Freshman running back Malik Newton, who enrolled in January to get a head start on his collegiate career, has been medically disqualified and won’t play football at Pitt, coach Pat Narduzzi said Friday.

Newton, who ran for 4,053 yards in three seasons at Lake Taylor (Va.) High School, would have been one of seven running backs on Pitt’s depth chart. But Narduzzi said Newton will remain part of the team, if he chooses to do so.

“I feel bad for Malik and his family,” Narduzzi said. “You come mid-year to college. You think you’re going to play football. We have some of the greatest doctors in the world and they found out some things that are not going to allow him to play football at Pitt.

“He will be with us. He’s on our football team. We will continue to hug him up and love him up and make sure he gets his degree here if he chooses to stay at Pitt.”

Narduzzi declined to reveal the specific nature of Newton’s condition. Pitt previously dealt with similar situations in 2016 when freshmen George Hill and Zack Gilbert were medically disqualified prior to summer training camp.

Rising junior running back Vincent Davis will start spring drills atop the depth chart. He ended last season rushing for 247 yards against Georgia Tech, the most yards by a Pitt back in a game since 2017.

Five others will compete with Davis for playing time. They include senior A.J. Davis, who returned for a fifth season, senior Todd Sibley, redshirt sophomore Daniel Carter, sophomore Izzy Abanikanda and freshman Rodney Hammond.

“Everybody behind him is going after Vince. Vince is the guy,” Narduzzi said. “He’s proven that in the run game, in the pass protection game, in the pass game out of the backfield. We have super senior A.J. Davis that we expect to get a lot more out (of) than we did last year.”

Pitt will open spring drills Sunday.

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