Pitt Football Recruiting: NJ Athlete Maurice Ffrench commits to Panthers

On Thursday night, Pitt landed another recruit to its growing football class of 2016 - athlete Maurice Ffrench from New Jersey.

The Panthers were the first big program to offer him - Ffrench's other offers reportedly included Buffalo, Army, Villanova, and Central Connecticut State.

He doesn't have the look of a higher-profile guy (he's unrated by Rivals) ... at least not right now. FWIW, he did seem to have a lot of interest from bigger programs without the offers. And most reports seem to indicate he's a guy on the rise.

NJ.com, though, says he performed well at a recent Nike camp:

And one underrated in-state performer was Maurice Ffrench, a 6-foot, 175-pound junior from New Brunswick with quick-twitch ability, good footwork and dependable hands. Ffrench didn't drop one pass that was thrown his way, Sunday.

Rivals says he could play either wide receiver or cornerback. And he played quarterback and running back in 2014. There's no shortage of versatility there, if nothing else. And he seemed to feel at home in a recent visit to Pitt:

"I just like their coaching staff," he told Panther-Lair.com. "I have a good relationship with all of them. Even without an offer I felt like I was already going there. I went for an unofficial visit and they made me feel like I was a part of the team. The running back, James Conner, and the wide receiver, Tyler Boyd...I was in a wide receivers' meeting with Tyler Boyd. They treated me like I was already one of them."

On the surface, this looks like a guy you might wait on to offer a scholarship. But if the staff is convinced he can play, there's no sense in waiting until he draws more attention.

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