Pitt Football Recruiting: Defensive End Hez Trahan commits to Panthers

Pitt has been busy in terms of recruiting hosting both linebacker Jamal Davis and defensive end Hez Trahan. Davis committed earlier this afternoon and now, Trahan has followed suit, per the Trib's Jerry DiPaola. DiPaola notes that the Panthers' class could be completely finished as Trahan is their 24th commitment.

If you were hoping for the highly-touted, big impact guy, Trahan probably isn't it. He's unrated by Rivals and I can't even find a Scout or ESPN page on him. His other offers, according to Rivals, were James Madison and UMass.

He appears to have bulked up a bit over the past year. Last season, MaxPreps said he was 6'4" and 210 pounds. Rivals' page now lists him at 250.

Trahan is an defensive end out of Philadelphia, but FWIW, his coach says that he should be able to play on the inside, too. That apparent weight gain seems to follow suit with a good attitude towards lifting weights and getting stronger, according to the coach:

"I think (Pitt) will start him (outside), but once they get him on the training table and he starts eating, he could go inside, too," McCourt said. "He’ll live in the weight room. He is a very coachable kid."

I'll throw out the precursor that we typically do for lower-rated guys that the rankings aren't everything. Pitt has landed plenty of guys that weren't thought particularly well of that have turned out pretty good - most recently, Aaron Donald. But assuming the class is finished, there's no doubt that it's a bit underwhelming in terms of big time defensive guys according to the rankings. It's going to be interesting to see how Pitt does on that side of the ball going forward under Chryst since the stars Pitt has landed have largely been offensive players.

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