Pitt DT Isaiah Neal Balances Leadership and Learning in First Weeks of College

Pitt Panthers freshman Isaiah Neal wants to be good right now, but keeps perspective on his youth.

PITTSBURGH -- "Ghost" was born long after Isaiah Neal was. The nickname that the Pitt Panthers' top-rated 2023 recruit has embraced originated on little league fields when he was in sixth grade.

“In sixth grade, I changed to a new little league team and I was the only light-skinned kid on a team that was full of kids that were darker so it looked like I had a white sheet over me like a ghost,” Neal said with a laugh during his first meeting with local media since enrolling at Pitt in January. 

It took a while for the name to stick and Neal himself didn't fully embrace it until his senior year of high school, when he transfered from Gonzaga High School in Washington, D.C. to St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, Maryland. He was in a new place, but wanted to stand out. Now his friends and family call him Ghost and Neal likes it because he has allowed the nickname to take over every part of himself. It's intimidating but also distinctive, which fits right into the persona he hopes to embody. 

Neal wants to lead - it's part of who he is. Growing up the only child of a single mother, without many others around to point him in the right direction, Neal took that responsibility upon himself. Neal's first experience as a leader on the field came when he was a captain on his 9U team as a child and ever since, he's looked for chances to positively affect others. Head coach Pat Narduzzi sees that drive in him as well, saying on Signing Day that he would be "shocked" if Neal is not a captain at some point in his Pitt career, but he's just a freshman and his destiny as a leader of this program is far in the future. 

New plays, routines and expectations are one thing but making a name for himself in a program that boasts a deep and experienced defensive line group is quite another. The desire to step to the front has to be balanced with the fact that he is new. One doesn't step onto any college football team - much less one with the kind of recent success Pitt has enjoyed - and assume they can walk in front of established, productive veterans. While some might see returning veterans ahead of them on the depth chart, Neal is taking full advantage of their lessons and leadership. 

"It’s not to say I don’t want to play as soon as possible but I don’t mind being patient," Neal said. "I feel like it’s a skill. If I’m able to be patient and soak up as much as I can until it’s my time, I should be ready to go. I should have all that penned up and ready to go because I sat there and instead of being like ‘They won’t play me, they don’t like me,’ it’s more like ‘Alight, let me see what they’re doing good, what Coach P is telling them to work on,’ and when it’s my time I already have it.”

Neal is also finding small ways to scratch the itch for leadership. He has taken to reminding his teammates of the small rules - keeping their hands off their hips during workouts, for example - to fill that void. He respects that this will be a process but won't keep his personality bottled up. 

“As a freshman, you don’t want to overstep, but at the same time, I’m not going to be a church mouse and just be quiet," Neal said. "That’s not in my nature.”

Neal is embracing patience. He conceded that he isn't strong enough, detailed enough or knowledgeable enough of the playbook to see the field right now, but that's okay. He's just six weeks into his first semester of college and taking his new life in college football one step at a time. 

“I’m just trying to piece by piece get to the point where the people around me can trust me so I can really be that leader," Neal said. "Right now, I’m just trying to get the little stuff together so that I can be a guy in that position.”

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