Pickett’s Manning camp time valuable
Pitt QB learning alongside the best
A couple weeks ago, Kenny Pickett sat across a dinner table from Peyton Manning and peppered the two- time Super Bowl champion and five- time NFL MVP with questions.
How do you watch film? How do you streamline your information? How difficult was it to jump from college to the pros?
That conversation between Pickett, Pitt’s 2019 starter, and Manning lasted an hour. And it all started with a rogue text earlier this summer from the future Hall of Famer’s father, Archie.
“You casually hear your phone buzz, expecting a text from one of your friends or something, and it says, ‘ Archie Manning’ across the screen,” Pickett said, still shaking his head Wednesday at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on the South Side. “It’s kind of surreal.”
Archie Manning’s text to Pickett was an invitation to the Manning Passing Academy, a four- day camp in late June at Nicholls State in Louisiana. At the camp, Pickett, — along with 38 other college quarterbacks, served as a counselor for high school- age signal- callers. But Pickett also had access to Peyton and Eli Manning, as well as a host of quarterback coaches from across the country. And the Panthers quarterback put it to good use.
Each day, in between the campers’ afternoon and evening sessions, Pickett and his peers — including Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, Oregon’s Justin Herbert and other top passers — worked out alongside the Mannings for an hour to an hour- and- ahalf. Those sessions included on- the- run, deep- drop and pocket presence drills, as well as throwing routes to receivers.
Pickett said he and Peyton Manning “clicked” on the first day. Tony Racioppi — Pickett’s offseason quarterback coach and a staffer at the camp — noticed it, too, with the two chatting between drills.
That bond was confirmed at dinner. Not only did Pickett pick Manning’s brain for 60 minutes, but the 14- time Pro Bowler went out of his way to compliment the Pitt passer.
“Peyton came up to me
“You casually hear your phone buzz, expecting a text from one of your friends or something, and it says, ‘ Archie Manning’ across the screen. It’s kinda surreal.” Kenny Pickett
the first night and said, ‘ Hey, the kid from Pitt, Pickett?’ I’m like, yeah,” Racioppi recalled. “He goes, “He’s really good. One, he can really throw the ball. Two, I just love how he acts. The way he carries himself. He acts like a quarterback.’ And it’s not like I brought [ Pickett] up to [ Manning]. He found me that night just to tell me that. That told me a lot right there.”
Pickett continued to learn when the Manning brothers held an hourlong chalk talk in which the college passers could ask anything they wanted. Pickett rarely spoke up. Instead, he kept his head down, scribbling notes as fast as he could.
“I took 10 pages of notes,” Pickett said with a grin. “I’ll save that notepad, and I’ll look back on that stuff as the season rolls on.”
He’ll also have a handful of new contacts to exchange tips with throughout 2019. Pickett roomed with West Virginia’s Jarret Doege and LSU’s Joe Burrow at the camp and hung out with Georgia’s Jake Fromm, South Carolina’s Jake Bentley, Florida State’s Alex Hornibrook and more.
Luckily for Pickett, Bentley and South Carolina play North Carolina ( Pitt’s Week 12 opponent) on opening weekend. Hornibrook and Florida State face Boston College before the Panthers do. And Burrow topped UCF, which visits Pitt in September, in last year’s Fiesta Bowl. Any info he can glean from those quarterbacks ought to help Pickett attack Year 2 as Pitt’s fulltime starter.
After all, his first full year under center was an up- anddown campaign. The quarterback’s 316- yard, ACC Coastal- clinching performance against Wake Forest opened some eyes, while his 8 yards through the air against Clemson in the conference title game cast more doubts. Overall, Pickett’s 1,969 yards, 58.1 completion percentage and 12- to- 6 touchdownto- interception ratio might have fallen short of what he and fans expected.
However, Pickett came away from the Manning Passing Academy with a further sense of belief in himself.
“He was able to go throw for-throw with all the big name guys there,” Racioppi said. “He’s always been a confident kid. But for him, it was a reassurance.”
Added Pickett, “I know where I stack up, and I know where I’m at.… I just went in there with an open mind. I wanted to learn. Whether it was from Peyton or other quarterbacks there, just trying to learn as much as I can. And I think that’s what I did.”