Inside The Panthers

Pitt Basketball Lands First 2026 Commitment

The Pitt Panthers have struck early in the cycle, landing the first commitment in the class of 2026 with a major prospect
Karl Ludwig|
Pitt Basketball Lands its first Class of 2026 Commitment in Four-Star Guard Jermal Jones Jr.
Pitt Basketball Lands its first Class of 2026 Commitment in Four-Star Guard Jermal Jones Jr. | Jermal Jones Jr. on Instagram

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Pittsburgh Panthers

PITTSBURGH - Pitt head coach Jeff Capel is staring down an important season, one that requires results, but he's landed an important recruit.

Jermal Jones Jr. - a 6-foot-3, 180-pound from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. - committed to the Panthers today, Sam Kayser of League Ready first reported.

Jones chose Pitt over offers from Cal, Cincinnati, Clemson, Florida State, Mississippi State, Purdue, Washington and West Virginia.

Jones Background

Jones plays for powerhouse IMG, but previously played for Bell Creek Academy in Riverview, Fla., just outside of Tampa, for his freshman and sophomore seasons.

He also played for Jet Academy on the NIke Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) circuit, which saw him gain traction from other schools and led to offers from many schools over the past year and a half.

The intrigue with Jones is apparent. He’s an athletic combo guard who’s able to play a two-way game with his shot creation and ability to defend multiple positions. He also possesses the blend of competitiveness and aggression that Capel has tried to bring in this offseason.

247Sports rates Jones as the 88th-ranked recruit in the class (12th-ranked shooting guard and 15th-ranked recruit from Florida) while On3 rates him as the 92nd-ranked recruit in the class (22nd-ranked shooting guard and 15th-ranked recruit from Florida).

He's a big-time recruit, a three-level scorer with the athleticism to defend multiple positions, and he gives the Panthers another option in the back court.

Jones is also just the start of the class of 2026. Capel and the coaching staff have been working hard to secure elite prep talent.

Capel landed a handful of high school commitments in the class of 2026, including four-star Omari Witherspoon, three-stars Macari Moore and Kieran Mullen - and Roman Siulepa and Henry Lau from overseas.

It's a volatile landscape, with name, image and likeness (NIL) and the transfer portal dominating the scenes, but Pitt has continued to recruit the high school ranks heavily. It's paid off with Jones, and there's a good chance that the success at the high school level will continue.

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Karl Ludwig
KARL LUDWIG

Karl Ludwig is a Pittsburgh Panthers on SI sportswriter. He has spent the past three years covering the Pitt Panthers for a couple of platforms. While he did not attend Pitt, he grew up in the Pittsburgh area, attending North Allegheny Senior High School and Slippery Rock University. As a student at SRU, he served as the sports editor of SRU’s student-run newspaper, The Rocket, and provided award-winning coverage in football, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer. It was at SRU that his love for sports journalism blossomed. Karl spent three seasons as the Pitt football beat writer for Pittsburgh Sports Now, following time as an intern for the Sports Now Network. His most recent coverage of the University was for Pitt Sports News of the On3/Rivals network. He’s also contributed to Athlon Sports and SB Nation’s Behind the Steel Curtain.

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