IUP football coach Paul Tortorella talked recruiting last night with Jack Benedict on Hawk Talk on U92 radio and Renda Digital TV.
IUP announced yesterday twenty-two high school recruits, and Tortorella said there may be at least one other coming. He said all twenty-two who had verbally committed to IUP followed through with their letters of intent.
All 22 played at Pennsylvania high schools and 14 of them played in the WPIAL. There are four sets of high school teammates in the recruiting class, including three from Pittsburgh Central Catholic and two each from Elizabeth Forward, Farrell, and New Castle. Five of the signees were all-state high schoolers.
Tortorella says IUP took a different approach than other schools, focusing on high school players rather than the transfer portal, and they were able to get some very talented young players.
IUP signed only one player from the transfer portal, quarterback Mac Sexton, who started last year for Pittsburg State in Kansas. He said the Buffalo native entered the portal after the new coaching staff at Pittsburg State recruited a quarterback out of Florida and told him he would not start next season.
Tortorella says Sexton was a top quarterback in one of the best Division Two conferences in the nation, and he has the maturity to know what it takes to be successful.
Sexton is already enrolled at IUP and is rooming with linebacker Connor Kelly and last year’s quarterback, Harry Woodberry. All three are grad students pursuing their MBAs. Tortorella said Woodberry and another former IUP QB, Quinton Maxwell, were instrumental in recruiting Sexton.
IUP’s high school all-staters include linebacker Da’Vontay Brownfield of Elizabeth Forward; defensive end DaKendrick Daniels of Bishop Shanahan in Downington; wide receiver Omar Stewart Jr. of Farrell, (who was an all-state linebacker); Stewart’s teammate, three-time all-state linebacker Tai’Don Strickland; and defensive end Cole Weightman of Belle Vernon.
