Signing Day is one week away.
It seems soon - and it is - but that’s the calendar this year. Where once there was a lone Signing Day in February, which morphed into two Signing Days with the addition of a mid-December signing period, now there are two Signing Days - one at the beginning of December and one at the beginning of February.
There are probably a few reasons for the change from the third Wednesday of December to the first Wednesday of December. The transfer portal is certainly a big one; getting the high school recruiting out of the way early gives coaches the rest of the month to focus on adding transfers ahead of January enrollment.
I know we’ll spend plenty of time in the next month talking about transfers. For now, though, let’s reset things one week ahead of Signing Day.
- Pitt has 21 recruits committed in the class of 2025. That number is where the class stands after last week’s decommitment from Elijah Dotson.
Dotson’s flip to Michigan was a blow to the Panthers’ class, of course, but it also wasn’t entirely unforeseen; he was probably the top flip target in Pitt’s class from the time he committed in mid-May, and obviously the in-state Wolverines are always going to have a draw for kids from Detroit.
- Dotson’s decommitment dropped the class from 22 recruits to 21 and it also dropped the number of defensive back recruits from five to four.
That’s obviously still a lot, and I think if there’s any position where the staff has historically recruited well, it’s defensive back. To that end, here’s what the class has:
Cornerbacks - Shawn Lee, Mason Alexander
Safeties - Joshua Guerrier, Cole Woodson
- I think we could see one more recruit come out of the current class, as I'm hearing some rumblings that Pitt is not likely to sign Miami Central receiver Kha'leal Sterling. There are a lot of receivers in this class - three without Sterling - and while I think that the staff liked what they saw when they recruited him, I get the impression that they are not entirely sold on him, and if you're not entirely sold on a recruit, it's probably better to save that scholarship spot.
So I suspect we'll see some movement on that front at some point in the next week.
- That leaves five offensive skill players in the class, and I think it's a pretty talented group:
Wide receivers - Damarion Fowlkes, Bryce Yates, Tony Kinsler
Running backs - Synkwan Smith, Ja’Kyrian Turner
It’s an interesting group because a lot of those guys are similar players. They’re all right around the same size and they’re all pretty fast. But Smith and Turner are more backfield types, while the other three project as receivers.
- There are four offensive linemen in the class; they break down with two tackles and two guards:
Tackles - Jordan Fields, Akram Elnagmi
Guard - Torian Chester, Shep Turk
- Similarly, Pitt has three defensive linemen in the class.
Ends - Julian Anderson, Denim Cook
Tackle - Trevor Sommers
I know this part is slightly confusing since not one of those guys is listed in the Rivals database at the position I listed. Sommers is listed as a defensive end prospect, but he’s going to play in the interior for Pitt and is currently 6’3” and 245 pounds.
Cook is right around that size, too - 240 pounds - and he played outside linebacker for his high school team, but he is going to play defensive end for the Panthers. This season, he only played 5 games this season due to injury but had 51 tackles, 9 tackles for loss and 3 sacks in those 5 games.
Anderson is one of the more intriguing guys in the class. He’s a big athlete at 6’4” and 220 pounds, and like Cook, he’s projected as a defensive end after playing as a stand-up pass rusher this season.
- And then the class is rounded out by quarterback Mason Heintschel, tight end Max Hunt and linebackers Justin Thompson and Emmanuel Taylor.
- One notable item about the class is that most of the recruits will be on campus very soon. 13 of the 21 commits in the class (20, if and when Sterling drops off) have told us that they’ll be enrolling at Pitt in January:
JOSH GUERRIER (I have to just link him here because the player card won't embed for some reason.)
Last January, Pitt had nine mid-year enrollees from the 2024 recruiting class:
Julian Dugger
Juelz Goff
Cameron Monteiro
Nigel Maynard
Jeremiah Marcelin
Zach Crothers
Moritz Schmoranzer
Sincere Edwards
Francis Brewu
Of those nine, Marcelin, Edwards and Brewu have burned their redshirts.
