Man, decide to take the afternoon wait around all day in lines — kick-back and relax at the BMV to renew my driver’s license followed by giving blood — and this happens.

The Pitt football team landed a top high school football recruit this afternoon when Nate Byham, a senior tight end from Franklin High School in Western Pennsylvania, made a verbal commitment to the Panthers.

Byham (6 feet 4, 220 pounds) is ranked by one scouting service (scout.com) as the No. 1 tight end in the country. Nationally-known talent scout Tom Lemming ranks him No. 2 and Rivals.com No. 6.

Byham had dozens of scholarship offers, including ones from Southern California, Miami, Tennessee and Miami. He caught 45 passes for 883 yards last season. He is a good athlete, running the 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds and averaging 15 points a game in basketball. He also is an excellent student with a 1,470 score on the SAT.

“I kind of knew in the back of my head that I wanted to go to Pitt,” Byham said. “I just didn’t know when to let it out and let everyone else know. So I just decided to do it today.”

More from the Keystone Recruiting E-mail:

“I called Coach Gattuso about 45 minutes ago,” says Byham, “and then he put Coach Wannstedt on the phone. They were very excited.”

One of the top five tight ends in the country, Byham always had the Panthers in the lead despite national offers from such powers as USC, Tennessee, Iowa, and Miami.

“I like all of the coaches,” says Byham, “and they are all really nice. Plus, it’s close to home. We have a chance to be very good and I want to help build a power in my own backyard.”

What is there to say at the moment, but “wow.” I would never have believed that Pitt, Coach Wannstedt and the entire staff could move this quickly, strongly and deftly in recruiting.

Screw drinking the kool-aid at this point, if I had any blood left in my system I’d spill it for Coach Wannstedt right now.

More later, hopefully with just a touch more perspective.