Pitt picks up a commitment from Branson Taylor

Branson Taylor announced tonight that he has committed to the University of Pittsburgh. He chose Pitt over his other finalist: West Virginia. Taylor is a 6'7" and 285-pound offensive tackle out of Elyria (OH). He took one official visit during the recruiting process, and that was to Pitt back on June 14th.

Taylor had an eye-opening experience when he was in Pittsburgh as he got to see all the school had to offer. “I got to see some good things," he told Panther-Lair.com following his official visit. "I talked to some of the players, some of the coaches so it went well.”

Shortly after that official visit, Taylor narrowed things down to a final five that also included West Virginia, Tennessee, Purdue, and Michigan State. He took some unofficial visits to those programs in the meantime. Following an unofficial visit to Morgantown earlier this month, he decided that his recruitment was down to just Pitt and the Mountaineers.

“I just thought it was appropriate after visiting WVU last Thursday,” he said. “I think I saw enough from all the schools and I narrowed it down to those two.”

Ultimately Taylor opted to make a decision among the two programs tonight following his team's scrimmage. His Elyria Catholic team's regular season schedule begins next week, when it hosts Perkins High School.

Taylor becomes the second offensive line recruit to join the 2020 recruiting class. He joins Michael Statham. He also becomes the second player from the state of Ohio to commit to this class as he joins Bangally Kamara.

While his commitment comes a little bit later, Taylor's decision helps bolster Pitt's successful two-week run in June. He is now the 14th player from those official visits to commit to Pitt.

Pitt now has 17 commitments in the class of 2020. From this point forward, Pitt is not expected to have many more spots available in this class. Pitt still has yet to add a quarterback or a tight end in this class, and there's still likely room to add another offensive linemen as well. It remains to be seen how the Pitt coaching staff plans to approach the low numbers down the stretch, but with Taylor's commitment it helps clear things up considerably.