Pitt Finds New QB With ECU Flip

Just days after losing the commitment of four-star quarterback Kevin Verpaele, the Pitt Panthers replaced that missing spot with another class of 2027 quarterback from the Sunshine State.

James Perrone, three-star quarterback, announced his commitment to Pitt via social media on June 13.

#H2P 💛💙 @CoachDuzzPittFB @Kb1Raw @Pitt_FB pic.twitter.com/op5hfmqMD8
— James Perrone (@j5perrone) June 13, 2026

This comes weeks after Perrone initially committed to Eastern Carolina. Despite this, Perrone still reportedly took an official visit to Pitt and committed quickly. On top of getting another solid quarterback, this doubles as the Panthers' revenge for their loss to ECU in the GoBowling Military Bowl.

Perrone was also offered by South Florida, Maryland and UCF.

What Perrone Adds

In his junior year of high school, Perrone completed 193 pass attempts for 3,231 passing yards and 33 touchdowns. He also put up 636 rushing yarda and nine rushing touchdowns. He also had just five interceptions on the year. He led the whole state of Florida in total yards.

Perrone will be a welcome addition to Pitt's quarterback room. Pitt has definitely relied on younger quarterbacks their past few successful years, so any freshman could come in and have an oppurtunity; as seen by Mason Heintschel.

Pitt's quarterback room currently consists of Heintschel, Corey Dailey, Beau Jackson, Davin Friedman, Angelo Renda and Holden Geriner. Of the group, Geriner is the only senior and Heintschel is the only sophomore. The rest are freshmen or redshirt-freshmen.

2027 Class

Perrone is now one of 22 commits for Pitt's freshmen class of 2027. Safety Jeremiah Proctor from Gainesville, Georgia is the only four-star, with the rest all being ranked as three-stars.

Perrone is actually the only quarterback commit in the class as of now. As seen by the Panther's current roster, the team likes having a variety of freshman quarterbacks who could step up, so expect more to be added as it's still early. Still, Perrone has the opportunity to put himself out there by committing so early. Heintschel also committed early in his process, and it clearly worked out for him when the coaching staff had a variety of quarterbacks to choose from.

Other Commits

Pitt has recently gotten commitments from defensive end Cam Aime, wide reciever Jaden Baldwin and IOL Ronald Moore.

While there's a lot to look forward to for the upcoming season, the program is being proactive by going all out on recruiting for the class of 2027.

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