Pat Narduzzi Encouraged With OL Progress Despite Injuries

Pat Narduzzi is pleased with the progress his new-look offensive line is making.

PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers' offensive line has become a meat grinder during the first third of the regular season. Two starters have been lost for the season and a third missed the last game with an undisclosed injury. 

But despite all of that attrition, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi has seen positive steps forward from his offensive line over the past three weeks, even as they've dealt with a rotating cast of characters in the starting lineup. 

"Talking about a makeshift offensive line," Narduzzi said, "I look at where we were and now facing a better football team than the week before, and I think our guys up front played better. We took coaching last week." 

After taking five sacks in the Cincinnati game, Pitt quarterbacks have taken just one over the last two games. The Bearcats racked up eight tackles for loss in Week 2 and the Mountaineers and Tar Heels combined for just 10 while Pitt surpassed 100 rushing yards against the latter two opponents. 

The Panthers have been forced to give the offensive line an injection of youth and inexperience as seniors Ryan Jacoby, Matt Goncalves and Jake Kradel missed time. In come Jason Collier Jr., B.J. Williams, Ryan Baer and Terrance Moore. 

Moore had arguably the most difficult job of any of those four fresh faces this past week as he took over for Kradel at center, a position that does a lot of work communicating and controlling the rest of the offensive line. Narduzzi had nothing but positive reviews for his first start as a Panther. 

"Terrance Moore holding it and snapping the ball every play - I was really happy with the inside part of our offensive line," Narduzizi said. "Terrance Moore, Jason Collier and Blake Zubovic played really well, especially in their first time together. Terrance Moore making all the calls up front for the offensive line. So that was a real positive to see.”

Making his first start as well, Bear made some youthful mistakes but did generate good push in the run game. Narduzzi expects him to continue to improve just as the rest of the unit has with time. 

"I think he played solid in the run game," Narduzzi said. "We had some great blocking up front in the run game, but we've got to get better in the pass protection, as well."

Time will be key for this group. There's no replacing chemistry and this new offensive line group had just two days of practice to work together before the North Carolina game. The primary hope for Pitt is that they'll be able to generate some more momentum with a full week of practice together. 

"It was just something we've got to do again and again and again and rep and rep," Narduzzi said "And there's just not enough time to get maybe that motor memory that you want at whatever position that is." 

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