Will Pitt Take A Quarterback in Class of 2020?

Four-star quarterback and Pitt target Mason Garcia announced on Thursday that he’s going to be making his college commitment on July 5.

Garcia, a 6-foot-4, 218-pound, pro-style passer, has Power Five offers from Missouri and Syracuse in addition to the Panthers.
But he’s going to make his commitment without having given Pitt a visit, making it seemingly unlikely that the Panthers are going to be his top choice.

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I will be verbally committing July 5th ☝️🙏@robinson_ramon @ElitePositionTr

— Mason Garcia (@Masonnnn_5) June 27, 2019

That leaves Pitt in something of an interesting situation when it comes to quarterbacks in the Class of 2020. Garcia is the next-to-last uncommitted quarterback Pitt has extended an offer to, and three-star Florida quarterback Gregory Spann has already cut down his list of schools and excluded the Panthers.

So if Garcia doesn’t pick Pitt, it could mean that the Panthers won’t take a quarterback at all in the 2020 class, the first time Pitt has done that in quite some time. The last time the Panthers didn’t take a quarterback was in 2011, the class that split the gap between the tenures of Dave Wannstedt and Todd Graham.

Of course, Pitt could always go back to the drawing board and make new offers to 2020 players. Pat Narduzzi and company could also take a peek at the transfer portal to find a quarterback with some experience, which is something they’ve done multiple times in recent memory.

Here’s PSN Recruiting Analyst Bob Lichtenfels’ take on the situation:

“It’s all up to the coaches philosophy. In general most coaches like to because of transfers and attrition, like the Tyler Palko, Luke Getsy and Joe Flacco scenario. Now with the transfer portal and so many kids entering it, you can often keep that spot open and get a transfer who is more experienced like Ricky Town and Jeff George, Jr.”

Transfers are an increasingly viable method for acquiring quarterback talent. Over 50 quarterbacks have either transferred to or from a Power Five school in this offseason alone.