Pitt Football 2025 Signee Achieves Wrestling Milestone

PITTSBURGH — The Pitt Panthers have one of their incoming freshman not only starring at football, but another sport in high school too.

Shep Turk, who played football for nearby Thomas Jefferson High School in Jefferson Hills, Pa., celebrated his 100th win as a wrestler. He took the picture with Pitt wrestling Class of 2025 signee Bode Marlow on his left and Maddox Shaw, who signed with Ohio State in the Class of 2025.

100 wins. @wpialsportsnews pic.twitter.com/zO3czccuaW
— Shep Turk (@TurkShep) February 2, 2025

Turk, who wrestles at 285 pounds, or heavyweight, has had a solid senior season, with a 32-6 record, including 25 pins.

He finished with a 34-9 record as a junior with 26 pins and won the WPIAL AAA title at 285 pounds. He is 100-37 in his career, with 79 pins, and a .730 winning percentage.

Turk played both offensive line and defensive line for Thomas Jefferson, and helped them win the WPIAL Class 4A Title this past season, 28-7 over McKeesport.

He was one of the first commitments for Pitt in the Class of 2025, choosing to do so on May 13, 2024. He made his official visit on June 13 and has visited for three games this season, including vs. rival West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl on Sept. 14, Cal on Oct. 12 and Virginia on Nov. 9.

Turk had offers from a number of schools, including Army, MAC schools in Buffalo, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Kent State other FBS schools in Army, Temple and UMass and FCS schools in Bucknell, Duquesne, Lehigh, Maine, Monmouth and Stony Brook.

He will join Pitt after his senior year and work with offensive line coach Jeremy Darveau, who will help him achieve his goals with the program.

"I wanted to go somewhere where I feel like I could shine and I could thrive and I feel like Pitt fits the mold for that," Turk said when he committed. "And I wanted to go somewhere I get to play smash mouth football. I get to run the ball down someone’s throat, punch someone and not let them punch back. I also feel like Pitt fits that mold for me too. Lastly, I wanted to go somewhere I can get a ring, win a championship and I feel like Pitt has that on the horizon and I feel like that’s going to happen here with the new staff.

Turk will join a few Thomas Jefferson alums who played for Pitt in recent years. This includes linebacker Dom Decicco (2007-10), fellow offensive lineman Lucas Nix (2008-11), and defensive linemen in Noah Palmer (2018-21) and Devin Danielson (2018-23). Thomas Jefferson's head coach Bill Cherpak also played for Pitt in college in the late 1980s.

"I’m definitely excited to be a part of that pipeline," Turk said on the connection between TJ and Pitt. " I think it’s very important and I think a lot of kids from TJ that go to Pitt do well and end up doing great things. So I just want to be another one of those."

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