QB Adam Bertke from Maria Stein, Ohio has given his verbal to Pitt. Rivals.com does not have a rating on him yet but Scout.com, ESPN and 247 have him as a 3* prospect and Scout lists him as the #50 overall QB. He’s 6’5 210 and had offers from Illinois, Bowling Green, Toledo, Kent State. This is a big pickup because this is the QB the coaches want other than Keller Chryst. They let Chandler Kincade decommit because they weren’t high on him. However it would have been poor form to take his offer away so the coaches honored it. (Kincade was a Pitt verbal at QB until a few months ago. He recently gave his verbal to Akron). When Kincade left the picture, the coaches could pursue other options openly and Bertke appears to be the guy they coveted.
The big downside with Bertke is that he plays in the lowest level of high school football in Ohio. He did lead his team to a 10-2 record last year and has had some sniffs from the big boys like Ohio State and Michigan. The good news is that he’s obviously not expected to start right away or anything, so he’ll have time to adjust to the college game. The QB position is one where you can never have enough options. Tony Pike was the 3rd option in Cinci after Ben Mauk couldn’t get a 6th season of eligibility and Dustin Grutza broke his ankle. Anything will be better than what we’ve had behind Tino Sunseri the past 2 seasons.
Hopefully we have another verbal tomorrow. 4* OT Mike Grimm may be announcing tomorrow afternoon. The Bethel Park standout worked out on campus this past Friday. All signs point to a Pitt verbal if he does announce tomorrow. This recruiting class could look a lot better over the course of 24 hours.
*edit*
Chris Peak from Rivals is reporting that Dennis Briggs from Shady Side Academy has also given us a verbal. He’s a 5’11 190lb RB/DB From Pittsburgh. He had offers from us, Toledo, and Yale.
