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Pitt Football Recruiting: Chad Voytik Commitment Boosts Panthers' 2012 Class

By CardiacHill Updated

And with that, Panther fans haven't been completely silenced, but the grumblings sure have gone down a bit.

I'll admit, I was starting to get there myself. Todd Graham hadn't yet landed a big-time recruit and while there was plenty of time left, it was definitely something to think about. That all changed with the pickup of four-star recruit Chad Voytik. So now that he's a Panther (at least verbally), what do we know about the kid?

For starters, Voytik's not just good - he's real good. At the recent Elite 11 camp for the top quarterbacks in the nation, he rated No. 1 on the initial leaderboard after several days of a solid showing:

"I felt real confident," said Voytik of the leaderboard’s unveiling. "I expected to be at the top or near the top, and I was excited to see my name at No. 1. I take pride in working hard and that’s what I’ve been doing all week."

He performed well despite rainy and windy conditions...I know, where have we heard that before.

Voytik is a legitimate star and is poised to be the starting quarterback after Tino Sunseri graduates. He's rated as a four-star by Rivals and the sixth-best pro style quarterback. Scout also calls him a four-star and the 15th best overall quarterback in the nation. He's a big talent, no doubt. Voytik didn't just have to pick between teams, he's had to pick between all-star games vying for his services.

One of the dimensions to this commitment is that while recruits have taken a wait-and-see approach to Todd Graham's new system, Voytik seems to embrace it:

"It's like our high school's offense; it really is," he told Chris Peak of the recruiting web-site Pantherlair.com. "They ran it at Tulsa, and I feel like I fit in that really well. I think I can work in a pro-style, but the offense that they run, they throw it and put up big numbers and win games. I'm excited about that."

I don't know what to think of the fact that he compares it to a high school offense. But I'm hoping that the more this goes on, the more we're going to hear about recruits wanting to play in Graham's system (assuming it works, obviously) because of the numbers players can put up.

Anyway, Voytik's excited to be here and his high school coach says Pitt fans should be excited to have him:

"Pittsburgh is getting a great player but Chad is more than that," Cleveland head football coach E.K. Slaughter said. He’s more than a great arm, he’s a special kid that will go up there and make people better on and off the field."

So who else was in line for Voytik's services? Well, lots of schools made offers, but his final three was Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, and Pitt. Man, that would have been a disaster if Pitt had gotten that far along and couldn't close the deal over the freakin' Commodores.

But back to that system - Voytik appears as if he'll be a perfect fit. He's a great passer, but with seven rushing touchdowns and averaging nearly six yards per carry last year as a junior, is a threat to run as well. Teams will definitely need to respect his legs.

So why wasn't Voytik recruited by the best of the best? Well, his size had a lot to do with it. Standing at right around 6'0", he doesn't have the ideal height many programs look for in a pro-style quarterback. But in Graham's fast-paced offense, I expect his mobility will allow him to move around behind an offensive line enough that it doesn't become a huge factor.

I know, I get it - we've seen this story before with Pat Bostick. Bostick never reached his full potential and might be known down the line more as a Pitt broadcaster than a player. So why will Voytik succeed? In a nutshell, he's the perfect fit for Todd Graham's offense, which has made stars out of lesser rated recruits (see two- and three-star quarterbacks David Johnson and G.J. Kinne who threw for more than 4,500 and 3,500 yards respectively in Graham's system). If the head coach has led lower-level recruits to success, imagine what he can do with one of the best signal-callers in the country.

Voytik isn't guaranteed to have success, but he should have a good look at it.

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