With the regular season over, Pitt’s focus is on Saturday’s ACC Championship Game. But there’s also the matter of recruiting, as the early signing period starts on Wednesday, Dec. 15, and the coaching staff will be looking to sign the bulk of the class of 2022 that day.
As it stands, Pitt has 12 commitments for the class of 2022; how will the Panthers finish? How many more can they add? And who are the top targets on the board? Let’s take a look.
The first thing to determine is how many more spots Pitt has available for the class of 2022. Pitt is currently projected to return 70 scholarship underclassmen; that’s the starting number, and under normal circumstances, that would give Pitt a start point of 15 available scholarships for the class of 2022.
But these are not normal circumstances, because there are 11 more players on the current roster who could take up some of those available scholarships.
They’re the potential super seniors - players who were on the roster in 2020 and, as such, have been granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA:
RB Todd Sibley
WR Shocky Jacques-Louis
TE/OL Grant Carrigan
OL Owen Drexel
OL Gabe Houy
OL Marcus Minor
OL Carter Warren
DE Deslin Alexandre
LB Cam Bright
CB Damarri Mathis
P Kirk Christodoulou
It’s unlikely that all 11 players will opt to return, but at least some of them will, and each potential super senior who makes the decision to play another year at Pitt will take a scholarship spot that could have gone to the recruiting class of 2022 (or a transfer).
So far, Sibley and Drexel seem to be known returners since neither participated in Senior Day two weeks ago. The other nine did take part, but that does not guarantee their departures, and most seem like they will make a final decision after the season ends.
Of course, the flip side of super seniors returning is the likelihood of Pitt losing players to the transfer portal. Three players entered the portal at midseason - running back A.J. Davis, who committed to James Madison, and linebackers Wendell Davis and A.J. Roberts - and current trends certainly point toward at least a few more departures.
Since it’s impossible to know how many additional transfers Pitt will lose or how many super seniors will return, we can at least use a break-even outcome as an assumed starting point - that is to say, however many additional transfers could be around the same number of super seniors who return.
If those two sides of the ledger do balance out, then we’re back at the starting point of 15 available spots on the 2022 85-man scholarship roster. Those 15 will be filled by recruits in the class of 2022 but also by transfers; the Pitt coaching staff is sure to be monitoring the transfer portal.
On the matter of transfers, I think linemen - on both sides of the ball - will always get a look from the Pitt staff, but I have to think the coaches will be keeping an eye on quarterbacks as well. I don’t think they are down on the quarterbacks on the current roster, but this offense has momentum right now and a really good group of returning skill players; getting a high-end ready-to-play transfer quarterback could turn 2021’s success into a multi-season run.
That’s another subject, though. For now, the focus is on the class of 2022 and how Pitt will fill the remaining open spots in the class. The Panthers have 12 commitments currently; if they do end up with 15 available scholarships, that leaves room for just three more additions - whether they are recruits or transfers.
It seems unlikely that Pitt will add only three more players beyond the 12 commitments this offseason, but the exact number remains up in the air due to the uncertainty around super seniors and transfers. That said, here are six targets in the class of 2022 to keep an eye on.
Okunlola is one of the top uncommitted prospects in the country. He’s ranked No. 237 nationally and No. 13 among weak-side defensive end recruits; only two players ranked higher at his position are still uncommitted, making him quite a commodity.
The four-star prospect took an official visit to Pitt in September - the weekend of the Western Michigan game - and that was the second of his two visits, with the first being a trip to Georgia in June. The Bulldogs are obviously a challenging recruiting opponent, although they have five defensive linemen committed in a class of 23 recruits, so they may not be pushing for Okunlola as much now as they might have been in June.
Okunlola has kept his recruitment fairly quiet, which makes information difficult to come by. But Pitt is still involved and appears to have a real shot at landing the four-star defensive end.
Mann is a former Pitt commit who reopened his recruitment in September due to pressure around him, but he never broke his relationship with the Pitt staff and maintained regular contact. He already used his official visit to Pitt over the summer, but he was back on campus two weeks ago to watch the Panthers clinch the Coastal Division with a win over Virginia at Heinz Field.
