The son of a Pittsburgh Steelers legend is beginning his own journey to the college level. Jerome Bettis Jr, a wide receiver in the 2025 recruiting class out of Woodward Academy in Atlanta, Georgia, was present at the Alabama Crimson Tide Junior Day Saturday afternoon.
The Junior Day is an event Alabama holds around this time each offseason to bring in some of the top underclassmen talents across the country that are on the program’s radar. Bettis, Jr. doesn’t yet have a star rating, but he does have offers from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Boston College, Georgia Tech, Missouri and Arkansas. With each offer coming from stronger programs, Bettis, Jr. is on the right track to earn the attention of the top Power 5 programs in the country.
Bettis, Jr. told BamaOnLine “would mean a lot” to earn a scholarship offer from Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide. The sophomore receiver added that his favorite moments of the visit to Tuscaloosa were meeting with coaches, including Nick Saban.
“It was great. It was a great experience,” Bettis, Jr. said “I had a great time there.”
Bettis, Jr. may play a skill position just as his father did, but his frame is certainly much different, standing 6’2, 175lbs. Having that height down and his genetics should help him fill out with two more years remaining at the high school level.
Of course, Bettis, Sr. played his college ball for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, where The Bus still holds the program’s single-season scrimmage touchdown record at 20 back in 1991. Of course, we know the rest of the story, as Bettis went on to a Hall of Fame career with the Pittsburgh Steelers via the Los Angeles Rams, capping his legendary career with one final stop in Detroit at Super Bowl XL.
Having a father who went through the recruiting process at the highest level is a distinct advantage for the younger Bettis, even if the landscape has changed dramatically with variables such as NIL. Bettis, Jr. relayed the influence his father has given during the early portions of his college recruitment.
“I was just talking to him about the visit,” the younger Bettis said. “He guides me as much as he can. But he said the recruiting world has changed a lot since back in his day. So he’s like make sure we take everything with a grain of salt. They didn’t even really have unofficial visits back then. So this is kind of new territory for both of us. So, we’re both just adjusting to it. He’s helping me as much as he can.”
While we’ll have to wait a while longer to see Bettis, Jr. take his first snaps on a collegiate gridiron, he’ll no doubt have the interested eyes of Steelers fans watching closely to see which path he takes on the road his automotive-like father paved for him.
