Zubovic is Excited to Stay Home and Represent Hometown

As Belle Vernon native Dorian Johnson graduates from Pitt and enters the NFL, the Panthers are excited to have secured another Bell Vernon Leopard to take his place. On June 14th, Pat Narduzzi and his staff got a commitment from 3-star offensive lineman Blake Zubovic. Zubovic, who stands 6ft 5in and weighs 310 lbs, hails from the same high school as Johnson and for years has looked up to the  Arizona Cardinal’s fourth round pick.

“He’s really a role model for me. If there’s one person that I base my play after, that I want to be like, it would be him because he’s just a great player. He carries himself very well,” Zubovic said. “He’s not a big talker. He just does his job and does it very well.”

Zubovic says that Johnson helped him throughout the process and answered any questions Zubovic had about Pitt. But Pitt wasn’t the only school recruiting the lineman. The 2018 grad had 15 plus offers from schools across the country like Penn State, West Virginia, Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Maryland and others. He says his recruitment was a tiring but fulfilling experience.

“It was really crazy to be honest with you,” Zubovic said. “I had guys talking to me at all hours of the day. It was honestly hard to focus on my school work but it was a very cool experience. It was a good experience but it was a long one so I was glad to finally wrap it up.”

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