The first major domino of the Pitt football offseason has fallen with a multi-season starter announcing his intentions entering the transfer portal.
Bangally Kamara, who has started at Star and Money linebacker for Pitt over the last two seasons, will enter the transfer portal when it officially opens on Dec. 4. It’s the first unexpected portal entry for Pitt,
Kamara arrived at Pitt as a highly-touted recruit out of Akron, Oh. in the class of 2020. He did not walk on Senior Night earlier this month, which seemingly paved the way for a return next season, but he will use his two seasons of eligibility elsewhere.
It’s a tough loss for Pitt, considering the fact that Kamara has played 1,144 defensive snaps over the last two seasons and recorded 104 tackles (48 solo), 9.5 tackles for loss, three sacks, an interception, eight pass breakups and a fumble recovery over the last two seasons.
Kamara missed some time early in the season, suffering an injury against West Virginia, and it was a hitch in what was a strong start to the season for the talented linebacker.
But despite all of Kamara’s talent, able to effectively play both outside linebacker spots, he never truly developed into the kind of difference-maker that many thought he was going to be over the season — winning the Ed Conway Award for most improved player in the spring in 2022.
Regardless, it’s a huge loss for the Pitt linebacking corps from both an experience and a production standpoint with Shayne Simon exhausting his eligibility and Brandon George and Aydin Henningham entering the transfer portal.
Solomon DeShields is the lone Day 1 starter set to return to Pitt next season, but there’s a lot of young, talented linebackers who saw the field last season in the form of Jordan Bass, Braylan Lovelace, Kyle Louis and Rasheem Biles. And a talented crop of linebackers is set to sign with Pitt in just under a month.
But it should still be expected that Pitt will look into adding some veteran linebackers from the transfer portal — especially in the middle.
