Harry Psaros first tweeted this afternoon that Jamal Davis intends to transfer away from the Pitt football program. Many of the other Pitt beat reporters soon followed up and confirmed that via Twitter as well. An official release by the school has yet to come, but it certainly seems like a near finalized situation.
Jamal Davis is a 6'2" 230 redshirt freshman linebacker from Canton, Ohio. Davis spent the majority of the 2015 season on the two-deep depth chart, but played sparingly as a backup to co-starters, Bam Bradley and Mike Caprara. He finished the year with one tackle and came up with the recovery on a blocked punt in the North Carolina game.
Obviously, if something changes officially - we will let you know. As it appears now, Jamal Davis II is leaving the program. He entered the program as a member of the 2014 recruiting class. He initially committed to the Paul Chryst regime as a three-star prospect with notable offers from Louisville, Minnesota, and Indiana.
In his two years at Pitt, many saw a talented player and expected Davis to eventually find a role on this team. He was caught behind some experienced outside linebackers like Bam Bradley and Nicholas Grigsby this year, but there would have been an opportunity to challenge for a more prominent role next season.
It is unfortunate to see Davis move on, but Pitt appears to be in the process of increasing the depth at linebacker. The Panthers will have Bam Bradley and Mike Caprara returning on the outside next season. Anthony McKee Jr and Saleem Brightwell will be redshirt freshmen next year, after coming to Pitt as pretty highly touted prospects. There will be some true freshmen in the mix as well, with Chase Pine and Kaezon Pugh joining the program as highly recruited players.
Pitt should be able to handle this blow, and Jamal Davis should be able to catch on somewhere and make an impact. Transfers are just the part of the deal with collegiate athletics these days, especially when a new coach comes into the mix. I would think a few more of Chryst-recruited players to depart this offseason, and that would be pretty normal and expected.
