Pitt FB Recruiting
Pitt LS Nilay Upadhyayula Excited for New Opportunity in Pittsburgh
Pitt landed its second commitment this offseason when former UConn long snapper Nilay Upadhyuyula announced that he’s joining the Panthers’ 2024 roster.
Upadhyuyula — a 5-foot-11, 230-pound redshirt junior long snapper from IMG Academy in Florida — picked up an offer from the Pitt coaching staff Sunday, his first after entering the transfer portal last month, and it came after he made a visit to Pittsburgh over the weekend.
Upadhyuyula played in 18 games during his four seasons at UConn, emerging as a starter in 2023, and he will have two seasons of eligibility remaining with the Panthers.
“The transfer portal right now is just crazy, crazy,” Upadhyuyula told Pittsburgh Sports Now. “I’m blessed enough to have gotten this offer to a great institution that’s going to set me up for life. I’m excited to get to work with these guys because they have a really good thing going on there. Every time I talked to coach Narduzzi, he was telling me how excited he was and how much he believed in me. It’s just a really good opportunity for me.
“I’m forever in debt to UConn and owe them a lot, but it was time. I was there for four years, and it was just time. Sometimes you do everything you can do at a certain place. They did a lot for me and I’m forever appreciative of that but sometimes in life you just have to make decisions for yourself.”
It was somewhat of a surprise when Byron Floyd decided to enter the transfer portal after being Pitt’s long-snapper for the last two seasons. James Fineran is the only other long snapper on the roster, but with the addition of Upadhyuyula and the number of offers that the coaching staff extended early in the offseason, it’s clear there was a desire to upgrade the position.
“I’m not too sure about what the situation was, but they just told me that I had good film. Day by day, their interest in me started to pick up. They just said we liked your film and what you can do, and they brought me up there and I had a great time. I don’t know too much about the situation before me, but I just know that when they were recruiting me, they said they liked what they saw and that’s a really good thing to hear when you’re in the portal.”
Upadhyuyula didn’t waste any time making a decision after entering the portal as he made an official visit to Pitt during the first weekend of December and couldn’t have been more impressed with everything that he saw.
“Well, I’ll tell you this, I was born in Arizona and lived there for 14 years, so I’m a Cardinals fan but seeing that stadium when you come out of the tunnel is a crazy beast,” said Upadhyuyula. “Seeing that stadium is just crazy. As a Cardinals fan, that brings a little bit of bad memories, but that stadium is beautiful. Coming out of that tunnel, you look to the left and you see the stadium, you look to the right, and you see the city, I was just in shock. Before the trip, I told myself I wasn’t going to be oohing and awing about anything but that went right away when I came through the tunnel.”
“When I went on my visit, Pittsburgh did a great job of explaining the business/career opportunities that they’re involved with. That’s very important to me with life beyond football. Expanding who I am beyond football is very important to me. As far as football, the facilities are great. The strength and conditioning coaches are great.
“I talked to them for like 20 minutes, I was probably talking their ear off. Coach Narduzzi is a good dude and good things are happening at Pitt. One thing that I liked was when I took my visit, they got Cal (Adomitis), the former long snapper there plastered all over. He’s a Pittsburgh legend. Seeing the things he’s done and the success that he’s had both on and off the field, it’s just a reminder that the opportunity is there, you just have to go get it. Day in and day out, you just have to be willing to put in the work.”
