Pitt makes top five of power forward Christian Fermin

Jeff Capel and the Pitt coaching staff made progress in the recruitment of a frontcourt prospect on Thursday, as Christian Fermin, a power forward out of Pocono Mountain West High School in Pocono Summit, Pennsylvania, announced his top five and included Pitt.

Rounding out Fermin’s top five is Penn State, St. Joseph’s, Temple and VCU, and that list was whittled down from an offer sheet with 12 programs represented. The teams cut included Central Connecticut State, Hofstra, La Salle, Marist, Siena, St. Bonaventure and St. John’s.

Three of the five finalists for Fermin, including Pitt, recently received visits. Fermin’s first visit was to Pittsburgh on June 14, and the next day, he traveled to Happy Valley. The most recent visit was to Philadelphia on Monday to see the campus and facilities of St. Joseph’s.

The 6’9”, 195-pound power forward is considered a three-star prospect, according to Rivals, which ranks him as the No. 145 recruit in the 2022 class as well as the No. 17 power forward overall. However, 247Sports and ESPN have yet to assign Fermin a star rating.

Last season at Pocono Mountain West, Fermin averaged 18.0 points per game over 10 games, nearly doubling his 9.9 average from the previous season. He also finished the season strong, topping 20 points in three of his last five games and posting a season-high 27 points in his team’s season finale in March.

At Pitt, Fermin would have an opportunity to play a key role on a rebuilding team, as the program has been in dire need of frontcourt help for the entirety of the Capel era. And this offseason, that issue was exacerbated by the departures of Terrell Brown and Abdoul Karim Coulibaly. But help could be on the way for Pitt as soon as July 3, as Fermin plans to publicly announce his decision on that date.