Word from college coaches, especially those in football and basketball, is that the transfer portal is one of their biggest headaches. Players come and go, and even those who remain on the team need to be recruited all over again to keep another school from poaching them.

Two of Pitt’s biggest stars in recent years, Kenny Pickett, and Sir Vocea Dennis, were approached by what some people call “back channels” about transferring even while their names never appeared in the portal. They stayed the course at Pitt and are now in the NFL.

The portal might trigger dirty business and expose the disreputable side of intercollegiate athletics, but it’s also not impossible to navigate. Losing players doesn’t necessarily mean bad news.

Pitt looked to be in trouble before this season when five players who were projected as starters or major contributors on defense transferred. Losing linebackers Solomon DeShields and Bangally Kamara and defensive linemen Dayon Hayes, Sam Okunlola and Deandre Jules made it necessary for coach Pat Narduzzi to look into the portal — actually, he would have gone there, anyway — and the result after three games is a 3-0 record.

DeShields (Texas A&M), Kamara and Jules (South Carolina) and Okunlola (Colorado) have played largely reserve roles for their new teams.

• Kamara, who started 21 games the previous two seasons for Pitt, hasn’t made his first start for South Carolina. He has recorded seven tackles.

• Okunlola has five tackles, one for a loss.

• Jules, a six-game starter last season, has made one start for South Carolina in its first three games, with nine tackles and a fumble recovery.

• DeShields has played in only two of Texas A&M’s three games, recording five tackles, a half-sack and one quarterback hurry.

• Meanwhile, Hayes has been a spark to the Colorado pass rush, with 13 tackles and two sacks among his 3 1/2 TFLs.

The good news for Pitt is the replacements are performing well.

Kyle Louis and Rasheem Biles have stepped into those vacated linebacker spots and helped Pitt to a 3-0 start (as many victories as the Panthers recorded all last season).

• Louis, who was named ACC Linebacker of the Week on Monday, has 27 tackles, one sack among 2 1/2 TFLs, a pass breakup, five hurries and an interception that sealed the victory against West Virginia on Saturday.

• Biles has 25 tackles, with five TFLs, 2 1/2 sacks and one breakup.

Those two guys are play-makers,” Narduzzi said Monday at his weekly news conference. “Seems like every week there’s a fight to say who is the best one out of those two right now because they are playing at a high level.

“They’re different than what we had a year ago at that outside backer spot. They’re making more plays. They’re aggressive. They pull the trigger. They don’t hesitate.

“To me, one of the keys I learned as a young linebacker, you can’t hesitate in this game. You hesitate, you make no plays. You sit in the middle doing nothing. Those two are explosive.”

Louis and Biles came to Pitt the old-fashioned way — directly from high school — but Narduzzi found players such as defensive end Nate Matlack and starting defensive tackle Nick James in the portal, replacing Hayes and Jules.

It should be noted that everything has not been perfect, especially when the opponent runs the football. West Virginia averaged 4.2 yards per carry and Cincinnati 4.1. Falling behind by double-digit margins has been partially the result of mistakes on defense.

“We had three old men last year,” Narduzzi said referring to experienced defensive tackles Tyler Bentley, Devin Danielson and David Green. “We got three young guys, four young guys, five young guys (now) that have played some football in there. They’ll just continue to get better. We’ll be OK.”

Of course, the most significant transfer transaction was signing redshirt freshman quarterback Eli Holstein, who was named ACC quarterback and rookie of the week (the latter for the third time).

Holstein ranks fourth nationally in touchdown passes (nine), fifth in total offense (345 yards per game) and ninth in passing yards (313 yards per game). In addition to his ACC honors, he was named to this week’s Davey O’Brien Award “Great 8” list.

He is the first Pitt freshman (true or redshirt) to pass for 300 yards in three consecutive games and the first, regardless of class, to do so since Pickett had five in a row in 2021.

NOTE: Safety Donovan McMillon was named ACC Defensive Back of the Week.

Jerry DiPaola is a TribLive reporter covering Pitt athletics since 2011. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in 1993, first as a copy editor and page designer in the sports department and later as the Pittsburgh Steelers reporter from 1994-2004. He can be reached at jdipaola@triblive.com.