The Pittsburgh Panthers football team will be looking at a revamped roster, especially on the defensive end, due to key players leaving because of graduation and more importantly, the transfer portal.
Pitt was able to replace some positions of need in the transfer portal, mainly in the secondary with Slippery Rock transfer Kanye Thompson who played his high school football at McKeesport. Another highly rated cornerback is Raion Strader, who was at Auburn this past season and played his high school football at Penn Hills.
Both of these former WPIAL cornerbacks will see significant playing time and will look to make an impact on the Pitt secondary, which is shaping up to be one of the best in the ACC.
On the flip side, the rest of the transfer portal class was not a huge success. The other two main areas of need were offensive line, specifically offensive tackle, and finding a true wide receiver one to replace Kenny Johnson, who transferred to Texas Tech.
The Panthers attempted to find some offensive line help in the portal, adding Penn tackle Netinho Olivieri, who was an FCS All-American, and then an interior lineman from Akron, Keylen Davis, who received third team all-conference honors in the MAC.
Pitt could not find a true wide receiver one in the portal unless they expect Western Carolina transfer Malik Knight to exceed expectations. It is true, though, that Western Carolina transfers have a history of exceeding expectations under offensive coordinator Kade Bell at Pitt. Desmond Reid, a running back who was the best offensive player on the team for the two years he was with the Panthers, is one example.
With the Panthers not having a clear wide receiver one, they are going to need younger players to step up, like Catarius Hicks, who showed flashes in limited targets this season. They will also need increased production from Bryce Yates and Censere Lee, who have yet to prove themselves but have the talent to make a splash in the up-tempo Kade Bell offense.
Another area where the Panthers struggled with is retaining top talent. Pitt lost the expected leader of their defense this year, superstar linebacker Rasheem Biles, who ended up transferring to Texas after lots of visits and drama. They also lost defensive tackle Francis Brewu to Notre Dame. Brewu was expected to be that strong and physical presence up front that the Panthers always have had.
Pitt has more depth at linebacker and defensive line compared to the rest of the position groups, but those are two guys fans would have liked to see come back and be big contributors to the defense.
Pitt was able to retain some of their top talent on the offensive end. Standout freshman quarterback Mason Heintschel decided to stay at Pitt along with his backfield partner Ja’Kyrian Turner who is also a freshman.
If Pitt can build off of the young talent they have, along with developing other players, which head coach Pat Narduzzi has always seemed to excel at, and the transfer class doing their part and then some, we can be looking forward to an exciting season from the Panthers.
