Pittsburgh loses pair of starters

Pittsburgh outside linebacker Solomon DeShields was one of the players who emerged for the Panthers defense this past fall.

The 6-foto-3, 225-pound DeShields entered the transfer portal Tuesday after having 58 tackles, eight tackles for loss and two sacks this season. He has six sacks in his career.

DeShields joined Pittsburgh senior defensive end Dayon Hayes in leaving the Panthers. Hayes had 45 tackles and four sacks this past season, and has 13 career sacks.

DeShields tallied eight tackles in a pair of road games — at Virginia Tech and at West Virginia — with a sack against the Mountaineers.

DeShields was a three-star “athlete” by Rivals.com coming out of Millville (N.J.) High in the class of 2020. Rivals.com had him the No. 20 overall player in New Jersey and No. 33 athlete in the country.