Pitt makes top 10 of four-star defensive end Q’yaeir Price

Q’yaeir Price, a defensive end out of DePaul Catholic High School in Wayne, New Jersey, announced his top 10 on Tuesday, and Pitt was included among his finalists. The other nine programs still in contention include Boston College, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Purdue, Rutgers, Syracuse, UConn and West Virginia.

“These are all good programs,” Price told Ryan Patti of Rivals in an interview on Tuesday. “They all maintain everything year in and year out. They also have what I’m looking for off the field and with life after football.”

The 6’4”, 250-pound pass-rusher has drawn 19 offers, and his nine cuts included Akron, Army, Buffalo, Howard, Kent State, Liberty, Temple, UMass and William and Mary.

Price holds a four-star rating from Rivals, which ranks him as the No. 33 defensive end in the 2022 class as well as the No. 7 recruit in New Jersey. 247Sports has a dissenting opinion on Price, though, as it considers him a three-star recruit and ranks him as the No. 51 prospect at his position and No. 17 in the Garden State.

Last season at DePaul Catholic, which played a six-game schedule, Price came up with 41 tackles, including 5.5 sacks and 15 tackles for losses, and forced and recovered one fumble. In 2019, which was his last full-length season, Price amassed 76 tackles, including 10.5 sacks and 22 tackles for losses, in addition to forcing four fumbles and recovering two.

At Pitt, Price could provide versatility to a key position group, as he has shifted between roles on the ends of the defensive line and played as an interior lineman. And the tradeoff would be the chance to join a unit that led the nation in sacks and tackles for losses last season.

Of course, while Pitt has much to offer and its staff has maintained a presence in New Jersey and landed numerous recruits from the area, Rutgers has improved under Greg Schiano and will make a push for Price as well. And taking into account the close ties the Rutgers staff has to the DePaul Catholic coaching staff, he may well decide to stay home.

However, Price has noted that all 10 programs have something to offer him, and given what he has learned about the schools at this point, he is uncertain that visits will be a requirement to come to a decision. So while no date has been set, a commitment may not be that far off.