Pitt notebook: Pat Narduzzi hopes NCAA allows senior Damar Hamlin one more season of eligibility

DETROIT – Free safety Damar Hamlin is listed as a senior, but coach Pat Narduzzi said Thursday night Pitt officials are petitioning the NCAA about getting a fifth year of eligibility for the Central Catholic graduate.

The basis for their petition is Hamlin’s freshman year in 2016 when he was limited by injuries to three games. He has made 30 starts in the three subsequent seasons, with 152 tackles and four interceptions. He was second to strong safety Paris Ford in tackles (84) this season.

“We’re hoping to get another year out of Damar,” Narduzzi said after the 34-30 victory against Eastern Michigan in the Quick Lane Bowl. “We’ve been working on that. Maybe you didn’t see the last of Hamlin.”

Seated next to Narduzzi in the postgame news conference, quarterback Kenny Pickett said, “I’ll take mine, too.”

Pickett played in only four games as a freshman in 2017, a year before players were allowed by the NCAA to appear in that many games and preserve their redshirt.

Too much celebrating

Hamlin’s interception led to a Pitt field goal in the third quarter, and also an unusual six-man unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

After Hamlin returned the interception to the Eastern Michigan 14, he raced to the end zone with teammates Ford, Cam Bright, Saleem Brightwell, Dane Jackson and Damarri Mathis to celebrate and pose for photos. It’s a common occurrence in the NFL, but in the college it’s a 15-yard penalty.

“We didn’t know,” Jackson said.

“I wasn’t happy with the interception celebration No. 3 (Hamlin) put on down there,” said Narduzzi, smiling while seated next to his senior safety. “Other than that, our kids held their composure and I was happy about that.”

Late in the game, Eastern Michigan quarterback Mike Glass II was ejected for his second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Coach Chris Creighton said officials told him cornerback Kevin McGill spit at a Pitt player.

“I talked to our guys several, several times,” Narduzzi said. “We’re going to shut our mouths. We’re going to talk with our pads.”

Creighton said he was disappointed in Glass.

“He’s a phenomenal kid,” Creighton said. “I love him 100 percent and thank God he’s hotly competitive.

“But (there is) absolutely zero excuse for what happened, and he knows it. He’s in tears in the locker room begging me to talk to his team before I could say a word.

“He is truly sorry for it, and I’m ultimately responsible for it. I’m embarrassed, but I love him 100 percent.

“It’d be really too bad if that’s what you would all make this out to be tonight because that’s not who we are.”

Hoping for no change

Narduzzi said he expects his coaching staff to remain intact in the off-season. But he credited athletic director Heather Lyke for ensuring one assistant he declined to name was staying.

“There is always change at the end of the year,” he said. “When you have a great staff, people will come get them. But we’ve already averted one, thanks to Heather Lyke.”

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