John Petrishen may not play immediately at Pitt, but there remains an avenue for the former all-state safety from Central Catholic to make an impact over the next two seasons.

After transferring from Penn State, he ventured into the Pitt’s deep safety position Wednesday on the penultimate day of training camp. But two Pitt safeties — Damar Hamlin and Jazzee Stocker — are seniors, leaving open a door of opportunity next year.

Please swipe to read both screenshots... Thank you so much for an amazing 4 years, Penn State. I can’t express how appreciative I am for everything.

I will be making a decision on my next step within the next few days! Much left of the story to be written... pic.twitter.com/a383YhxUXn

— JOHNNY JP PETRISHEN (@jP5_ERA) August 20, 2019

Petrishen, a graduate transfer with two years of immediate eligibility, said on Twitter that he recently had total reconstructive shoulder surgery, his third procedure in four years. Pitt coaches will monitor his recovery closely, especially early in the season.

During his first months on the job in 2015, Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi offered Petrishen a scholarship. He chose Penn State, but Narduzzi didn’t forget about him.

“I asked him how his dad’s car business is going,” the coach said Wednesday before practice. “(He said), ‘Oh, I didn’t know you remembered that.’

“You don’t forget home visits.”

Narduzzi said Petrishen, who lives in Lower Burrell, contacted Pitt about transferring. He is the second Penn State player this decade to transfer to Pitt. Offensive lineman Tom Ricketts of North Allegheny is the other.

At Penn State, Petrishen played mostly special teams — he was the Nittany Lions’ special teams player of the week in the Illinois game last year — but he had few opportunities at safety. Injuries played a role in keeping him off the field. After graduating from Penn State this year, Petrishen, 23, decided to transfer to Pitt.

“He wanted to come back home,” Narduzzi said. “He’s fired up.

“We’re happy to have him here. He’s eligible immediately, but he’s got a ways to go knowledge-wise.”

Narduzzi declined to comment on whether Petrishen will be on scholarship immediately.

“Right now, he’s starting off as a football player. How about that?” the coach said. “You guys always want to talk money. He’s a football player. I don’t want to categorize him as anything.

“He’s a guy we offered out of high school. We tried to get him. We didn’t get him. In the end, we got him back. Hopefully, he will have a great career here.”

Narduzzi said he didn’t know if Petrishen, 6-foot, 211 pounds, will line up at free or strong safety.

“I just sat down and talked with him,” he said. “I haven’t seen him run around. He has to go a couple days without gear. We’ll find out when we see more of him.”

When he was asked if Petrishen will be a source of inside information for the Penn State game Sept. 14, Narduzzi said, “Not really. We have video tape.”

Special teams likely will be Petrishen’s first avenue onto the field at Pitt. Long before Petrishen’s arrival, Narduzzi was pleased with his depth at free and strong safety.

Hamlin (free) and Paris Ford (strong) are the starters, with backups Stocker and Bricen Garner. Hamlin and Garner were Central Catholic teammates of Petrishen.

“There will be times we have to take them out and talk to them,” Narduzzi said of the starters. “It’s nice to have a guy who can go in for you. A lot better than having two where you take a guy out and you have to hurry up and get back in.”

Ford’s enthusiasm has been the talk of camp.

“We’ll see more of it on game day,” Narduzzi said. “We try to control it. He’s doing crazy things back there, too. Paris is awesome. Love that kid. He’s got emotion. It’s going to be fun to watch him on game days, I think.

“That guy has come so far. His knowledge is so much better. There is no way he could have played safety a year ago because there are so many things you have to do back there. But right now he’s equipped. Once we start to narrow things down for gameplan-wise, it will be even better.”

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