With the long dry spell of verbals for Pitt football, a second round of stories on Jeff Knox. It helps that he was from the area and is now coming home — improves the storyline.
Jeff Knox might not play in the WPIAL anymore, but the former Central Catholic star’s heart never left Pittsburgh even after he transferred to Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha Catholic last year.
That’s one of the reasons the 6-foot-2 1/2, 207-pound safety made a verbal commitment to Pitt on Sunday night, picking the Panthers over the likes of Maryland, Michigan, Penn State and Wake Forest. He also had scholarship offers from Akron, Iowa, Miami (Ohio), New Mexico and Towson.
“It’s my hometown. I’m a Pittsburgh guy,” Knox said. “I knew where my heart was at, and it was in Pittsburgh. “I have a great relationship with coach (Dave) Wannstedt. I told him I wanted to be a great player. He told me he would make me into a man, not just on the field but off the field, as well.
“That’s what got me right there.”
What got him living in Maryland, was a family that recognized that just sending him to a private school locally wasn’t keeping the problems at bay. Getting kicked out of Central Catholic for disciplinary issues was the final straw for his family. They wanted him to reset.
His family still lives in Pittsburgh and he is living with the family of one of his teammates, a major factor in his decision.
“My family wanted me to get out of the neighborhood because there were a lot of bad influences and they were worried about my grades slipping, so this was a good move for me to get my academics together and whatnot,” Knox said.
As noted, the lack of much recruiting news for Pitt has people rusty. Like a beat reporter putting something in the paper that would constitute a secondary recruiting violation. Like a coach commenting on recruiting specific players is a no-no. It’s a relatively harmless, secondary violation, but still.
Wannstedt and his staff expect several more players to commit in the next few weeks as Pitt will be playing host to its annual summer prospect camps. Included in that group are four of Knox’s DeMatha teammates (offensive linemen Shane Johnson, Arie and Cyrus Kouandjio, and safety Mike Coley) who currently hold scholarship offers from Pitt. Wannstedt said he already has begun the recruiting process on all four.
Oops.
Wannstadts’s statement about recruiting yesterday was encouraging. His claim about Pitt being in the mix with lots more quality recruits (about 75 vs 40) at this time of the year compared to last year seems right to me when I look at the numbers and ratings of players with Pitt interest on Scouts, Inc. (ESPN) and those with Pitt offers and still considering Pitt listed on the Lair and on Panther Digest.
The biggest disappointment has been PSU getting early commits from so many of the more highly regarded WPIAL guys. IMO, that’s, broadly speaking, mostly related to them having such a big year last year and Pitt falling short of what might have been possible by going 9-4 and laying an egg in the sun bowl. Having gone 10-3 or 11-2 would have been so much better for perception with recruits. Nevertheless, there are a lot of really good players (3 stars and above) still available in the WPIAL and elsewhere (Eastern PA, OH, DC, MD, NJ, NY, FL, & a few other spots) that Pitt is recruiting. Ultimately, I believe Pitt will end up next February with a very strong class probably averaging over 3.00 stars per recruit (which would probably put Pitt in the top 20-30 range). IMO, it won’t be (barring an unexpected 11+ win season) the great one (top 15 range) that some were hoping for before all those WPIAL guys opted very early for PSU.
Watch your bunghole, kid.
Also, sounds like a real treat as a person … school discipline problems that force you to leave the state … WOW!
