Despite quarantine, disrupted routine, Pat Narduzzi says Pitt well-prepared for opener

Pat Narduzzi doesn’t usually watch another coach’s game early in the week when he’s getting Pitt ready to play.

But he glanced at the TV on Monday night when Navy, a team that won 11 games last season, allowed 580 total yards (301 on the ground) in a 55-3 loss to BYU.

Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo admitted his team had done no tackling during training camp as a way to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

At Pitt, spring practice was truncated after three sessions, players were quarantined for three months and routines generally disrupted. But when training camp began last month, it was football as usual, according to Narduzzi, as the Panthers prepared for their opener at 4 p.m. Saturday against Austin Peay.

“When we were allowed to tackle, we were tackling live,” Pitt’s coach said. “We were able to tackle, physical, block, run hard as running backs. We didn’t tackle doughnuts (round, plastic circles used in lighter drills).

“I understand what Ken was doing. I really feel bad for him because you have that sense of safety you have for your kids.

“There are some teams out there maybe that took that avenue, and maybe they learned and cranked it up the last week after that Monday night disaster,” Narduzzi said. “That won’t happen in Heinz Field.”

But the question remains:

Will the play Saturday be filled with penalties and missed tackles, thanks to months of inactivity?

1. Narduzzi confident

The reconfigured ACC schedule gave Pitt an extra week to prepare for the opener, and Narduzzi said it helped.

Asked about his team’s readiness, compared to his five previous openers, he said, “It’s exactly where we’ve been. I don’t feel like we’re off at all. We’re ready just like we were for any other opener.”

“We had an extra week. We got the amount of practices in we needed. I feel good with where we are.

“That’s a tribute to our staff. That’s a tribute to our doctors, our trainers, everybody. It’s a major tribute to our kids in believing in what we’re doing, how we’re doing it and trusting we are doing things right.”

2. On the other hand …

Former Georgia and Miami coach Mark Richt, now an analyst for the ACC Network, said on a zoom conference call this week the offseason is “crucially important, especially spring ball.”

“People are saying, ‘Do you need spring ball? Do you not?’ I think we’re already seeing on some of these early games what happens when you don’t have spring football.

“You don’t work on the fundamentals of tackling and blocking and all those good things that you normally do.”

The ACC, SEC and Big 12 are the only Power-5 conferences scheduled to play football this fall. Big Ten and Pac-12 teams won’t be considered in the Associated Press Top 25 voting unless they decide to play.

“I do think playing football is the best thing to do for these young men,” Richt said. “I think they’re safer on their campuses. I think they’re safer when they have doctors and trainers and (covid) testing three times a week, rather than having everybody be on their own.

“If you have them together, you keep them apart from the people they can infect who are in more danger.

“Somebody may want to pull the plug somewhere in the middle of it, but I hope they don’t.”

3. Don’t get too close

Pitt’s offensive line will be, perhaps, the most scrutinized unit on the field. Much has been made of reigniting the running game after Pitt finished 119th of 130 FBS schools and 13th of 14 in the ACC last season. Its per-game average of 118.8 yards constituted a nearly 50% dropoff from 2018, when Pitt was 18th and third (227.9).

The names are the same, with Carter Warren and Bryce Hargrove at left tackle and guard and Jimmy Morrissey back as an All-ACC center. Gabe Houy (Upper St. Clair) moves from guard to right tackle, with Jake Kradel (Butler) returning to right guard where he made six starts last season.

Backups include center Owen Drexel, tackles Carson Van Lynn and Keldrick Wilson and guards Matt Goncalves and Blake Zubovic (Belle Vernon).

“The offensive line may be the most cohesive unit on our football team,” Narduzzi said. “Those guys do everything together. They wear the same stinky, smelly shirt (every day).”

4. Keep an eye out …

Narduzzi mentioned redshirt freshman Calijah Kancey as a player to watch as a backup defensive tackle.

“He’s an electric guy,” he said. “You may watch more of him on third down. He’s a pass-rushing specialist. Kind of like Jaylen Twyman. He has a little bit of that twitch to him.”

5. Speaking of openers

Narduzzi is 4-1 in openers, losing last year to ACC opponent Virginia, 30-14.

Austin Peay will be the seventh FCS team to play Pitt in its past nine openers (5-1 so far), but it hasn’t always been that way.

Pitt opened against West Virginia twice in the 1990s, recording a 34-3 victory in 1991 and losing 34-0 in 1996. Since 1994, Pitt also has confronted Texas, Washington State, Notre Dame, Utah and Florida State in openers, beating only Washington State among that group, 17-13, in 1995.

Under the circumstances, easing into the season is probably a good idea, considering Austin Peay is followed by 10 ACC games in the next 11 Saturdays.

Austin Peay coach Marquase Lovings knows his team’s task won’t be easy.

“Defensively, they do as good a job as any against the run,” he said. “They’re going to be up in your face for the pass. We’re in for an uphill battle against their defense.

“Hopefully, we can manage a yard or two.”

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