Keyshon Camp to Pittsburgh: Panthers Land 4-Star DT Prospect

The Pittsburgh Panthers made a critical late addition to their 2016 recruiting class on Wednesday when defensive tackle Keyshon Camp joined the fold, head coach Pat Narduzzi announced: 

The 6’4”, 275-pound Camp is a 4-star prospect, per 247Sports’ composite rankings, and the No. 264 overall prospect in the class of 2016, No. 27 defensive tackle and No. 38 player from the state of Florida.

The Florida native drew interest from many of the best programs in the country, including Ohio State, Michigan and USC. Lindsey Thiry of the Los Angeles Times said Camp took official visits to Michigan and USC during the season. 

He was actually part of the Trojans’ class until January, when he decided to open up his recruitment again. He shared his mindset at the time on Twitter:

"

pic.twitter.com/2h9pEk7HGo

— Mr.Tackle4️⃣Loss (@Camp_thatdude) January 24, 2016"

Ari Wasserman of Cleveland.com noted the decommitment came closely after Ohio State offered him a scholarship. The Buckeyes turned to Camp when fellow defensive line prospect Rashard Lawrence elected to attend LSU instead of joining Urban Meyer’s class, but he chose to attend Pittsburgh instead.

Camp’s decommitment from USC was just one twist in his recruitment. He initially decided to stay close to home (Lakeland, Florida) and join Miami’s class, but he ultimately elected to keep his options open with nearly a year remaining until signing day and decommitted.

Camp also drew plenty of interest from Missouri during his recruiting cycle, but the Philadelphia Eagles hired Tigers defensive line coach Chris Wilson. Wilson was a critical figure in Camp’s recruitment, and Ryan Donnelly of Rivals said that hire “could be interesting in the recruitment” of Camp.

It is no wonder so many schools pursued the defensive tackle. He is a physical presence who can stuff runs up the middle and force pressure right in a quarterback’s face. If he fills out even more at Pittsburgh, he will be capable of occupying multiple blockers at once and creating more openings for his teammates to attack off the edge.

Scout Florida analyst Corey Bender discussed Camp in 2015, per Allen Trieu of the Detroit News, and said the defensive lineman “really caught everyone’s attention” at The Opening Regional, which drove his stock way up.

The Panthers deserve plenty of credit for beating out blue-chip programs in pursuit of Camp. Coach Narduzzi impressed with an 8-5 record in his first season, and the program will only continue to improve if he lands recruits like Camp for the foreseeable future.

Narduzzi has a defensive background from years as Michigan State’s defensive coordinator, and he likely connected with Camp along those lines during the recruiting process. Pittsburgh was a middling 49th in the nation in scoring defense in 2015 and needs to bolster that side of the ball to consistently compete in the ACC.

Adding someone like Camp is a great place to start.