Pitt FB Recruiting
Looking Back at Impressive Month of Pitt Recruiting
The month of June was one of the most impressive periods of recruiting in recent Pitt memory, especially under head coach Pat Narduzzi.
Pitt reeled in 16 commitments that has boosted its class to No. 26 in the national rankings, according to 247Sports.
With June coming to a close, Pitt has 21 members of its 2026 class and while there is still a long ways to go until early National Signing Day in December, Pitt has itself quite the class.
The month started and all about finished up with WPIAL commitments. Three-star North Allegheny defensive tackle Lincoln Hoke was the first to commit and announced during the first official visit weekend. A few weeks later, it was three-star defensive back Da’Ron Barksdale out of Steel Valley that rounded out a strong WPIAL haul.
Four-star Peters Township prospect Reston Lehman is one of the cornerstones of the 2026 class as the Panthers beat out the likes of Penn State and Rutgers. John Curran III, an interior offensive lineman out of Pine-Richland High School, was another nice addition from the batch of local recruits.
Four-star edge rusher Reston Lehman on his Pitt official visit. Photo courtesy of Lehman’s Instagram.
While signing day is when it officially counts, Pitt’s four WPIAL pledges are the most in a class since 2021 when the Panthers landed Elliot Donald, Dorien Ford, Nahki Johnson and Stephon Hall.
Along with Lehman, the class has a handful of four-star prospects with plenty of intrigue. Running back Damon Ferguson out of Maryland is one of those players that has a lot of potential with home-run hitting ability. He was a longtime priority for Pitt and the Panthers locked him down during the official visit.
Thomas County Central (Georgia) wide receiver Jaydon Dunbar was a big win for Pitt in more ways than one as he stands at 6-5, 180 pounds and picked the Panthers over other top offers from Georgia, Georgia Tech, Minnesota, West Virginia, Michigan State, Duke, Mississippi State, Kentucky and USF.
Another impressive layer of the 2026 class is the amount of talent the Panthers have pulled from Texas and that includes four-star offensive lineman Day’Jon Moore. He was also leaning Pitt heading into the official visit from June 12-14 and the Panthers did enough to secure him.
Fellow offensive lineman Nick Howard from the Houston area and tight end Wyatt Villarreal from outside of Dallas were both nice pickups from the first official visit weekend.
Out of all the additions, one of the more compelling storylines, however, comes from the quarterback room. Pitt already held a commitment from three-star Texas recruit Angelo Renda. While on his official visit, three-star Corey Dailey also announced his verbal pledge to Pitt.
The two signal callers have different qualities that stand out about them. Renda stands at 6-foot and is dynamic with the ability to take off and run the ball. Dailey, on the other hand, is a big 6-foot-6 and has a strong arm as a pocket passer.
Pitt just about filled every position in its 2026 class and that includes the momentum at linebacker with picks ups from talented three-star Isaiah Simmons (Virginia) and three-star Desmond Johnson (Florida).
Other commitments from a hectic month of June included three-star offensive tackle Mike van der Oord, who was previously committed to Toledo, three-star cornerback Kentrail Mcrae Jr. (Florida), three-star wide receiver Bryan Hamilton (Florida) and three-star defensive lineman Logan Nagle (New Jersey).
Pitt football’s recruiting reach in recent years / PSN
There’s a lot to takeaway from Pitt’s run in the month of June. The new energy infused by the various assistants and closing power they showed to come out on top of recruiting battles was evident. The reach that the Panthers’ staff has built as well is noteworthy with five recruits committed from Texas and five more from Florida.
This class is not set in stone, but if the Pitt staff can hold onto as much as possible while adding potentially another running back and defensive back, this class could be one of the best under Narduzzi.
2026 Pitt Recruiting Class Positional Breakdown
Quarterback: 2 — Angelo Renda, Corey Dailey
Running back: 1 — Damon Ferguson
Wide receiver: 4 — Jaydon Dunbar, Dylan Wester, Demetrice McCray, Bryan Hamilton
Tight end: 1 — Wyatt Villarreal
Offensive linemen: 4 — John Curran III, Mike van der Oord, Nicholas Howard, Day’Jon Moore
Defensive tackle: 1 — Lincoln Hoke
Defensive end: 2 — Reston Lehman, Logan Nagle
Linebacker: 3 — Marcus Jennings, Isaiah Simmons, Desmond Johnson
Cornerback: 1 — Kentrail Mcrae Jr.
Safety: 2 — Isaac Patterson, Da’Ron Barksdale
