Pitt Football Reveals 2026 Early Enrollees

PITTSBURGH — The Pitt Panthers welcomed 21 new players as part of their 2026 recruiting class. All 20 commits signed their national letters of intent, plus one surprise flip.

Now that all the recruits put pen to paper, all that's left to do is wait for them to enroll and officially join the team. For most recruits, enrolling early and joining the team for the spring semester is best for their development, while others choose to finish high school in the spring and enroll in the summer.

In this 2026 class, 16 incoming freshmen will enroll early and five will join the Panthers in the summer, Pat Narduzzi announced in a press conference.

Early Enrollees

Offense

WR Demetrice McCray
WR Dylan Wester
OL John Curran
QB Angelo Renda
QB Corey Dailey
TE Wyatt Villarreal

Defense

LB Marcus Jennings
DL Lincoln Hoke
LB Isaiah Simmons
LB Reston Lehman
LB Joshua Pittman
S Isaac Patterson
CB Kentrail McRae
LB Desmond Johnson
DB Da'Ron Barksdale
DB Tony Forney

All 10 defensive signees will early enroll next semester, while six offensive players will early enroll.

Of the offensive players, two are quarterbacks, Corey Dailey and Angelo Renda. Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Kade Bell has been adamant that the most important part of a young quarterback's development and how quickly they can improve from freshman to sophomore. Last year, Mason Heintschel early enrolled.

Pittsburgh Panthers quarterback recruit Corey Dailey | IG: coreydailey4

"Them coming in the spring is huge," Bell said. "They're gonna come in January, they're gonna start learning the system. They're going to go through spring ball and go through 12 installs, and come back in the summer and go through another 12 installs, and then come in camp and go through them again. That just pushes you so much farther ahead, coming in early in college, and that's a good thing for quarterbacks."

Pitt will also have three of its top five recruits in the 247Sports Composite early enrollees in Reston Lehman, Isaiah Simmons and Dailey.

Summer Enrolles

Offense

OL Michael van der Oord
RB Damon Ferguson
WR Rodney Dunbar
OL Nicholas Howard
WR Bryan Hamilton

The No. 1 player in Pitt's class. Damon Ferguson will not early enroll. Neither will the No. 3 player in the class, offensive tackle Nicholas Howard. The other offensive players who will wait until the summer are offensive tackle Michael van der Oord and wide receivers Rodney Dunbar and Bryan Hamilton.

Last year, 14 of 21 signees early enrolled, including notable names like Mason Heintschel, Ja'Kyrian Turner, Bryce Yates and Shawn Lee Jr.

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