In the final 2 weeks of Pitt’s regular season, Pat Narduzzi won’t allow players to relax
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While looking out his office window that overlooks the South Side practice fields, Pat Narduzzi was getting anxious Thursday morning, almost to the cusp of anger.
Was his mood based on an unsatisfactory week of practice as his team prepared to confront Duke on Saturday at Acrisure Stadium?
Was he concerned with his players’ focus or effort during the 16th week of the season (counting training camp)?
Did another recruiting restriction come down from the NCAA mountaintop?
None of that bothered Pitt’s coach. But the weather was a different story. He likes it bad, but Thursday it was too bad, forcing the team to practice inside for the second time this week. Pitt worked outside only on Tuesday.
With temperatures in the 30s and the wind reaching 13 mph – conditions similar to what is projected on the North Shore for noon Saturday – Narduzzi wanted his players to get accustomed to the elements.
“Our kids actually wanted to go out, too,” he said.
But there still was a bit of snow on the ground, making the grass slick and, therefore, a potential hazard for hamstrings, groins and ankles.
“I wanted to go out bad. LaSala had to talk me off the wall,” he said of Chris LaSala, associate athletic director for football administration. “Someone messed up the party.”
With only two games left in the regular season, Narduzzi won’t abide by his team “fizzling out” when there’s still a chance to win nine games for only the sixth time in the past 41 seasons.
He said practice was good this week, but he admitted, “I had to rip them after Tuesday’s practice.”
“We had a good practice (Tuesday), but the scout team was not as good as I needed.”
The scout team is a unit of younger players and backups that comes together each week in an attempt to replicate the next opponent.
Appropriately prodded, the scout team “came out and killed it on Wednesday and pushed our guys.”
In each of his eight seasons, Narduzzi has pushed his team through the finish line. Pitt has won only one of its past five bowl games, but the Panthers are 11-2 in November and December, dating to the Quick Lane victory against Eastern Michigan in the last game of 2019.
“That’s a coach’s job,” he said of not allowing players to relax. “(There are) a lot of teenagers out there that you just have to continue to stay on. If you just let it happen, you’re letting it happen, and I’m not going to let it happen. That’s up to me to stay on top of that and get them cranked up and ready to go.
“Love ‘em up and keep them motivated. Give them something to play for in practice. Just be me, I guess.”
In years past, Narduzzi said he’s called upon seniors to stand up in front of a meeting to get players “cranked up.”
He said offensive lineman Alex Bookser (2015-18) often answered the call for such duty.
“Haven’t had to pull that out of my back pocket (this season),” he said. “Our guys are pretty locked in. They know we have to go to work every day.”
Narduzzi motivates his players by asking them to write down goals at the outset of each week.
“What do you want to do this week? Hey, what are you doing this week to be better? I’m not just talking football, (but) in the classroom, in life. Call your mother twice this week instead of once.”
He said current players who have spoken at team meetings – sometimes raising their voices – are linebacker SirVocea Dennis, safety Brandon Hill and offensive linemen Carter Warren, Jake Kradel and Marcus Minor and wide receiver Jared Wayne.
On the field, Narduzzi pointed out scout team defensive linemen Elliot Donald, Nahki Johnson and Thomas Aden who don’t mind mixing it up with their older teammates. Of Aden, a 6-foot-1, 285-pound freshman, Narduzzi said, “He’s a walk-on who’s going to play some football here. He’s always causing some problems up front.”
Actually, the coach likes to see an occasional scuffle or two between teammates.
“If there’s not a fight, then we got problems. There’s gotta be a fight because that means the offense is getting mad, or the defense is getting mad at the offensive guys for going too hard.”
Friendships are for after practice.
“Don’t brother-in-law it out there,” Narduzzi said.