Pitt HC Pat Narduzzi Addresses Second Scrimmage

PITTSBURGH - Pitt Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi found himself in a bit of a pickle following his team's first scrimmage this fall.

He was happy that the offense played well enough to earn the blue pinnies reserved for winners, but he wasn't pleased with the overall execution. The offense pulled out a close win, using the final two-minute drill to prevail over the defense, but there was a lot left on the field. He felt much better about the second scrimmage, even though the offense lost.

While the final score wasn't revealed, the defense rode four turnovers to a victory over the offense at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday. Pitt managed 122 plays on Sunday, 45 or so for the 1s and 2s, and then 25 or so for the 3s. And that includes about 40 special teams plays. For those keeping score at home, that's 1-1. And that's also exactly what Narduzzi wanted to see.

"I think we left about 9:15 p.m.," Narduzzi said Tuesday before practice. "So, we’re walking out of there, I told the kids afterwards that, ‘Hey, I like what I saw.’ You know, I don't care who wins this scrimmage. It doesn't come down to that. But just the execution and the details were much better. We had cut down the missed assignments offensively, defensively by 37, I think, compared to the first scrimmage. So that's a lot."

Narduzzi said the Panthers are still far from where they want to be, but the progress is evident. The coaching staff is being picky because they know what the team is capable of doing on the field, so when the mental errors were cleaned up and the execution was closer to what has been preached, it led to some excitement.

Especially upfront with the offensive line — a much-maligned unit over the last couple of seasons.

"I thought our O-line did a heck of a job compared to the first scrimmage," Narduzzi said. "And, again, offense won the first scrimmage, I wasn't very happy with the offense. But then offense loses the second scrimmage, and I'm happy with the offense. So, the protection was good. I thought we did a much better job. What we did during the week paid off as far as those little things we talked about. Like, you gotta get better at this today. We gotta take care of this. I thought our protection was good."

While it's a team effort, there are some individuals who continue to stand out. And some who are turning heads for the first time.

Shadarian Harrison, who earned the Ed Conway Award for the most improved defensive player of the spring, continued a standout offseason with a key takeaway. He switched up coverage, baited the quarterback and stepped in front for an interception. Josh Guerrier, another offseason darling, pulled in his own diving interception. He's a young kid, in the midst of his first fall camp, but he's a serious threat on the backend.

In this case, at least with Harrison and Guerrier, the defenders forced turnovers. Narduzzi is a stickler when it comes to evaluation: was it a giveaway, or was it a takeaway? Pitt did a good forcing turnovers on Sunday.

"Drip (Harrison) got one, yeah, he did a great job disguising the whole thing," Narduzzi said. "That was good. Obviously, we had a wrong route on that play as well. So, we’re good there. And then the other ones are kinda underthrown balls, whatever. But there's pressure on the quarterback and all that stuff. I'm not worried about that. We tasked our quarterbacks to go ahead and take shots down the field wherever it may be. You know, just wanna be aggressive for the ball."

So, both sides competed. It was a back-and-forth battle, as was the first scrimmage, and maybe more importantly, it was clean. But it also wasn't full strength. Kyle Louis played roughly 25 snaps. Desmond Reid didn't play at all. Pitt held out who it needed to.

"So, just coaches being smart and getting the guys developed that need to be developed," Narduzzi said. "The guy’s that are gonna help us. I mean, Nick Lapi, he had a heck of a scrimmage. I'm happy with where he is. He's being the most consistent he's been. So, I thank his mother out there because she's helped him get consistent.

"Shawn Lee has emerged. You talked about some of those young guys that emerged. Shawn Lee has emerged and showed some nice things. And then, one of the guys, just to mention, is Max Hunt. I probably haven't talked about Shawn Lee or Max Hunt a lot. Max Hunt, freshman tight end, he’s kind of a gamer. Sometimes you see different stuff when you watch him. He just makes plays. He's done it in practice, but he's just consistent."

Another individual who stood out was Juelz Goff, who is taking advantage of Reid being out and Ja'Kyrian Turner missing some time due to injury. He ran well behind the first-team offensive line and should be the first running back off the bench to spell Reid when the season begins.

Pitt has wrapped up its scrimmages, and with just two more practices before the regular season technically begins, it's almost game time. The work done this fall will go a long way to bouncing back against Duquesne.

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