Pitt Looks to Get Kenny Johnson More Touches
PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers are riding a three-game losing streak and looking to correct that by getting their offense kickstarted against a struggling
With big plays few and far between these days, Pitt is hoping to capture lightning in a bottle with speedy freshman wide receiver Kenny Johnson, who demonstrated electric playmaking ability with a 100-yard kickoff return against North Carolina last weekend.
“We’re going to keep getting him the ball," head coach Pat Narduzzi said. "I think he feels more comfortable. It's hard as a true freshman and I think he’s given everyone a little bit more confidence when you see him return that kickoff. We just got to find more ways to get it to him.”
The Panthers have done that progressively through the first four weeks of the regular season. He was just a reserve wide receiver on opening day, but was inserted into kickoff return duties against West Virginia and, against North Carolina, began taking handoffs on jet sweeps in addition to running routes.
Narduzzi wants to get his electric young playmaker the ball, but emphasized that it has to come within the flow of the offense. He doesn't want his quarterbacks forcing the ball into Johnson or any of the other Pitt playmakers that have struggled to unlock their full potential to this point just for the sake of targetting them.
"It ends up being about who are they covering," Narduzzi said. "It’s a bad decision if a quarterback ends up throwing the ball to a guy because he likes him or because he thinks he’s going to be open. He’s either open or he’s not and you got to go through your progressions as a quarterback.”
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