After a hot August training camp with several position battles up for grabs, Pitt opened its first week of regular season practice Monday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.
But several of those position battles were not resolved on the Panthers' first official depth chart released. Four starting positions featured multiple players with their names bolded, designating "or" between each name to indicate there were still decisions to be made before the Panthers' season opener against Massachusetts, Saturday, 4 p.m. at Heinz Field.
"There's a lot of 'or's' on that depth chart," Narduzzi said when asked about the depth chart. "And being honest there could've been more because I feel good about a lot of our guys."
Running back featured three listed starters with A.J. Davis, Israel Abanikanda and Vincent Davis. Mike linebacker listed both Wendell Davis and SirVocea Dennis as starters, with Dennis also listed as the second option at money linebacker behind Phil Campbell. Free safety had both Erick Hallett II and Rashad Battle as starters, and both Ben Sauls and Sam Scarton were listed as starting kickers.
The running back battle has been a legitimate discussion since spring practices. Vincent Davis was the established starter from 2020, but Abanikanda, affectionally referred to as "Izzy" by Narduzzi and the team, made serious strides during spring practices and the Blue and Gold Spring Game at Heinz Field in April. A.J. Davis, a fifth-year senior, brings more experience than both players combined and was noted by Narduzzi at the end of training camp to still be the best pass protector at running back for Kenny Pickett.
"We're going to play that by series," Narduzzi said of his running back situation. "It's Monday at 12:05 p.m., so we'll figure that out. We'll see how they practice. Normally you wouldn't want to go away from a hot hand, but when you've got so many tailbacks, it's different. Maybe we'll use two or three at the same time. Who knows?"
Narduzzi always likes to play his cards close to his chest when it comes to position battles and roster updates. In the middle of the 2020 season he gave no indication Pickett was injured all week heading into the team's away game against Miami before it was announced Saturday morning that Pickett didn't even travel with the team because of an injury. The same happened in reverse when Pickett was announced first at DKPittsburghSports that he would start against Florida State.
It's no surprise he will do the same here, but all indications point to sincerity in there being a legitimate position battle between talented options that just haven't been resolved yet.
The two defensive positions where battles still exist in mike linebacker and free safety seem to get Narduzzi the most excited to talk about.
"I really feel good with all of them," Narduzzi said of his linebackers. "Wendell's a good football player and so is SirVocea. It's a good problem to have. We're going to play them all and who might start next week might get determined by how they play this week. Can't tell you who will start this week because we need to see them practice, but it's a good motivating factor to have them focus all week. Whether SirVocea, Wendell or Chase Pine line up at mike linebacker, we know we have another guy or two who can line up if it's just not the starter's day."
Dennis was noted last week for how versatile he had been during camp at all three linebacker spots, but Davis was the team's starter at mike linebacker at the start of the 2020 season before he suffered a season ending injury. Dennis went on to earn Third Team All-ACC honors for his performance with the most tackles for loss on the team, but even admitted last week that he felt more comfortable playing money linebacker alongside Davis at mike linebacker so that he could just focus on making plays rather than all the communication roles of the mike linebacker. Their battle was more foreseeable of the defensive positions.
But the safety position battle between Hallett and Battle is another situation. Hallett played all over Pitt's defense in 2020, replacing Jason Pinnock at cornerback against Florida State and helping at safety when Paris Ford opted out. Battle is a true sophomore who didn't play nearly as much in 2020, but has been an exciting prospect with rangy athleticism and a huge 6-foot-3, 205 lbs. frame for a defensive back. Him going from cornerback to safety really has Narduzzi excited to see what he can do.
"It's a really good thing," Narduzzi said of his safety situation. "Rashad Battle is a big, athletic guy. He could be starting at cornerback right now. He's a team player and understands how important the safety position is on the field. But Hallett has done it during a game and he knows what's going on. Our offense throws so much at our defense during camp that it's hard to put together."
A lot of what might decide the safety battle will be communication, fluidity in defensive calls, being in the right position and being able to make plays. This week of practice will be vital to either player establishing pole position as the season opening starter.
The kicker battle is one that Narduzzi has noted fluctuates week to week, but hasn't been one Narduzzi has been nearly as confident about as the others with Sauls or Scarton replacing Pitt's 2020 kicker Alex Kessman, who's currently with the Chargers.
"It's a bad 'or' right now," Narduzzi said of his kickers. "I'd say it's a battle right now. We were hitting about 70 percent of kicks during camp, but in the last five days of camp they were both at about 83-84 percent. They've both been getting better together. You'd wish one guy was at 50 percent and one guys were at 80 percent and the decision would be easy. Alex Kessman coming out of camp last year was at 86 percent, so we're not sure. We've got all kinds of ideas but nothing nailed down."
The fact that the kickers were making 83-84 percent of field goals in the final week of training camp, and that it only moved their overall numbers to about 70 percent throughout camp, is alarming. Neither has been proven a reliable option and if Pitt can get a controlling lead against Massachusetts Saturday, a program that went 0-4 last season, that might be the best time to test out their mettle in game situations.
Narduzzi noted that Mark Whipple calls the offensive plays and likes to be a conservative guy, but not having Kessman will factor into field goal decisions.
One position that wasn't listed as a battle any longer was the defensive end spot across from Deslin Alexandre. After Rashad Weaver and Patrick Jones both went to the NFL, Alexandre was the only established replacement with considerable experience Pitt knew going into camp would be an answer. The battle to line up at the other defensive end spot was between Habakkuk Baldonado, John Morgan III and Dayon Hayes.
Baldonado won that out on the depth chart, and Narduzzi noted that he left no doubt he belonged there.
"(Habakkuk) had a great camp," Narduzzi said of the Italian born redshirt junior. "He really looked good, maybe even as good as Deslin. We're excited about where he is but John Morgan also had a nice camp. He had a great final scrimmage which I was waiting to see because he practices his tail off every week. Dayon's been good. He missed a couple of practices a week ago, but we expect him to be ready to go to start off this week."
Media will get to see our first in-season live Pitt practice Tuesday morning at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex since 2019.
