Houston Edge Rusher Books Pitt Official Visit

Among the most impressive edge rushers on the Pitt Panthers 2026 offer board are a pair from the Houston area. Recently, Inside the Panthers included both Obinna Umeh and Cullen Thompson among the top three most overlooked pass rushers in the 2026 class. Coincidentally, both visited Pittsburgh shortly thereafter.

For Umeh, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound pass rusher from St. Thomas High School - an all-boys private school in Houston - he was coming off a trip to Palo Alto where he landed an offer from Stanford.

It made sense as Umeh is a very bright prospect who’s earned a 4.11 GPA. He also recorded 58 total tackles, 19 tackles for loss, five-and-a-half sacks, 19 hurries, four pass deflections, and a fumble recovery last season.

Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale have also extended offers along with Colorado State, Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh, Rice, San Diego State, Tulsa, UNLV, UTEP, and others round out his list.

When it came to booking a Pitt visit for March 13, Umeh cited the Panthers defensive coordinator for what greased the wheels to that trip.

“The connection I grew with Coach (Randy) Bates came when he came down to Houston three times,” Umeh told Inside the Panthers on March 10.

“Coach Bates…calls me up and he hands me a scholarship,” Umeh reminisced. “Being my third offer, that really meant a lot to me seeing that they took a gamble on me, they took a bet on me. They saw something in me that other people didn't."

“I was just fortunate enough to have a guy like Coach Bates like my film and take that chance on me."

“Knowing Pitt’s academics is very underrated. It's the number one school in the Northeast. I did my research. It has a great medicine program, something I potentially want to do. And it has a good engineering program, something like biological engineering or mechanical engineering or even pre-med."

“Those three aspects are what I want to look into for studying, and just knowing that school has all facets is really important to me.”

Umeh announced late on Thursday night that he’s set to return to Pitt for an official visit from June 12 through June 14.

As for Thompson, Umeh’s fellow Houston-area pass rusher, stay tuned.

The super-athletic rising senior told Inside the Panthers that he’ll be returning in June as well.

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