Incoming Pitt freshman Kyle Fugedi will not be joining the Panthers and has requested a release from his Letter of Intent.

Fugedi, an offensive line prospect and former hockey player from Franklin High School in Livonia (Mich.), signed with Pitt in December after decommitting from Miami (Oh.).

Like all recruits in his class, Fugedi was unable to take an official visit, and his only experiences in Pittsburgh were a self-guided tour last fall and when he attended the Blue-Gold Game at Heinz Field in April. His interaction with the Pitt coaching staff was also limited largely to Zoom calls and other online communication.

June 13 was reporting day for incoming freshmen, but Fugedi did not arrive in Oakland as planned. Since then, he has requested to be released from his Letter of Intent, with the likely goal of finding an in-state school to attend this fall, if such an opportunity exists.

In addition to Pitt and Miami (Oh.), Fugedi had offers from Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Indiana, Kent State and Kentucky.

Fugedi was one of four offensive line prospects to sign with Pitt in the class of 2021. Terrence Enos, Terrence Rankl (now Moore) and Trey Andersen all enrolled in January and participated in spring camp.

Without Fugedi, Pitt is projected to enter the 2021 season with 96 players on scholarship. 12 of those are “super seniors” using an extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA due to the COVID season of 2020 and will not count against the 85-scholarship limits, which means Pitt will have 84 counting scholarship players, or room for one more addition to the scholarship roster.