Pitt's Jeff Capel get another gem recruit for the 2018 campaign

Pittsburgh Basketball: Jeff Capel continues to clean up on the recruiting trail

DURHAM, NC - JANUARY 13: Associate head coach Jeff Capel of the Duke Blue Devils directs his team against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons during their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on January 13, 2018 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

Pitt head coach Jeff Capel has a lot of work to do in order to get the Panthers back to being a competitive team in 2018-19. Getting a four-star recruit will help.

Jeff Capel has only been on the University of Pittsburgh campus for three months and is trying to rebuild the Panthers. Capel picked up his third 2018 recruit following Au’Diese Toney’s commitment to the program on Saturday.

Toney was on Pitt’s campus for an official visit when he made his decision. The 6-foot-6 wing has decided to re-classify from the 2019 class, where he was rated a four-star recruit by 247 Sports.

“As soon as I got here, the environment, being around the team and the coaching staff. We get along very well and I talk to the staff daily,” Toney told Pittsburgh Sports Now’s Mike Vukovcan. “Plus, I want to be a part of what they’re doing which is rebuilding the Pitt program and get it back to where it was.”

Toney selected the Panthers over Virginia Tech. He also held offers from Virginia, Providence, UConn, Kansas State and Rhode Island, among others.

The Jasper, Alabama, native averaged 14.1 points along with 7.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists as well as 1.2 steals for Trinity Christian (Fayetteville, N.C.) last season.

Toney joins Trey McCowens and Xavier Johnson in the Panthers 2018 recruiting class. The commitment of Toney and McCowens, ranked 89th by 247 Sports, gives Capel two players ranked in the top-150 players in their class. Which is two more than former coach Kevin Stallings did in two seasons according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

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Capel has also brought in New Mexico State graduate transfer Sidy N’dir for the upcoming season. The 6-foot-2 guard averaged 7.8 points and 3.0 rebounds while shooting 41.5% from the field and 32.7% from beyond the arc last year. He did produce a career-high 13.7 points on 49.4% shooting from the field as well 36.1% from beyond the arc in 2016-17.

Chalk it up as another win for Capel the great recruiter.

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