Pitt won’t have its leading returning rusher for the 2024 season.

Senior running back Rodney Hammond will be ineligible for the season, the football program announced Friday afternoon. The ineligibility will prevent Hammond from playing in games but he will be able to practice with the team throughout the season.

Hammond led Pitt in rushing in 2023 with 547 yards and four touchdowns. In 2022 he ran for 460 yards and five touchdowns, and in his freshman season of 2021, he tied for second on the team in rushing touchdowns with five while putting tip 504 yards on the ground.

Hammond has also caught 22 passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns in his career.

Since he did not redshirt in his first three years, Hammond can use a redshirt this season and return as a redshirt senior in 2025 if he is so inclined.

Without Hammond this season, Pitt will turn to Western Carolina transfer Desmond Reid to lead the Panthers’ backfield. A winter addition from the Catamounts, Reid starred in new Pitt offensive coordinator Kade Bell’s system while at WCU, rushing for 1,723 yards and 17 touchdowns in 18 games, averaging 6.9 yards per carry and topping 100 rushing yards in eight of his 18 career games.

Reid also caught 42 passes for 495 yards and one more score, and he was named to the AFCA All-America second team last season after putting up 1,180 yards of total offense in eight games.

On Thursday, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi announced that Reid would start Pitt’s season opener against Kent State this Saturday.

“He’s been explosive, he makes plays, he's a great pass-protector, and he's just been really consistent and stayed healthy,” Narduzzi said.

Redshirt junior Derrick Davis, who transferred to Pitt from LSU prior to last season, will be Reid’s backup.

“The guy that's really gotten so much better since January is Derrick Davis,” Bell said this week. “He was more just a downhill, straight line, you know, big, fast guy. But you talk about a guy in the summer that's worked on catching the football, worked on running routes on the backfield. I mean, he's been very consistent in that stuff. And he's also a very smart kid, so he pays attention. He takes really good notes, and he knows exactly what we want to do in the pass game, which is good.”

Pitt also has super-senior Daniel Carter and redshirt freshman Montravius Lloyd available in the backfield heading into the season opener.