Pitt football team adds 22nd member to 2017 recruiting class

Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi now has 23 members in his second full recruiting class with the Panthers. John Hamilton | Visual Editor

The Pitt football team’s 2017 recruiting class continues to take shape, as a new member joined the class Wednesday — marking the second commit in two days.

Michael Smith, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound wide receiver from Vero Beach, Florida, verbally committed Wednesday to join the Panthers for the 2017 season. With the addition of Smith, Pitt now has 21 high school recruits and one graduate transfer — former USC quarterback Max Browne — in Pat Narduzzi’s second full recruiting class as head coach.

Smith chose the Panthers over offers from several Power Five schools, including Notre Dame, Georgia Tech and Washington State.

“After talking with my family, I have officially decided to commit to the University of Pittsburgh,” Smith said via Twitter.

Smith, a three-star prospect according to Rivals, is only the third wide receiver in Pitt’s 2017 class. He joins three-star receiver Darian Street from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and fellow Florida native Dontavius Butler, also a three-star prospect.

Of Pitt’s 21 high school recruits in the 2017 class, six hail from the Sunshine State — Smith, Butler, three-star defensive backs Damarri Mathis and Albert Tucker, three-star defensive end Deslin Alexandre and three-star offensive lineman Jerry Drake Jr.

Alexandre and Drake are already enrolled at Pitt for the 2017 spring semester along with Browne, three-star quarterback prospect Kenny Pickett and two-star Australian punter Kirk Christodoulou. Smith and the other 16 commits in the 2017 class are still free to change their minds, as they cannot officially sign National Letters of Intent until Feb. 1.

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