Pitt FB Recruiting
Pitt Junior Day Recap: Explosive 3-Star RB Grows Pitt Bond
Taking a look at the current Pitt running back room, the unit is going to need to be restocked for the future.
Following this season, Rodney Hammond Jr. and Montravious Lloyd were both lost to the transfer portal while Daniel Carter exhausted his eligibility.
Desmond Reid, Pitt’s leading rusher in 2024, will return next season for his final season of college eligibility and will be backed up by Juelz Goff and Derrick Davis Jr.
There are three running backs in the class of 2025, with Ja’Kyrian Turner arriving on campus already, but the Pitt staff is no doubt out looking for their back of the near future.
Over the weekend, Pitt hosted a player that has the skill set to possibly be one of Pitt’s backs of the future.
2026 three-star running back Izaiah Wright was in Pittsburgh making an unofficial visit for Pitt’s Junior Day. The 5-foot-10, 210-pound back from Carlson High School in Gibraltar, Mich. received his offer from Pitt last May. Along with Pitt, Wright holds offers from CMU, Cincinnati, Indiana, Miami (Oh.), Michigan State, Minnesota, Purdue, Tennessee, Toledo, West Virginia, Western Michigan and Wisconsin.
Full season Highlights, missed four games due to an ankle injury, came back to finish the season but never got back to 100%
Heavy focus on recovery this offseason‼️
8 games played
1,020 APY 13 TD’S https://t.co/q9mj2iYffR— Izaiah |Zay| Wright 3⭐️2026 (@zaywright313) November 25, 2024
“They reached out to me and wanted me to come up,” Wright told Pittsburgh Sports Now. “Any school that shows interest in me, I’m going to show interest back and reciprocate that energy because that means a lot. I just wanted to see what Pitt had to offer and went there. I really like their facilities, and with them sharing facilities with the Pittsburgh Steelers, that really is a unique situation. That is really cool. Also, I really like Coach Lamar. We had a chance to sit down and talking in his meeting room and we talked, and he showed his stuff and how they’d use me. He was very passionate; he told me about his story, and I left there really liking him.”
The Pitt staff has aggressively been recruiting Wright since May, but he admitted getting the opportunity to come to Pittsburgh and meet the coaches in person and talk with them face-to-face was way more important and valuable than receiving text messages and talking to them on the phone.
“That’s really important,” Wright said. “Meeting them in person, you start to get a sense of who they really are. If I were to end up going to their school, meeting them lets me get to know them and potentially what I would be getting. The Pitt coaches are really great people, and I see that they would have the best interest of me at heart.”
An ankle injury sidelined Wright last season for four games but he was still able to account for 1,020 all-purpose yards in just eight games. As a sophomore, Wright rushed for 1,962 yards (racking up 2,129 all-purpose yards) and 31 touchdowns.
“I’d say that it’s a combination of physicality and speed,” said Wright. “I’m a track guy and run a 10.8 in the 100 so I’m pretty fast but I also have nice size. Like Coach Lamar was telling me, they have speed guys like Desmond Reid, but they also have big backs. However, I feel like I can be both of those things. I can get the ground and pound yards and can also get to the second level and make explosive plays. Plus, I can also come out of the backfield in order to catch the ball which are three things they said that they want in their backs.
“Coach Bell and Coach Lamar said that they like guys that, we’re going to get you to the second level and once you get there, you have to be able to outrun guys and make plays. I think that my running style compliments that perfectly.”
Wright told PSN that Tennessee, Wisconsin and Cincinnati are three programs that are recruiting him hard at this time. Also, he’s currently looking to set up a few more Junior Day visits with those schools and others like Minnesota on Feb. 1.
