Pitt running backs coach Andre Powell has corralled Pitt’s stable of ball carriers
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Rodney Hammond remembers his freshman training camp — before he rushed for a total of 964 yards and 10 touchdowns in his first two seasons at Pitt.
Not long out of high school, he needed someone to show him how to succeed in college football.
“When I first came here, I had little childish ways,” he said at the outset of his third camp.
Then, he met Andre Powell, his position coach.
Powell, who has been with coach Pat Narduzzi through all nine seasons, showed him the way.
“He’s going to make you realize you don’t have any time to be childish,” Hammond said. “We’re going to laugh and play around when we have the chance, but he turned me into a grown man. He’s a great coach.”
Senior running back Daniel Carter credits Powell for the running back he has become over his previous four seasons at Pitt.
“He pushed me every day to get better. He would always curse at me. I feel like that made me better over time,” Carter said. “He wants you to be an NFL-caliber player, and he’s going to demand that every day. I really appreciate him for teaching us the game of football.
“Not everybody can say they had a coach who coached C.J. Spiller (at Clemson), James Conner, Izzy Abanikanda. I really appreciate him. I love him to death.”
C’Bo Flemister, who transferred from Notre Dame last year, bonded with Powell immediately.
“I could tell he’s from the South (Lockhart, S.C.),” Flemister said. “I’m a Southern boy, too (Williamson, Ga.). That was awesome to have that connection right away.”
Powell, who likes to fish in his spare time, has taken his players on short fishing trips. But the bond he has built with them goes beyond geography and their shared love of the waterways.
“He really has pushed us to raise our IQ, our level of knowledge, our feel for the game,” Flemister said. “I’m at a point in my career where I’ve taken in so much football now, it’s just about learning those nuances, those small details that separate you and make you that better player.
“We have a good group of guys that he doesn’t have to push us way too hard, but we also know he’s there to be that enforcer if he needs to, which we normally don’t make him.”
Powell, who also coaches Pitt’s special teams, has a difficult job every season. Narduzzi likes to lean on the running game, so it’s important for Powell to have his players ready. And the fact that Abanikanda has moved onto the New York Jets (where he already has scored a preseason touchdown, by the way) only makes the job more difficult.
“We are always going to try to find a way to run the football, no matter what,” Powell said. “We’ve got some good runners. We’re confident the running game won’t suffer in the absence of Israel (Abanikanda). It may not be one guy … but collectively we think the running game will be productive.”
Hammond, Carter and Flemister have been toughened by their collective 14 seasons of college football. But the three other scholarship players in Powell’s meeting room — redshirt sophomore Derrick Davis and freshmen T.J. Harvison and Montravius Lloyd — are new to the program. Davis, a Gateway graduate, is a transfer from LSU, where he played mainly safety.
“Derrick is a talented dude,” Powell said. “Derrick has to be a little bit more settled on what he’s supposed to do. That’s the guy we have to bring along. He’s going to get a lot of reps. He’s going to get a lot of opportunities. He’s going to make some mistakes. We’re going to detail them and move on.”
Narduzzi said Davis impressed his staff over the first two days of drills.
“He’s got wheels now,” he said. “He’s been impressive. We’re going to find out what happens when the pads go on.
“He knows the playbook a little bit better than he did in the spring. He looks a little bit more confident. which I think every kid is. He’s a big dude. He should be a big, physical tailback, but he’s got the ability to break away from you, too.”
There are plenty of questions about Pitt’s offense this season, with a new quarterback (Phil Jurkovec) and the loss of the team’s leading rusher (Abanikanda) and pass catcher (Jared Wayne, 60 catches, 1,063 yards). Wayne’s yardage total was nearly double that of Konata Mumpfield (551), the team’s most productive returning receiver.
Offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. answers any questions about Pitt’s run game by simply declaring, “Look at the bowl game.”
Hammond ran for 94 yards and two touchdowns and was MVP of Pitt’s 37-35 Sun Bowl victory against UCLA. He also led Pitt’s victory against West Virginia, rushing for 74 and two touchdowns.
In an eight-game season shortened by an ankle injury suffered in the WVU game, Hammond ran for 168 of his 460 yards and four of his five touchdowns in two games.
“I have to stay healthy,” he said. “I feel like I left something on the field I’m going to finish this year.”
Hammond said he thrives on competition, but he said he’s willing to share carries with his teammates.
“They’re my brothers. We all got the same goal. We want to get to the NFL,” he said. “You could give us the same amount of carries, that’s cool with me. I love splitting carries. Keeps all of us fresh.”