Zubovic is Excited to Stay Home and Represent Hometown

As Belle Vernon native Dorian Johnson graduates from Pitt and enters the NFL, the Panthers are excited to have secured another Bell Vernon Leopard to take his place. On June 14th, Pat Narduzzi and his staff got a commitment from 3-star offensive lineman Blake Zubovic. Zubovic, who stands 6ft 5in and weighs 310 lbs, hails from the same high school as Johnson and for years has looked up to the  Arizona Cardinal’s fourth round pick.

“He’s really a role model for me. If there’s one person that I base my play after, that I want to be like, it would be him because he’s just a great player. He carries himself very well,” Zubovic said. “He’s not a big talker. He just does his job and does it very well.”

Zubovic says that Johnson helped him throughout the process and answered any questions Zubovic had about Pitt. But Pitt wasn’t the only school recruiting the lineman. The 2018 grad had 15 plus offers from schools across the country like Penn State, West Virginia, Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Maryland and others. He says his recruitment was a tiring but fulfilling experience.

“It was really crazy to be honest with you,” Zubovic said. “I had guys talking to me at all hours of the day. It was honestly hard to focus on my school work but it was a very cool experience. It was a good experience but it was a long one so I was glad to finally wrap it up.”

Despite considering all the schools who recruited him, Zubovic says that Pitt was always number one on his list.

“There was a chance I would go play somewhere else but at the end of the day I kept comparing everyone to Pitt and I couldn’t find the school that would be better than Pitt. It was the best fit and in the end it was right for me.” Zubovic said. “I’ve been a fan of Pitt my entire life. Its great to finally come play for my hometown school.”

He explained that many of Pitt’s other 2018 WPIAL commits were pushing for him to commit as well.

“I’d say Jake Kradel helped recruit me the most. We talked a lot after he committed,” Zubovic said. “Actually, I thought if anything I would be the one to commit before him because he took a lot more visits than me and was a lot more open about it but he pulled the trigger first and he did some of the recruiting. I kind of already knew I was going to Pitt for a while but he pushed the hardest out of all the guys for me.”

On October 13th Zubovic will be matched up against two other Pitt commits as his Belle Vernon Leopards will play host to the Thomas Jefferson Jaguars. TJ’s defensive line is made up of Noah Palmer and Devin Danielson who each committed to Pitt within the last two months.

“Obviously Devin Danielson and Noah Palmer they both go to TJ which has been a rival school,” Zubovic said. “But we all respect each other a lot and we can be best friends once our game ends this year.”

Zubovic explained that he has been working extra hard this off-season to try and carry his team to a WPIAL championship.

“Last year I was strong but this year I put on a lot of strength. I’ve been hitting the weight room really hard,” Zubovic said. “I’m a lot stronger and bigger than last year so I’m looking forward to dominating kids this year.”

That strength was partly what attracted Coach Narduzzi and the staff to the overpowering lineman. Since they started recruiting him, Zubovic says that he and the coaches have developed a very strong relationship.

“I like all the coaches a lot. I think their great. They are player coaches,” Zubovic said. “They love their players and they are going to get the most out of them. They push their players and it’s all out of good love and they really have good relationships with all their players.”

Along with what the coaches want to get out of him, Zubovic’s plans for his time in Oakland are pretty simple.

“My goal for once I get to Pitt is to hit the weight room, get my body right, get my technique right, get used to the system and try to get on the field as soon as possible to try and make an impact and help the team.”