Pitt Football Preseason Honors

Nothing is longer than the college football offseason. In the offseason, a lot of time is spent prediciting the star players and teams of the upcoming season.

During this offseason, Pitt football recieved a lot of recognition for their eleticric seven game winning streak to start the 2024 season. The talent on Pitt's roster is undeniable, and all of the preseason teams and watchlists for awards prove it.

Kyle Louis

Pitt's star redshirt junior linebacker Kyle Louis recieved the most preseason honors this offseason. He earned a spot on the All-ACC Preseason Team and the 2025 Pro Football Focus Preseason All-ACC Team. He was also Preseason All-American for the Sporting News, CBS Sports, Walter Camp, AP and ESPN. Louis landed at No. 40 on ESPN's Top 100 players in college football.

Besides for the preseason teams, Louis was named to watchlists for the Lombardi Award, the Butkus Award, the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, the Bednarik Award and the Walter Camp Player of the Year.

In the 2024 season, Louis totaled 101 total tackles, seven sacks and four interceptions. He made All-ACC honors and finished third in ACC defensive player of the year voting.

While Louis had an incredible season last year, he can truly accomplish something special by living up to the expectations placed on his this season.

Desmond Reid

Senior running back Desmond Reid had the second most honors for him this offseason. If you were to look at a preseason All-American or All-ACC team, you'll likely find Reid on that list alongside Louis.

Reid was named to the preseason All-ACC teams and also an All-American for the Sporting News, CBS Sports, AP, The Athletic and ESPN. Reid was No. 55 on ESPN's Top 100 college football players list. Reid was listed an an all-purpose back on most of these preseason teams.

Reid was named to the watchlists for the Doak Walker Award, which is given to the most outsanding running back, and the Maxwell Award.

Reid totaled 184 carries for 966 yards and 52 catches for 579 yards along with four touchdowns last season, which was his first year with Pitt. He made an All-American honor and multiple ACC honors.

Eli Holstein

Redshirt sophmore quarterback Eli Holstein surprised many with his great play during his first year as a starting QB.

It's hard to make many preseason All-American or All-ACC teams as a quarterback, but Holstein still found his way on several awards watchlists.

Holstein was named to watchlists for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, the community service Allstate Wuerffel Trophy and joined Desmond Reid on the Maxwell Award watchlist.

Though Holstein struggled with injuries in the second half of the season, he still threw for 2,225 passing yards, 17 passing touchdowns, and had 328 rushing yards with three rushing touchdowns.