Mason Lindsay remembers the moment when it hit him that Pitt was it.

“After the first day, we came back to the facility and looked at all the stuff and learned about the academics and the Life Skills program, just going over everything outside of football, and I was like, ‘Yeah, this is it,’” the three-star offensive lineman from DeMatha told Panther-Lair.com.

Lindsay announced his commitment on Wednesday afternoon, but he made the commitment on Monday morning following his official visit over the weekend. His parents joined him for the visit, and they signed off on his decision.

“My parents were with me and my mom was blown away by the academic support,” Lindsay said. "So we were waiting in Coach (Dave) Borbely’s office and I said to them, 'This might be it. It’s a great ACC school and it’s not far from home. They said they felt like it was right, too.

“It just felt like home. They put their best foot forward and the staff was amazing; they were some of the nicest people I’ve ever met.”

Like a lot of recruits, Lindsay came into his official visit unsure of what to expect from spending two days in and around the Pitt program. But it didn’t take him long to find out what made the Panthers appealing.

“On the bus ride to the facility, I didn’t know what to expect,” Lindsay said.”I knew I was going to a visit and I would see some coaches and that was all. But then I went in and saw the weight room and saw the Steelers outside and just took in the atmosphere of the whole place and I knew that was definitely home.”

Lindsay picked Pitt over offers from Boston College, Maryland, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and more. He is the third offensive lineman to publicly announce for the Panthers in the class of 2024, joining Pennsylvania products Adham Abouraya and Jiavani Cooley, and Pitt’s group of linemen in the class is getting full.

“I was talking to Coach (Pat) Narduzzi and he said, ‘We only have two slots left for O-linemen,’ so that weighed a little bit but not too much. I didn’t think I had to scramble because I already had made up my mind,” Lindsay said.

A bigger factor in Lindsay’s decision was Borbely, Pitt’s offensive line coach.

“He’s a great guy and a great coach,” Lindsay said of Borbely. “He’s wise and he’s knowledgable about the sport and the position he coaches. And he’s one of the funniest coaches I’ve ever met.”