National Signing Day 2014: Breaking Down Pitt’s First Six Signees
By Matt Shetler
National Signing Day 2014 turned out to be a short event for Paul Chryst and the Pitt Panthers.
Pitt received all its expected 23 signed letters of intent only three and a half hours into national letter of intent day Wednesday.
That time likely could have been cut in half had many schools not been delayed due to snow.
Pitt’s first letter arrived at 7 a.m. from defensive tackle Mike Herndon of Riverheads High School in Staunton, Va., and as I give you a look at the Panthers’ 23 recruits, we will start with the order they came in.
DT Mike Herndon, Riverheads High School, Staunton, Va.
Herndon is a big defensive tackle with solid attributes that is easily one of the Panthers’ Top 10 recruits in this class.
He was listed as an offensive tackle for most of his recruitment, but the Panthers recruited him as a DT. Herndon was a three-star recruit according to Rivals as they had him the 26th-best recruit in the state and 52nd best offensive lineman in the nation.
Pitt reportedly beat out Virginia Tech and UConn to land Herndon.
Here’s a look at the new Panther’s high school highlight film:
DE Rori Blair, Upper St. Clair High School, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Blair has actually been enrolled in classes at Pitt this semester. He wasn’t ranked by either Rivals or Scout, but there is a good reason for that as Blair suffered a stroke prior to his senior season of high school.
He actually missed his senior year but appealed to the WPIAL for an extra year and was granted it.
Blair is a 6-foot-3, 225-pound tight end/defensive end who nearly died a year ago so his comeback story is a very nice one that speaks to his work ethic and determination.
Now he is fully healthy and has a Division I scholarship to his hometown school.
West Virginia and Kent State also offered Blair a scholarship.
I covered a few Upper St. Clair games the past few years and in Blair I see a kid with good size and length and a player that uses his leverage really well to rush the quarterback: