Pitt's first spring practice is scheduled for Sunday, kicking off the new season.
The coming weeks are going to have interesting training sessions the Panthers missed out on last year at the start of the pandemic. Pitt had 12 players forego the eligibility waiver and enter the NFL Draft this year, but still has 28 seniors on the roster. That includes 13 'super-seniors,' as Pat Narduzzi classifies them, who came back from their senior seasons last year.
Narduzzi had his first media availability since the end of last season Friday, so here are some of the more important notes I had after speaking with him, Kenny Pickett and Deslin Alexandre:
• Narduzzi made it clear that Pitt and the rest of college sports will still be feeling the impact of the pandemic. But the biggest thing Narduzzi looks forward to is the chance for a full year to work with his players.
"Not having spring ball a year ago, we lost a lot of development," Narduzzi said. "We lucked out in the quarterback position because Kenny was developed already, but we really couldn't find out who that No. 2 guy was. We didn't get a look at some of the linemen who lost a spring and then had an abbreviated fall camp. It was a really odd offseason and now we hope to have a consistent and normal offseason program. If we get our full 15 days in for spring ball, we'll be a lot better program for it."
One problem Pitt definitely had was a lack of cohesion in its offensive line until later in the season. Even without Jimmy Morrissey and Bryce Hargrove, Pitt has multiple players who developed into starters at the end of last season. When asked who he was most excited to work with, Pickett mentioned Owen Drexel's name above everyone else, saying he stepped up during winter workouts.
He also mentioned being happy to work with Carter Warren, Matt Goncalves, Jay Kradel and Gabe Houy again. The addition of transfer Marcus Minor also brings a lineman from Maryland with experience at tackle and guard.
This time last year, Pitt had to host virtual learning sessions between players and position coaches. Having actual hands-on spring and summer camps could go a long way to getting groups together sooner rather than later.
• Pitt definitely feels the benefit of the eligibility waiver with several returning seniors who would normally have moved on by now. But that benefit could come with some harsh realities across college sports in just a couple seasons.
Chase Pine, Phil Campbell and John Petrishen were all seniors who wouldn't have been back this season, but now help fill out the linebacker depth chart with familiar faces after losing several star players up front like Jalen Twyman, and All-Americans Rashad Weaver and Patrick Jones.
But it's unclear just how long Pitt and the rest of college sports, could feel that impact of the eligibility waiver.
"Back when the NCAA announced in the summer that everyone gets a free year, those super seniors don't count against our 85 scholarship players," Narduzzi said. "But the NCAA doesn't have a rule saying that everyone moving forward will have a rule on who can be a super senior. Coaches in every power five conference want to extend the idea of having super seniors, but it looks like they're saying in coming years we'll have to have our scholarships cut back down to 85."
Narduzzi's point is that if Pitt is allowed to have more than 85 scholarship players because it includes those seniors like Pine, Campbell and Petrishen were allowed to return on the eligibility waiver, then there could be a problem if that waiver isn't extended to the classes that come behind them.
Players who were juniors last season technically could've been given a fifth season still if 2020 was to truly not count against anyone's eligibility because of the pandemic. But if the waiver only applies to allowing programs to keep extra seniors in the fold in 2021, that would cause a dilemma for players who thought they could stay and play a fifth season because of the waiver.
For example, Shocky Jacques-Louis was a junior wide receiver in 2020 and would technically be a senior in 2021. If the eligibility waiver were to apply, he could return for a fifth season in 2022. But if the NCAA doesn't give programs the same waiver for seniors to return and not count against the allowed 85 scholarship players, Jacques-Louis staying would hold back Pitt from a scholarship it could offer to a high school recruit.
"If I kept every super senior next year, and that would be 12 of them, I would have zero scholarships for the 2022 class," Narduzzi explained. "That can't happen. It would just trickle down to the high school level and there would be a lot of sad faces there."
When asked about how a program should recruit with the uncertainty of what might happen with the waiver, Narduzzi exclaimed, 'you tell me,' and explained that it's a dilemma that many coaches face with similar questions moving forward.
He also said he and Heather Lyke have spoken to ACC Commissioner John Swofford and that it's something that needs ironed out with several power five conferences.
• Fans could be back soon for Pitt as Narduzzi said the program is working toward allowing fans to even attend a spring game, if possible. He did say that Pitt would be able to practice at Heinz Field three times during spring ball, and that Pitt's 'hoping and praying' to be able to have fans attend the spring game.
Pitt opened up the Petersen Events Center for friends and family to attend most of basketball season, and with loosened restrictions on outdoor capacities coming in Pennsylvania as well as further distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, Pitt could be in a position to welcome fans back into Heinz Field by the start of the fall season.
• Unfortunate news for Malik Newton, a running back recruit out of Virginia who was part of a talented and touted 2021 recruiting class from Pitt. Narduzzi explained that Newton had been medically disqualified from playing.
"I'm not going to get into what it is," Narduzzi explained. "But the point is we feel bad for Malik and his family. You come here to college and think you're going to play football, but then it doesn't happen. We have some of the greatest doctors in the world here in Pittsburgh and they found out some things that aren't going to allow him to play football at Pitt. He's a guy who will be with us, he's on our football team and we will continue to love him up, and make sure he can get his degree here if he chooses to remain at Pitt."
Newton was a three-star recruit from Norfolk, Va. who along with Naquan Brown, Rodney Hammond and Myles Austin made an impressive group of Virginia recruits for the 2021 class.
• On the brighter side of things, Pickett is excited to be back for Pitt. He's chief among those 'super seniors' for Narduzzi as he prepares for a fifth season with the Panthers after using the eligibility wavier to return this season.
