Pat Signal: Pitt flips Miami (Ohio) recruit Kyle Fugedi

In what has become a common theme in the 2021 class, Pat Narduzzi and the Pitt coaching staff flipped yet another recruit on Tuesday, as former Miami (Ohio) commit Kyle Fugedi, an offensive lineman out of Franklin High School in Livonia, Michigan, committed to the program. Fugedi is the second recruit to decommit from a MAC program and join Pitt this week, as one-time Buffalo commit Gavin Bartholomew flipped on Sunday night.

“I am excited and blessed to announce that on Dec. 16, I will be signing my NLI to become a student-athlete at the University of Pittsburgh,” Fugedi said in a message posted on Twitter. “I can’t thank [Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi] and [Pitt offensive line coach Dave Borbely] enough for this dream-come-true opportunity. I also want to thank my family, girlfriend, coaches and teammates for getting me to this point. I couldn’t have done this without you. I cannot wait to get started! Hail to Pitt!”

The 6’6”, 300-pound lineman is a consensus three-star recruit. 247Sports ranks Fugedi as the No. 60 offensive tackle in the 2021 class and the No. 16 recruit out of Michigan, while ESPN places him at No. 141 at his position and No. 46 in Michigan. Fugedi chose Pitt over seven other offers. Of those seven, five were from MAC teams, and the other two were from Power Five programs Indiana and Kentucky.

Fugedi’s commitment to Pitt follows an eight-month period in which he was committed to Miami (Ohio). He officially decommitted from the MAC program on Nov. 27 and came to the decision that he would join Pitt on Monday night, prompting a Pat signal from Narduzzi prior to Fugedi’s commitment announcement on Tuesday morning. Fugedi is the fifth 2021 recruit Narduzzi and his staff have flipped, as they also pried Trey Andersen, Noah Biglow, Gavin Bartholomew and Jake Renda away from BYU, Iowa State, Buffalo and Michigan State.

Also notable is the fact that Fugedi is the third recruit out of Michigan to commit to Pitt in this recruiting cycle. He joins fellow Detroit-area offensive linemen Brandon Honorable and Terrence Enos in Pitt’s 2021 class, and the trio out of the Wolverine State makes up half of the program’s offensive line commits for 2021.