Narduzzi jumps out to hot start on recruiting trail, owns No. 21 class in country

It’s June, and that can only mean one thing for Pitt football.

It’s officially visit season – which coincides with a boatload of commitments from high school recruits to the Panthers within the month.

June is an important month for head coach Pat Narduzzi and his staff. Historically, the Panthers have received a high number of commitments within the month – in 2018 the Panthers secured 11 commitments in June and 10 the following year. 

Narduzzi is continuing that trend this year.

On the first Friday of the month, Narduzzi sent out three of his famous Pat Signals in the span of five minutes. 

Narduzzi sent Pitt fans on Twitter into a frenzy. But there was more to come.

Pitt jumped from No. 78 to No. 22 in the 2023 Rivals recruiting class rankings in a 24-hour timeframe – with six commitments on the first weekend of June. Eight of the 14 players who were on a visit during that weekend are currently committed to the program. 

The Panthers continued to build their future defense with five of those six commitments being defensive players. Three of the defensive commitments came from cornerbacks with Shadarian Harrison, Brice Pollock and Shelton Lewis all pledging to the Panthers. 

The other two commits — Antonio Camon and Isaiah Neal — came in the form of defensive linemen. 

Wide receiver Kenny Johnson represents the lone offensive player to join the Panthers during the first weekend. 

This was just the beginning, though. 

This past weekend Narduzzi and his staff secured five more commits on Saturday. Only three of the newly committed players have officially pledged to the Panthers, with running back Montravius Lloyd and linebackers Braylan Lovelace and Rasheem Biles joining the now 13-man class. 

Lloyd will join Johnson, as well as highly touted quarterback Kenny Minchey and dynamic receiver Zion Fowler, on the offensive side of the ball.

Of the 11 players that have announced their commitments, all are currently ranked as three-star recruits, according to Rivals. Four of the Panthers commits — Johnson, Camon, Neal and Pollock — have a 5.7 rating, just shy of the 5.8 mark that equates to a four-star recruit on the site.

247Sports ranks the Panthers recruiting class top 25 in the nation, coming in at No. 21.