Pitt added another offensive lineman to its roster this weekend when Ohio State transfer Ryan Jacoby committed to the Panthers.
Jacoby, 6’4” 305, was a top-50 offensive line prospect and a top-20 recruit in Ohio for the class of 2019. He chose Ohio State over offers from Boston College, Duke, Iowa State, Kentucky, Michigan, Michigan State, Oregon, Purdue, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Jacoby redshirted with the Buckeyes in 2019 and did not see the field in 2020. He entered the transfer portal last Monday.
Pitt came into training camp with two open spots on its 85-man scholarship roster. Jacoby fills one of those two, and he will join the Panthers as a redshirt sophomore, although he will also have an extra year of eligibility available as a super senior in 2024, if he chooses to use it.
Pitt’s offensive line roster is rather top-heavy with seven scholarship players entering 2021 with junior or senior eligibility. That’s half the scholarship roster, as recent recruiting classes have been on the smaller side. Jacoby slots into the sophomore-eligible group with Jason Collier and Matt Goncalves.
In his two years at Ohio State, Jacoby achieved at a high level academically. He was a named a Big Ten Conference Distinguished Scholar for having a GPA of at least 3.70 in 2020, and he was also named an OSU Scholar-Athlete and an Academic All-Big Ten Conference honoree.
In his final two seasons of high school football at Mentor, Jacoby was named to the All-Ohio first team.