Pitt nets 21 prospects in Class of 2021 at the end of unique year for recruiting
The process that brought 21 letters of intent onto Pat Narduzzi’s computer via DocuSign on Wednesday morning — “I think the fax machine is officially dead,” he said — gained intensity in the spring while Pitt’s coaches were quarantined by covid-19. “We were obsessed with recruiting,” Narduzzi said, noting his...
Pat Narduzzi: Kenny Pickett thought ‘long and hard’ about coming back
Pat Narduzzi said the Duratz Athletic Complex where the Pitt football team lives and works was rocking Tuesday night. And he wasn’t talking about the trains that rumble through the South Side. On the eve of national letter of intent day, the biggest news came from a player who signed...
Pitt, West Virginia announce changes to wrestling schedule
Pitt announced its updated wrestling schedule Wednesday with the season opener set for Jan. 3 at the U.S. Naval Academy. The Panthers’ first home match is Jan. 9 against Lehigh. The Atlantic Coast Conference opener is Jan. 16 at home against Duke. The Panthers will wrestle four other ACC opponents...
Baldwin’s Dorien Ford becomes first of 20 recruits to sign letters of intent with Pitt
Baldwin defensive tackle Dorien Ford became the first of 20 Pitt prospects to sign and deliver letters of intent on national signing day Wednesday morning. #1 is in! The Hometown Hero @DorienFord_21 is ready to roll!! #H2P #PITT2L1TT pic.twitter.com/ZbG7NNbxzl— Pat Narduzzi (@CoachDuzzPittFB) December 16, 2020 Coach Pat Narduzzi tweeted the...
Pitt’s Kenny Pickett goes on Twitter to announce he will return for the 2021 season
With three words on Twitter five days after the last game of the season, Kenny Pickett changed the entire course of the Pitt football program. For, at least, as he stated: “One more year.” Pickett, who has been Pitt’s starting quarterback since the last game of the 2017 season, indicated...
Pitt opens ACC season against short-handed Miami
While Jeff Capel juggles a long bench that could get longer before the end of Wednesday, he should feel fortunate he doesn’t have Jim Larranaga’s problem. When Pitt opens the ACC portion of its schedule at Miami on Wednesday, the Panthers will meet a depleted Hurricanes team that might dress...
Pitt hopes to follow winning season with top-25 recruiting class
For serious Pitt fans and, of course, the coaching staff, National Letter of Intent Day, set to kick off at 7 a.m. Wednesday, is just as important as most game days. Pitt lost to N.C. State and Boston College in October but still had time to salvage a winning season...
Burrell grad Scherer honored with education scholarship
Burrell graduate Nikki Scherer, a senior member of the Pitt women’s track and field team, is a recipient of $2,500 in tuition from the Go Teach Dr. Pepper Tuition Giveaway, a partnership of the Atlantic Coast Conference and the College Football Playoff Foundation, the conference announced Tuesday. She is one...
Pitt’s Jeff Capel eager to add Miami (Ohio) transfer Nike Sibande to lineup
If the NCAA acts as expected Wednesday and grants transfer athletes immediate eligibility, coach Jeff Capel said guard Nike Sibande will play in Pitt’s ACC opener that night at Miami. “If he’s cleared, he’ll play right away,” Capel said. Sibande transferred to Pitt from Miami (Ohio) and has been practicing...
Pitt’s Jeff Capel defends Mike Krzyzewski’s covid comments
With Pitt’s nonconference schedule finished and the first of 20 ACC games scheduled for Wednesday in Miami, Jeff Capel’s thoughts are focused on basketball. Most of them, anyway. On the court, in his locker room, while speaking to reporters, Pitt’s socially conscious basketball coach has become a strong advocate for...
College Sports podcast: Pitt’s 6-5 record is ‘a huge disappointment’
This week was as odd as it gets in college sports. Western Michigan and Ball State nearly recreated the Cal-Stanford “Band Game.” CHAOS ? Both teams ran onto the field before the play was ruled dead as Western Michigan attempted a last second TD.Ball State went on to win the...
Justin Champagnie records 2nd consecutive 20/20 in Pitt’s victory
On the day he settled into the college basketball history books — going back-to-back with 20/20 games for only the third time in the past 25 years by a Power 5 player — Justin Champagnie said this with a straight face: “I don’t like to just hog the ball.” And...
