PITTSBURGH — The Pitt Panthers brought in their second-largest transfer portal class to date with 16 new additions, but in the recruiting rankings, it’s the lowest-rated class the program has ever signed.
Pitt had the formidable task of trying to replace top talent like Rasheem Biles and Kyle Louis, but only managed to add five players from the Power 4 ranks, with one being a starter in 2025. The rest of the players were either backups at their previous Power 4 programs or played at the Group of Five or FCS levels.
In the recruiting rankings, 247Sports had Pitt placed at 74th in the nation and 16th in the ACC, while On3 had the Panthers at 67th nationally and dead last in the ACC at 17th.
On paper, it just wasn’t a very good portal class, and Manny Navarro of The Athletic concurs.
The Athletic released its grades for each transfer portal class in the ACC, and Pitt was ranked among the worst.
Pitt Receives a “D” Grade
In The Athletic’s list of grades, “D-” is the lowest, and Pitt was not very far off with a “D” grade.
The other schools to receive a “D” grade were Clemson, Duke, Florida State, North Carolina and Stanford. Pitt had the second-best record of that list of schools, only behind Duke, which had its starting quarterback and wide receiver poached by Miami.
Navarro noted that after the Panthers finished 8-5 last season, they added 16 players and lost 21 to the transfer portal. Of the players added, they total 10,641 career snaps, compared to the 9,794 career snaps lost through departing players. Navarro also listed some of the top players Pitt added, which include Elijah Lagg, Keylen Davis, Alex Sanford, DeMarco Ward and Raion Strader.
“Pat Narduzzi brought in six former starters via the port