Jerry DiPaola stories, Page 78
Pitt defense hopes to keep evolving from group that lost to Clemson in 2018 ACC championship game
Three years ago at the ACC championship game, Pitt linebacker Phil Campbell III was a reserve safety who got on the field long enough to record one assisted tackle. He was in another world back then, like many of his future teammates. • Defensive tackle Calijah Kancey was still in...
21 Pitt players receive All-ACC recognition, led by Kenny Pickett and Jordan Addison
In the midst of preparations for the ACC championship game, Pitt received a welcome distraction Tuesday morning. The Panthers placed a conference-high 12 players on the All-ACC first, second and third teams, plus nine who received honorable mention. Leading the way are three first-team selections: quarterback Kenny Pickett, wide receiver...
Pat Narduzzi says Pitt learned from mistakes to reach ACC Championship Game
With Heisman and Biletnikoff candidates leading Pitt to its best season in four decades, the situation couldn’t have been much sweeter this season. Actually, if the goal is perfection, there’s always room for improvement. Pitt lost only two games during the regular season by a total of seven points. One...
Former Pitt fan will lead Wake Forest against Panthers in ACC championship game
Dave Clawson rattled off the names of some of the greatest players in Pitt football history as if he grew up rooting for them. Which he did. “I grew up being a huge Pitt Panther fan,” Wake Forest’s coach said. “I would listen to games on the radio. That was...
Pitt beats Syracuse, wins 10th regular-season game for 1st time in 40 years
To Pat Narduzzi, who won’t be satisfied unless and until he’s holding that ACC Championship trophy around midnight Dec. 4, what happened Saturday night in the Carrier Dome was more worthy of a pat on the back than excessive praise. Winning 10 games by defeating Syracuse, 31-14, was nice. “Monumental,”...
Pitt Take 5: With Syracuse, ACC title game looming, curious Pat Narduzzi tweet surfaces
Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi often talks about grabbing an early advantage in games to make managing the second half easier. It’s even more important Saturday at the Carrier Dome. If Pitt (9-2, 6-1) can build a sizable lead against Syracuse (5-6, 2-5), it will give Narduzzi confidence to put some...
Stuffed with game prep and Thanksgiving dinner, Pitt turns its attention to Syracuse
Stuffed with his mom’s stuffing, Jordan Addison and his Pitt teammates, some of whom took advantage of his open invitation to Thanksgiving dinner, will report back to work Friday. The holiday emerged while Pitt (9-2, 6-1 ACC) was getting ready for its game Saturday against Syracuse (5-6, 2-5) at the...
Vanderbilt’s 2nd-half blitz ends Pitt’s 2-game winning streak
After Pitt’s 68-52 loss to Vanderbilt on Wednesday night, Jeff Capel revealed the concepts he believes could help brighten what appears to be the start of a dark season. “We tried to talk about simple, smart and strong,” he said. For Capel, those three words translate into: Take good shots,...
Apollo-Ridge graduate Tre Tipton made the most of his 7 seasons at Pitt
When one of his players is honored by an outside group or a scholarship is given to a deserving walk-on, Pat Narduzzi likes to inject drama into his team meetings. But when he gathered the Pitt team around him Wednesday to announce the most recent piece of good news, his...
Young, rebuilding Pitt faces busy stretch of games
No matter how much work needs done to mold Pitt basketball into a form Jeff Capel prefers, there isn’t a lot of time to do it. Starting Wednesday at Petersen Events Center, the opponents get tougher and start showing up without much of a break in between them. Pitt (2-2)...
Jordan Addison shrugs off individual honor while preparing for Pitt’s final three games
When someone poked his head into Brennan Marion’s office with good news for Jordan Addison — risking a rebuke for interrupting focused video study — there was no reaction. “We kept watching the film,” Pitt wide receivers coach Brennan Marion said. “It’s tunnel vision time.” The news Tuesday morning was...
Coaching rivals now, Jeff Capel will reunite with old friend Jerry Stackhouse when Pitt meets Vanderbilt
Born three months apart and growing up in North Carolina hometowns separated by 83 miles, Jeff Capel and Jerry Stackhouse were friends, rivals and teammates on the basketball court. As high school freshmen, they had no intentions of coaching. Playing was their thing as Capel went to Duke and Stackhouse...