Mann also visited Vanderbilt and Indiana this fall, and those appear to be among the top contenders for his services. The three-star prospect appears to prefer defense, and while I think Pitt would be open to that, the coaches initially recruited him as an offensive tackle.
One of Pitt’s newest targets in the 2022 class, Jenkins got an offer from the Panthers in early November but was on the radar before that, as he visited Heinz Field for Pitt’s win over Clemson in October. Jenkins has a half-dozen scholarship offers so far, but that list includes Boston College, Indiana and Virginia Tech, in addition to Pitt.
He’s currently looking ahead to official visits at Boston College this coming weekend and Pitt in two weeks. If he sticks to those plans and signs on Dec. 15, it seems likely that his decision will come down to the Panthers and Eagles.
Taylor, the son of former Woodland Hills and Miami Dolphins standout Jason Taylor, took an official visit to Pitt in June and was high on the Panthers, but his recruitment blew up in the summer and he committed to LSU at the end of July.
Taylor has maintained that commitment in spite of Ed Orgeron’s departure from Baton Rouge, but he has also maintained contact with the Pitt coaches and told us that he talks to Pat Narduzzi, Charlie Partridge and Tim Salem “probably two times a week.” Taylor is monitoring the situation at LSU to see who the Tigers hire, but his continued relationship with Pitt makes him worth watching.
Igbinosun took an official visit to Pitt in June but committed to in-state Rutgers in July. Last month, he backed off that commitment and reopened his options, including Tennessee, where he visited shortly after decommitting.
The big defensive back from Union (N.J.) would be a good fit in Pitt’s defense and the staff will likely visit him next month. Whether he decides on the Panthers - or if they have room - remains to be seen, but he’ll be one to watch in December as well.
Like Taylor and Igbinosun, Townsend committed to a Power Five program over the summer. The all-purpose back from Tampa picked Iowa State over a host of offers from the Big Ten, ACC and even Pac-12. He never took an official visit to Pitt, instead visiting Iowa State, Louisville, Vanderbilt and UCF in June before picking the Cyclones.
However, we have heard that Pitt is still involved and could be pushing to land Townsend’s fifth official visit before Signing Day next month. Getting him on campus for an official visit would be the big step to watch.
As it stands, Pitt has 12 commitments for the class of 2022; how will the Panthers finish? How many more can they add? And who are the top targets on the board? Let’s take a look.
The first thing to determine is how many more spots Pitt has available for the class of 2022. Pitt is currently projected to return 70 scholarship underclassmen; that’s the starting number, and under normal circumstances, that would give Pitt a start point of 15 available scholarships for the class of 2022.
But these are not normal circumstances, because there are 11 more players on the current roster who could take up some of those available scholarships.
They’re the potential super seniors - players who were on the roster in 2020 and, as such, have been granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA:
RB Todd Sibley
WR Shocky Jacques-Louis
TE/OL Grant Carrigan
OL Owen Drexel
OL Gabe Houy
OL Marcus Minor
OL Carter Warren
DE Deslin Alexandre
LB Cam Bright
CB Damarri Mathis
P Kirk Christodoulou
It’s unlikely that all 11 players will opt to return, but at least some of them will, and each potential super senior who makes the decision to play another year at Pitt will take a scholarship spot that could have gone to the recruiting class of 2022 (or a transfer).
So far, Sibley and Drexel seem to be known returners since neither participated in Senior Day two weeks ago. The other nine did take part, but that does not guarantee their departures, and most seem like they will make a final decision after the season ends.
Of course, the flip side of super seniors returning is the likelihood of Pitt losing players to the transfer portal. Three players entered the portal at midseason - running back A.J. Davis, who committed to James Madison, and linebackers Wendell Davis and A.J. Roberts - and current trends certainly point toward at least a few more departures.
Since it’s impossible to know how many additional transfers Pitt will lose or how many super seniors will return, we can at least use a break-even outcome as an assumed starting point - that is to say, however many additional transfers could be around the same number of super seniors who return.
If those two sides of the ledger do balance out, then we’re back at the starting point of 15 available spots on the 2022 85-man scholarship roster. Those 15 will be filled by recruits in the class of 2022 but also by transfers; the Pitt coaching staff is sure to be monitoring the transfer portal.
