Waid, Pierce, and Rice at Pitt Elite Junior Day

Two men and one is standing with a man in front of a wall.


It was a great day for Mark Waid, my 6’3â€Â Ohio Player of the year QB from Girard Ohio, Lucas Pierce my talented 6’3†WR fromNewark Catholic HS in Newark Ohio, and another of my WRs that is equally as talented Mershawn Rice 6’3†from Reynoldsburg, Ohio, at the University of Pittsburgh Saturday for these 3 Super Star Athletes.  We all arrived between 10:30 and 11:15 am as check-in was at 11:00 am for the meet and greet and  the awesome tour of Pitt’s beautiful facilities.  One of the best things about Pittis the first thing we did, and that is, eat in their divine restaurant that they just happen to share with the Pittsburgh Steelers. I assure you, the Steelers eat as well as anyone in the league and the pancakes and omelets, fruit and salads are worth the trip to devour.Lucas and I were sitting with Mershawn Rice and his family and waiting for Mark and his family to arrive and I watched Mershawnput down a huge Omelet with everything in it and turned to me and said,†You think I can go again?â€Â  I said sure they would want you to.  He returned to the table with 2 huge pancakes and had no problem finishing those off.

The boys got weighed and measured and then we headed into the very nice team room and watched videos of the Pitt team during this past season and listened to head coach Pat Narduzzi who can get anyone pumped up about the game we all love, Football. He introduced all of his assistant coaches and then we broke up into meeting rooms with the coach for each position.   I went with Markand his Mom and Dad to be with my good friend, OC Shawn Watson in the QB/OC room.   I was certainly not surprised, as I have had the privilege of coaching several times with Shawn at major QB camps, to hear him give the best presentation of why the 3 QBS that were in the room should make a decision of where to play college football.   Shawn talked about being the heart and soul of the team you are about to play for and being the kind of person that wants to build his knowledge of the game, his offense and the defenses he will face. He also touched on the kind of character it takes and the team atmosphere around the QBS and how this, (playing for each other) attitude has turned out for several of the famous QBS he has coached.  I watched the eyes of the  3 recruits as they listened intently to Shawn and all were memorized by the knowledge he imparted about all aspects of playing college QB on the highest level.

We then were placed in the Black limo buss with leather seating for the tour around campus and it was a fabulous tour and we all particularly enjoyed the Cathedral on top of the mountain that is the central building on Campus.  We then returned to the football facilities and got some time to socialize and now know what it means to say “Hail to Pittâ€.    Lucas and I then headed back to Newark and Westerville and arrived back home by about 7:00 pm and had a great Day together talking football, colleges and life.   I am so proud of all three of these athletes and can’t wait to see them playing on the next level..  Mark Waid, Lucas Pierce, and Mershawn Rice, you will be a great part of America’s future and I believe with guys like these, we are in good hands.