The Notre Dame transfer was ranked as the No. 48 recruit in the 2018 class
Pat Narduzzi and the Pitt coaching staff got to work on bolstering their thin linebacking corps on Saturday, as they landed Notre Dame transfer Shayne Simon, a former four-star linebacker who hails from New Jersey.
All Praise to the Most High #H2P pic.twitter.com/dRLIohlD53
— Shayne Simon (@SimonShayne) January 15, 2022
Simon announced the move on Saturday afternoon, after entering the NCAA transfer portal on Dec. 19. He played in just one game for Notre Dame in 2021, as he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in the team’s 41-38 loss to Florida State on Sept. 5. However, prior to that, he made 30 appearances.
During his time in South Bend, Simon served as a reserve and contributed in a timeshare role, primarily playing as an inside linebacker. All told, he amassed 27 tackles, three tackles for losses and five pass breakups over a span of four years. But with that said, he was a coveted recruit coming out of St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, as 247Sports considered him the No. 48 prospect in the 2018 class.
Although the 6’2”, 233-pound linebacker was a senior last season, he will have two years of eligibility at Pitt as a result of his medical redshirt season and the additional year of eligibility he received for the 2020 season that was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The addition of Simon comes at an opportune time for Pitt, as the team recently lost Michigan State transfer Michael Dowell, a safety who was expected to transition to linebacker, as he re-entered the portal after a commitment on New Year’s Eve. The team will also be missing Cam Bright, Phil Campbell, John Petrishen, Chase Pine and Leslie Smith in 2022. So even with the addition of Simon, Narduzzi and his staff have more work to do in rebuilding the program’s depleted linebacking corps.