Branson Taylor is the latest Pitt Panther to announce his return through Alliance 412.
The allure of the transfer portal has resulted in a few Panthers exiting via the transfer portal, which opened up on Monday, but Taylor — who clearly received chances to explore NIL opportunities outside Pittsburgh — will not be one of them.
Taylor, who is entering his fifth season at Pitt, originally a three-star recruit out of Lorian, Oh., will once again serve as the Pitt left tackle next season.
Gavin Bartholomew, Rodney Hamond Jr. and Dayon Hayes have also announced that they will be returning to Pitt for another season.
After redshirting as a true freshman in 2020, playing just three games, Taylor has played in 24 of 25 possible games over the last two seasons — starting 15 of those games.
Taylor took the most snaps on the Pitt offense last season, racking up 640 snaps spread across left and right tackle. He started the season as the starting right tackle, but when Matt Goncalves went down with a season-ending injury in Week 3, Taylor shifted to the left side.
According to PFF, Taylor allowed 13 pressures, eight hurries and two sacks in 11 games — starting every game but the Notre Dame loss, which he missed due to injury. And Pitt will need him to take another step forward in 2024.
Pitt worked through a double-digit number of offensive line combinations in 2023, to varying degrees of success, but it’s clear that, for all of the problems offensively, the offensive line play wasn’t good enough.
Jake Kradel and Blake Zubovic, mainstays on the offensive line over the last two seasons, have exhausted their eligibility, and preseason starters Matt Goncalves and Ryan Jacoby have not decided upon their futures yet.
Taylor and Ryan Baer started just about every game at left and right tackle, respectively, after Goncalves went down with an injury, and there’s potential there. BJ Williams and Jason Collier Jr. will return as two of the more experienced interior options now.
Pitt is already searching the transfer portal for help on the line next season.
