Change, higher learning are keys for Pat Narduzzi while Pitt's offseason shifts toward spring drills

Pat Narduzzi turns 58 nine days after Pitt’s Blue-Gold Spring game next month, steeped in the dogged stubbornness that comes from growing up with an old-school coach as a dad, a decade or more as a linebacker and 34 years as a coach at six institutions of higher learning.

Those last two words, however, are what will define the 2024 Pitt football season from the first day of spring drills Monday all the way through November and — if all goes well — December.

Yes, Narduzzi is entrenched in his ways. For example, he won’t budge off an insistence on leaning perhaps too heavily on his cornerbacks in an aggressive stop-the-run-at-all-costs defense.

But as Pitt’s coach approaches his 10th season, he has shown a willingness to embrace higher learning by attempting to find alternate ways of moving the football, accept ideas from younger assistants, discard the old, worn methods that didn’t work last season and leap into the waters of the future like a diver off a springboard.

Risky, you bet. But it can’t get much worse than 3-9.

After Narduzzi fired four offensive coaches, lost Tiquan Underwood to the New England Patriots and brought in 12 players from the transfer portal, the talk around the practice facility centered on new offensive coordinator Kade Bell’s speed-based offense. The hope is that snapping the football sometimes 12-15 seconds after the previous play will keep the defense off-balance.

In a perfect world.

All eyes this spring will be on quarterback Nate Yarnell. It’s his job for the moment, but there are four others on scholarship. Yarnell’s first task after only three career starts is to build a strong relationship with his wide receivers, especially transfers Censere Lee and Raphael Williams, who have experience in Bell’s offense.

There is a mix of tall and short wide receivers, ranging from 6-foot-plus holdovers Daejon Reynolds, Konata Mumpfield, Kenny Johnson and Jake McConnachie to Lee and Williams, both an inch or two shy of 6-foot.

Will that matter? It didn’t at Bell’s last stop, Western Carolina.

Catamounts coach Kerwin Bell, a former quarterback who backed up Dan Marino and Jim Harbaugh in the NFL, said effective pass catchers come in all sizes.

“There are certain players we love within that system,” said Bell, who is Kade Bell’s father. “You have a lot of (coaches) who run around this country and go get 6-3 receivers who run 4.7s that they want to throw jump balls to. They can’t get in and out of routes. They have stiff hips. But they look pretty.

“That’s not our system. We want a guy, he may be only 6-foot tall, but we want a guy who can be explosive athletically, get in and out of routes with his hips, dropping his hips, getting open.”

It will be interesting to see if Kade Bell, Yarnell and the receivers can build the type of relationship that made Mark Whipple, Kenny Pickett and Jordan Addison so successful in 2021.

There will be competition for playing time at wide receiver, with the aforementioned six joined by 10 others under new assistant J.J. Laster. And, perhaps, Bell can find a way to get tight end Gavin Bartholomew more than the 18 catches he had in 10 games last season.

Although much of Bell’s offense will be kept under cover throughout the spring and summer, how the running back position evolves will be a storyline to monitor. Rising senior Rodney Hammond’s talents could be complemented by Derrick Davis, Daniel Carter, Montravius Lloyd, Juelz Goff and Desmond Reid, who also arrived from Western Carolina.

There are plenty of returning offensive linemen, including Ryan Baer, Branson Taylor, Terrence Moore, B.J. Williams, Jason Collier and Ryan Jacoby. Lyndon Cooper arrived from N.C. State.

Narduzzi wanted to keep all of his defensive assistants, but line coach Charlie Partridge departed for the Indianapolis Colts where he doesn’t need to worry about NIL or the transfer portal.

Gone off Pitt’s defense via transfer are linebacker Bangally Kamara, defensive tackle DeAndre Jules and defensive end Samuel Okunlola. All three would have been likely starters.

Plus, Pitt will miss cornerbacks M.J. Devonshire, A.J. Woods and Marquis Williams, who hope to be in the NFL this season. The group of replacements have a total of one career start and include Nebraska transfer Tamon Lynum, Rashad Battle, Jahvante Royal, Noah Biglow, Ryland Gandy and Tamarion Crumpley. Lynum played in 23 games at Nebraska, with one start.

There isn’t much depth at safety, but Donovan McMillon, P.J. O’Brien and Javon McIntyre have experience.

With six months before the first game, Narduzzi will make sure his staff keeps track of the transfer portal for most positions. Pitt’s coach has proven he’s not afraid of change.