Ad Disclosure
Pat Narduzzi enjoyed beating out B1G for recruits
Published:
Pat Narduzzi isn’t at Michigan State anymore, but you get the sense he took the ‘chip-on-the-shoulder’ approach with him to Pitt.
The Panthers head coach got his first full recruiting period to land some of the nation’s top talent, some of which was at the expense of B1G schools. In fact, all three of Narduzzi’s four-star recruits had major B1G interest.
Four-star cornerback Damar Hamlin turned down Ohio State and Penn State for Pitt. Four-star running back George Hill decommitted from Ohio State and chose Pitt over Michigan State and Wisconsin. And after four-star defensive tackle Keyshon Camp decommitted from USC, he was pursued late by Michigan and Ohio State among other B1G schools, but he also committed to Pitt.
Not to mention the fact that Aaron Mathews and Rashad Weaver decommitted from Penn State and Michigan, respectively, in favor of Pitt.
Narduzzi called those “big victories.”
“The impressive thing about this class was six were hit by a Big Ten school trying to flip them and all six, without a phone call to me or recruiting coach or position coach, each one said they’re not interested,” Narduzzi told ESPN.com. “A lot of times that one phone call turns into where I got to call him and put out the fire and make sure he doesn’t go anywhere, but these kids said no and that’s a tribute to our relationships built with our players.
“They said ‘No way am I going there. I’m going to Pitt,’ and that was impressive.”
RELATED: Ten immediate impact B1G signees
Narduzzi has never been afraid to ruffle B1G feathers. He claimed before the start of the season that Ohio State stole his defense and won a national title with it. In October, he appeared to take a jab at Penn State’s play-calling for not maximizing the potential of Christian Hackenberg.
While Narduzzi might have won a few recruiting battles down the stretch, the B1G is still ahead of him on the scoreboard. Michigan State, Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State all finished with higher-ranked recruiting classes than Narduzzi.
And on the field, Narduzzi’s Panthers fell to Iowa on a last-second field goal in his first game against his former conference. But Narduzzi will get another chance in Week 2 next season when his squad faces off with Penn State at Heinz Field.
You can bet that’d be a “big victory,” too.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.