Blue-chip linebacker says Pitt is it over break

In the second quarter of the U.S. Army All-American Bowl on Saturday in San Antonio, Shayne… In the second quarter of the U.S. Army All-American Bowl on Saturday in San Antonio, Shayne Hale, surrounded by family behind a blue-draped table, reached for a hat that matched the tablecloth with a block Pitt branded on the front and fastened it securely atop his shaved head.

It was finally official.

“I’m staying home,” Hale said.

The nation’s No. 56-ranked high school football player, according to Rivals.com, committed to play for Pitt over offers from West Virginia, Virginia, Michigan and Ohio State – the school considered the frontrunner for the Gateway High School linebacker’s services for the better part of the fall.

That was until Pitt’s historic upset of West Virginia on Dec. 1. And after Hale took his official visit to Pitt two weeks after, when his former Gateway teammate and fellow four-star prospect Cameron Saddler, already a Pitt commit, buttered him up with a little help from the Oakland Zoo at the Pitt-Oklahoma State basketball game on Dec. 15.

“I went on official visits, and it all just came down to what is best for me,” Hale said to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review when he unofficially announced his commitment at the U.S. Army awards banquet on Friday night. “At one time, it was Ohio State. Another time it was Pitt. Once I narrowed it down, it’s Pitt.”

Timing wasn’t the only thing on Pitt’s side for Hale. His former coach at Gateway, Terry Smith, said Hale felt more comfortable with the Pitt coaching staff than any other, especially with the head coach.

“I think Dave Wannstedt has had a great impact on him,” Smith said to the Tribune-Review. “When Cam was making his decision, Wannstedt was impacting Shayne at the same time,” Smith said. “He’s real comfortable with Wannstedt being a father figure. Shayne doesn’t trust many people, but he trusts Dave Wannstedt.”

Hale was one of three Pitt commits to play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

One of the others was Jonathan Baldwin, a 6-foot-6 wide receiver from nearby Aliquippa, who made a 46-yard, leaping touchdown grab in the second quarter. The other, Lucas Nix, a five-star offensive lineman from Thomas Jefferson High School, started at right guard for the East squad.

While Hale’s commitment was the headliner of the weekend, Johnstown tight end Mike Cruz’s was the opener. Cruz, a three-star player from Bishop McCort High School, committed to Pitt on Friday for the second time, after he committed in April and then reopened his recruitment.

Pitt’s 2008 recruiting class is now up to 16 players, and because of scholarship limitations, the Panthers are possibly only looking to ink four or five more players not already committed or signed by national signing day on Feb. 6.