Pitt Freshman Kicker Enters Transfer Portal

PITTSBURGH — Pitt Panthers true freshman kicker Trey Butkowski has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, On3's Pete Nakos has learned.

Butkowski earned second-team All-ACC honors and was named to the Pro Football Focus All-Freshman Team.

Butkowski finished his first collegiate season by making 20 of 23 field goal attempts and 43 of 44 PATs. Butkowski now holds the program record for most consecutive field goal makes with 16 and has a career-long of 47 yards.

Pitt all-conference kicker Trey Butkowski has entered the transfer portal, @On3sports has learned.

Was 20 of 23 on field goal attempts in 2025, including a long of 47 yards.https://t.co/wMrfFrcNOy pic.twitter.com/sPZLkHkHip
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos) January 7, 2026

Butkowski also finished top 20 in field goal percentage and was the nation's fifth-highest scorer with an average of 9.4 points per game, even after missing two games. He is the second-highest kicker on the list, one spot behind Ole Miss kicker Lucas Carneiro.

Butkowski joined Pitt as a walk-on over the summer and was recruited by special teams coordinator and tight ends coach Jacob Bronowski, who has since become the special teams coordinator at Auburn.

Sep 13, 2025; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; Pittsburgh Panthers place kicker Trey Butkowski (93) kicks a field goal during the second quarter against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

At the end of the season, Butkowski missed the Notre Dame and Georgia Tech games due to an illness. When he returned, he went 0-for-1 on field goal tries in the blowout loss to Miami.

His only three misses of the season came in the Week 3 loss to West Virginia, the Week 9 win over NC State—on his next attempt after setting the most consecutive field goals record — and against the Hurricanes.

Butkowski made a 21-yard attempt and one PAT in his final game at Pitt in the Military Bowl.

Pitt's Kicker Situation

Pitt no longer has a kicker on its roster with Butkowski's departure. Sam Carpenter announced that he was entering the portal following the Military Bowl loss and James London, who Pitt added from Murray State last offseason, left the team in August when Butkowski was named the starter.

The only players capable of kicking the ball currently on the roster are punters Cade Dowd and Kaemon Tijerina.

Pitt has not signed a freshman kicker to its 2026 high school recruiting class and will need to find several either in the portal or sign a high schooler as a walk-on or a scholarship player.

There have been no reports of Pitt targeting a kicker in the transfer portal. According to 247Sports and On3, there are somewhere between 25 and 50 kickers currently in the portal. Some of the top kickers available are Colorado State transfer Ashton Wolff, Texas Tech transfer Upton Bellenfant, Nebraska transfer Tristian Alvano and Bowling Green transfer Jackson Kleather, according to On3.

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