The offers keep pouring in for Pittsburgh Central Catholic star, John Petrishen (6’2” 196 lbs.). Recently, he camped at Pitt’s Prospect Camp and then Monday received an offer from his hometown team. Dreambackfield.com caught up with him to discuss the camp and his new offer.
“I was really excited about it. Growing up a Pitt fan, it was just very exciting,” Petrishen said.
He attended camp on Friday and worked closely with (Defensive Backs) Coach Douglas and he really enjoyed the time together. “He worked with me all day, he coached me up and I like him a lot.” I even used one of his pointers in one of the drills and it worked then I went up to him after the drill and said ‘hey Coach, you were right.’ He said back, ‘you’re darn right, I’m right! I’ve been doing this for thirty years.”
On Monday a few Pitt coaches called Central Catholic Head Coach, Terry Totten, and told him to have Petrishen call Coach Haering. That evening, Petrishen finally spoke to him and he received the offer. “I spoke with Coach Haering and then I called Coach House and he picks up the phone and says, ‘is this John Petrishen, the Johnny Football I’ve been hearing about?’ It was a good conversation.”
The fan response to his Pitt offer is noticeable. “I’ve got a lot of tweets from fans and just seeing people and telling me ‘Hail to Pitt’ and ‘go to Pitt’ so it’s a great feeling,” he said.
Petrishen goes to school only a block away. He has seen the campus many times before but he’s already going back to Pitt on Thursday to see a different side. “I’m going down with my family for an academic tour and then I’m staying for the Steelers OTA’s.”
The Pitt coaches have been honest with Petrishen about his recruitment and he appreciates their honesty. He said, “I like that they’re honest with me about things. They told me they’re taking one safety and they want me to be that guy. They like my build and my smartness. They told me that I can be the head of the secondary. They also told me they were amazed at how hard I worked to build my body in the offseason and it was obvious seeing me in person opposed to my junior film.
All of Petrishen’s offseason hard work is paying off for him as the offers role in. He normally plays AAU basketball but took a year off to focus on getting bigger, faster and stronger. He stated, “I’ve worked my butt off to try and get better. I’ve put on 12-15 pounds and I go to speed training. I’m going all out for my senior season.”
After a crushing end to his junior season, Petrishen looks to come back better than ever. “The big focus I want to work on is tackling. I want to be able to make some big hits this season. My plan was to get bigger and stronger and I did that.”
As far as his plans for the summer, he will be extremely busy. “Every weekend in June, I’ll be at 7-on-7 tournaments with my team so July will be my big recruiting month. I want to take the time to evaluate every school that has offered me. I’m going to Pitt Thursday and also Virginia Thursday to get a view on both of them. I am open to every school right now and I don’t plan to shorten my list until I evaluate them all.”
Follow John on Twitter at @jP5_ERA