Phillipie Motley (CB) commits to Pitt for 2014

Pitt picked up another recruit for 2014 over the weekend - cornerback Phillipie Motley. Motley made his announcement via Twitter on Saturday:

I just committed to PITT for football!!! #hail2pitt

— Phillipie (@PMFFOE23) July 20, 2013

Motley is a three-star recruit according to Rivals, but Scout and 24/7 do not have him rated. There's also some fluctuation in his height as both Rivals and 24/7 list him at 5'10" while Scout has him at 6'0". His offers were also pretty limited to mid-major schools - Pitt is the only major program to offer him and his offers reportedly included Akron, Central Michigan, Ohio, Bowling Green, Kent State, Ball State, Marshall, and Miami of Ohio.

This is yet another guy that isn't rated all that highly that has caught Pitt's eye. Can't speak for the coaching staff, but the strategy here seems to be to get these sorts of kids before they have big senior seasons and attract more eyeballs. That's the only thing that makes sense with all of these offers to lower-ranked players.

Here's the thing, though - that's not always foolproof. If the players go on to a big senior year in high school, his commitment to Pitt won't stop other programs from making offers. And as we saw last year with Dan Samuelson, if that happens, Pitt can still fall short.

There's something to be said for being the first one in on a kid. All I'm saying is that it doesn't always matter in the end.

The good news? Motley is pretty fast and Rivals has him running a 4.4 40-yard dash. Unsurprisingly, he runs track. Here are some of his highlights from his junior year and you can see some of that speed on display. He also plays running back and wide receiver.

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