Defensive linemen Habakkuk Baldonado, Calijah Kancey represent Pitt on All-ACC preseason team
Indicative of the anticipated strength Pitt will employ in the trenches this season, defensive end Habakkuk Baldonado and defensive tackle Calijah Kancey were named to the 2022 All-ACC preseason team Baldonado, a senior from Rome, Italy, and Kancey, a junior from Miami, were part of Pitt’s pass rush last season...
Preseason prognosticators pick Pitt to finish 2nd in ACC Coastal
If Pitt football fans are looking for a discussion topic in the days before the start of summer camp, the ACC obliged Tuesday with the release of its preseason poll. In a vote of 164 reporters last week during the ACC Football Kickoff, defending ACC champion Pitt — with eight...
Pitt gets commitment from B.J. Williams, 5th high school offensive lineman in 2023 class
Pitt offensive line coach Dave Borbely typically doesn’t feel comfortable until he finds enough big bodies to completely fill out his two-deep depth chart. With all five starters moving on next year after their upcoming redshirt senior seasons, Borbely must be pleased with how the 2023 recruiting class is developing....
Pat Narduzzi seeks more balance in Pitt’s offense, but it wasn’t unbalanced a year ago
With camp starting on the first day of August, it’s a good time for Pat Narduzzi to clarify how he wants Pitt’s offensive identity to evolve this season. “I want to score touchdowns. I like touchdowns,” he said Thursday during his appearance on the ACC Network. “I don’t care how...
Mark Madden: We will see if Pat Narduzzi is as smart as he thinks he is
In 2021, Pat Narduzzi had his best season since taking over as Pitt football coach in 2015: His Panthers went 11-3, won the ACC and went to a New Year’s Six bowl. The offense was the driving force of the two platoons, averaging 41.4 points (third best in the nation)...
From cuffs on his shirt to willingness to voice an opinion, Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi steals show
The most discussed coach Thursday at the ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte, N.C., was, of course, Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi. After all, he might have been the only man wearing signature-embroidered cuffs on his dress shirt at the Westin Charlotte. But the real reason for Narduzzi’s celebrity was that his Panthers...
ACC’s quartet of new coaches adds wrinkle to wild division
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tony Elliott waited years before he felt it was the right moment to leave the Clemson staff and become a head coach. The timing gave him plenty of company as he takes over at Virginia. He’s one of four new coaches in the Atlantic Coast Conference, joining...
‘College GameDay’ set to visit Pittsburgh for Backyard Brawl on Sept. 1
The hype machine for the renewal of the Backyard Brawl hit another gear Thursday when ESPN announced it will bring its popular “College GameDay” show to Acrisure Stadium on Sept. 1 for the West Virginia/Pitt game. The special, one-hour show goes on the air at 6 p.m. and will include...
From academics to NIL, ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips tackles college athletics issues of the dayVideo
Jim Phillips’ voice was full of pride and joy Wednesday morning when he spoke of the first games of the 2022 ACC football season, when all 14 schools will be in action in a span of 10 days. “I’m going to try to make every one of those games,” he...
Mariners select Pitt catcher Tatem Levins in 8th round
Pitt junior catcher Tatem Levins was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the eighth round of the MLB Draft on Monday, earning the distinction of the Panthers’ highest draft choice since 2018. In the process, Pitt coach Mike Bell can add another name to his resume. Levins is the 94th...
Pitt’s John Hugley IV, Butler grad Ethan Morton will join East Coast All-Stars in Spain
Before Pitt center John Hugley IV makes his final preparations for the 2022-2023 season, he will join Butler High School graduate and Purdue junior guard Ethan Morton on a trip to Spain. Hugley and Morton are among 14 collegiate players who were named to the East Coast All-Stars that will...
ACC helped kickstart the conference expansion race which now threatens its survival
On the other end of the phone, Mike Tranghese sighed quietly. It was a sound that conveyed a sense of empathy, if not resignation. The emotions returned, almost 20 years later. Back then, as the commissioner of the original Big East Conference, Tranghese watched with a sense of helplessness while...
Pitt secures verbal commitment from Miami wide receiver Lamar Seymore
Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi continued reaching into the fertile Florida recruiting territory Monday when he landed a verbal commitment from Miami Northwestern High School senior wide receiver Lamar Seymore. Committed to the University of Miami for more than two years, Seymore visited Pitt last month and decided to choose the...
