Pitt Football May Have Discovered California Gold with Juco Transfer Commitment

The Pat Signal went up Saturday. Receivers Coach Kevin Sherman helped spread the news on twitter.

Pitt has received a commitment from  wide receiver junior college transfer Rafael Araujo-Lopes (nickname RaRa). He is originally from Central Florida but has been attending Reedley College in California, the college his Florida high school coach had attended. Araujo-Lopes has found a home, and the Panthers may have pulled off a major coup, since he is relatively unknown to most schools at this point and could conceivably have received other offers.

Tennessee appears to be the only other school that approached him, and Pitt appears to be the only school that offered him.  Some believe that the lack of school interest is because to this point he played only briefly in junior college. Araujo-Lopes made his decision from visiting Pittsburgh this weekend.

He recently remarked that he needed to make a decision soon.

His statistics are solid and, on video, Araujo-Lopes has a remarkable ability to cut back and reverse field with lightning speed after getting the ball on a run or pass.

Araujo-Lopes has mentioned that Pitt was considering him as a third, or slot, receiver.

This adds more Coach Pat Narduzzi-type fast energy to the mix. This also could provide offensive coordinator Jim Chaney with a chance to run a full spread on some plays. In fact, a Tennessee fan commented in a Volunteer blog that Araujo-Lopes would fit perfectly into a spread offense.

Imagine Tyler Boyd, Elijah Zeise, Araujo-Lopes, and Avonte Maddox as the four wides. Blanketing all four would be nearly impossible, along with the possibility of criss-crossing Rachid Ibrahim and Chris James in the backfield on some plays where three of the four wide receivers are spread.

The addition of Araujo-Lopes should make Boyd even more difficult to double-team and increase the effectiveness of the run with the coverage needed on the fledgling recruit.

Congratulations to recruit Rafael Arauja-Lopes on his offer, decision, and commitment, and congratulations to the coaching staff on a potentially outstanding pickup.

Pat Narduzzi and Staff-Remarkable Recruiting Effort

Given this time frame:

The University of Pittsburgh hires head football coach Pat Narduzzi December 26, 2014.

Around January 20, 2015, Coach Narduzzi finishes hiring the nine person assistant coaching staff with the hire of wide receivers coach Kevin Sherman.

Regarding commits from recruits, Coach Paul Chryst and his staff  had assembled a total of 14 commits. Five chose to go elsewhere when the new regime came in. That leaves nine.

From the period of January 21 through January 27, 2015, Coach Pat Narduzzi and his staff received seven commits, yes, seven commits in seven days.

That has moved the total up to 16.

Quite an effort, and great hope for the  future.

If you check the commitment date for most of the players on other teams who have already committed, one thing is striking. Most of those players committed a while ago. Only a smattering is currently committing.

The new commits to PItt apparently see something in the coaching staff and in the players already at Pitt that tells them Pitt is a place to be. Players like James Conner, Patrick Amara, and Quintin Wirginis apparently believe in the revamped program and have aided in the recruiting process-apparently these players have a bright vision of the future together.

Players who have been besieged by literature from other schools, players who have talked to and/or visited other schools way ahead of Pitt. That is what Coach Narduzzi and his staff have had to go up against.

So the recruiting effort was remarkable.

Hopefully some surprises between now and signing day on Wednesday.

Regardless, this staff has made great inroads into Pennsylvania high school networking and in other states, like Ohio, New Jersey, Texas, and Florida, for the future.

It should be equally awesome to watch this energized staff coach up the underclassmen that have entered Pitt the last two seasons.

Defensemen like Shane Roy, Mike Herndon, Connor Dintino, Jeremiah Taleni, and Brian Popp, and offensive players like Zach Challingsworth, Adam Bertke,  and Elijah Zeise, should finally get the opportunity to show their prowess.

Wednesday should be the culmination of the first part of a great new adventure at Pitt. A great day to keep an eye on the Pitt Panther website:

http://www.pittsburghpanthers.com/

H2P!!!!!!!!!! (and H2Patsignal!!!!!!)