Earlier this month, Pat Narduzzi and the Pitt coaching staff had put the finishing touches on the 2019 recruiting class, or so that was the belief. This afternoon however, Pitt added Rutgers graduate transfer Nakia Griffin-Stewart into the fold. He has one year to play and is immediately eligible for the 2019 season.

Griffin-Stewart played in all 12 games for the Scarlet Knights this season, and started four of them. He totaled just two catches for 10 yards. In 2017, he caught 11 passes for 87 yards and one touchdown.

Pitt needed depth and experience at the tight end position, and that is exactly what Griffin-Stewart will provide. Pitt tight ends only caught 10 passes in 2018. New offensive coordinator Mark Whipple is expected to utilize the tight end more in the passing game moving forward, but the depth chart was short on experience.

Pitt returns Will Gragg, Jim Medure, Caron Van Lynn, Grant Carrigan, and Kaymir Mimes at tight end. While the numbers aren’t low, there are some caveats to the returnees. Caron Van Lynn and Grant Carrigan have long been believed to be future offensive linemen, and their skill set is geared more towards blocking than catching passes.

Kaymir Mimes was a defensive end out of high school, and only transitioned to tight end during his redshirt freshman season out of need. Jim Medure is a former walk-on, and while Will Gragg has the pedigree of a former four-star recruit, but he only has 10 career catches between his stops at Arkansas and Pitt.

In addition to those five players, Pitt recently signed Jason Collier for the class of 2019, but he is expected to redshirt next season.

Griffin-Stewart will have a chance to come in and make an immediate impact in the tight end room, both from a leadership standpoint and in production as well. He may be the leading candidate for the starting job, or at the very least has as good of a chance as anyone else.

Griffin-Stewart follows in the footsteps of Gragg last season, and Matt Flanagan in 2017 as a transfer tight ends for this program. Recruiting and holding onto tight ends has been a recurring problem for Pitt under Pat Narduzzi. Pitt lost Charles Reeves before the 2018 season due to a dismissal, while starting tight end Tyler Sear left the program mid-year.

His commitment also puts Pitt at 86 scholarship players, not counting backup quarterback Jeff George Jr. So some attrition will be required before the start of the 2019 season.