Pitt football must still trim scholarship players after Bright, Palmer transfer

Pitt football still has work to do to trim its roster of scholarship players to the NCAA limit of 85.

Cam Bright and Noah Palmer each made announcements they would enter the Transfer Portal Monday, joined Shocky Jacques-Louis and Todd Sibley Jr. as players to transfer out of the program since Pitt's loss in the Peach Bowl.

Palmer's departure isn't much of a surprise as he was a redshirt junior defensive linemen who only played two games in 2020 and only a single game in 2021. Charlie Patridge's defensive line group has several returning starters coming back into the fold along with young players quickly rising up the ranks like sophomore Dayon Hayes, who had three tackles for loss. Palmer also walked during Pitt's senior day before its win over Virginia on Nov. 20.

But Bright's departure was a bit different, as he was a key starter at star linebacker for the Panthers' defense. His 54 tackles ranked sixth on the team, while his six tackles for loss ranked seventh. He also scored Pitt's last touchdown in the Peach Bowl loss with a fumble recovery. He has one more year of eligibility, but elected to use it elsewhere:

Part of the reasoning behind these departures is because Pitt still has to dwindle the number of players on scholarship. The departures of Bright, Palmer, Jacques-Louise and Sibley brought down the number. But with the 12 commitments Pitt has for its incoming 2022 freshmen class and the additions of Kedon Slovis, Konata Mumpfield, and Michigan State transfer safety Michael Dowell who looks to switch to linebacker, Pitt still has 87 players slated to be on scholarship next season.

That means there still have to be two players on scholarship who leave the program to meet NCAA requirements. The standard limit of 85 scholarship players was lifted for the 2021 season after all players who participated in the 2020 season were given the COVID-19 eligibility waiver, but now all programs must revert back to the standard limit.