Nate Santos makes commitment official, gives Pitt's Jeff Capel first signed letter of intent
Apr. 15—Nate Santos, the first prospect in the class of 2021 to say yes to Jeff Capel, signed his national letter of intent and officially joined the Pitt basketball team Thursday.
Santos gave Capel a verbal commitment April 6.
"Nate is an exciting player with a knack for putting the ball in the basket," Capel said in a statement. "He has shown the ability to score at all three levels in a very good high school basketball league. We like his shooting ability, size and competitiveness. Nate's desire to be a terrific teammate and impact winning in any way possible will be a great addition to the culture we are building. We look forward to helping him continue to develop in our program."
As a junior in 2019-20, Santos averaged 17.1 points, 6 rebounds and 1.3 assists while earning All-New England Prep School Athletic Council honors, In the process, he helped The Loomis Chaffee School (Conn.) to a 20-6 record and NEPSAC Class A and Founders League championships.
Loomis Chaffee played only three games this season before its season was halted due to the covid-19 pandemic. Santos, rated a three-star prospect by Rivals.com, had been missing from the AAU circuit for two years because of a knee injury and the pandemic.
Nonetheless, Santos (6-foot-7, 200 pounds) had scholarship offers from Xavier, Creighton, Georgetown, Mississippi, Dayton, Virginia Tech, New Mexico and East Carolina.
He is listed in the top 250 in 247Sports' composite rankings and is No. 2 in Connecticut and No. 5 in New England. Before he tore his ACL as a sophomore, he was rated No. 63 by 247Sports.
Jerry DiPaola is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jerry by email at jdipaola@triblive.com or via Twitter .
