Experience, excitement, questions, consternation: A look at Pitt’s special teams
By virtue of how often they were brought up by coach Pat Narduzzi over the last month, several Pitt players could be said to have been the stars of fall camp.
Defensive lineman Francis Brewu, cornerback Shawn Lee, safety Josh Guerrier, tailback Desmond Reid — the list goes on.
But Narduzzi’s compliments weren’t limited to his roster.
If there was one coach he spoke of the most during camp, it might have been special teams coordinator Jacob Bronowski, who also oversees Pitt’s tight ends.
“We’ve made major strides on special teams, so I’m excited about what we have there,” Narduzzi said. “Just the fundamentals — they know exactly what they’re doing. It’s like clockwork every practice. I think we’ve got the best special teams coordinator in the country.
“(Upperclassmen) can tell you the difference between what it used to be like and what we’re doing now. I can’t wait to watch the special teams walk on the field.”
Pitt’s special teams combine experience with uncertainty, with room for excitement and consternation.
Caleb Junko, back to punt for Pitt in his final collegiate campaign, helped the Panthers to the fourth-best average (43.7 yards per punt) in the ACC last fall.
If he’s able to harness all the ups and downs of his career into a solid campaign, Pitt should boast one of the conference’s and nation’s better punting units, and Junko could be in line for Ray Guy Award consideration.
Conversely, Pitt enters 2025 with an untested, walk-on freshman handling field-goal duties.
Trey Butkowski earned the starter’s gig late in camp, leading to the departure of James London, a Murray State transfer who was expected to succeed Ben Sauls but left the program before Week 1 practices commenced.
Narduzzi expressed confidence in Butkowski, but he’ll have a lot to prove kicking under pressure at collegiate venues while also determining his own range.
Butkowski is already eyeing the Pitt program record for longest field goal, shared by Sauls (2024) and Alex Kessman (2020), both of whom drilled a 58-yarder.
“I’m not quite sure what my (longest field goal) in camp was, but I’ll tell you in high school, I hit a 58-yarder in a game,” Butkowski said. “I’m comfortable probably back to 63 (yards). But I’m looking to test my range. I told Ben, I’m looking to break that record that he and Kessman hold.”
An additional question mark will come on kickoffs, as Narduzzi is opting to split those duties to begin the year. While Butkowski will kick field goals, Sam Carpenter will handle kickoffs, having never done so in a college game before.
The special teams excitement can be attributed to its returners: receiver Kenny Johnson and Reid, who were listed atop the opening depth chart at kick and punt returner.
For both players, it’ll be Year 2 handling those responsibilities.
Last year, Johnson led the ACC in kick returns (22), ranking second in total yards (459) for an average of 20.9 yards.
Johnson is excited to assume that role again.
“We got some stuff cooking up, and we’re really just making sure we get into those details right now,” Johnson said. “We want to rip people this year on kick return. That field position’s such a big factor with where we can start with the ball plus-30, plus-35 and scheming that up.
“It’s really just being fast but being patient, as well. Making sure that I’m lining things up and I’m setting things up the way that I need to with the blockers and helping my guys out to where we can find the best seams and best fits for each return.”
Reid is expected to be Pitt’s primary punt returner again after ranking third in the league in average yards (12.2) on 13 returns in 2025.
For as dynamic as Johnson and Reid can be as return men, both are placed at added risk for injury by assuming prominent special teams duties.
Pitt is better braced to get by were Johnson to become unavailable, thanks to a deep receivers room, but losing Reid to injury would be a catastrophic loss to the backfield.
Behind him on the depth chart is Juelz Goff, a redshirt freshman with 18 career collegiate carries.
After Goff, two of the three tailbacks on the depth chart, Ja’Kyrian Turner and Caleb Williams, have zero combined rushes in college.
Heading into Saturday’s season opener against Duquesne, Narduzzi acknowledged potential health and volume concerns regarding Reid if he served as the full-time punt returner.
“That’s a day-by-day, a week-by-week decision,” Narduzzi said. “We know (Reid) can go back there — it’s easy. He catches them all. Kenny Johnson’s back there. Blue (Hicks is) back there. I feel comfortable with all of them back there.
“But it depends on what’s the game plan that week. How many carries is he going to get? How many times are we going to throw the ball? What’s the matchup there? Can we afford to put him back there? How many touches are we going to get Des to get him through a 12-game season? Those are all things that are week-by-week. But he can be that guy.”
Justin Guerriero is a TribLive reporter covering the Penguins, Pirates and college sports. A Pittsburgh native, he is a Central Catholic and University of Colorado graduate. He joined the Trib in 2022 after covering the Colorado Buffaloes for Rivals and freelancing for the Denver Post. He can be reached at jguerriero@triblive.com.
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