Report: Pitt hires former Rutgers assistant Tiquan Underwood to coach wide receivers
Pitt has hired Tiquan Underwood to be its next wide receivers coach, according to ESPN college football reporter Pete Thamel.
Underwood, 34, brings to the team eight seasons of experience playing the position in the NFL and CFL and four years coaching. He spent the past two seasons as the wide receivers coach at Rutgers, his alma mater.
Source: Pittsburgh is hiring Rutgers wide receivers coach Tiquan Underwood to be the school’s next receivers coach. Underwood will coach Jordan Addison, one of college football's best wide receivers who won the Biletnikoff Award last season.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 30, 2022
Underwood finished his collegiate career as one of the most productive pass catchers in Rutgers history, totaling 132 receptions for 1,931 yards and 16 touchdowns from 2004-07. He was named All-Big East in 2007 and helped defeat a 5-1 Pitt team, 54-34, on Oct. 25, 2008, at Heinz Field, catching three passes for 45 yards. But his most memorable game for the Scarlet Knights was against Buffalo in 2007 when he set a school record with 248 receiving yards.
Former Pitt tight end Dorin Dickerson was Underwood’s teammate with the New England Patriots in 2011. The two car-pooled to practice.
“He was a relentless worker,” Dickerson said. “He would literally do anything asked of him. Very smart football mind.”
Underwood was drafted in the seventh round by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2009 before joining the Patriots and finishing up his NFL career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2012 and 2013. After completing his playing career with the Montreal Allouettes of the CFL in 2017, he served one season coaching wide receivers at Lafayette. He also worked as a quality control coach with the Miami Dolphins in 2019 before joining Rutgers’ staff in 2020.
In 2020, Rutgers wide receivers combined to record 55 more receptions, 439 more receiving yards and five more touchdowns than the previous year, despite playing three fewer games. That year, Bo Melton was one of three Big Ten pass catchers to finish in the top six in receptions (47), receiving yards (638) and receiving touchdowns (six). In two seasons under Underwood, Melton’s totals were 102/1,255/12.
Underwood replaces Brennan Marion, who spent one season at Pitt before leaving to take the same position at Texas.
Jerry DiPaola is a TribLive reporter covering Pitt athletics since 2011. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in 1993, first as a copy editor and page designer in the sports department and later as the Pittsburgh Steelers reporter from 1994-2004. He can be reached at jdipaola@triblive.com.
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