Pitt Misses On Notre Dame Transfer

Pitt hosted Spindler on a visit on Jan. 30, and he also took visits to Indiana and Virginia, before choosing Nebraska.

He is the son of former Pitt defensive end Marc Spindler, who was the USA Today High School Defensive Player of the Year.

Spindler played for Clarkston High School in Clarkston, Mich., and helped them win the Division 1 Michigan State Championship as a freshman in 2017 and a runners-up finish as a sophomore in 2018.

He was a consensus four-star recruit and in the top 100 players in the Class of 2021. 247Sports ranked him No. 95 in the nation, No. 7 interior offensive lineman and No. 4 in Michigan, Rivals had him at No. 68 in the country, No. 4 at his position and No. 3 in the state, while On3 ranked him No. 65 in the nation, the No. 4 interior offensive lineman and No. 2 recurit in Michigna.

Pitt offered Spindler in high school, but never hosted him on a visit. Nebraska also offered and Michigan was close to getting him, but Spindler chose Notre Dame.

Spindler played in just two games as a true freshman in the 2021 season, preserving a redshirt. He saw action in 12 of the 13 contests in the 2022 season, playing on the field goal/PAT unit.

He earned the starting spot at right guard in 2023 and played in the first 10 contests of the season, before missing the final three games with injury. This inlcudes a 58-7 over Pitt at home in Week 9.

Spindler lost his starting job ahead of the 2024 season, but returned as a starter following an injury, where he would start the next 13 games, helping the Fighting Irish make the National Championship Game.

Despite missing out on Spindler, the Panthers still brought in transfers for the offensive line, that struggled with injuries and position changes in 2024.

Pitt has added three transfer offensive lineman, in sixth year Jeffrey Persi from Michigan, redshirt senior Keith Gouveia from Richmond and redshirt junior Kendall Stanley from Charlotte.

They also have returning starters in rising redshirt junior Ryan Baer, rising redshirt senior Lyndon Cooper and rising junior BJ Williams.

The Panthers will still have a number of scholarship offensive lineman headed into 2025. This includes rising redshirt seniors in Terrence Enos Jr., rising redshirt juniors in Isaiah Montgomery and Jackson Brown,rising redshirt sophomores in Ryan Caretta and Tai Ray and rising redshirt freshmen in Caleb Holmes, Jiavanni Cooley, Adham Abouraya, Mason Lindsay and Moritz Schmoranzer.

They also have four incoming offensive lineman in the Class of 2025, who signed their National Letter of Intent on Dec. 4.

This includes Shep Turk from nearby Thomas Jefferson High School in Jefferson Hills, Pa., Torian Chester from Westover High School in Albany, Ga., Jordan Fields out of North Shore High School in Houston and Akram Elnagmi, who hails from the NFL Academy in London, U.K.