Pitt notebook: If Kenny Pickett can't go, Joey Yellen may get call again

Before embarking on three days of practice, Pat Narduzzi said Monday that Joey Yellen may be the choice for Pitt’s starting quarterback Saturday against No. 3 Notre Dame.

If Kenny Pickett (ankle) can’t play, of course.

Asked if he enters this week knowing Yellen will start, he said, “Right now, I do.”

But he also didn’t rule out Pickett or Davis Beville.

After Pickett injured his left ankle at Boston College on Oct. 10, Pitt evaluated redshirt freshmen Yellen and Beville throughout the week before the trip to Miami. Yellen earned the bulk of the playing time and threw for 277 yards and a touchdown.

Narduzzi said the competition is ongoing — “We have a lot of confidence in Davis,” he said — but he also knows it’s wise to identify a starter and spend the week getting him ready.

“I liked what I saw with Joey. Coach (Mark) Whipple (offensive coordinator) did as well. We missed a couple throws. I love his patience in the pocket.”

Beville remains in the mix, though.

“Davis is only going to get better. He’s going to have a better week of practice this week than last week just getting those reps,” he said.

10 penalties, really?

Pitt is averaging nearly 10 penalties per game for a loss of 86.7 yards during its three-game losing streak.

But after watching video of the Miami game, Narduzzi has some questions.

While acknowledging everyone needs to be more attentive to the details, such as Shocky Jacques-Louis giving the punt returner a chance to catch the football, he wonders if his team really did deserve 10 flags.

“I can go through each one of them. Some of them aren’t penalties, I can tell you that,” he said. “We had hands in the face. We got called for it. You guys go back and watch the tape. I watched the video pretty good.

“It’s tough to make all those calls out there. I’m not whining. Some things that set us back shouldn’t have been 10 penalties.”

But he had no issue with the chop block penalty against Pitt, which he said shouldn’t happen to an experienced team.

“We have a high-low (block) on (a defensive tackle). You don’t expect to do that. Those are things you expect freshmen to do. We’ve just got to be cleaner.”

Depth at cornerback?

Pitt hopes to be building depth behind Jason Pinnock and Marquis Williams at cornerback after sophomore A.J. Woods was in the game for 41 snaps at Miami.

“I think he was kind of, the weeks before, thinking he wasn’t going to get in the game, maybe just wasn’t motivated,” Narduzzi said. “When we said you have to, we need you, we have to have three corners, he really stepped up. Great tackle on an outside run in space that I thought was outstanding. Did a good job in coverage.”

Injury update

Senior defensive tackle Keyshon Camp has missed the past two games with an injury, giving redshirt freshman Deandre Jules an opportunity for more playing time.

“He’s a baby. He’s just learning what to do in there. Hopefully, he gets better every week,” the coach said.

Narduzzi said Camp’s status is day-to-day.

Asked about tight end Lucas Krull and linebacker Wendell Davis, who have missed most of the season after spending training camp as starters, he said their injuries are not season-ending.

“It is taking a while,” he said. “We’ll continue to say our prayers at night before we go to bed and hope those guys get healthy quick.”

Narduzzi also announced tight end Grant Carrigan (Pine-Richland) and defensive end Nate Temple had season-ending shoulder surgeries.

Enough blame for everyone

Narduzzi made a point of emphasizing blame doesn’t rest only with the players.

“We’ve got to do a better job coaching them,” he said. “Disappointing things coaching-wise, just things we know how to do. It’s more preparation for what you might see, not necessarily what you saw on tape.

“We’ve got to know some of the weaknesses we have, especially when you’re playing with a young guy out there. Voss (linebacker SirVocea Dennis) being a new starter, saw some things, really, I don’t think we practiced enough or emphasized enough. That’s on us as coaches when things like that happen.”

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