Luke DeCock: Where does ACC go from here? Here are 5 options
Remember when deciding whether to move the conference office out of Greensboro was the trickiest question ACC commissioner Jim Phillips had to answer? Seems like a long time ago that was the ACC’s hot-button issue … in part because that decision has been marinating for a year. It’s small potatoes...
Pitt DB A.J. Woods has grown, wants more
With 13 minutes, 26 seconds left in the fourth quarter Dec. 4, Pitt was closing in on its first ACC championship. The Panthers led 31-21 against Wake Forest. On third-and-13, Demon Deacons quarterback Sam Hartman wanted to connect with wide receiver A.T. Perry on a four verticals route. Pitt defensive...
Luke DeCock: As Big Ten, SEC consolidate their power, the ACC finds itself under existential threat
RALEIGH, N.C. — When Oklahoma and Texas announced their intention to jump to the SEC last summer, it felt like distant thunder on the horizon in ACC country. Concerning, maybe even menacing, but not imminently threatening. But when the Big Ten poached UCLA and Southern Cal from the Pac-12 last...
After historic Pitt career, Kenny Pickett named ACC Male Athlete of the Year
Kenny Pickett signed his Pittsburgh Steelers rookie contract more than two weeks ago, but one more honor from his remarkable Pitt career rolled in Friday. Pickett was named the 2022 ACC Male Athlete of the Year, the conference office announced. He is Pitt’s first ACC Athlete of the Year since...
Basketball Backyard Brawl highlights Pitt’s non-conference schedule
The basketball version of the Backyard Brawl headlines Pitt’s 11-game nonconference schedule for the 2022-2023 season, released Thursday by the university and coach Jeff Capel. Pitt will play West Virginia on Nov. 11 at Petersen Events Center, the 189th all-time meeting between the Panthers and Mountaineers. West Virginia won 100...
How ACC went from one of most successful in college sports history to uncertain future
RALEIGH, N.C. — In an instant late last week, the ACC went from a period of relative stability — yet one not without significant questions about its long-term future — to prognostications of doom and visions of worst-case scenarios. Pick a related metaphor and they all fit the perception that...
Tim Benz: College football conferences may have to die for the sport to rediscover why they were important
I’ve long had a theory about how the shifting landscape of college sports conferences would end. Pretty close to how it started. I consider the constant conference expansion and contraction to be college football nihilism. The existence of conferences as we know them today is unfounded, senseless and useless. Objective...
Pitt lands commitment from Cincinnati offensive tackle Phillip Daniels
Pitt added a fourth offensive lineman to its 15-man class of 2023 verbal commitments Saturday when Phillip Daniels of Cincinnati pledged to enroll. Daniels made the announcement on an Instagram video when he picked up and donned a Pitt baseball cap that was sitting among two others representing Minnesota and...
Pitt senior tackle Carter Warren, teammates hang out with little ones at Millvale’s Boys and Girls Club
When you stand 6-foot-5 and weigh 320 pounds with thick arms and a muscle-bound chest, it might be difficult to look welcoming. But Carter Warren and four of his similarly sized buddies on Pitt’s offensive line pulled it off Tuesday. They greeted, mingled with and even played a game of...
Former Pitt star Dorin Dickerson to join ‘Fan Morning Show’
For the first time since the retirement of Pittsburgh sports radio personality Jim Colony last January, “The Fan Morning Show” has a permanent trio of co-hosts. Former NFL player and Pitt star tight end Dorin Dickerson is joining Colin Dunlap and Chris Mack as a regular host of the weekday...
Pitt lands Florida 3-star DB Jesse Anderson for class of 2023
Defensive back Jesse Anderson announced his plans to enroll at Pitt next year in a unique manner. He wrote an article for USA Today Network. Anderson (6-foot-1, 175 pounds) plays wide receiver and defensive back at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., but he will begin his Pitt...
Pitt secures services of wrestling coach Keith Gavin through 2027
Pitt achieved the stablity in its wrestling program that it seeks across all sports when coach Keith Gavin signed a contract Tuesday that carries through the 2027 season. In five seasons at Pitt (his alma mater), Gavin coached 27 NCAA championship qualifiers, 10 ACC champions and seven All-Americans while recording...
