The Pitt football team will be a linebacker short for the remainder of the season.
Junior linebacker Elias Reynolds is no longer a member of the team, Pittsburgh Sports Now has confirmed with a member of the Pitt athletic department. Chris Peak of Pantherlair was the first to report this story.
It was expected that Reynolds would compete for playing time this season but that hasn’t been the case. In fact, Reynolds hasn’t appeared in uniform since he was injured in the Penn State game. He was not on the sideline at all for Pitt’s loss to Miami last Saturday.
A redshirt junior, Reynolds played in 25 games for the Panthers since 2017 and finished his Pitt tenure with 68 tackles, six tackles for a loss, 3.5 sacks and a pass defended.
In his fourth year of college, Reynolds will be immediately eligible as a transfer if he’s able to graduate from Pitt this spring.
The play of redshirt senior Saleem Brightwell has been a boost for the Panthers in the middle. He returned from his own injury to fill in for Reynolds against the Lions and has yet to relinquish the starting spot. The Panthers also have redshirt junior Chase Pine, redshirt freshman Wendell Davis and true freshman Sir’Vocea Dennis at middle linebacker.
The departure of Reynolds does open an additional scholarship for Pitt for their Class of 2020.
Chase Pine is a guy that shouldn’t come off the field.