The only way Paul Chryst and the Pitt Panthers will ever consistently compete in the ACC is to continuously improve in terms of recruiting.
The Panthers came away with a very nice 2013 class and Chryst has wasted little time in beginning to assemble a nice class for the following year, by adding three nice pieces over the course of the past two days.
Pitt received verbal commitments Tuesday from quarterback Adam Bertke, a two-time state champion at Marion Local (Ohio) High School, and Shady Side Academy running back Dennis Briggs, along with safety Patrick Amara of West Catholic High School in Philadelphia, who committed on Wednesday.
Bertke will enter his third year as a high school starter this season and threw for 2,300 yards and 16 touchdowns and ran for 1,000 and 20 scores last season. In addition to Pitt, he also had offers from Illinois, Kent State, Akron and Toledo. He has the size to play the position, standing 6′”6, weighing 220 pounds.
Chryst also must address the depth at running back with this class, especially after losing Rushel Shell to UCLA.
That’s something he began to do with Briggs.
Briggs stands 5’11” and weighs 195 pounds and rushed for 473 yards on 82 carries last season at Shady Side. He also has offers from Cornell, Yale, Buffalo and Toledo.
Finally there is Amara, who is a speedster, being clocked in the 40-yard dash at 4.6 seconds.
He stands 6’3″ and weighs 185 pounds and is extremely athletic. Amara played outside linebacker in high school where he recorded seven sacks and 60 tackles, but he is set to move to safety this season.
He is a guy who will have to add some weight to play big time college football, but several schools were coming after him nonetheless, including Central Florida, Buffalo and Bowling Green.
The three most recent recruits bring the Panthers total to six already for the class of 2014.
Photo Credit: CBS Sports
