Virbitsky Holds Four Offers

Jermyn, Pa., athlete Justin Virbitsky currently holds four written scholarship offers from Akron, Buffalo, Duke and Temple and is being recruited by a number of different schools on both sides of the ball. He recently made two camp trips to Syracuse and Temple and talked about them as well as the other programs recruiting him.

Justin Virbitsky could have a future at defensive end, tight end or offensive tackle depending on the school he ultimately chooses and the 6-foot-4, 240-pound athlete currently holds four scholarship offers from Akron, Buffalo, Duke and Temple. We caught up with Virbitsky to discuss his offers and recent recruiting activity and he gave some thoughts on each school recruiting him.

“Right now I have offers from Duke, Akron, Temple and Buffalo and have camped at Syracuse and Temple,” Virbitsky explained. “I am also being recruited by Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt, Connecticut and Virginia at this point and some schools like me at defensive end while others like me at tight end or offensive tackle.”

Syracuse - “I camped there and it was pretty nice on campus. The weight room and facilities were very impressive and it seemed like the players have a great opportunity to keep in shape with the equipment provided. Coach (Chris) Wiesehan is recruiting me and had been down to my school this spring, so he introduced me to the other coaches at camp for the first time and I thought they were all pretty cool guys. I think I could have done a better job at the camp to be honest. Syracuse is recruiting me as a tight end right now.”

Temple - “Camp at Temple went well and I worked a lot with Coach (Jared) Backus at defensive end and did really well there. He recruits me and we have built a pretty good relationship at this point. Temple is definitely the school recruiting me the hardest right now, so we talk a lot. I am comfortable on campus there and was also at their junior day, so they took us over to the LINC where they play which is a great stadium and showed us around the campus and new technical center which is very nice. They said they like me at both defensive end and tight end, but it seems like they may be leaning towards tight end right now.”

Duke - “Coach (John) Gutekunst is my recruiter and is a cool guy. Duke plays in the ACC and while their record has not been great lately they offer excellent academics which my parents and I really like and I would like to take a visit down there if I get the chance to.”

Akron - “Akron was my first offer, so they definitely stick out a bit to me because of that. I played football at Lakeland with Joe Tuzze and am best friends with his younger brother, so I am going to try and visit them in the near future if possible. Coach (Mauro) Monz came by the school to meet with me this year and seemed like a very nice guy.”

Buffalo - “They were my second offer and I spoke to their head coach Turner Gill who I have heard was an excellent college player when he was at Nebraska. He came off as a real cool guy and you could just tell he played back in the day. Buffalo is actually recruiting me as an offensive tackle and I am going to visit there if I can.”

Pittsburgh - “Coach (Brian) Angelichio and I have only spoken once or twice and he wanted me to come out for camp there, but I couldn’t make it, so I am going to try and take an unofficial visit to get out there and meet the coaching staff. Pittsburgh is close to home, they’re a good program and I have relatives in the area, so that would be a good situation. They are recruiting me as a tight end.”

Vanderbilt - “Vanderbilt is recruiting me as a defensive end, but they are so far away that it is going to be hard to get down there as the coaching staff has requested me to. I know that they play in a SEC which is a great conference and offer excellent academics. I am also a Jay Cutler fan and watched him play when he was there.”

Connecticut - “Connecticut was actually the first school to start recruiting me and couldn’t decide whether they liked me more as a tight end or offensive tackle when I had last spoken to them. I actually visited there twice and thought they had the best facilities I’ve seen so far. I really liked it up there a lot and have interest in Connecticut, but I haven’t heard from Coach (Hank) Hughes in a while, so I don’t know what the story is with them right now.”

Virginia - “Coach (Bob) Price and I met when he came up to my school this year and he told me they really like me at tight end. I know they run a very tight end heavy scheme down there and he told me I would play tight to the line for blocking as opposed to that slot type tight end they use. I am going to try and take a visit to Virginia this summer if I can.”

As a junior, Virbitsky played defensive tackle, defensive end and tight end for Lakeland High School and was named first-team All-Region and All-League at defensive end. He was also named to the WNEP Super 16 Team at defensive end.

On defense, he registered 75 tackles, five sacks and recovered four fumbles. From his tight end position he caught eight passes for 125 yards and two touchdowns.

Virbitsky is also an excellent student, reporting a 3.6 core GPA in mostly AP classes and claims a 1280 SAT score.