Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi eager to see Nick Patti get another chance to start in Sun Bowl
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EL PASO, Texas — No one really talked much about Nick Patti during Pitt’s training camp.
Coaches and fans were encouraged by the presence of Kedon Slovis, the transfer from USC with the glossy pedigree. Everyone was eager to see if he could be an adequate replacement for Kenny Pickett.
Forgotten no longer, Patti will be the starter Friday when Pitt plays UCLA in the Sun Bowl while Slovis is getting ready for spring ball at BYU.
Could coach Pat Narduzzi and offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. have picked the wrong starter for the regular season?
One day after practice this week, Narduzzi was asked the ultimate speculative question: “How do you think things would have been different if Nick had won the job in August?”
To his credit, Narduzzi gave an honest answer.
“I don’t know,” he said. “That’s a lot of speculation there. We’ll find out. We’ll find out after the game Friday (that) maybe he should have been the guy all along. Who knows?”
Clearly, Pitt’s coach values loyalty to his program as much as anything else a player can offer.
“(Patti) is one of those loyal guys,” he said. “I think about the word loyalty. There’s not a lot of loyalty in this world anymore, college football, pro football. Nick is one of those guys who has been loyal to this program. We’re going to be loyal to Nick.”
Patti is a fifth-year senior who committed to Pitt in 2017 before the end of his junior year at New Jersey powerhouse St. Joseph Regional and remained committed through signing day 2018. In three seasons as a starter in high school, Patti threw for nearly 4,600 yards and 43 touchdowns.
“Now, I’m the older guy,” Patti said earlier this week in El Paso. “I try to come out with a positive mindset every day, positive attitude, come out with confidence. I guess the guys just rally around that, and I’m going to try to keep it going for the game.”
Narduzzi said he’s looking forward to seeing Patti play from start to finish, something he hasn’t done since the 17-14 victory against Delaware in 2019 when he threw for 271 yards and two touchdowns.
There probably wasn’t a more clutch touchdown pass this season than Patti’s 4-yarder to wide receiver Jared Wayne with 2 minutes, 23 seconds left in the fourth quarter of the Tennessee game. Patti, playing for an concussed Slovis, helped send the game into overtime.
That was Sept. 10, a long time ago in the world of football. Patti’s incomplete pass on the final play of the Vols’ 34-27 victory — he played most of the second half and all of overtime on an injured ankle — was his last throw of the regular season.
But Patti won a lot of fans in the coaches’ offices and the locker room long before that when he dived for a touchdown in the first quarter of the 2021 Peach Bowl against Michigan State and broke his collarbone. To this day, Narduzzi believes Pitt would have defeated the Spartans if Patti had played the entire game.
During his final news conference of the week, Narduzzi compared Patti to Slovis.
“We have a guy (Patti) who is a little bit more elusive. He’s an athlete. He’ll scramble,” Narduzzi said. “He’s going to have a little bit more escape-ability, won’t be kind of a lame duck in the pocket. He’s got a great arm, and he’s a competitor.
“I know the other 10 guys (in the huddle) will play their tails off for Nick Patti when he’s in there.”