Pitt notebook: Pat Narduzzi keeps his QB secret, but it doesn't help

Pat Narduzzi did his best to hide the truth from Miami coach Manny Diaz, and he succeeded.

Not that it mattered.

Narduzzi said he knew early in the week quarterback Kenny Pickett would be unable to play Saturday on his injured left ankle. But he kept talking about Pickett’s toughness and how it would be difficult to keep him off the field.

As it turned out, it was as easy as denying him a seat on the airplane.

Pickett stayed home Saturday and was replaced by redshirt freshman Joey Yellen in Pitt’s 31-19 loss to the Hurricanes.

“I knew early in the week,” Narduzzi said. “I obviously didn’t want Miami to know. I wanted them to prepare for whatever. Maybe they had a clue.”

The next question for the coach involves the seriousness of Pickett’s injury. Asked if the injury required a surgical procedure, Narduzzi was evasive.

“I’m not going to get into what he’s got or what he did. It’s not what we do,” he said. “We expect Kenny to be back ASAP. Will he be back this weekend (next Saturday for the Notre Dame game)? I don’t know. There’s a chance.”

While planting a seed of doubt in the head of Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, Narduzzi added, “I certainly hope after the open weekend (Oct. 31), for sure.”

Davis Beville, also a redshirt freshman, played five snaps in the first quarter and completed one pass for 1 yard.

“I think we have two quarterbacks who can make plays,” Narduzzi said.

Yellen knew, eventually

Yellen, who started one game for Arizona State last season before transferring, said he was prepared for the opportunity.

“Coach kind of hinted at it early on in the week,” he said. “It was never like a full, for-sure thing early in the week. I knew more later.

“I kind of approached the week like I would be the starter. If I wasn’t going to be, I was still prepared.”

He said his performance (22 for 46, 277 yards, one touchdown, three sacks and a fumble) wasn’t “good enough to win.”

“That’s kind of the big thing. I have to watch the film, seeing reads and feeling pressure. I know right off the rip, it wasn’t good enough to win.”

Narduzzi wished Yellen had thrown the football away before taking those sacks, especially after one resulted in a fumble.

“All the little things are kind of tough, especially early on, when you haven’t played in a little bit,” Yellen said. “Sure, there were definitely a few where I could have gotten rid of it a little earlier and put us in a better spot.

“I have to be a little safer with the ball. If I hit a couple balls that I missed, it’s a completely different game.”

He also had several balls drop in and out of the hands of his receivers. But he wasn’t pointing fingers.

“I’m inexperienced, but I’ve played football before,” he said. “I approach (drops) the same way they approach me when I miss a throw. It’s next play. You can’t let those previous plays affect what you’re going to do in the future, and I think we did a pretty good job with that.”

Injury update

Besides Pickett, other Pitt players not on the trip were defensive tackle Keyshon Camp, tight end Lucas Krull and freshman running back Izzy Abanikanda. Camp missed his third game and Krull his fifth. Abanikanda had played in the previous five.

Miami played without injured starting tight end Brevin Jordan, but his replacement Will Mallory caught two touchdown passes.

Notable

Kessman’s four field goals give him 57 for his career and the Pitt all-time record, surpassing Chris Blewitt’s 55. … Wide receiver Jordan Addison caught eight passes for 147 yards, the most yardage by a Pitt freshman since Tyler Boyd recorded 173 against Bowling Green in the 2013 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. … D.J. Turner was held to one reception for the second consecutive week after catching eight for 186 two weeks ago against N.C. State. … Turner’s catch was Beville’s only official completion, although he had a 3-yarder to Jared Wayne negated by a chop block penalty against Pitt. … Pitt’s three-game losing streak is the third under Narduzzi in the past four seasons.

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