With three new scholarship players and one new case of attrition, Pitt’s scholarship roster for the 2020 season appears to be fairly set. Here’s a look at where things stand heading into the opener.
The scholarship additions are led by DJ Turner, a grad transfer receiver who arrived at Pitt from Maryland last week. He played in 31 games over his Maryland career and made six starts; along the way, he recorded 24 receptions for 294 yards and one touchdown while also adding a score on a punt return last season.
Turner gives Pitt three redshirt senior receivers, joining sixth-year player Tre Tipton and former Indiana transfer Taysir Mack.
Pat Narduzzi also announced last week that two former walk-ons were going on scholarship: tight end Jake Zilinskas and linebacker John Petrishen. Zilinskas, a redshirt senior from Indiana (Pa.) transferred from John Carroll in 2017 and worked at quarterback before moving to tight end, then to linebacker and back to tight end this spring.
Petrishen transferred to Pitt from Penn State last summer. He had joined the Nittany Lions in the class of 2015 as a safety prospect out of Central Catholic, but he walked on at Pitt and received an extra year of eligibility due to a history of injury. Petrishen was a safety for Pitt last season and played in seven games on special teams.
On Pitt’s first official two-deep of the 2020 season, which was released on Monday, Turner was listed as a reserve at slot receiver, kick returner and punt returner. Petrishen was listed as the backup Star linebacker.
All of those additions came with some attrition, of course, and the latest - and possibly the last - bit of attrition for the 2020 roster was redshirt junior receiver Michael Smith. After playing in nine games over the last three seasons, Smith came off the roster due to medical issues.
That brings the total number of post-spring departures to four: Jaylen Twyman, Rashad Wheeler, Dontavius Butler-Jenkins and Smith.
After those changes, Pitt’s roster stands at 85 scholarships.