"We got really good people on the team," Pickett said when asked about what brought him back. "If I didn't love it here so much it would've been a lot easier to leave. I love the players and the coaches and I'm focused on being here for one more ride with my guys. I was very close to not being back. I put a deadline on it, but I fielded as much information on it as I could. I took my time with it and I felt like having the ability to come back and improve would help me improve my game."
Pickett currently has 7,984 passing yards at Pitt, just 607 yards shy of Dan Marino's total at Pitt and less than 3,000 yards shy of Alex Van Pelt's school record of 10,913 passing yards. If he has a full season like he did in 2019 when he threw for 3,098, he would have the school record.
"It was kind of a foregone conclusion that he was gone," Narduzzi said on whether Pickett was going to the NFL Draft. "I had conversations after his last game back in New Jersey with him and his dad. Kenny did a great job contacting people across the country and Mark Whipple did a great job of contacting people he trusted like Bill O'Brien. It's a great decision by Kenny to come back, raise his stock and become one of the top quarterbacks drafted next year."
• Pickett also made it very clear that Whipple was a huge reason for his return.
"Coach Whipple is like family to me," he said. "We've developed a really good relationship over the years. He was a huge influence on why I came back. If he wasn't coming back here, I wouldn't have came back. It was a lot about unfinished business. He's a competitor just like I am, so we're really excited to get together for one final year and go out with a bang."
Whipple was subject to a lot of criticism as Pitt's offense ranked 10th in ACC scoring with just 29 points per game, in 2020, despite Pickett's 267.6 passing yards per game being the third best in the conference. Since Whipple arrived in 2018, one of the staples that's most talked about is how his quarterbacks must run to the sideline before every play to physically hear the play from Whipple and take it back into the huddle.
Pitt's the only major program in the power five conferences who sends in their plays that way, and it's baffled even ESPN broadcasters over the years. It's confusing, but there's no doubt that if Pickett benefits more from having an offense he knows rather than learning a new system just for an extra season of college football.
Whipple became offensive coordinator in 2018, the same year Pickett had his first full season as a starter. So tying one with the other on their returns makes a lot of sense.
• Narduzzi made it clear that Vinent Davis is still the starting running back for the Panthers in 2021. Pitt ranked 13th in the ACC last season with 119 rushing yards per game. Davis led the team with 632 rushing yards on 143 carries for an average of 4.4 yards per carry and six rushing touchdowns.
He came on strong at the end of the season, finishing with 247 rushing yards on 25 carries against Georgia Tech in the finale. Narduzzi emphasized that despite several returning players bringing intrigue like 'super senior' A.J. Davis and athletic sophomore Israel Abanikanda, Davis has consistently displayed better talent as a runner, receiver and pass protector to make him the clear choice to hold the top spot on the depth chart.
• Pitt's pro day is scheduled for Wednesday, when its departing players will get to put on a show for scouts ahead of the NFL Draft. You can watch the pro day on the ACC Network at 9:00 a.m.
Pro days carry a lot more weight this year with the NFL Scouting Combine not allowing any events to measure. So this will be the only time to get official measurements of strength, speed, agility and on-field drills.
Several Panthers look to be legitimate prospects to be selected in the draft, including Jones, Weaver, Twyman, Paris Ford, Damar Hamlin and Jimmy Morrissey. Jason Pinnock, Bryce Hargrove and D.J. Turner will also get a chance to work for scouts, but they're mostly projected as undrafted free agents.
• Brennan Marion has made a good impression on Narduzzi and Pickett as the program's new receivers coach. Although Narduzzi has said that he still doesn't know much about Marion's 'go-go' style offense he' used at William and Mary.
"We love him because he's got other things he's done,' Narduzzi said of Marion. "When we get into game planning and spring ball, he'll see what we're used to doing. But obviously he's very creative and he's definitely going to help us move our offense along."
Marion is going to get a talented group of receivers to work with, leading with freshman All-American Jordan Addison who led the Panthers with 60 receptions, 666 receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns. But Pitt also has speedy players like Jaylon Barden returning, as well as experienced 'super seniors' like Tre Tipton and Taysir Mack.
But even with them, there's still excitement about incoming players like freshman receiver Jake McConnachie from Verona, N.J., who showed off his explosiveness with this dunk at the Petersen Events Center Friday:
SEND IT IN @jakemcconnachie ‼️ pic.twitter.com/4yI6UulcJ2
— Pat Narduzzi (@CoachDuzzPittFB) March 12, 2021
• Pitt's secondary lost three consistent starters from last year in Ford, Hamlin and Pinnock. Each were important pieces of the defense during their time as Panthers. While Hamlin and Ford are solid projections to be middle round draft picks this year, don't overlook the importance of Pinnock to Pitt's secondary.
Cornell Powell is an athletic receiver prospect from Clemson in this NFL Draft class who named Pinnock as one of the two toughest cornerbacks he faced in his ACC career. Powell was the ACC's sixth-leading receiver last season and was part of Clemson's offense that ranked No. 1 in the ACC in scoring and passing yards.
But Pitt does get back one 'super senior' in the secondary in Damarri Mathis, who didn't even need to use the eligibility waiver. Mathis suffered an injury before last season began and burned his redshirt to maintain his eligibility for another season.
Now, Narduzzi says he's back at full strength.
"He's ready to go and excited," Narduzzi said of Mathis. "They had 7-on-7s going and he was right in there. I wasn't there to see it, but what I heard was that he was so excited he tackled somebody and that was in shorts with no helmets. He's ready to go and 100 percent healthy. He's a great football player we missed last year and we're excited to see what he can do this season."
Mathis will come back to a much younger secondary group with sophomore Rashad Battle and juniors A.J. Woods and Marquise Williams competing for playing time at cornerback, as well as Erick Hallett and Brandon Hill as the projected starters at safety after getting experience late last season when Ford opted-out.
