Spring football excites Narduzzi
Difference in a year is noticeable
One year ago to the day Friday, the sports world shut down. Soon after Utah Jazz star Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, halting the NBA’s season in its tracks, the NCAA basketball tournament and darn near everything else was canceled, including spring camps across college football.
With that news 365 days in the rearview mirror, Pat Narduzzi was relieved Friday to talk about Pitt’s 2021 spring camp. The Panthers open on Sunday as they hope to continue what’s been a “consistent, normal offseason” — at least as normal as possible.
Narduzzi acknowledged that “we’re not out of the woods yet,” citing Ohio State’s recent football stoppages. Quarterback Kenny Pickett later mentioned the Virginia men’s basketball team and its canceled ACC semifinal due to COVID-related concerns. The Panthers remain diligent and aware. But 12 months removed from total uncertainty, Narduzzi and his players are also eager to get going with the 2021 season within sight.
“Everyone gets excited for spring ball, but you see it this year in particular after not having it a year ago,” Narduzzi said, speaking with local media for the first time since Dec. 16. “This time last year, we were closing things down. I feel much better now that there’s going to be a season. We know how to do it. We hope it’s not as bad as it was. And we hope everybody gets a vaccine. ... That’s going to be the key.”
“As a group, we definitely don’t take [spring camp] for granted knowing where we were around this time last year,” senior defensive end Deslin Alexandre added. “Being able to be together and play a season and train in these workouts and go into spring ball, we’re very excited about that.”
Pickett agreed with Alexandre, adding that while it’s a “relief” to have spring ball here, he and his teammates know that the Panthers are a couple of positive cases away from a program shutdown. As Pitt approaches spring ball, it hasn’t incurred any issues. Narduzzi said the Panthers will administer PCR tests once per
week every Wednesday during camp, and this week’s results came back “clean again.”
After the team’s winter lifting program was conducted in three groups, Narduzzi expects spring practices to involve the entire team at Pitt’s indoor facility on the South Side. There won’t be pods or staggered times for the offense and defense. “If we can’t play out there as a team, we’re not going to play,” Narduzzi added.
Pitt is aiming to utilize all 15 practices at its disposal, featuring three Saturday scrimmages at Heinz Field. That includes a spring game. The program has yet to release a date for the popular intrasquad scrimmage, but Narduzzi said he’s “hoping and praying that we’re able to have fans” there at Heinz Field.
Whether fans are watching the game on the North Shore or on their couches, they’ll see a new look Panthers for the first time. Pitt enters spring camp with a dozen new players and two fresh-faced assistants looking to make an impact.
Narduzzi said the introduction of 35year-old linebackers coach Ryan Manalac has been an “easy, easy transition.” Meanwhile, wide receivers coach Brennan Marion has been a welcome addition for both the staff and the players.
When asked about Marion’s unique “GoGo” offense — a concoction of old
-school triple-option concepts and newschool spread principles — Narduzzi said he hired a wide receivers coach, not an offensive coordinator. “But he’s very creative. That’s the great thing,” Narduzzi added. “He’s going to help us move our offense along.”
Pickett concurred after sitting in on Marion’s meetings with his wide receivers. The fifth-year signal-caller and unquestioned leader of the team said Marion offers ideas that will fit with Pitt’s pieces and “little by little they’ll get sprinkled” into the offense. Mark Whipple is still Pitt’s offensive coordinator, though, and Pickett said he wouldn’t have come back to Pitt if Whipple wasn’t onboard.
Pickett was expected to accept an invitation to the Senior Bowl and pursue a career in the NFL after the 2020 season. Even Narduzzi thought No. 8’s exit was a “foregone conclusion” before Pitt’s finale at Georgia Tech. But Pickett opted to utilize the NCAA’s blanket waiver and put off the NFL draft, where he was an expected Day 3 selection.
“I just wanted to take my time with it. I feel like a lot of people rush this decision, rush to stay or rush to go. But I was fielding information from a lot of people,” Pickett said. That list of contacts included former Houston Texans and Penn State coach Bill O’Brien, according to
Narduzzi. “It was such a broad spectrum of where I could wind up getting drafted, and I think more highly of myself I’d say than where I was projected,” Pickett continued. “As a competitor, it fuels the fire more for this season.”
Asked what his expectations are for Pitt in 2021, Pickett didn’t bite. He laughed off making any predictions, leaning on his desire to just win. That process began during winter workouts, but will start in earnest this weekend as Pitt gathers for spring ball.
With Pickett back and, well, football back, there’s a growing sense of optimism within the Pitt program. Now, it’s just a matter of the Panthers following protocols and staying safe as they aim to have more than the three spring practices they had last year.
Roster update
Malik Newton’s Pitt career is over before it started.
Newton, an early enrollee freshman running back, was “medically disqualified” from playing with the Panthers by Pitt’s doctors, Narduzzi said. The coach did not expand further on the condition that will keep Newton from the field.
“We feel bad for Malik and his family,” Narduzzi added. “You come in mid-year to college and think you’re going to play football. And then we got some of the greatest doctors in the world in Pittsburgh, and they find some things that are not going to allow him to play football at Pitt. He’s a guy who will be with us. ... We’ll make sure he gets his degree here if he chooses to stay at Pitt.”
Newton, who won’t count against Pitt’s 85-scholarship limit, was a key member of the Panthers’ 2021 recruiting class. The Virginia native chose Pitt over offers from Clemson, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Penn State, North Carolina and other programs.
Pitt now will ave six running backs on scholarship for the 2021 season. Threestar prospect Rodney Hammond signed in the 2021 class, while the Panthers return Vincent Davis, A.J. Davis, Todd Sibley, Daniel Carter and Israel Abanikanda.
Narduzzi said Vincent Davis — whose 143 carries last season were more than A.J. Davis, Sibley, Carter and Abanikanda combined — will be Pitt’s starting tailback entering spring ball.
“Last year at this time, we had some guys. ... Now everyone behind him is going after Vince,” Narduzzi said. “Vince is the guy. He’s proven that.”