Inside The Panthers

Pitt OL Commit Ready to Lead Hometown Program

Pitt Panthers offensive line 2025 commit Shep Turk is ready to lead in the trenches for his hometown program.

Dominic Campbell

PITTSBURGH -- Shep Turk still has a while to go before he makes his impact on campus, but his goal to win a championship for the Pitt Panthers is one that any fan can get behind.

Turk committed to Pitt over a number of other 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.

Akron, Toledo and rival Penn State showed interest, but Turk spurred them for a chance to play for his hometown team.

Hailing from Jefferson Hills, a suburb south of Pittsburgh, Turk plays high school football for Thomas Jefferson. Standing at 6-foot-4 and 275 pounds, he is a force on the offensive line, doing whatever he can to protect the quarterback or create openings in the running game.

New offensive line coach Jeremy Darveau played the biggest role in landing Turk. After joining in January, Darveau built a relationship with Turk and offered him after a visit in March.

That relationship played a major role for Turk, but so too, did the program as a whole and the future he sees the Panthers going in.

"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. "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. 

Pitt was also the only Power Four offer for Turk, with most of his offers coming from the MAC and FCS, playing another important role for him staying home. His commitment this week also made him the first WPIAL recruit to do so, and he wants to start a trend to get more local recruits in his class.

"I’ve been a Pitt fan for a couple of years and being the first WPIAL guy, that’s definitely awesome," Turk said. "I’m blessed to be able to represent the WPIAL in our class and hopefully we can pick up a couple more recruits in our class."

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."

Turk has visited Pitt three times so far, for the Florida State game back in early November, Junior Day in early February and then in March for spring practice, where he received the offer. He will take his official visit in June, where he will focus on learning more about the school aspect of his time at Pitt, since he is already engrained into the football program.

Outside of football, Turk is an excellent wreslter. He finished with a 34-9 record last season, with 26 pins and won the WPIAL AAA title at 285 pounds.

His work as a wreslter is something that he has confidence will help him gain an edge on the competition, literally and figuratively.

"I think the leverage and just everything," Turk said. "The physicality, the mindset really helps me with transferring over to football. Yeah, I just think it really helps with football."

Turk hasn't received many plaudits from recruiting sites so far, with only Rivals ranking him as a three-star.

The recruiting rankings don't hold significance for Turk. He's excited to lead his hometown and is putting in work each and every day to get stronger, faster and better heading into his senior season at TJ.

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Dominic Campbell

DOMINIC CAMPBELL

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