Pitt defensive end Naquan Brown enters transfer portal

Pitt defensive end Naquan Brown entered the transfer portal on Wednesday afternoon, following a true freshman season in which he did not see the field for the Panthers.

The former four-star recruit out of Ocean Lakes High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia, initially committed to LSU, but in response to a concerted effort by Pat Narduzzi and the Pitt coaching staff, he flipped to Pitt in December 2020. The coveted recruit was a star at Ocean Lakes in 2019, as he came up with 12 sacks in his junior year, and he drew 30 offers.

The loss of Brown is a tough blow for Pitt, as the 6’3”, 200-pound defensive end was one of three four-star recruits in the program’s 2021 class. However, Pitt still has plenty of young talent that will contend for playing time on the defensive side of the ball in the near future, including former WPIAL standouts Elliot Donald, Dorien Ford and Nahki Johnson.

As for Brown, it is unclear where he might end up, given the immense interest that he drew during his recruitment. With that said, he whittled down his 30 options to a top six in 2020, and that list of finalists included LSU, Miami, Penn State, Tennessee and Virginia Tech in addition to Pitt. One program to keep an eye on in that bunch is Virginia Tech, as it is located in Brown’s home state and was the only program other than Pitt that Brown visited multiple times during his initial recruitment.