We've got a lot to discuss in this week's 3-2-1 Column, from Pitt's success in retaining its top players to what to watch for in the bowl game to the Panthers' loss in the Final Four Thursday night.
THREE THINGS WE KNOW
The good news from the portal
…or, how no news can be good news
While we’re all watching the daily moves, machinations and vibrations of the transfer portal, there’s one other side of the offseason madness that comes into play, and it’s one we should talk about more.
At least, we should talk about it more in the public space; it has been discussed plenty on the boards.
It’s retention. Because the offseason isn’t just about adding players from the portal; it’s also about keeping your best players from going into the portal. And so far, Pitt has done exactly that.
If you look at the list of 12 players who left the Panthers for the transfer portal, there are no starters in the bunch, and maybe five of the 12 would be considered top reserves and two-deep players.
There are some notable losses, to be sure. Nate Yarnell would be pretty helpful next Thursday for the GameAbove Sports Bowl, and having him on the roster would be pretty nice insurance next season in the event of a backup quarterback being called upon.
Ditto on both counts for Rodney Hammond. And Daejon Reynolds.
Similarly, it would be good to have guys like Nahki Johnson at defensive tackle and Terrence Moore at center for veteran, experienced depth at their positions. But they weren’t starters this past season and weren’t going to be starter next season; both - like Yarnell and Hammond - were passed over by players who produced and performed in 2024.
And those players who produced and performed in 2024 have, so far, decided to stick with Pitt.
This is one of the biggest wins of the offseason. You want to sign a good recruiting class to build the foundation and you want to add good transfers to top off next year’s team. But retention is as important as anything. When you bring in good players, either from recruiting or the transfer portal, you want to keep those good players on your roster.
In recent years, we’ve seen that that’s easier said than done. Everyone can name the names, from Jordan Addison in the spring of 2022 to Deandre Jules, Dayon Hayes, Sam Okunlola and Solomon DeShields last offseason; Pitt has lost quite a few quality players to the portal in recent years - players who the staff would very much like to have had back for another season.
This year, though, we’re not seeing it happen. I thought there would be a handful of starters who left for the portal, guys who had a chance to get a nice payday at another school. But it hasn’t happened.
And make no mistake about it: Pitt has some players who would very much draw interest. Players who did draw interest. But the relationships with the staff and the efforts of the collective worked in tandem to keep those players here.
Guys like Kyle Louis, Rasheem Biles, Kenny Johnson, Eli Holstein and the young defensive linemen - just to name a few - could have found new homes and NIL deals. But Pitt kept them on the team.
It’s a credit to those players for sticking with the school they signed to play for, and it’s a credit to all of the other involved parties for doing what was necessary to keep them here.
I know when things go bad - and a five-game losing streak after a 7-0 start certainly qualifies - it’s easy to feel like everything sucks and nothing good will ever happen.
Well, those players sticking with Pitt very much qualifies as a good thing happening. Several good things, in fact. So if you’re feeling a bit of the “Bah, humbug” with regards to Pitt’s offseason, the players of Panther present have committed to being players of Panther future, and that’s got to chase away some of the holiday blues.
Louis is an All-American
Finally.
I thought I was going to have to start raising a ruckus.
But before I stormed the gates at the Associated Press and the Football Writers Association of America, the Sporting News came through and did what was right on Wednesday, naming Pitt redshirt sophomore linebacker Kyle Louis a first-team All-American.
We’ve been over Louis’ accomplishments many times already, so we’ll do a quick refresh and move on:
97 tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss, 7 sacks, 4 interceptions
I can recite those numbers off the top of my head. You should be able to, as well. And you should be able to say this one, too:
Louis was the most productive defensive player in the country. In terms of all-around stat lines, nobody else in college football had numbers like those. Some had tackles. Some had tackles for loss and sacks. Some had interceptions. But nobody had as many of all of them as Louis.
(The one exception was Buffalo’s Shaun Dolac; he had 159 tackles, 16.5 TFL, 5.5 sacks and 5 interceptions. He’s the only acceptable answer if you’re looking for another guy with a stat line comparable to Louis.)
But I’ve gone over all of the numbers before. We all know them. Let’s put a different context on them.
Let’s talk Pitt history.
Because Louis stacks up pretty well there, too.
He is the first Pitt sophomore defensive player to earn first-team All-America honors since Hugh Green in 1978. He is also the first Pitt linebacker to earn first-team All-America honors since Scott McKillop in 2008.
