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Pitt landed their third commit for the 2015 recruiting class, when Kevin Givens himself tweeted this a few hours ago.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Altoona junior LB Kevin Givens RT <a href="https://twitter.com/Kittykev">@Kittykev</a>: Proud to be a Pitt panther....<a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23H2P&src=hash">#H2P</a>!</p>— Chris Peak (@PantherLair) <a href="https://twitter.com/PantherLair/statuses/435848340346245120">February 18, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Givens becomes the first defensive player for the 2015 recruiting class, and is the third player from the WPIAL to give his pledge to Paul Chryst and his staff. Givens is a consensus three star by all the major recruiting websites. He is listed at 6-3 230 outside linebacker. Givens had other reported offers from Temple, UMass, and Western Michigan. He was receiving some interest from schools like Penn State, Michigan, and West Virginia, but they have yet to pull the trigger on an offer.
Givens comes in as the 20th rated prospect in the state according to 24/7, and by that the 5th rated WPIAL prospect. Givens has tremendous size and strength for his position, and perhaps a move to Defensive End could eventually happen, but he is a nice pickup for Paul Chryst. Givens even plays some stand up end in high school, and also looks like a scary sight in the open field as a running back.
Now if you know your Pennsylvania geography, Altoona is not a traditional WPIAL school, and they actually sit closer to Central Pennsylvania than Pittsburgh. You have to wonder if a Penn State offer would change anything with this commitment, since that is the team that plays in his backyard. Either way, I think Pitt is off to a successful start in the 2015 recruiting class. Pitt has three of the top players in the WPIAL, and they all come in with plenty of upside. Linebacker was a spot that seemed neglected in recent recruiting years, and it is nice to see Pitt land one of the top linebacker prospects in the state.
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