Pitt confronts trappings of success while preparing for Syracuse
Coaches hate outside distractions and will do almost anything to lessen their influence. That said, Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi might need to do his best coaching job away from the X’s and O’s this week while preparing his team for the regular-season finale Saturday night at Syracuse. After nailing down the...
4 Pitt players receive invitations to 2022 Senior Bowl
At one point in their lives, the NFL seemed far into the future for Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett and some of his teammates. But it came into focus for four players Monday when they received invitations to the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., Feb. 5, 2022. The Senior Bowl is...
Pitt’s problems with pass defense will be Pat Narduzzi’s top priority before ACC Championship Game
During his postgame gathering with media members, Pat Narduzzi was asked in two different ways by two different reporters how the 2021 ACC Coastal championship differs from Pitt’s first in 2018. Without amplification, he allowed that this season’s team is an “older group.” No doubt, the group’s maturity and loyalty...
Pitt wins thriller against Virginia to nail down ACC Coastal championship
With the lights high above Heinz Field bouncing off the ACC Coastal championship trophy Saturday night, Pat Narduzzi couldn’t help thinking about an even greater prize. After all, winning half a title was never a goal. “Winning the division is nice, but I’ve been part of division championships,” Pitt’s seven-year...
Pitt rallies to defeat Towson, wins 2nd game in a row
William Jeffress hit a big shot late in the game that kept heat on Towson and, eventually, led to Pitt’s 63-59 victory Friday night at Petersen Events Center. That was on the court. Off the court, while discussing Pitt’s second consecutive victory with reporters, he was a bit defiant. But...
Take 5: ACC Coastal title within Pitt’s grasp while Clemson won’t go away
The focus inside Heinz Field on Saturday will be on the ACC Coastal championship, but perhaps we should pay a little more attention to what’s happening on the other side. Anyone have a taste for a Pitt/Clemson rematch? It’s possible. First of all, Pitt (8-2, 5-1) needs to win the...
Despite so many new faces, Pitt seeks to create an identity
When a team loses its top five scorers from the previous season, some unfamiliar faces might surface as leaders on and off the court. That’s what happening to Pitt (1-2) early in the season while it tries to create an identity and win games at the same time. The Panthers...
Despite the headaches, Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi grew to know, respect Mark Whipple
When Pat Narduzzi was a 28-year-old defensive line coach at Rhode Island in 1994, he knew a headache awaited him when he saw Brown on the schedule. All Narduzzi had to know was Mark Whipple was Brown’s head coach. “The passing game just blew us up,” he said. Same deal...
Kenny Pickett’s love for football started at an early age
You’d never know it by watching the first 10 games of Pitt’s season, but there was a time when Kenny Pickett couldn’t stand up straight while holding a ball in his hands. “My wife used to hold him standing up to shoot basketball,” Ken Pickett Sr. said in an interview...
Pitt holds off UNC Wilmington rally for 1st victory of the season
Jeff Capel didn’t say he has a bad team. He didn’t say he has a good one, either. “Our team is interesting,” Pitt’s coach said. Pitt also is no longer winless after the Panthers (1-2) blew most of a 17-point lead in the second half before surviving a UNC Wilmington...
Senior Cal Adomitis knows stakes will be high Saturday for Pitt’s final home game
They were exhausted and sweaty, soaked and chilled from the steady rain that pelted Heinz Field. But Pitt seniors Kirk Christodoulou and Cal Adomitis didn’t care. When they finally reached the locker room just before midnight Thursday after Pitt’s 30-23 overtime victory against North Carolina, the two close friends —...
Pitt’s Kenny Pickett ranked No. 1 QB by ESPN NFL Draft analysts McShay, Kiper
Five months before the 2022 NFL Draft, there is no consensus No. 1 overall choice. But Kenny Pickett remains No. 1 among quarterbacks on the ranking boards of ESPN draft analysts Todd McShay and Mel Kiper. Pickett climbed to No. 14 from No. 27 on McShay’s list of overall prospects....
Pitt, Femi Odukale hope to benefit from tough lessons learned at WVU
When Femi Odukale scored in the first half of Pitt’s game at West Virginia on Friday night, he blew a kiss to the crowd as he ran back on defense. That was all the large group of students at WVU Coliseum needed to see. He became a target all night,...