In season of covid-19, Pitt scored more victories off the field than on it
If Pat Narduzzi felt more pride than joy after Pitt’s last game, no one should be surprised. Winning the final game by rolling over Georgia Tech, 34-20, was no insignificant feat, but only when you consider the massive performance in the ground game — 317 yards, or 217 above Pitt’s...
Pitt football team won’t play in bowl game, even if one is offered
Pitt won’t accept a bowl invitation this year. Coach Pat Narduzzi joined athletic director Heather Lyke on Friday in declaring on a university news release that the Panthers will not play in a bowl game. With a 6-5 overall record, Pitt was in line to earn a berth in one...
Pitt’s Patrick Jones won’t play in a bowl game
Defensive end Patrick Jones II announced Friday on Twitter that he is declaring for the NFL Draft and will not join Pitt in a bowl game, if an invitation is offered. Jones played Thursday night in Pitt’s final regular-season game, a 34-20 victory against Georgia Tech. He led the team...
Georgia Tech’s Geoff Collins offers Pat Narduzzi abrupt handshake after Pitt victory
Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi extended a handshake to Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins after the Panthers’ 34-20 victory Thursday night in Atlanta. Collins dismissively shook hands and abruptly walked away, leaving Narduzzi looking bewildered. Narduzzi said later he didn’t know why the meeting ended that way. Geoff Collins of Georgia...
Pitt survives 2 more departures of its best players, still defeats Georgia Tech
When Pitt’s players, coaches and fans look back on the Panthers’ 34-20 victory against Georgia Tech on Thursday night, they’ll remember the game for its physicality. Vincent Davis, all 5-foot-8, 175 pounds of him, ran for a remarkable 247 yards on 25 carries, 64 percent of his total in the...
Fans not allowed at Pitt’s home basketball games under new Pa. covid regulations
Pitt’s basketball programs will not have fans at its upcoming home games at the Petersen Events Center after updated covid-19 safety regulations were announced by Gov. Tom Wolf’s office Thursday. Pitt’s men’s team is scheduled to host Gardner-Webb at 4 p.m. Saturday and the women’s team is set to host...
Pitt’s Rashad Weaver, Damar Hamlin don’t travel to Georgia Tech for final regular-season game
Senior defensive end Rashad Weaver and safety Damar Hamlin, two key members of Pitt’s starting lineup with NFL aspirations, did not make the trip to Atlanta with their teammates and will not play Thursday night against Georgia Tech, according to a travel roster issued by the university. Earlier this week,...
Pitt’s 1-point victory offers sign of hope for the future
Before Jeff Capel took his team on its first road trip to confront Northwestern, the only Power 5 team on its nonconference schedule, he had some questions. Among them: How might Pitt’s young team react on the road in a pandemic? These days, every minor detail is different, including the...
Pitt rallies to defeat Northwestern, 71-70
Jeff Capel had no intention of calling a timeout, stopping his team’s momentum and drawing up a play on a whiteboard that his players had the good sense to run, anyway. This time, he decided to trust Xavier Johnson. What happened next was maybe more encouraging than anything that’s happened...
Pitt confronts Georgia Tech while taking aim at a winning season
Pitt started summer training camp with high hopes and an experienced team of 20 seniors and 16 juniors, seven of whom could hear their name called in the 2021 NFL Draft. If that comes to pass, it would be the most Pitt players drafted in 30 years. Argue, if you...
Young Pitt players learned hard, but valuable lessons in 2020
Many months and too many practices to count stand between Pitt football and the 2021 season, but perhaps a moment during the first game of 2020 kick-started the process. Sophomore cornerback A.J. Woods earned a start for the opener against Austin Peay after senior Damarri Mathis had been lost for...
Northwestern, familiar foe Chris Collins give Pitt’s Jeff Capel chance to prepare for ACC
There is nothing Jeff Capel needs to see more from his Pitt team than to see more of his Pitt team. Tiptoeing cautiously into a basketball season that is being played in the midst of a raging pandemic, Capel can’t be sure the Panthers will play a full season. “We’re...
Is a bowl game in Pitt’s future at the end of a disappointing 2020 season?
The first 12 weeks of the college football season have been marked by regular covid testing, postponed and canceled games and — as Pat Narduzzi articulated Monday — concerns about getting hit “square in the mouth” by a worsening pandemic. Undaunted, Narduzzi isn’t prepared to let the season end in...
