When 1pm September 5th rolls around, the Pat Narduzzi era officially begins. Not since Dave Wannstedt roamed the sidelines following the 9-4 2008 team (Shady McCoy’s last season with Pitt) has a season opened with such promise. Pitt returns the big 3 for year 3; in ACC Player of the Year in running back James Conner and the only receiver in ACC history to deliver back-to-back 1,000 yard years in their first two years in Clairton star Tyler Boyd. Also, of course one of the youngest teams in the nation, returns Elite 11 signal caller Chad Voytik. The offense was not the reason for the 3rd straight mediocre finish, the defense was porous. The perfect candidate to fix those issues on the defensive side of the ball is defensive guru Narduzzi (FBS top 10 in total defense during his tenure at Michigan State). I am confident with the elimination of defensive coordinator Matt House and the Paul Chryst staff, the defense will be much improved. Narduzzi’s quarters defense will be easier and less chaotic than the complicated House defense. Players have said the scheme was difficult to grasp and it shows as the defense often had a hard time keeping teams from scoring and finished 13th in the ACC in sacks.
The coaching staff Narduzzi has assembled has been impressive. The staff routinely uses social media as a means of reaching out to fans on the day-to-day recruiting trips. Twitter even has phrases coined for Narduzzi’s “PITT IS IT’ tweets to announce a player has chosen the school, indicated by some as the “Pat Signal.” With such emphasis on recruiting, Narduzzi quickly realized Pitt needs players. The ACC move has yet to yield a winning season, but something tells me Pitt will be a national force soon with Narduzzi. Chancellor Gallagher has increased the recruiting budget, one of the rumored wishes of Narduzzi, and it shows. The past month has seen linebacker coach Rob Harley take a trip to Los Angeles to recruit a pair of four star linebackers. Narduzzi mentioned in an interview on 93.7 The Fan this week, the whole staff is out there recruiting but Harley tweets the most about it. The focus of the staff is not only on cross country trips but also PA and the surrounding area. Local standouts such as Central Catholic four star CB Damar Hamlin and McKeesport athlete Khaleke Hudson caused a stir on social media when they both made mention of choosing their school together with the same symbols Narduzzi tweeted indicating a package deal was in the works. The excitement with grabbing Pennsylvania talent has never been more attainable following the Chryst misses of Robert Foster, Montae Nicholson, Ricky Rogers, and Dravon Henry.
When building a program, depth is always what separates average from championship caliber teams. Anyone who has watched Pitt in the past few seasons has seen that has been an issue, especially on the defensive end of the ball. The hard working staff has landed former Tennessee four star defensive end and St.Louis native Dewayne Hendrix. Offensively, this staff nabbed slot receiver Rafael “Rara” Lopes from California junior college Reedley. With offensive coordinator Jim Cheney wanting to run more 4 wide sets, Lopes’ speed should take some of the pressure off of Boyd and be solid competition for Elijah Zeise and Zach Challingsworth.
Today’s day and age of using social media to connect fans and intrigue recruits, Narduzzi and his staff seem to be right on par with all the major forces in college football. I predict an exciting season, as Narduzzi will have Pitt competing for an ACC Championship with the future being bright after Conner and Boyd jet for the NFL. Tight ends coach Tim Salem recently tweeted “25/8, 25 hours a day, 8 days a week #H2P” and with that attitude, there is no way the Pitt faithful cannot invest fully into this staff. Wins will come, but also the cutting edge and necessary recruiting methods Pitt football will continue to be displayed. September cannot come soon enough.
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