Pitt Has 12 Florida Players

Posted Oct 22, 2009 by Joey Johnston

Updated Oct 22, 2009 at 04:47 PM

The University of South Florida’s football program, obviously, has made a living on recruiting Florida high-school players.

The No. 20-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers, USF’s opponent on Saturday afternoon, haven’t done badly, either. Pittsburgh has 12 players from Florida—none from the Tampa Bay area. That includes three starters on the defensive line—defensive end Jabaal Sheard (Hollywood Hills), nose tackle Gus Mustakas (Cooper City Chaminade-Madonna) and defensive end Greg Romeus (Coral Springs).

“There’s a lot of talent in that state,’’ Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt.

When Wannstedt was Jimmy Johnson’s defensive coordinator at the University of Miami in the 1980s, he recruited extensively in the Tampa Bay area, attracting luminaries such as linebackers Maurice Crum (Hillsborough) and Bernard Clark (Leto) to the Hurricanes.