And his stat line stands out against other linebackers in Pitt history pretty well. From what I can find, the only other Panther linebackers to record at least four interceptions in a season were Malcolm Postell in 2004 and Troy Benson in 1983. Postell had 64 tackles, 8.5 TFL, 1 sack and 4 interceptions in 2004; Benson had 98 tackles, 13 TFL, 2 sacks and 4 interceptions in 1983.
So here again, you’ve got a pretty historic performance from Louis - one that stands as being among the best in school history.
I think that’s a pretty great story, particularly when we’re talking about a guy who was a Temple commit until Pitt flipped him in the fall of his senior year. Nobody thought too much about it then; I think there was intrigue for a productive player, but he was undersized and, again, he flipped from Temple, so quite a few fans probably dismissed him and his potential impact.
But the end result was that the undersized flip from Temple turned out to have a high motor, incredible instincts and fantastic closing speed. In his third year of learning the defense, Louis emerged as one of the top playmakers at Pitt and in the ACC, and not only did he make big plays, but he also had an innate ability to take care of routine plays.
It was tough to run wide on Louis and even tougher to throw screens against him. By the end of the season, he had that extra something that only a few linebackers have had in this defense:
The ability to read and react not in real time but in advance. The best linebackers - and defensive linemen, for that matter - who have played in this defense have been able to think quicker than the offenses they were facing, and they had the athletic ability to act on it.
Calijah Kancey had it. SirVocea Dennis had it. Kyle Louis has it.
He was Pitt’s best player this season and is now one of the best the Panthers have had under Pat Narduzzi.
What to watch in the bowl
Seeing as how this is the last 3-2-1 Column before the GameAbove Sports Bowl, I figure we might as well talk about that game.
It is, after all, Pitt’s final game for the 2024 season, and while the particulars of this game - its date, location or participating teams - may hold little interest for you, I think there are some things to watch for.
Of course, most of those things are going to be personnel-related.
Like the aforementioned linebackers.
Louis had a great season; we all know that. But Rasheem Biles was pretty great, too, and his ceiling might be just as high as Louis’, if not higher, due to his size and speed. Biles can be an absolute stud, and he’ll cap his breakout season with one final game next Thursday. Those two guys play at such a high level that they can be worth the price of admission all by themselves.
I think it’s worth getting excited to watch the young defensive linemen, too. Freshmen Sincere Edwards and Francis Brewu saw playing time all season and got better as the fall went on, and I’ve heard a lot of good things about Jahsear Whittington, too; maybe he’ll get some more opportunities in Detroit.
I would also like to see Cruce Brookins (and maybe Jesse Anderson) get some more work in the base defense. I know it’s the last game for Donovan McMillon and P.J. O’Brien, but those young guys are intriguing.
Offensively, I think we’ve all pretty much resigned ourselves to the situation at quarterback. Eli Holstein is unlikely to play, which means we’re going to get to see redshirt freshman walk-on David Lynch a lot. But I think there’s an upside, because I wouldn’t mind seeing what former Penn Hills star Julian Dugger could do here. Maybe not the whole game, but for at least some of it. Give the freshman a few snaps and see what he can do.
Similarly, I would like to see Juelz Goff get a solid workload with a full series of practices in bowl prep. I don’t know if Desmond Reid will be available; obviously, if he is, he’s the man. But I think Goff is pretty talented, so put the ball in his hands.
Receiver will be pretty short-handed, what with Konata Mumpfield not playing in the bowl, Censere Lee injured and Daejon Reynolds and Lamar Seymore off to the transfer portal. But you know who’s still here? Freshman Tyreek Robinson and redshirt freshman Zion Fowler-El.
Get them the necessary work in practice and then let them make plays.
Oh, and feed Kenny Johnson, too.
Look, I know that many of you probably can’t muster up a lot of interest in whether or not Pitt beats Toledo (which to say, I know that Pitt beating Toledo won’t move the needle for you nearly as much as Pitt losing to Toledo would). I get that the GameAbove Sports Bowl is a far cry from what was expected - or at least hoped for - when Pitt started the season 7-0. I know that spending Christmas in Detroit seems like a justified outcome for a five-game losing streak, the “reward” for stumbling through five games with varying degrees of winnability.
I know you’re not building any statues for the team if they win this one.
I get it. I understand where you’re coming from.
But I also understand if you look at this game and say, ‘Hey, I’m a Pitt fan and I get to watch Pitt play football one more time before there are no games for eight months.’
