Top Pittsburgh recruit Dodson to transfer

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Basketball guard Darnell Dodson has failed to qualify academically at the University of Pittsburgh.

The 6-foot-6 inch native of Washington, D.C. has indicated he will transfer to Miami-Dade Junior College in Florida.

"We are trying to help him with that," Coach Jamie Dixon told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Dodson was one of Pittsburgh's top recruits, but withdrew from classes earlier this week.

He is the all-time scorer at Greenbelt Eleanor (Md.) Roosevelt High School, and the newspaper added he was a likely candidate to red-shirt at Pittsburgh this season if he stayed at the Big East school.

The Panthers were picked to finish fourth among 16 teams earlier this week at the Big East's annual media day in New York. Pittsburgh was No. 20 when the USA Today pre-season men's top 25 coaches poll was released Friday.