Vukovcan: Helping Pitt With Offseason Transfer Portal Priorities

With the end of the college football regular season, transfer season is well underway for Pitt.

While the NCAA transfer portal won’t officially open until next week, players from all around the country are publicly announcing their decisions to find another place to find a new football home.

Earlier this morning, Pitt offensive lineman Terrence Moore and cornerback Noah Biglow made the decision to transfer and last week, defensive tackle Nahki Johnson did the same thing.

Over the next few weeks, Moore, Biglow and Johnson won’t be the only Panthers to leave, as some players will decide to leave on their own, while others will have the decision made for them.

And then others will transfer because of a better NIL opportunity with the opportunity to make more money elsewhere.

Just a reminder that players transferring for these 3 reasons will be happening at every program in the country, not just at Pitt. This is just the new college football and fan bases just have to get used to it.

Since the Boston College game, Pat Narduzzi, his coaching staff and members of Pitt’s Alliance 412 have no doubt had discussions on the plan for next season. Things such as the 2025 budget, which Panthers might get poached, what positions they need to address and who currently on the roster are priority/must-keep players.

In a column on Sunday, I suggested that Pitt needs to make an addition to their athletic department and bring in a General Manager for the football program to help out with their salary cap, the construction of the roster and fundraising.

Since it’s the holiday season and a time for sharing and giving, I’m going to help Pat Narduzzi and the Pitt football program out by giving them some free advice and sharing my thoughts on top off-season priorities.

Let’s start with my top 10 players currently on the roster that Pitt needs to find a way to hold onto. All Power Four teams, especially ones with the resources, will be looking to pluck talent that can immediately improve their team.

(Not in order)

1. Eli Holstein — His importance to this program should be fairly obvious. If they can keep him healthy and upright, he’s a really good player.
2. Desmond Reid — Reid was Pitt’s best offensive player in 2024. He was Pitt’s most dynamic player along with their toughest. Like with Holstein, Reid is capable of having a tremendous senior season if he’s able to run behind a good offensive line.
3. Kenny Johnson — Looking back, Kade Bell needed to target Johnson a lot more in the passing game than he did. Johnson would enter next season as Pitt’s top receiver, and he should be force-fed the ball.
4. Ryan Baer — IMO, Baer was a victim of the overall poor play of the line. Because of injuries, he switched between left and right tackle, which wasn’t good for him. Baer is the only player on the line that should be guaranteed a spot in 2025.
5. Kyle Louis — Was Pitt’s breakout player this season and his play warrants him earning All-American status. He also earned himself a lot of money and Pitt needs to keep him in Blue and Gold.
6. Rasheem Biles — Same goes with Biles. The duo of Biles and Louis would give Pitt one of the top linebacker pairings in the country. Big-time talent.
7. Sincere Edwards — Of all the young talent Pitt defensive line that got to play this season, Edwards stood out to me the most. With the experience he gained this season, I believe he has the chance to have a breakout in 2025.
8. Francis Brewu — Same thing can be said for Brewu, could be Pitt’s next great defensive tackle.
9. Isaiah Neal — Like with Pitt’s linebackers, the future of the defensive line looks extremely promising with the likes of Edwards, Brewu, Neal, Nick James, Jimmy Scott, Jahsear Whittington, etc. Keeping these guys together will be the key.
10. Juelz Goff — Goff got his first real experience against Boston College and he’s someone who should be sharing time next season with Reid.

Keeping these players is just step one if Pitt wants to improve next season. Just as important will be the job of filling in holes in the starting lineup that were weak spots this past season.

It doesn’t take a general manager to figure out that Pitt’s top off-season priority will be to add multiple players to their offensive line.

The poor play of that line, along with injuries, impacted everything on offense and was a pretty big reason why this team finished the season on a 5-game losing streak.

PITT’S OFF-SEASON PRIORITIES IN THE TRANSFER PORTAL:
1. Offensive Lineman (tackle or guard)
2. Offensive Lineman (tackle or guard)
3. Offensive Lineman (tackle or guard)
4. Proven, veteran pass-rushing defensive end
5. Playmaking wide receiver to pair with Johnson.

Trying to accomplish all of this will be difficult and probably not realistic unless Alliance 412’s budget/contributions increase greatly. That being said, I’m optimistic that a lot of this can happen, with the pass-rushing end being the most difficult to acquire.

I know trying to convince Pitt fans that this team wasn’t that far away from being a 10-win team won’t be easy but it’s the truth.

Once everyone is able to calm down and look at the big picture and see the pieces that are scheduled to return in 2025, that should give everyone optimism.

Pitt has a ton of young, talented players that showed plenty of promise for the future but a few more pieces are needed.

Over the next couple of months, that’s going to be the challenge of this Pitt program. Let’s see how they choose to spend their money as it will no doubt be interesting.