On the matter of transfers, I think linemen - on both sides of the ball - will always get a look from the Pitt staff, but I have to think the coaches will be keeping an eye on quarterbacks as well. I don’t think they are down on the quarterbacks on the current roster, but this offense has momentum right now and a really good group of returning skill players; getting a high-end ready-to-play transfer quarterback could turn 2021’s success into a multi-season run.
That’s another subject, though. For now, the focus is on the class of 2022 and how Pitt will fill the remaining open spots in the class. The Panthers have 12 commitments currently; if they do end up with 15 available scholarships, that leaves room for just three more additions - whether they are recruits or transfers.
It seems unlikely that Pitt will add only three more players beyond the 12 commitments this offseason, but the exact number remains up in the air due to the uncertainty around super seniors and transfers. That said, here are six targets in the class of 2022 to keep an eye on.
Okunlola is one of the top uncommitted prospects in the country. He’s ranked No. 237 nationally and No. 13 among weak-side defensive end recruits; only two players ranked higher at his position are still uncommitted, making him quite a commodity.
The four-star prospect took an official visit to Pitt in September - the weekend of the Western Michigan game - and that was the second of his two visits, with the first being a trip to Georgia in June. The Bulldogs are obviously a challenging recruiting opponent, although they have five defensive linemen committed in a class of 23 recruits, so they may not be pushing for Okunlola as much now as they might have been in June.
Okunlola has kept his recruitment fairly quiet, which makes information difficult to come by. But Pitt is still involved and appears to have a real shot at landing the four-star defensive end.
Mann is a former Pitt commit who reopened his recruitment in September due to pressure around him, but he never broke his relationship with the Pitt staff and maintained regular contact. He already used his official visit to Pitt over the summer, but he was back on campus two weeks ago to watch the Panthers clinch the Coastal Division with a win over Virginia at Heinz Field.
Mann also visited Vanderbilt and Indiana this fall, and those appear to be among the top contenders for his services. The three-star prospect appears to prefer defense, and while I think Pitt would be open to that, the coaches initially recruited him as an offensive tackle.
One of Pitt’s newest targets in the 2022 class, Jenkins got an offer from the Panthers in early November but was on the radar before that, as he visited Heinz Field for Pitt’s win over Clemson in October. Jenkins has a half-dozen scholarship offers so far, but that list includes Boston College, Indiana and Virginia Tech, in addition to Pitt.
He’s currently looking ahead to official visits at Boston College this coming weekend and Pitt in two weeks. If he sticks to those plans and signs on Dec. 15, it seems likely that his decision will come down to the Panthers and Eagles.
Taylor, the son of former Woodland Hills and Miami Dolphins standout Jason Taylor, took an official visit to Pitt in June and was high on the Panthers, but his recruitment blew up in the summer and he committed to LSU at the end of July.
Taylor has maintained that commitment in spite of Ed Orgeron’s departure from Baton Rouge, but he has also maintained contact with the Pitt coaches and told us that he talks to Pat Narduzzi, Charlie Partridge and Tim Salem “probably two times a week.” Taylor is monitoring the situation at LSU to see who the Tigers hire, but his continued relationship with Pitt makes him worth watching.
Igbinosun took an official visit to Pitt in June but committed to in-state Rutgers in July. Last month, he backed off that commitment and reopened his options, including Tennessee, where he visited shortly after decommitting.
The big defensive back from Union (N.J.) would be a good fit in Pitt’s defense and the staff will likely visit him next month. Whether he decides on the Panthers - or if they have room - remains to be seen, but he’ll be one to watch in December as well.
Like Taylor and Igbinosun, Townsend committed to a Power Five program over the summer. The all-purpose back from Tampa picked Iowa State over a host of offers from the Big Ten, ACC and even Pac-12. He never took an official visit to Pitt, instead visiting Iowa State, Louisville, Vanderbilt and UCF in June before picking the Cyclones.
However, we have heard that Pitt is still involved and could be pushing to land Townsend’s fifth official visit before Signing Day next month. Getting him on campus for an official visit would be the big step to watch.