It seems soon - and it is - but that’s the calendar this year. Where once there was a lone Signing Day in February, which morphed into two Signing Days with the addition of a mid-December signing period, now there are two Signing Days - one at the beginning of December and one at the beginning of February.
There are probably a few reasons for the change from the third Wednesday of December to the first Wednesday of December. The transfer portal is certainly a big one; getting the high school recruiting out of the way early gives coaches the rest of the month to focus on adding transfers ahead of January enrollment.
I know we’ll spend plenty of time in the next month talking about transfers. For now, though, let’s reset things one week ahead of Signing Day.
- Pitt has 21 recruits committed in the class of 2025. That number is where the class stands after last week’s decommitment from Elijah Dotson.
Dotson’s flip to Michigan was a blow to the Panthers’ class, of course, but it also wasn’t entirely unforeseen; he was probably the top flip target in Pitt’s class from the time he committed in mid-May, and obviously the in-state Wolverines are always going to have a draw for kids from Detroit.
- Dotson’s decommitment dropped the class from 22 recruits to 21 and it also dropped the number of defensive back recruits from five to four.
That’s obviously still a lot, and I think if there’s any position where the staff has historically recruited well, it’s defensive back. To that end, here’s what the class has:
Cornerbacks - Shawn Lee, Mason Alexander
Safeties - Joshua Guerrier, Cole Woodson
- I think we could see one more recruit come out of the current class, as I'm hearing some rumblings that Pitt is not likely to sign Miami Central receiver Kha'leal Sterling. There are a lot of receivers in this class - three without Sterling - and while I think that the staff liked what they saw when they recruited him, I get the impression that they are not entirely sold on him, and if you're not entirely sold on a recruit, it's probably better to save that scholarship spot.
So I suspect we'll see some movement on that front at some point in the next week.
- That leaves five offensive skill players in the class, and I think it's a pretty talented group:
Wide receivers - Damarion Fowlkes, Bryce Yates, Tony Kinsler
Running backs - Synkwan Smith, Ja’Kyrian Turner
It’s an interesting group because a lot of those guys are similar players. They’re all right around the same size and they’re all pretty fast. But Smith and Turner are more backfield types, while the other three project as receivers.
- There are four offensive linemen in the class; they break down with two tackles and two guards:
Tackles - Jordan Fields, Akram Elnagmi
Guard - Torian Chester, Shep Turk
- Similarly, Pitt has three defensive linemen in the class.
Ends - Julian Anderson, Denim Cook
Tackle - Trevor Sommers
I know this part is slightly confusing since not one of those guys is listed in the Rivals database at the position I listed. Sommers is listed as a defensive end prospect, but he’s going to play in the interior for Pitt and is currently 6’3” and 245 pounds.
Cook is right around that size, too - 240 pounds - and he played outside linebacker for his high school team, but he is going to play defensive end for the Panthers. This season, he only played 5 games this season due to injury but had 51 tackles, 9 tackles for loss and 3 sacks in those 5 games.
Anderson is one of the more intriguing guys in the class. He’s a big athlete at 6’4” and 220 pounds, and like Cook, he’s projected as a defensive end after playing as a stand-up pass rusher this season.
- And then the class is rounded out by quarterback Mason Heintschel, tight end Max Hunt and linebackers Justin Thompson and Emmanuel Taylor.
- One notable item about the class is that most of the recruits will be on campus very soon. 13 of the 21 commits in the class (20, if and when Sterling drops off) have told us that they’ll be enrolling at Pitt in January:
JOSH GUERRIER (I have to just link him here because the player card won't embed for some reason.)
Last January, Pitt had nine mid-year enrollees from the 2024 recruiting class:
Julian Dugger
Juelz Goff
Cameron Monteiro
Nigel Maynard
Jeremiah Marcelin
Zach Crothers
Moritz Schmoranzer
Sincere Edwards
Francis Brewu
Of those nine, Marcelin, Edwards and Brewu have burned their redshirts.
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