I'm sure Pete's got file cabinets full of notes on high school talent from his years at SC... and with SC they could just skim the cream off the top leaving a lot of that talent on the table, especially local talent, but it doesn't mean he wasn't personally aware of some kid out there that was raising eyebrows in high school... and PC's still not too far out from those days where some of those athletes are still viable options to take a look at and say "where are they now, I wonder what ever happened to that kid"... it's due diligence and it's smart, and it's outside the box... and it's what could win championships.
Of course that could be not at all what happened in this case, but it's a possible scenario I can see happening with this FO.