Pitt Football Commit Having Dominant Senior Year

Alongside Pitt, programs such as Arizona, Tulsa, Air Force, California, UNVL, USF, Oregon St, Louisiana and many other programs have offered Villarreal. His first offer was Georgia Southern while his most recent came from California. The 3-star prospect took an official visit on June 7 and committed to the Panthers the following day.

Villarreal has been photographed this season wearing Pitt receiving gloves and a Pitt sticker on his backplate. He and The Bobcats are currently 10-0, coming off a dominant 61-0 win over Community high school in Nevada, TX. Celina competes in the Class 4A Division 1 and won its 9th state championship and first since 2007 last year against Kilgore High School at AT&T Stadium. Villarreal totaled 26 catches for 441 yards and 7 touchdowns as a junior.

His QB, Bowe Bentley will be heading to play for the Oklahoma Sooners next year.

Pitt brought in another 3-star tight end last year, Max Hunt. The Tampa, FL native was ranked as the No. 69 tight end in the nation according to 247. He has reeled in a singular reception this year for 20 yards against Central Michigan. Villarreal is ranked the No. 89 TE in his class nationally and No. 5 in Texas.

The leading receiver in the Panther TE room is currently senior Justin Holmes, who has 16 receptions for 152 yards and 3 touchdowns. Holmes played at Kent St and Marshall before transferring to Pitt.

Gavin Batholomew is the latest Pitt TE to be selected in the NFL Draft. He was the Minnesota Vikings sixth-round selection in the 2025 NFL Draft. Bartholomew had 1,284 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns in his Pitt career.

Prior to Batholomew Pitt had two tight ends drafted in the same year. Nate Byham was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the sixth-round of the 2010 NFL Draft and is currently the tight ends Coach at Stanford University. Former Panther Dorian Dickerson was also drafted in 2010 by the Houston Texans.

Mason Heintschel and Shawn Lee have been prime examples throughout the season of how true freshmen can make major impacts. Heinstiel has been the most productive true freshman offensively while Lee has been the most productive defensively this season.