Jameel Poteat verbals to Pittsburgh

Jameel Poteat loves tradition. He embraces the constant reminders that surround him every time he walks through Bishop McDevitt (Harrisburg, Pa.), where pictures of past great tailbacks fill the athletic wing of the school.

But he had to conceal something for a while. He was sitting on what appears to be yet another tradition at McDevitt – a path of great runners from "Tailback High" going to Pittsburgh to play college football.

Poteat, the 5-foot-11, 200-pounder who rushed for 1,664 yards, scored 28 touchdowns and averaged 128 yards a game and 6.19 yards a carry last season as a junior, gave a verbal commitment to Pitt at McDevitt Wednesday afternoon. He chose the Panthers over Rutgers, Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Florida, Tennessee, Iowa and Connecticut.

USC was on his list, but Poteat cut the Trojans off when the NCAA sanctions came down on the program.

Poteat will now follow the same collegiate path of former McDevitt great and current Philadelphia Eagle starting tailback LeSean "Shady" McCoy, who in two seasons at Pitt rushed for 2,816 yards and scored 35 touchdowns before becoming a second-round draft pick of the Eagles in 2009.

"The choice was about being close to home, where my parents could see me play," Poteat said. "There is a tradition of McDevitt players going to Pitt, and I do love tradition. I want to continue it at Pitt. It heard a lot of good things about Pitt and when I got there, I liked the campus and it felt like home."

Poteat, ranked the No. 50 recruit overall from the Class of 2011 by MaxPreps.com recruiting expert Tom Lemming and No. 1 in Pennsylvania according to MaxPreps.com, said he liked the fact that Pitt produced backs like McCoy.

McCoy and Poteat are very close. The pair go way back, starting from the time McCoy was at McDevitt and came to see Poteat play in a Pony League game.

The relationship has grown since then. McCoy is both a mentor and big brother to him. Every time McCoy stops back to Harrisburg, he offers advice to Poteat about on and off the field matters, including how to conduct himself and what goes into making a pro.

"I speak to Shady every day," Poteat told MaxPreps last November. "I saw him one time signing autographs here and I told him it was crazy. He told me if I keep doing what I’ve been doing, stay focused, and keep working hard, the same thing could happen to me. We started talking about recruiting. He's helped me running the ball, telling me I have to realize that every carry is not a touchdown. He tells me to get what you can get and be patient."

Another factor was the Poteat bloodlines at Pitt. Being a Panther runs very strong in the family.

Jameel is the younger cousin of Hank Poteat, who played for Harrisburg High School in the early-1990s and went on to become a two-time all-Big East defensive back at Pitt.

A third-round draft choice of the Pittsburgh Steelers as a cornerback in 2000, Hank played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New England Patriots and New York Jets. He earned a Super Bowl ring with the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX. He played for the Cleveland Browns in 2009.

For Jameel, the biggest thing is that it's over. He can focus now on "being a kid," as he told MaxPreps a month ago, and this coming season for the Crusaders, who will be state-title contenders once again—led by Poteat.

"I really wanted to get this over with and start enjoying being a kid again," Poteat said. "It was getting a little crazy there for a while. I couldn’t step outside my house without someone asking me where I was going. I feel settled now that this is where I want to go."

Ranked as one of the top 15 running backs in the country, Poteat’s career totals are astounding, consider: 3,108 yards rushing and 45 touchdowns, 50 receptions for 639 yards and 5 touchdowns that equals to 3,831 all-purpose yards and 50 total touchdowns.

Joseph Santoliquito covers high schools for the Philadelphia Daily News and is a contributor to MaxPreps.com. He can be contacted at JSantoliquito@yahoo.com.