shell finished his impressive Hopewell career with 9,078 yards, making him the all-time rushing leader in Pennsylvania high school football history. He also set national records by rushing for at least 100 yards in 39 straight games, and he ran for 200 or more yards 25 times in his career. Shell’s career yardage places him 10th all-time nationally for rushing yards. Shell is ranked the fourth-best running back and 20th-best player overall in the class of 2012. He was also chosen to play in the Semper Fidelis High School All-American Game, and he chose to commit to Pitt over Alabama and Ohio State.

Chad Voytik, Quarterback

6-foot-1, 183 pounds

Cleveland High School, Cleveland, Tenn.

Chad Voytik will add a new dimension to Pitt’s passing game. The versatile quarterback finished his junior year with 3,650 yards passing, 33 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions. He added 739 yards and seven touchdowns rushing and was named a U.S. Army All-American this past year. Voytik is ranked as the fourth-best quarterback and 109th-best prospect overall in the class of 2012.

Adam Bisnowaty, Offensive tackle

6-foot-6, 275 pounds

Fox Chapel High School, Pittsburgh

Bisnowaty should add immediate depth to an offensive line that struggled last season. Like Shell, he was chosen for the Semper Fidelis All-American Game, and he’s ranked as the 19th-best offensive tackle in the nation and 203rd-best prospect overall from the class of 2012.

Demitrious Davis, Athlete

5-foot-10, 183 pounds

Austintown Fitch High School, Austintown, Ohio

Demitrious Davis played quarterback in high school but will most likely line up at receiver for Pitt. During his junior year of high school, Davis passed for 986 yards and nine touchdowns and rushed for 1,091 yards and 19 touchdowns. He is rated the 39th-best athlete in the country.

Chris Davis, Wide receiver

5-foot-9, 185 pounds

Austintown Fitch High School, Austintown, Ohio

Chris Davis, the twin brother of Demitrious, will certainly add some speed to the Panthers’ receiving unit. He tallied 748 all-purpose yards as a receiver and cornerback and is rated the 33rd-best receiving prospect in the nation.

Deaysean Rippy, Linebacker

6-foot-2, 198 pounds

Sto-Rox High School, McKees Rocks, Pa.

Deaysean Rippy finished his junior season with 85 tackles, 10 sacks and two interceptions, bringing his career total to 162 tackles and 17 sacks. He also had more than 700 yards and 10 touchdowns as a receiver. With athleticism and versatility that might help him move back to safety, Rivals.com ranked him the 21st-best outside linebacker prospect in the nation. Rippy chose Pitt over West Virginia and Arizona.

Men’s Basketball

Steven Adams, Center

6-foot-10, 210 pounds

Notre Dame Prep., Fitchburg, Mass.

Adams, the most highly regarded recruit in the history of Pitt basketball, originally hails from New Zealand. Last year, Adams played for the Wellington Saints, a professional basketball team in New Zealand, but remained eligible to play at the collegiate level because he wasn’t paid. After graduating from Scotts College, a preparatory school in New Zealand, Adams moved to the U.S. in order to play for Notre Dame Preparatory School in Massachusetts, where he averaged 12 points and 14 rebounds per game this season. Adams recently played in the Jordan Brand Classic, a prestigious high school all-star game, and he also participated in the Adidas Nations competition last year. Rivals.com rates Adams as the third-best center and fifth-best player overall in the class of 2012.

James Robinson, Point guard

6-foot-3, 195 pounds

DeMatha Catholic High School, Hyattsville, Md.

Robinson averaged 10.2 points per game as a senior in high school, leading DeMatha to a 30-6 season. He’s among 24 U.S. high school basketball players currently participating in tryouts for the U.S. under-18 basketball team, a team that competes against other amateur basketball teams worldwide. Robinson, who will hope to continue Pitt’s recent tradition of producing solid point guards, is the eighth-best point guard and 51st-best prospect overall in the class of 2012.

Chris Jones, Shooting guard

6-foot-5, 190 pounds

Teaneck High School, Teaneck, N.J.

Jones finished his senior season at Teaneck High School as the highest scorer in the school’s history with 1,319 points. He guided Teaneck to 59 wins in its last 63 games, averaging 21.2 points and 8.4 rebounds per game as a senior. Jones earned first team all-state and won the Bergen Record Player of the Year Award.

Trey Zeigler, Guard (Transfer)

6-foot-5, 195 pounds

Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Mich.

Trey Zeigler isn’t an incoming freshman, but coach Jamie Dixon added him to the roster after he transferred from Central Michigan University, where he averaged 15.8 points and 6.7 rebounds last season. Ziegler will be eligible to play for Pitt next season if the NCAA accepts his appeal to waive a rule that normally requires transfers to sit out a year.

Women’s Basketball

Marvadene “Bubbles” Anderson, Center

6-foot-11, 210 pounds

Rutgers Preparatory School, Somerset, N.J.

Anderson, presumed to be the world’s tallest teenage girl, averaged 23 points and 6.2 rebounds per game during her senior year. Anderson moved to the U.S. from Jamaica before her sophomore year in high school, and she is relatively new to the game of basketball. But coaches say her size and athleticism have the potential to fundamentally change the game of women’s basketball.

All rankings courtesy of Rivals.com.