Pitt Signee Earns Big 33 Selection

A Pitt Panthers signee will play in a high school all-star game.

Pitt Football Class of 2025 commitment Shep Turk wins the WPIAL 4A Title with Thomas Jefferson / Shep Tur

PITTSBURGH — The Pitt Panthers will have one of their incoming football recruits represent the program at a high school all-star game.

Offensive lineman Shep Turk, a Class of 2025 recruit, will play in the 68th edition of the Big 33 Classic, pitting the best high school players from Pennsylvania and Maryland against each other.

The game will take place at Chapman Field at Cumberland Valley High School in Mechancisburg, Pa. on May 25 with a 7:30 kickoff.

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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