Pitt notebook: M.J. Devonshire calms his nerves after finding mom in the stands

M.J. Devonshire had returned many punts prior to his 82-yard touchdown in the first three minutes of Pitt’s 45-24 victory against Rhode Island on Saturday.

But most of those occurred at Aliquippa High School’s Pit.

So, when Pitt’s coaches told him Friday night that the job was his, he admitted to a case of nerves.

“Nerve-racking,” he said. “My heart was racing. Deep breaths, deep breaths.”

Then, when it became time for Rhode Island’s first punt, Devonshire tried to calm himself.

“I looked at my mom (in the Acrisure Stadium stands),” he said. “She was calm. I said, ‘All right, she ain’t panicking.’ ”

The rest was just a matter of capturing the moment. He caught a deep, 55-yard punt after backpedaling about 15 yards, took advantage of some good blocking and his athletic ability did the rest.

“I looked up, and I had a little bit of time (before the defenders got close to me),” he said.

After his pick-6 against West Virginia, Devonshire has interception and a punt returns for scores this season, the first time that’s happened at Pitt since Darrelle Revis (another Aliquippa graduate) did it in 2006.

“You’re a little afraid of putting him back there,” coach Pat Narduzzi said. “But we made a decision to put him back there, take some (pressure) off the receivers because we’re shorthanded there, and he did a nice job.

“He’s fast, and we saw that in the WVU game.”

Quarterback Kedon Slovis was OK with deferring some of the scoring to special teams, largely because he liked the idea of starting the game with a 7-0 lead.

“Obviously, you want to get out and score yourself,” he said. “That’s what the next drives are for.”

The best?

Devonshire started the game in place of cornerback Marquis Williams, who has an undisclosed injury. But he said Williams and A.J. Woods are the best cornerbacks — not only at Pitt, but in college football.

“I go up to them before every game and tell them they’re the best in the country,” he said. “If you can play with that confidence, knowing nobody’s better than you, you are going to go a long way in this game.”

Wanted: More pressure

Narduzzi admitted his defensive line is not getting enough pressure on the quarterback. All four sacks Saturday occurred after halftime, and Pitt has only 12 in four games — a pace that would yield 36 at the end of the 12-game regular season.

“Right now, no,” he said, “but I think four of our top five defensive ends didn’t play. We had a lot of twos (second-teamers) in on defense, I can tell you that. Threes, maybe fours.

“And (quarterbacks) are getting the ball out fast, too. There’s not a ton of drop back; it’s a lot of run-pass option passes.

“Even on third down, they were throwing RPOs at us, as well. You’re stopping the run or trying to stop the run and trying to defend the pass at the same time.”

Pitt had 151 sacks in the past three seasons.

Izzy leads the pack

After his 177-yard game, Izzy Abanikanda leads the ACC in rushing with 479, breaking out of tie for the lead with Miami’s Henry Parrish Jr., who was held to 57 in the loss to Middle Tennessee State.

Parrish, a Miami native, was committed to Pitt for six months in 2019 before flipping and signing with Ole Miss and transferring to the Hurricanes.

Abanikanda has an 84-yard edge on Louisville quarterback Malik Cunningham, who is second in the conference. His 83 attempts are second to Syracuse’s Sean Tucker’s 87.

Commitment No. 19

Three hours after its victory against Rhode Island, Pitt received more good news Saturday night when wide receiver Daidren Zipperer made a verbal commitment to the Panthers.

Zipperer (6-foot, 165 pounds) is the 19th prospect from the class of 2023 to commit to Pitt and the fifth who plays wide receiver in high school. All 19 are rated three stars by Rivals. Zipperer’s offers include Central Florida, South Florida, South Carolina, BYU and several others.

Zipperer attends Lakeland (Fla.) High School, where he is a teammate of Shadarian Harrison, who committed to Pitt as an athlete in June. Former Pitt cornerback Damarri Mathis, now with the Denver Broncos, also attended Lakeland.

A total of seven players on Pitt’s commitment list are from Florida. Pitt’s class is ranked 32nd in the nation and eighth in the ACC, according to Rivals.com.

Pat Narduzzi lost a wide receiver prospect Friday when five-star Hykeem Williams of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., chose Florida State over Pitt and four other finalists.

By the numbers

Pitt (3-1) remained No. 24 for the second consecutive week in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and moved up to No. 24 from unranked in the AFCA Coaches Poll. … Since a 45-3 loss to Notre Dame on Oct. 24, 2020 — the last of a four-game losing streak, the longest in one season under Narduzzi — Pitt has won 17 of 22 games.

Under the lights

Pitt goes under the lights for the third time in five games when it welcomes Georgia Tech (1-3) to Acrisure Stadium for an 8 p.m. kickoff next Saturday night. The Panthers’ ACC opener will be televised by the ACC Network.

They said it:

“I didn’t think we had the emotion I think you need to come with every Saturday afternoon for whatever reason.” — Narduzzi’s assessment of his team’s mental state against Rhode Island.

“A lot better than what we looked like back in the old days.” — Narduzzi’s assessment of Rhode Island.