After missing a week of practice due to COVID-19 protocols, Pitt football had to make adjustments to its spring schedule.
That's what led to Pitt announcing that its Blue-Gold Spring Game, originally scheduled for Saturday, Apr. 17 at Heinz Field, has been pushed back to Apr. 24 with a 1 p.m. kickoff time.
“Postponing the spring game by a week was in the best interest of our players’ health and safety,” Pat Narduzzi said in a released statement. “We can maximize our practice opportunities by not overloading their personal and academic schedules.”
When Pitt had to pause spring activities, it took a week off in between the football program's fourth and fifth practices in March. That led to the players, coaches and staff all quarantining during that time and having to conduct Zoom meetings instead of the in-person practice sessions players and coaches had anticipated.
That time off led to what Narduzzi referred to as 'lost momentum' when he spoke after Pitt's practices resumed last Tuesday. After not missing all of spring practice during the start of the pandemic in 2020, Narduzzi sees a big opportunity to get his program going with a full offseason after a disappointing 6-5 record last season.
"I really think after seven days, we've been pretty good," Narduzzi said in his Tuesday availability. "We're about halfway through spring ball. We've had five padded practices, but the first two were just with helmets. We've made some strides after our COVID setback, but we had a really good Thursday and Tuesday practice. I'm happy where we are after practice seven."
Part of the rationale for pushing back the Blue and Gold Game is to get the full week of practice back that Pitt missed during its quarantine period. Instead of mixing in the practices before Apr. 17, Narduzzi opted to spread them out over an extra week.
"My thoughts on practice is we'll get the three practices we missed and slide them in," Narduzzi continued. "But I thought I would be cheating the team if I practiced, today and tomorrow after Good Friday and have sped it up. We need this time for spring ball and to take our time. We're going to look at our practice tape and make all the corrections. That's the important thing."
Narduzzi noted that no player missed practice due to COVID-19 positive tests or contact tracing. But that six Panthers are missing spring practices due to injuries, surgeries and/or recovery time.
SirVocea Dennis had postseason surgery, but Narduzzi wouldn't disclose specifics on the surgery. Bangally Kamara is out after shoulder surgery, as well as Nate Temple, Erick Hallett, Leslie Smith, and Grant Carrigan. Narduzzi indicated that all the injuries were known going into Pitt's offseason and that it looks like each player is on schedule to return for summer training camp.
Pitt Athletics still plans to host a limited number of fans for Blue and Gold Game on Apr. 24. Ticket information is to be announced sometime in the next two weeks before the game, but admission will be free at Heinz Field.
