I guess it’s exciting that one of the hottest young (emphasis on young) high school talents in the country is saying he is giving his verbal to Pitt after the Marquette-Pitt game. Just keep in mind that Terrelle Pryor is presently a Sophomore in high school.
Pryor made a verbal commitment to Pitt yesterday after the Panthers’ victory against Marquette. He informed Pitt assistant coach Joe Lombardi of his decision and then head coach Jamie Dixon.
Pryor is a 6-foot-6 guard-forward who is ranked highly by scouting services. Scout.com ranks him the No. 8 sophomore in the country and the No. 1 small forward. Some coaches in the WPIAL believe he will be one of the best players to come out of Western Pennsylvania in a couple decades.
But the main question for Pryor is, why now? Why commit to a school when you’re not even halfway through high school?
“I think it will just let me concentrate on other stuff,” Pryor said. “Right now, I feel like I just want to go to Pitt. It’s close to home. My father can come see me play. It’s mostly about staying close to home. … But I like their gym and I like their coaches.”
Pitt has been showing plenty of interest in Pryor and offered him a scholarship yesterday. Colleges can offer a scholarship to a player at any time, and a player can commit at any time. Pryor can’t sign a binding letter of intent until November of 2007.
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Other Division I colleges were showing interest in Pryor as coaches from Pitt, North Carolina State, Xavier and Penn State already have been to Jeannette.“The three schools he always talked about were Pitt, North Carolina State and North Carolina,” Klimchock said. “North Carolina was just starting to get interested. One of their assistants called this week. But he’s always really liked Pitt.”
Now, from what I understand, his father is physically disabled — so that’s a very legit and noble reason to want to play close by. It speaks very well of Pryor as a person. I hope he does come to Pitt. I hope he develops the way everyone is already projecting him. I just am not going to hold a 15-year old kid to anything. There’s a reason that in most states, no contract is legally binding for anyone under the age of 18.
And if he really believes the pressure will be off of him simply because he made a verbal now, well he does have a lot to learn.
Another article focuses on how the Pittsburgh area is having its first surge in basketball talent in ages.
Under NCAA rules, Pitino can’t talk about individual players. But after the game, he was asked if the talent on the court for the Aliquippa-Beaver Falls game was comparable to talent in some other areas he has recruited.
“Most definitely,” Pitino replied.
In addition to Louisville, Pitt would also like to get Pope. Pitt coach Jamie Dixon attended the same Aliquippa-Beaver Falls game as Pitino. But Pope is not the only one in Western Pennsylvania, attracting attention from major-college programs.
Dixon and Pitt assistant Orlando Antigua have been to some Schenley games. The Panthers are seriously interested in Schenley center DeJuan Blair and guard-forward D.J. Kennedy.
An improving talent base, gives Pitt increased opportunities to raise the profile of the basketball program locally, and the overall performance of the team if it can keep the blue-chip talent around.
