Inside The Panthers

Pitt Football Lands Three-Star 2025 ATH

The Pitt Panthers added another important piece to their Class of 2025, as they landed a talented three-star athlete.

Dominic Campbell

Pitt Football Lands Class of 2025 Athlete Emmanuel "Manny" Taylor
Pitt Football Lands Class of 2025 Athlete Emmanuel "Manny" Taylor / Courtesy of Pitt Athletics

PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers continue to have a great month of June when it comes to football recruiting, as they landed another Class of 2025 commitment.

Emmanuel Taylor, a three-star athlete, announced his decision to commit to Pitt on his Twitter, writing "This has been a surreal experience, this is HOME!!'

He chose Pitt over 13 offers from other schools, including ACC foes Duke and Virginia Tech, American schools in Charlotte, East Carolina, Temple, Conference USA schools in Houston and Old Dominion, Sun Belt schools Coastal Carolina and Marshall, plus Delaware, Houston Christian and Norfolk State

Taylor visited Pitt back on March 8 this past spring. He also visited a number of schools, including Old Dominion, rival West Virginia, East Carolina and Liberty.

The Panthers offered Taylor back last November following the end of the season, with former running backs/special teams coach Andre Powell and wide receivers coach Tiquan Underwood leading the recruitment. Following their departure, linebackers coach Ryan Manalac took over and played a large role in his commitment.

Taylor plays wide receiver and linebacker for Green Run High School in Virginia Beach, Va. With Manalac leading the recruitment, it's likely he'll play at linebacker when he comes to Pitt.

Standing at 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, he made 130 tackles, 28 tackles for loss and eight sacks last season at linebacker, while also putting in work at wideout and in the wildcat as quarterback.

He is also great in track and field, running 15.58 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles as a sophomore. He also ran the 300-meter hurdles in 43.08 seconds and the 100-meter reps in 11.79 seconds.

247Sports ranks Taylor as the No. 119 athlete and the No. 34 recruit in Virginia in the Class of 2025, respectively. Rivals rates him at 5.5 and a three-star, while both On3 and ESPN haven't ranked him yet.

The Panthers have 17 commitments in the Class of 2025 with the addition of Taylor, who is the first recruit that made an official visit this weekend to commit to the program. Four-star defensive back commit Elijah Dotson also visited this weekend, likely playing a role in Taylor joining him in the Class of 2025.

There are three more "Pat Signals" that have not revealed themselves, so three more commitments are still yet to come.

Five of the commitments made their decision following official visits the first weekend, June 6-8, including tight end Max Hunt, athlete Ja'Kyrian "Boosie" Turner, linebacker Justin Thompson, wide receiver DaMarion Fowlkes and defensive end Julian "Juju" Anderson. 

The rest of the Class of 2025 includes offensive linemen Shep Turk and Akram Elnagmi, quarterback Mason Heintschel, wide receiver Tony Kinsler, athlete Bryce Yates, defensive lineman Trevor Sommers and defensive back Shawn Lee Jr.

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Dominic Campbell
DOMINIC CAMPBELL

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