Pitt Recruiting Class Positional Breakdown: Running Back
PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers added 22 players - to their 2023 roster this past week on Signing Day. Inside the Panthers will be diving into each addition - who they are, what they do and where they'll fit into the Panthers' roster now and later.
We've talked about the quarterbacks and wide receivers and we will stick with the offensive side of the ball to dig in on Pitt's running backs.
The Panthers have slowed their intake of high school running backs over the past couple of years. Since 2020, Pitt has signed five running backs and just one - Hammond himself - is both on the roster and available for the Sun Bowl. With Israel Abanikanda leaving early in pursuit of the NFL, the coaching staff has sought to inject youth into a running backs room that has gotten progressively older over the past couple of years.
They did just that, signing three-star prospects Montravius Lloyd and T.J. Harvison to their 19-player strong high school recruiting class. The Panthers will now have two players to develop simultaneously and things can change but the two have talked about being a tandem, not competitors.
Head coach Pat Narduzzi said on Signing Day he feels that running back is a position at which young players can contribute immediately. Rodney Hammond proved that when he rushed for 504 yards and five touchdowns as a freshman in 2021, but he's a rising junior and there is little behind him in the way of young talent.
Harvison was a late addition to the class and one of the lower-rated offensive skill players the Panthers signed, but his physical traits are impressive on film. He's different from Hammond and Lloyd - more of a scat back than a power runner. Lloyd has outstanding straight-line speed and can use his lateral quickness to create holes where there are none.
Narduzzi called him a "health nut" that treats his body well and at 6'1 and 200 pounds, Abanikanda, Daniel Carter and walk-on Anthony Summey are the only backs on Pitt's roster from this season bigger than Harvison. He has college-ready size and his ability to catch passes out of the backfield only adds to the likelihood that he plays immediately.
Lloyd is the higher-rated prospect with a more prominent recruiting pedigree that Narduzzi called versatile and unselfish, but he's more apt to run through tacklers than around them and that might become a bigger challenge when he makes the leap up to college football in the Power 5.
But the theme of this class of running backs are versatility and youth. While there might be some opportunities for them to make an impact early, it will be tough sledding with productive veterans like Hammond and C'Borius Flemister in front of them. Harvison and Lloyd are long-term additions, more in line with Narduzzi's philosophy of high school recruitment and long-term development.
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