Pitt Football Recruiting: Tony Butler keeping options open

A few months ago, Pitt grabbed a commitment from cornerback Tony Butler in Ohio.

Butler seems to have gained a little more interest and, guess what? From SB Nation's Maryland blog, Testudo Times, he'll be keeping his options open:

Three-star St. Edward (Ohio) High School cornerback Tony Butler committed to Pittsburgh back in March, and while he says he's still on board with the Panthers, a recent slew of offers has caused some extra consideration. SB Nation recruiting editor Bud Elliott caught up with the prospect last week to talk recruiting.

"I'm committed but I'm still making sure I'm making the right decision, so I've still got to be open to every school that's out there," Butler said. "I can't be 100% committed when it's this early, I still plan on making my five official visits, making sure I'm making the right decision."

As for those five schools, Testudo Times says he plans on official visits to Pitt, Michigan, Maryland, Rutgers, and one school to be determined.

Butler picked up a Michigan offer earlier and talked recently about that:

"Coach Durkin said he was going to come out to the school this Friday, but he wanted me to know today that I had an offer from Michigan," Butler said. "It was a big offer to me, because Michigan is a great school, but I'm still committed to Pittsburgh. I need to talk to my mom and my mentor about this, because I know this is a great opportunity and probably tough to turn down, but I love Pitt."

Committed recruits still exploring other options is a little disappointing but not out of the ordinary in today's recruiting, of course. Even fully pledged players seem to like to explore their options.

You can't begrudge a kid for taking his time to pick the right school. The question I always come back to is, why commit if there's uncertainty? Today's verbal commitments (as we saw mostly recently on the basketball side with Pitt losing highly-touted guards Mustapha Heron and Maverick Rowan) can mean little these days. They're not entirely meaningless - after all, the majority of committed recruits end up at their initial schools. But situations such as Butler's continue to force coaches to continue to heavily pursue even committed players.

The good news here is that Butler still seems firmly entrenched as a Pitt commit. The bad news is that could change at any time.

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