I think that’s okay, too. And I think you can find plenty of interesting things to watch in this one.
TWO QUESTIONS WE HAVE
When will Pitt get someone from the portal?
We put it off long enough.
What the heck is going on with Pitt’s efforts in the transfer portal?
As of this writing, the Panthers have landed zero players from the portal, and it’s not for a lack of trying.
They’ve tried to get several offensive linemen, offering a bunch and bringing a few to campus for visits. But they’ve missed out on a bunch of them, which is concerning given that the offensive line is clearly the No. 1 priority for Pitt in the portal this offseason.
Ditto for receivers. Not necessarily in terms of priority, but just as with offensive linemen, the Panthers have targeted a number of receivers in the portal and don’t have anything to show for it yet.
We should probably start with that last word:
Yet.
Because at some point, Pitt will land some transfers. A bunch of them, most likely. They’ll get some offensive linemen and they’ll get a receiver or two and they’ll probably get a pass-rusher and maybe a backup quarterback and more or less address most of their needs and/or wants.
At some point.
The problem, at least in terms of everyone’s emotional well-being, is that point is not right now.
As teams across the country rebuild their rosters with portal additions, Pitt’s list of incoming transfers is empty. Why is that?
Well, there are a few reasons.
Actually, there’s one big one.
They’re getting outbid.
Plain and simple. Outbid. Money is the play here, and if you’re Pitt (and other schools) and you find yourself battling with another school for a transfer, chances are, you’re in a bidding war, and that’s probably not going to work out well.
So the Panthers worked hard to land Western Carolina offensive tackle Derek Simmons, but Simmons committed to Oklahoma, where the pockets are presumably deeper.
Now, does this mean Pitt will lose on every portal target if a school from the SEC or Big Ten gets involved?
Not entirely, but…yeah, to some extent.
But does that also mean Pitt will come up empty in its pursuit of transfers?
No, I don’t think so.
For starters, there are a lot of transfers out there. A lot. Literally thousands. Not all of them are at the level Pitt is looking for, of course, but plenty are, and there will be enough to get the Panthers what they need.
The challenges right now are the timing and the perception. When teams across the country are landing transfers by the dozens (seemingly) and Pitt is sitting at zero, well, it just doesn’t look good. And when the needs are as stark as they are for the Panthers, it feels like the current lack of additions will be a permanent lack of additions.
Which won’t be the case.
They’ll get guys. At some point, they will. It’s just anyone’s guess when that point will be.
I understand the frustration in not having any transfer commitments right now, but it’s not like those guys will be able to help in the GameAbove Sports Bowl. Pitt needs transfers to help build the roster for next season, and as long as they get some guys in before classes start in January, that help will be on the way.
So for now, I’m not getting too concerned about the Panthers’ progress in the portal. If we get to the second week of January and things look the same as they do right now, then maybe it will be time to start getting a little anxious.
Note: Less than 10 minutes after this column published, Pitt secured a commitment from Florida State receiver transfer Deuce Spann.
Will we see some depth on Saturday?
Pitt’s non-conference finale against Sam Houston on Saturday isn’t exactly overflowing with compelling storylines.
The Bearkats (sic) are 5-5 with losses to Nevada, Baylor, App State, UNCW and Indiana by an average of 18.2 points per game (Baylor and Indiana beat the Bearkats by a combined 63 points). Sam Houston was picked to finish third in Conference USA, and 6’5” wing Lamar Wilkerson is a returning all-conference player who was named to the preseason all-conference team as well. He’s going to be a challenge; he’s averaging 20.1 points per game and shooting 48.1% from three while making about four per game from beyond the arc. That will present an interesting matchup, and I’m curious to see how Pitt marks Wilkerson.
But ultimately, my biggest curiosity about this game tomorrow is who gets to play and what roles they play.
The biggest question marks continue to be at center. Neither Cam Corhen nor Guillermo Diaz Graham has necessarily had a great season so far through 11 games. For Diaz Graham, some of that can be attributed to his changed position; for Corhen, some of it can be attributed to simply not being strong enough around the basket.
Whatever the cause may be and whatever the solutions are, tomorrow represents a chance to mix and match a little more. Try Diaz Graham more at the five. Try Papa Amadou Kante more in the game. See what works and get some idea of how you’re going to approach that position heading into ACC play.
