Pitt Football Cuts Against Grain In QB Recruiting
PITTSBURGH -- Will Grier, Baker Mayfield and Joe Burrow proved it was possible. Now Spencer Rattler, Caleb Williams, Jaxon Dart, J.T. Daniels, Herndon Hooker, Taisun Phommachanah and the Pittsburgh Panthers' own Kedon Slovis are trying to do the same - turn a transfer into a fresh start and a successful college career as a quarterback.
Transfer quarterbacks have become hot commodities around college football. Developing young players is time consuming and arduous, meaning that if your goal is to win immediately, finding a talented transfer looks like a quick and easy fix, especially when it comes to a position as important as quarterback. But Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi has harped on development as of late, and his staff's recent recruiting reflects a more deliberate strategy.
While former Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett's impressive super-senior season in 2021 created enough good memories to overshadow many of the bad, the bad is still an essential part of his story.
Pickett ended his first season as a starter in 2018 with a completion percentage under 60% and threw for fewer than 2,000 yards, all while owning a touchdown to interception ratio of 12 to 6 in 14 games.
When he hoisted the ACC Championship trophy in Charlotte last December, Pickett was three years removed from one of the most miserable nights of his football career, one in which the top-ranked Clemson Tigers steamrolled Pitt, 42-10, to capture their fourth-consecutive ACC title. In the driving rain, Pickett looked overwhelmed and completed just four of 16 passes for eight yards and an interception.
There are a lot of reasons why Pickett was wildly more successful in 2021 than he had been at any other point of his career. Last year's team was more talented, more experienced and relied more heavily on the pass than any Pitt team that Pickett had been on - that's a favorable formula. But when exploring his growth from three-star recruit into a first-round draft pick, you must also consider time and opportunity, of which Pickett had plenty.
Over the next two seasons, Pickett improved but wasn't posting gaudy numbers. There was progress, but at times Pickett was still downright frustrating to watch. None of that diminishes the tremendous heights that Pickett reached during his career, but the peak that was his 2021 season speak to the painstaking process that began with flipping his commitment from Temple in 2016.
Identifying talent, carving out snaps so you can see the talent in action on the field, working through mechanical flaws and developing the mental side of playing quarterback takes time. Pickett had ample opportunities to do all that, and the struggles were just as important as his successes.
Some schools are happy to let someone else burn that time molding young quarterbacks, then think short term and find an immediate starter in the transfer portal. Pitt's clearly taking a different route, searching far and wide for young quarterbacks that will have to sit and compete for playing time with Nate Yarnell, a rising sophomore already at Pitt and Kenny Minchey, a four-star commit in the class of 2023.
This spring, they've extended offers to class of 2025 prospects Colin Hurley, Austin Simmons, Max Gerlich, Tramell Jones Jr., and Sean Ashenfelder. Furthermore, they've offered 2024 prospects Julian Dugger, Riley Trujilo, Jakhari Williams, and most recently, Ryan Puglisi. The Panthers, led by offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti and assistant quarterbacks coach Jonathan DiBiaso, are trying to build relationships with these young players early and keep them tied to Pitt beyond the end of their recruitment.
College football is expansive enough that there is ample evidence in favor of either development or tapping the transfer portal. For every Joe Burrow-led national title run, there's a Max Browne that never found their footing or a D'Eriq King who wasn't the game changer promised.
Slovis, a transfer himself, was the headliner of Pitt's offseason additions, a smooth, former blue-chip quarterback recruit that has started and played well for one of college football's most recognizable brands. But his competition in the quarterback room is Nick Patti - not as flashy a player but creative and knowledgable about the system that he's spent years learning as an underclassmen.
The 2021 starting quarterback battle is on going and likely won't be determined until very late in fall camp, if not right before kick off of the Backyard Brawl. But the Panthers' long term strategy looks clear - Narduzzi wants his quarterbacks to stick around for the long haul and develop, instead of plug-and-play.
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