Pitt HC Talks Recruiting Philosophy in NIL Era

PITTSBURGH — The recent lifting of transfer restrictions has caused a boom in transfer portal activity. Some teams rely almost solely on transfer additions and skimp on traditional high school recruiting. The Pitt Panthers are not one of those teams.

Pitt signed 21 incoming freshmen as part of its 2026 recruiting class during the early signing period. The number of high school signees has not changed for the Panthers since the emergence of the transfer portal. They have consistently added anywhere between 19-22 high school recruits since 2023.

Some programs choose to recruit primarily through the portal, like Colorado, which signed 18 more transfers than high school recruits in last year's cycle, or teams with new head coaches, like West Virginia and Purdue this past year, which signed 53 and 54 transfers, respectively.

Pitt even dabbled in the transfer portal last offseason, signing 16 transfers — the most in program history.

But Pat Narduzzi has remained adamant that high school recruiting is more important than transfer portal recruiting in this new world of college football.

"We're averaging 22 players each recruiting class. That tells you how important high school recruiting is," Narduzzi said on Early National Signing Day. "I've talked to coaches that are signing two or three kids. That's not good. We want to still build our football team with high school football players. I want to make sure that's clear."

Importance of High School Recruiting

A large part of building a program in college football is creating a culture. The best way to do that is by coaching and developing players from the time they step on campus as a freshman until they receive their diploma as a senior.

"You want to develop your own people right now," Narduzzi said. "We want to take these guys that come from high school and develop them, build their habits."

This, of course, has become increasingly difficult to accomplish with the unbelievable number of transfer portal inductees each season and the emergence of Name, Image and Likeness deals. But it isn't impossible.

Narduzzi said that approximately 75% of the 2025 roster is made up of high school recruits and the other 25% are transfer additions, further proving his emphasis on high school recruiting.

"When you look at the young guys we have on our team, whether it's Mason [Heintschel], Boosie [Ka'Kyrian Turner], Trey Butkowski, Shawn Lee, I'm probably missing somebody. It means that there's too many freshmen to talk about and that's a good thing."

Pittsburgh Panthers quarterback Mason Heintschel (6) and BJ Williams (55) celebrate after a touchdown against Georgia Tech — Nov 22, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Pittsburgh Panthers quarterback Mason Heintschel (6) and offensive lineman BJ Williams (55) celebrate after a touchdown against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the fourth quarter at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Narduzzi stressed quality over quantity when it comes to spending time with recruits in high school recruiting. He mentioned that of all the high school recruits the Panthers hosted on visits in the Class of 2026, 66% signed to Pitt.

"Couldn't be happier about the players and prospects we got in this class," he said.

Transfer Portal Drawbacks

The transfer portal is inherently designed to give players who were perhaps buried on the depth chart or did not fit with the first program they chose out of high school a second opportunity to make a name for themselves at this level. In return, a program receives a player eager to play and can be used to quickly fill a gap on its roster.

However, the transfer portal has become skewed, with some players transferring sometimes three to four times in a career or leaving their program because they aren't getting paid enough through NIL.

The one drawback that Narduzzi addressed is how players can pick up bad habits at one school and make them less desirable to sign when in the portal.

"It's hard to break people from the old habits they used to do," Narduzzi said. "You see a guy on tape, and he's got two years ago, he's got one year to go, 'Oh, I can fix that.' Good luck to you. It's hard to fix that."

"To be able to develop our young through the high school development, as opposed to grabbing a guy that's got a year or two and hoping that you're a good enough coach that you can change a guy in six months, that's hard to do," he continued.

Narduzzi added that he feels that Pitt has done a great job of taking transfers and making them productive immediately. This was the case this season.

Pittsburgh Panthers defensive back Kavir Bains (23), Jahsear Whittington (4) after victory over Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets — Nov 22, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Pittsburgh Panthers defensive back Kavir Bains (23) and defensive lineman Jahsear Whittington (4) celebrate after a victory over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Of the 16 transfers Pitt added as part of the 2025 recruiting class, eight started at least one game this season, and that's even excluding a player like Joey Zelinsky, who made an impact this season as a rotational defensive end.

Another drawback of the portal is that transfers typically only have about a year or two of eligibility. As is the case this year, five of those eight starters are out of eligibility after this season.

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