Former four-star Brown leaves Pitt

Naquan Brown’s career will be spent somewhere other than Pitt after the freshman defensive end entered the transfer portal on Wednesday.

Brown, a native of Virginia Beach, joined the Panthers last summer as a four-star prospect out of Ocean Lakes High School. He had 26 sacks combined in his sophomore and junior seasons, and he was named first team All-Beach District and All-Tidewater, in addition to being the No. 185 overall prospect in the class of 2021 according to Rivals and the No. 2 prospect in the Virginian-Pilot’s Hampton Roads Top 50.

Despite the accolades, Brown was difficult to project in college. At 6’3” and 205 pounds, he was a ‘tweener: he was ranked as a four-star linebacker prospect, but the Pitt coaches saw him as a defensive end, and he spent his freshman season working with defensive line coach Charlie Partridge.

Brown was part of a star-studded defensive line class for the Pitt coaches, who also signed four-star end Nahki Johnson, four-star tackle Eliot Donald and three-star tackle Dorien Ford in last year’s recruiting cycle.

With Brown off the roster, Pitt is currently projected to return 12 defensive ends. Four of those 12 will be seniors in 2022; three will be juniors; two will have sophomore eligibility; and three will have freshman eligibility.

That last group includes Johnson and the Panthers’ two signings from the 2022 class, Jimmy Scott and Samuel Okunlola.

Brown’s departure also drops Pitt’s projected scholarship roster for 2022 from 89 to 88. As such, the Panthers will still need three more players from the current projected roster to leave this offseason in order to meet the 85-man scholarship limit.