Pat Signal: Marco Fugar commits to Pitt

Pat Narduzzi and the Pitt coaching staff have been on a tear on the recruiting trail, as they secured commitments from six recruits in a span of eight days. The latest commitment, which gave Pitt a total of nine in its 2021 class, came from Marco Fugar, an offensive lineman out of St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Thursday night.

“First of all, I would like to thank Coach Harriott, Coach Wilson and Coach Saint for helping me become the player I am today,” Fugar wrote in a message on Twitter. “I would also like to thank my family as well for making the sacrifices they made for me and my future. With that being said, I have decided to commit to Pitt.”

The 6’3”, 275-pound guard holds a two-star rating from Rivals and has not been assigned a star rating by 247Sports or ESPN. However, he drew a total of five scholarship offers over the course of his recruitment and chose Pitt over Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Colorado State and Maryland.

Fugar is Pitt’s first recruit of the 2021 class who hails from Florida. During the Narduzzi era, the program has brought in wave after wave of prospects from the Sunshine State, thanks in large part to Florida native and ace recruiter Charlie Partridge. Since 2016, Pitt has landed 26 prospects from the state, and the program has never brought in fewer than four Floridians in a class over that five-year span.

Additionally, Fugar is the second offensive lineman Pitt has landed this year, as the program added Terrence Rankl out of Massillon, Ohio, last week. The Pitt staff has been gradually building up the team’s offensive line depth, as it added Michael Statham and Branson Taylor in 2019 and Liam Dick and Matt Goncalves in 2018. The Panthers currently have 16 offensive linemen on their roster, two of whom will move on after the 2020 season.