Ingwerson acts on Pitt offer quickly

Eric Ingwerson came into Pittsburgh for a visit over the weekend as a tight end prospect from Nebraska with impressive size but no offer from Pitt.

By the time the visit ended, he not only had an offer from the Panthers, but he committed on the spot.

“The city blew me away coming out of the tunnel for the first time seeing downtown and the stadium, it was amazing,” Ingwerson told Panther-Lair.com. “Then visiting the campus along with the football facilities, it was all great. I really liked it all.”

Before he visited Pitt this past weekend, Ingwerson had already picked up offers from Northern Illinois and Northern Iowa, while Kansas, Minnesota and others were showing interest in the 6’7” 225-pound tight end who plays on both sides of the ball for Papillion-Lavista High School in Papillion, Neb.

Last season, Ingwerson caught 10 passes for 175 yards and three touchdowns on offense while putting up 51 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks at defensive end, according to MaxPreps.

At Pitt’s practice on Saturday, which was the Panthers’ first spring workout in full pads, Ingwerson kept his eyes to the tight ends and position coach Tim Salem.

“They were all paying attention to Coach Salem and locked-in during the meetings,” he said. “They play physical and they all looked like they were helping each other during drills.

“Coach Salem is a teacher coach who wants his tight ends to learn and develop and get better. He is a great communicator and I really enjoyed my time with him.”

While Ingwerson had been hearing from Salem and the Pitt staff prior to his visit, it was a sit-down meeting with Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi that led to his offer - and, ultimately, his commitment.

“I was thankful for the opportunity and super excited to have Coach Narduzzi personally offer it to me with my dad there,” he said. It was a great moment.

“[Narduzzi is a] great leader [who] wants what’s best for his players and team and holds people accountable but does it in a way that is fun and fast-paced.”

Ingwerson is the sixth recruit to commit to Pitt in the class of 2024, joining defensive tackles Francis Brewu (who committed last week) and Jahsear Whittington, running back Juelz Goff, receiver Ric’Darious Farmer and defensive end Ty Yuhas.