“About three to four weeks ago, Pitt contacted me on Facebook. They wanted to know if I was interested in walking onto the football team,” stated 6-foot-3 inch, 210 pound quarterback Joe Repischak from Upper St. Clair High School in Pittsburgh, PA. “I visited Pitt last Thursday with my family and we had a great time.”
“Director of football relations Bob Junko provided us with a guided tour of Pitt’s campus and we got to meet the coaching staff. We spent a lot of time with head coach (Paul) Chryst and offensive coordinator (Joe) Rudolph.”
Repischak has a number of D2 and Ivy League schools interested in him, but he was primarily interested in landing an opportunity with a BCS program. Pitt provided him an opportunity play and compete for the starting position at quarterback.
“I actually grew up a Wisconsin fan. Both of my parents and my sister went to college there,” he said. “I like that coach Chryst coached and ran the offense at Wisconsin. We talked a lot about that.”
“Pitt’s was the right choice for me. I was really impressed with the coaching staff. They truly care about their players and want them to succeed on and off the field.”
At Upper St. Clair, Repischak led the Panthers (11-1) to an undefeated regular season and the WPIAL Class AAA semifinals where they lost to Woodland Hills High School, 28-21. He threw for 1,411 yards scoring 7 touchdowns and rushed for 304 yards scoring 8 touchdowns.
When asked about his strengths on the field, he stated, “I’m a mix of a pocket passer and runner. I can give you both. I used to play running back so I’m comfortable if I have to run with the ball. I’m intelligent and know how to read a defense. If I’m shown something in the playbook, I can pick it up quickly.”
Repischak is accomplished off the field as well. He has an outstanding 4.3 grade-point average. Joe plans to major in finance and enter Pitt’s business school.
“I have played against some of the players going to Pitt like Elijah Zeise, Mike Grimm and Alex Bookser,” he said. “From a quarterback standpoint, you have to love the thought of being protected by the offensive linemen they have recruited.”
Repischak will enroll in June when begin workouts with the football team.
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