PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Wednesday is the old, traditional National Letter of Intent Day for college football. While the impact day is now in December, the old date comes as momentum keeps growing with Pitt football.
The Panthers signed a top 25 recruiting class two months ago, nine of those players including running back Malik Newton and a pair of tight ends have enrolled early and will be a part of Spring football. They landed a couple of key transfers and a couple of seniors have decided to stay with the program.
It started really hours before the new, key signing day when starting quarterback Kenny Pickett decided he was going to return to school. The New Jersey native will be a starter in all or parts of five seasons at Pitt, entering just 34 yards from second in school history in total offense and top 10 in almost every quarterback category.
Linebacker Phil Campbell decided to return bringing back 141 tackles, 15 for loss with 10 sacks to a group featuring rising star SirVocea Dennis, second on the team with 57 tackles and tied with First Team All-American Rashad Weaver with 14.5 sacks.
Pitt will lose Weaver and Patrick Jones, but their top four rated recruits are defensive linemen including Aaron Donald's nephew Eliot Donald.
Pitt did land another Maryland transfer, after DJ Turner became first team All-ACC his only season with the Panthers in 2020. Offensive guard Marcus Minor is 6'4", 310 pounds will have two seasons to play. Minor can also play tackle and will be eligible immediately after starting 17 games with the Terps as a former 4-star recruit from DeMatha HS.
"Marcus is an outstanding addition to our 2021 recruiting class," Narduzzi said. "Our offensive line coach, Dave Borbely, recruited him to Maryland so there already was an established relationship there. Marcus is not only big, but also very athletic and has great feet. He arrives at Pitt with a lot of playing experience already under his belt. We're looking forward to working with him this spring."
Pitt also landed another 4-star prospect and transfer. Aliquippa's MJ Devonshire had serious interest from Ohio State, Penn State and others before deciding on Kentucky two years ago. Now the cornerback is back in Western PA.
Devonshire scored 24 touchdowns, four different ways with the Quips, the average lengths of the scores was 42.2 yards. He returned eight punt returns for touchdowns, one short of the national record.
Devonshire helped Aliquippa win the Class 3A Championship in 2018 with THREE interceptions in the title game. He also was a star basketball player and won state titles in the 100 and 200-meters.
While Pitt's record wasn't dramatically different than recent years, the talent they have coming in for next season is.
Last year was supposed to be the breakout year for Pat Narduzzi at Pitt and for many reasons that didn't come to be. Bringing in this level of talent makes their odds greater of accomplishing that goal.
