Pat Narduzzi Gives Honest Evaluation of Pitt Roster

Pat Narduzzi opened up about the Pitt Panthers' struggles this season.

PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers had just suffered a 51-point defeat to No. 14 Notre Dame on the road and sunk to a 2-6 record that marks the program's worst eight-game start in more than two decades. 

With the weight of one of, if not the worst loss of his time at Pitt, Narduzzi opened up about why he believes his team has fallen so far from the success of the previous two seasons, during which they won 20 games and finished both campaigns ranked. 

"I’ll go back, as a football coach you lose a lot of good players from a year ago and you think as a coach you’re going to replace them and obviously we haven’t," Narduzzi said. "Again, it starts with me. I didn’t do a good enough job coaching today. Put it on me and we’ve got to make plays. It just comes down to making plays and doing a better job coaching."

While Narduzzi did take some responsibility for the state of this year's team and even Tweeted after the game that he was "100% responsible" for the loss, he did identify an inarguable truth about his team - they are struggling to replace the program pillars that had helped them win so many games in years past. 

The electric wide receiver-quarterback duo of Kenny Pickett and Jordan Addison that powered their high-flying passing offense in 2021 is gone, both starting in the NFL. 

Israel Abanikanda, the speedy, powerful running back that led the ACC in rushing yards and touchdowns last season is now a New York Jet and Jared Wayne, a 1,000-yard receiver a year ago, left school to pursue a career in professional football as well. 

And a whole host of defensive stars and starters that kept the defense deep and experienced for multiple seasons have graduated as well. Three-time All-ACC linebacker SirVocea Dennis and 2022 ACC Defensive Player of the Year Calijah Kancey are now Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Fellow defensive line standouts Habakkuk Baldonado, Deslin Alexandre, John Morgan and more were lost to the transfer portal or graduation as well. 

In the defensive backfield, two multi-year safety starters in Brandon Hill and Erick Hallett are both off pursuing NFL dreams as well. 

The Panthers have been forced to replace them with more and more youth as the season wears on, from quarterback to wide receiver, safety, linebacker and offensive line. The growing youth movement that had given Pitt fans some hope for a better future is still young and their growing pains are a fact of life right now. 

Narduzzi said later in his press conference that the youth is a fact Pitt will have to live with. The Panthers are starting down a date with No. 4 Florida State next weekend, an undefeated juggernaut that is hell-bent on winning the league and earning a berth in the College Football Playoff. They won't take it easy on the Panthers because they're struggling and no one else will. It's adapt or die for Pitt from here on out.  

"We’re playing a lot of young guys and again, nobody cares," Narduzzi said. "That’s no excuse, but we’ve got to grow up. We’ve got four games to go and we’re going to come back and work on Florida State." 

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