Pitt target Elliot Donald sets decision date

Pitt target Elliot Donald revealed in a midnight Twitter post that he will announce his college commitment next Friday. The announcement comes almost a year after Donald unveiled his top eight, which includes Pitt and its two chief rivals, Penn State and West Virginia.

The 6’3”, 255-pound defensive end, who is the nephew of Pitt great Aaron Donald, is a consensus four-star recruit in the 2021 class. Rivals and ESPN both rank Donald among the top 85 recruits nationally and the top 10 defensive ends in his class. During his recruitment, he has received offers from 18 programs, and he trimmed that offer sheet down to a top eight last August.

In addition to Pitt, Donald is considering offers from LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Texas A&M and West Virginia. Pitt has received the most visits from Donald, as he has been on campus five times since 2019. Penn State has the second-most visits from Donald with four. And Ohio State and West Virginia both got one visit, with West Virginia’s on Feb. 1 being the most recent. However, the only other school Donald visited in 2020 was Pitt on Jan. 18, and the Panthers are widely considered the favorites to land him.

Over the last two seasons at Central Catholic High School, which is just down the street from Pitt’s campus on Fifth Avenue, Donald has accrued 25 tackles for losses, 15.5 sacks and four forced fumbles on a Vikings team that has gone 19-6 and had a 12-2 record in 2019.