Thought Pitt was done recruiting this class? Thought Pitt was one over on scholarship limits already? Well, they are. They have, though, the room for a walk-on that has earned a full academic scholarship to Pitt.

Dreams of becoming a doctor overshadowed thoughts of playing college basketball, even though the 6-foot-7, 195-pound [Aron] Nwankwo possessed a Division I-caliber game. Last weekend, however, Nwankwo found out that he wouldn’t have to sacrifice one for the other.

In November, Nwankwo earned a full academic scholarship to Pittsburgh, where he’ll pursue his pre-med studies. Then last weekend, he received an unexpected bonus from the Panthers basketball coaches, who offered him a walk-on spot on the team.

“Other colleges were recruiting me [for basketball], but I didn’t really like them too much,” Nwankwo said. “Academics came first, so once I got a scholarship and knew I’d be going there, I decided to try to contact the basketball office. I knew they probably didn’t have a scholarship, so I was checking to see if there was any chance of walking on to the team. If there was a chance of that, then it would make [me going there] 100 percent.”

He met with Coach Dixon after being in Pittsburgh for the AAU Jam Fest this past weekend. Coach Dixon laid it out for him and offered him the open walk-on spot.

“Basically, it’s my dream in athletics,” Nwankwo said. “To make it to the tournament would be a crazy experience. I’ve got the best of both worlds at Pitt. It’s one of the top pre-med programs in the country and one of the top basketball programs. It doesn’t get much better than that. It’s kind of a dream come true.”

Welcome, Mr. Nwankwo. It almost gives me hope that there is still a place for the student part of college sports.