Players: Pass game in play this spring
If you heard it only from the wide receivers, you might be skeptical. And of course the tight ends are going to talk up their involvement. This is all standard practice when a new offensive coordinator rides into town.
But with just five practices left in Pitt’s 2019 spring camp, it seems the only person who’s not playing up the passing game is the head coach.
“I mean, we’re going to run the ball,” Pat Narduzzi said Thursday after practice No. 10. “Don’t forget that. They think when you complete a couple passes, it’s ‘Air Narduzzi.’ But I guess they’re not used to catching many passes or completing them.”
Well, that’s one way to sum up Pitt’s offense in 2018, when the Panthers finished with their lowest completion percentage (.576) since 2008 (.559). For as strong as the running game was, even
when quarterback Kenny Pickett tried to make a splash with his right arm, it didn’t connect often.
But play-caller and playdesigner Shawn Watson is out, Mark Whipple is in, and by most accounts — Narduzzi aside, perhaps — the winds of change are blowing a few more balls into open arms. In fact, the very first word out of the mouth of tight end Will Gragg when asked what’s different about this year so far …
“Whipple,” Gragg said quickly. “He’s been a complete 360. He’s come in, sat down and taught us what we need to know, laid it out. He’s formatted his offense to his personnel. He’s working with us, working to our strengths, and I feel like that’s the biggest thing.”
If that personnel will be an advantage for Pitt this season, you wouldn’t know it from 2018. The only game Pickett carried the offense was when he threw for 316 yards at Wake Forest. Only Maurice Ffrench returns with more than 30 catches, and only Taysir Mack is back with more than 550 yards receiving.
So one of the central questions, from now until Virginia visits Aug. 31 at Heinz Field, will be how Pitt’s offense is coming together under different management. Gragg, who caught just five passes himself in his first season as a graduate transfer, didn’t want to say last season’s scheme was lacking, but did allow that it “could have been more intentional” about getting the ball to playmakers.
“There’s no question that you say, under Coach Whipple’s offense as an eligible receiver, you better be ready because that ball can come to you at any time,” tight ends coach Tim Salem said. “Whether matchups, or coverage, if the quarterback sees that here’s the best advantage to the play, the ball’s coming to that person.”
You could take that with a grain of salt from Pitt’s offensive players and coaches, who won’t have to show their progress to the public until the Blue-Gold scrimmage April 13, but if there’s a concerted effort to speak only in glowing positives about the passing game this spring, then the other side of the ball received that memo, too.
“I’m not going to lie, from my opinion, I feel like the offense is way better,” redshirt senior linebacker Saleem Brightwell said. “I feel like they’re competing more, I feel like they’re executing way better. … In the past, the defense had just been dominating. Now, we’re getting into a good competition.”
Trying to think back to previous spring and fall camps, Brightwell found himself remembering a more conservative attack, one that wasn’t as confusing to the defense. Maybe that’s why it sounds as if just about every tight end and wideout is having a ball each day in practice.
“In the past, during practice, from what I’d seen, there wouldn’t be very many deep routes,” Brightwell said. “But they’re trying to go deep on us. They’ll go short, short, then go deep. They’re keeping us honest.”