Villanova transfer Jahvon Quinerly set to visit Pitt

Former five-star recruit Jahvon Quinerly has been a priority target for Pitt head coach Jeff Capel and the Panthers coaching staff since he announced his intent to transfer out of Villanova in April. At the time, Pitt was singled out by national recruiting analysts as a school to keep an eye on in Quinerly’s recruitment, but little came of Pitt’s reported interest in Quinerly until Sunday, when Jacob Polacheck of Zagsblog noted the Villanova transfer will visit Pitt at some point this week.

Quinerly’s trip to Pittsburgh will come on the heels of a visit to Alabama on Sunday. The two schools are part of the 6’1”, 175-pound point guard’s top four, which also includes Georgia and Arkansas. Quinerly has yet to visit Athens or Fayetteville, but each of the SEC programs is in a position similar to Pitt’s, as they all opted to hire a new coach since March 2018.

However, of the four coaches in the mix for Quinerly, Capel is believed to have an edge.

”No one has a longer-standing relationship with Quinerly than Pitt's Jeff Capel, dating back to his time as a Duke assistant, whenever he was recruiting Quinerly out of Hudson Catholic,” said Corey Evans of Rivals. “Trust will go a long way with Quinerly, which might be on Pitt’s side. Factor in that the Panthers just transformed Xavier Johnson into a potential two-and-done NBA prospect after enrolling as a minimally recruited three-star recruit, and Quinerly might see the chance in Oakland too difficult to pass up.”

Quinerly was a star at Hudson Catholic High School in Jersey City, New Jersey, from 2015 to 2018. During his high school career, he averaged 16.6 points, 4.3 assists and 1.5 steals over 109 games. In addition, he shot 44.6 percent from beyond the arc over his four years at Hudson Catholic, going 220-for-493 from distance during that time, per MaxPreps.

All that earned Quinerly status as a consensus five-star recruit and top-10 point guard in the 2018 recruiting cycle. However, he struggled to translate the accolades he received on the recruiting trail into success at Villanova, where he averaged 3.2 points and 9.1 minutes per game over 25 outings with the Wildcats.

It’s unclear when Quinerly will announce a decision regarding his next destination, but whichever school he ends up at, he will arrive with three years of eligibility remaining. However, he will likely have to sit out for one year after transferring.