Signed: Caleb Holmes

One of the top overall prospects in Pitt’s 2024 recruiting class is in.

Offensive lineman Caleb Holmes committed to the Panthers during his official visit in June, and his commitment stands as one of the biggest wins in this recruiting cycle for the Pitt staff.

Holmes ranks as a top-20 offensive guard in the recruiting class of 2024 nationally, but his offer sheet is more impressive than your typical three-star prospect. He picked Pitt over offers from Auburn, Boston College, Cincinnati, Florida State, Georgia Tech, LSU, Louisville, Maryland, Mississippi State, Missouri, Oklahoma, UCF and more.

Despite that offer sheet, Holmes committed on his first visit - an early-June trip to Pitt.

“People ask me, ‘Why commit when it’s only your first visit?’” Holmes told Panther-Lair.com. “My honest response was, I didn’t have a reason not to. Everything I saw, everything I heard, everything I felt, the way people reacted to me, the way I reacted to people - everything fit.

“I knew that Pitt was a top-tier college and a prestigious education and a winning program; I knew that and expected it,” he said after his visit. “But actually getting to the city and seeing everything with my own eyes, that’s when you combine all of those things with the resources that the players have - how they’re right next to the Steelers and sharing the same field and everything, how the Life Skills program is, the strength and conditioning program and everything. And then you talk to Coach Duzz and the thing that’s most important to him at Pitt is relationships.’

“So you combine this wholesome environment with the relationships, and it’s just an amazing experience.”

Holmes went 13-2 in his senior season at Creekside, with the only losses coming in a Week Three blowout defeat at the hands of national power Mater Dei and a 31-14 loss to Coffee in the state championship game.