Aliquippa High School's Jonathan Baldwin and Norwin's Mike Shanahan were teammates for four years on an AAU basketball team. They will reunite next year on the Pitt football team.

Baldwin and Shanahan, two of the top football players in the WPIAL, made verbal commitments to Pitt this weekend for football, and went public yesterday with their decisions. Both were members of the Post-Gazette Fabulous 22 and were recruited to play receiver.

Last night the Panthers continued their run of good fortune, receiving a verbal commitment from Central Catholic senior quarterback Tino Sunseri (6 feet 1 1/2, 200 pounds), son of former Pitt great Sal Sunseri.

Baldwin (6 feet 6, 233 pounds) is a big catch for the Panthers as he is ranked by some scouting services among the top 20 receivers in the country. Scout.com ranks him No. 11. He chose Pitt over Miami and Florida.

Shanahan (6-5, 210) was a standout at receiver and defensive back for Norwin. He chose Pitt over West Virginia.

Baldwin and Shanahan made official visits to Pitt this weekend. They are talented basketball players and both said they might give basketball a shot at some point during their careers. But football is definitely their No. 1 priority.

"After I committed, I told him he needed to commit, too," Baldwin said. "Then I got a text message from him later saying he committed."

Baldwin, Shanahan and Sunseri give Pitt 13 commitments, including seven from the WPIAL and two others from Western Pennsylvania schools just outside the WPIAL. More WPIAL players could be on the way. Gateway standout linebacker Shayne Hale expressed newfound interest in Pitt recently.

Baldwin's choice of Pitt was no surprise. He had been leaning toward the Panthers for a long time. Baldwin's father, Jeff, is a former Pitt lineman.

"But my parents told me it was all up to me," Jonathan Baldwin said.

Baldwin, who caught 41 passes for 613 yards this past season, does not plan on redshirting as a freshman.

"I'm trying to play, right off the bat," Baldwin said.

Shanahan's decision ends a twisting and turning recruiting saga. In the summer, Shanahan decided he wanted to play basketball in college. He had basketball scholarship offers from some Division I schools and made official visits to Akron, Bucknell and Vermont.

But after the first few games of the football season, things were going so well he started to have doubts about a future in basketball. He decided to "open" his recruiting again. Pitt then offered a scholarship for football and West Virginia started recruiting him again.

"It kind of got difficult for me at times," Shanahan said of trying to decide between the two sports. "But my dad always kept my head on straight. Both of my parents did. I owe a lot to them."

Shanahan caught 37 passes for 731 yards as a senior, and 36 for 698 yards as a junior.

Sunseri, who previously committed to Louisville but decided on the Panthers after re-opening his recruitment last month, isn't concerned that he is Pitt's third quarterback commitment from this class, and will be the sixth scholarship quarterback overall.

"I looked at the situation and what coach Wannstedt told me is that the quarterback race at Pitt is wide open," Sunseri said. "Anywhere you go, you are going to have to compete for the job and that is the same way it is going to be at Pitt."