Pat Narduzzi won’t admit it.

More to the point, he doesn’t want to admit his team can be exceptionally good this season. What coach wants to put undue pressure on his team, especially one at Pitt, where the Panthers have only one double-digit victory total (10 in 2009) since Jackie Sherrill’s triple 11s in 1979-1981 made him a rich man somewhere else.

But this Pitt team could be special.

Emphasis on the “could be.”

Narduzzi welcomed his team to camp Thursday and will start going through some drills — without pads — Friday. This year, there’s an extra week to prepare. The regular-season opener, a nonconference game against the MAC’s Miami (Ohio), is scheduled for Sept. 12, with the first ACC game set to kick off Sept. 19 against Syracuse.

That’s an advantage with a veteran team that knows how to prepare and appears to have the right, one-game-at-a-time mentality Narduzzi — and every coach — demands.

Narduzzi recruited for this season at the outset of his Pitt tenure — he’s entering his sixth season — and has 19 seniors or redshirt seniors playing key roles.

“You can win an awful lot of football games with upperclassmen,” ESPN recruiting analyst Tom Luginbill said.

That includes quarterback Kenny Pickett, who will be a three-year starter, senior receiver Taysir Mack, running back A.J. Davis, offensive linemen Jimmy Morrissey — an All-ACC center — and guard Bryce Hargrove and nine defensive players.

And that doesn’t include two additional first-team All-ACC performers from 2019: defensive tackle Jaylen Twyman and safety Paris Ford, both juniors.

The defensive line probably will be the strongest position on the team, with assistant coach Charlie Partridge welcoming back Twyman, Patrick Jones II, Deslin Alexandre, Habakkuk Baldonado and John Morgan from last season.

Throw into the mix two other players — Keyshon Camp and Rashad Weaver — who would have been starters last year, and Partridge has plenty of depth. Playing the defensive line can be one of the most grueling positions on the field. It’s where 300-pounders push against other 300-pounders, a serious issue on hot September days. Now Partridge has, at least, seven players to rotate through four positions.

Morrissey, a former walk-on who grew to be a captain as a junior, will anchor the line at center, with Hargrove, third-team All-ACC reporting with 15 starts on his resume. Plus, left tackle Carter Warren started every game last year.

Line coach Dave Borbely plans to beef up the rest of the line with Jake Kradel, Gabe Houy and Carson Van Lynn.

Pickett will be the first Pitt quarterback since Tino Sunseri to start three seasons, and he has targets such as Mack, Shocky Jacques-Louis and tight end Lucas Krull, a transfer from Florida, to spread out the defense.

Davis is a returning starter at running back, but Vincent Davis, Todd Sibley Jr. and freshman Izzy Abanakanda will compete for playing time.

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