USC WR Michael Pittman Prepares for NFL Draft by Catching Imaginary Passes

USC wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. is familiar to Cal fans – perhaps too familiar. He caught 11 passes for 180 yards and a touchdown in the Trojans’ 41-17 victory over Cal last November 16 in Berkeley.

Cal coaches were not surprised by Pittman’s performance based on their assessments of USC’s wide receivers in the days leading up to the game.

Justin Wilcox's pregame assessment of USC receivers:

Defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter's pregame assessment of USC's receivers:

Pittman is expected to be taken early in the NFL draft that starts Thursday, but his method of preparing is – by necessity – unusual, as a Sports illustrated story points out. It includes catching imaginary passes.

Here is an excerpt from the beginning of that story:

He's got NFL genes. NFL skills. An NFL body. But no one—not even a star in this epic draft class of pass catchers—is immune to the upheaval of an epidemic. Pittman lost a relative, and his QBs are gone. His upside down world is everyone's upside down world. His draft experience is every prospect's experience.

Other than idly tossing a football to himself in self-isolation at his Santa Ana, Calif., apartment—up, down, up, down—Michael Pittman Jr. hasn’t caught a single pass since the middle of March. Were this any other year, perhaps such news would raise eyebrows in NFL front offices, especially entering the upcoming draft, where the USC wideout is considered a mid-second-round candidate. Then again, this is a year like no other.

It’s not that Pittman, 22, is injured. He still trains daily at a public park, darting through cones and running routes under the socially distanced supervision of former NFL receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh. That element of his predraft routine has continued largely uninterrupted, excepting one recent afternoon when the police paid a visit. But, whereas he was once hauling in spirals from the likes of Sam Darnold, Josh Allen and presumptive No. 1 pick Joe Burrow at these workouts, Pittman hasn’t even seen those quarterbacks in nearly a month; he’s relegated, instead, to tracking invisible passes into his palms to avoid the potential health risk of catching real ones.

“The last time I touched a football from another person?” says Pittman, sounding almost wistful at the notion. “It’s been a while. Definitely, definitely weird.”

Click here for the rest of that story

After the loss to USC, Cal coach Justin Wilcox said the Trojans had the best collection of wide receivers he's seen in 20 years of coaching.

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