When someone poked his head into Brennan Marion’s office with good news for Jordan Addison — risking a rebuke for interrupting focused video study — there was no reaction.

“We kept watching the film,” Pitt wide receivers coach Brennan Marion said. “It’s tunnel vision time.”

The news Tuesday morning was nearly as good as it gets for a collegiate wide receiver: Addison, a sophomore, was named a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award, annually given to the player considered the best wide receiver in college football. Pitt has had only three Biletnikoff finalists, the others being Antonio Bryant in 2000 and Larry Fitzgerald, who won the award in 2003.

Tuesday also was a good day for Pitt and quarterback Kenny Pickett. The Panthers moved from No. 18 to No. 17 in the College Football Playoff rankings while Pickett was named a finalist for the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien Awards — the former for the game’s outstanding player, the latter signaling supremacy among quarterbacks. Pickett also is a finalist for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.

With only three games left in the season — Saturday at Syracuse, Dec. 4 in Charlotte, N.C., for the ACC championship Game on Dec. 4 and a bowl invitation to parts unknown — it’s natural for players to savor some of the trappings of team success.

For Addison, though, nothing has changed. He still meets with Marion once a week for as long as two hours to break down his game and that of every defensive back on the roster of the next opponent. Then, he goes outside or into the indoor practice facility where he flips on the JUGS machine and catches — by Marion’s count — 200 balls.

At the beginning of their relationship — this is the Greensburg Salem graduate’s first season as a Pitt assistant – Addison revealed to Marion his long-term goal.

“I asked all the guys, ‘What’s your wildest dreams?’” Marion said. “He told me he wanted to get a housing development where his whole family lived on the same street.

“He has a lot of family that comes and supports him. They really love him, and he wants to give back to them. I told him if you have those type of goals, this is the type of work ethic it’s going to take to reach those goals. He’s staying dedicated to that.”

Marion enjoys watching Addison chase that goal.

When the game and the ACC Coastal championship were on the line Saturday at Heinz Field, there were some players on the Pitt sideline who thought Pickett’s fourth-quarter pass to Addison would be intercepted. Virginia’s Darrius Bratton was as close to Addison as a defensive back can get without committing pass interference.

But Addison won the 50-50 battle, landed on his feet, turned and raced into the end zone for the final dagger in a 48-38 victory.

Marion had no doubt Addison would make the catch.

“I thought Kenny was throwing the ball to Gavin (tight end Bartholomew), and then I saw Jordan come back (toward Pickett) and I knew he would catch the ball. I just had that belief in him,” Marion said.

“What I didn’t know was that he would catch the ball and take it to the house the way he did. I didn’t care if I got a penalty or not, I ran all the way down there.”

Any coach will tell you that a player with good practice habits usually will make productive plays in games.

“I told him when I got here, ‘You have to practice the way you play in games.’ In games, you see his emotion, and he’s fired up. He’s practicing like that now,” Marion said. “He’s practiced like that since the spring, and it’s really been contagious with the group as far as how everybody practices at a high level.

“When you have that type of energy in practice, it makes the game really easy.”

Addison is joined as finalists by Alabama’s Jameson Williams and Purdue’s David Bell.

Here are some statistical comparisons of the trio:

• Addison has more touchdowns (15) than both players and everybody else in the country. Williams has 13 and Bell five.

• Addison also has a slight edge in receiving yards (1,272). Williams has 1,218 and Bell 1,207.

• Bell has 87 receptions (13.9 yards per catch) while Addison has 74 (17.2 ypc) and Williams 59 (20.6 ypc).

• All three are proficient in ringing up yards after the catch (YAC). Williams has 548, Bell 517 and Addison 501, according to Pro Football Focus.

Pickett is joined as a Maxwell finalist by Michigan State running back Kenneth Walker III and Alabama quarterback Bryce Young, who also is an O’Brien finalist along with Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud.

Pitt running back Tony Dorsett and defensive end Hugh Green won the Maxwell in 1976 and 1980. No Pitt quarterback has won the O’Brien. Dan Marino was a finalist in 1981 and ’82.

Winners will be announced on ESPN’s live telecast of the Home Depot College Football Awards show Dec. 9.

Also, offensive coordinator Mark Whipple was named a semifinalist for the Broyles Award that goes to the nation’s top assistant.

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