I don’t mean to say that Pitt should overlook Sam Houston, but the level of competition increases significantly starting on New Year’s Day, so if the non-conference schedule is the preseason and this is the final game of the preseason, then Jeff Capel and company should use it as such - particularly when the staff is trying to solve an issue like the center position.
I said something similar prior to the Eastern Kentucky game; I said I wanted to see some of the depth guys like Brandin Cummings, Amsal Delalic and Kante get extra playing time, both to help their development heading into the ACC schedule and to give the staff a better idea of what they have.
Cummings, of course, ended up getting lots of playing time in that game and responded with a 30-point performance. But that extra playing time was tied more to Jaland Lowe getting two fouls in the first two minutes than it was an intentional personnel decision by the staff, so I guess I kind of got what I was asking for, even if it wasn’t exactly the way I was asking for it.
Tomorrow, I think the staff should be more intentional about it. Get Cummings and Delalic in early. Get minutes for Kante. Get Jorge Diaz Graham on the court in a meaningful spot and see how he responds; Jorge has been pretty far down in the rotation, but he has also shot pretty well - 7-of-14 this season - so maybe he can earn some extra minutes.
Use this game to find out.
Maybe the game gets too close for comfort and Capel will have to rely in Lowe and Ishmael Leggett playing big minutes. If that happens, then you adjust. But I think the staff should go into this one with the goal of digging into the depth. They shouldn’t need 30-plus minutes from Lowe and Leggett. They shouldn’t need Lowe and Leggett to take over the game with iso drives to the basket. They should be able to win without resorting those tactics (which they will resort to plenty once the ACC schedule starts).
Test the depth. Find out what you have. And get valuable experience for players who will undoubtedly be called upon at some point in the 19 games after this one.
Will they do it? We’ll see.
ONE PREDICTION
Volleyball will be back
Last night was a tough one.
After spending virtually all season as the well-acknowledged Best Team in the Nation, Pitt volleyball’s season came to an end with a 3-1 loss to Louisville.
That the game was played at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville is relevant but ultimately a footnote. More notable was the Panthers’ inability to strike what would have been a death blow when they had set point in the third set and the Cardinals fought it off four times before winning the set.
That ultimately decided the match. Louisville’s comeback, led by Anna DeBeer, who had three kills in those set points, reenergized the Cardinals and their home-court fans. All the momentum was in Louisville’s favor, and the Cardinals turned that into a pretty dominant win in the fourth set to send Pitt home.
It was a disappointing end to an incredible season. The Panthers really were the best team in the country, as evidenced by their ranking (No. 1), their record (33-2, including last night’s loss), their seed in the Tournament (No. 1 overall), their preponderance of first-team All-Americans (three), their national player of the year finalist and their national coach of the year head coach.
Every one of those factors combined to put Pitt on an incredibly high pedestal, and when they fell, the crash was a big one.
A painful one.
There’s a separate conversation to be had about the varying forms disappointment can take, but I would contend that the disappointment born from high expectations is probably the toughest one.
The higher the cliff, the steeper the fall, right?
Of course, it’s particularly painful for Pitt’s seniors, who have been a part of four consecutive runs to the Final Four but will leave the Panthers with their biggest goals unfulfilled. And they were crucial players, too: Rachel Fairbanks was the QB1, a magician as a setter who had eyes in the back of her head and could put the ball anywhere she wanted; Emmy Klika could return almost anything and might have been the most underrated player on the team and beyond; Valeria Vazquez Gomez seemed to be the glue of the team, capable of doing just about everything; and Cat Flood was a serve specialist who became an icon.
They all had a lot to do with the success Pitt experienced on its path to being one of the best programs in the country.
Replacing them won’t be easy. Fairbanks was a first-team All-American. Klika was a two-time East Coast All-Region selection and a two-time All-ACC Second Team pick. And Vazquez Gomez made the All-Region Team three times in her career.
Those players also helped carry on the culture Dan Fisher has developed in his program. They were big pieces in the puzzle, and their absences will leave considerable holes.
Fortunately for the Panthers, they do return two stars in Olivia Babcock and Torrey Stafford. Both were first-team All-Americans, and the mantle of leadership will fall to them next season.
We’ll see who emerges to replace the seniors - especially Fairbanks and Klika - but with Babcock and Stafford (along with a number of talented returning players) Pitt should be primed to be really, really good once again.
That’s my prediction, even if it’s not all that bold:
With two of the best players in the country, the Panthers will once again be one of the best teams in the country.
For now, though, the wounds will take a bit to heal.
