Pitt Continues to Live Up to RBU Reputation

Injuries can't stop the Pitt Panthers run game.

The Johnny Majors Classic was the second chapter in a recently reignited rivalry between the Pitt Panthers and the Tennessee Volunteers. It featured a tightly contested game that took overtime to decide and ultimately saw the Panthers come out victorious.

The Panthers were moving along fine until senior transfer quarterback Kedon Slovis exited the game late in the first half with an injury. Fellow senior Nick Patti took over the quarterbacking duties for Pitt and hadn’t been faring too well before he was injured himself. Patti battled through but it proved to be too much to overcome playing as a quarterback on one leg.

Where the Panthers did succeed, for the second week in a row I might add, was in the run game.

With the quarterbacks hobbled, junior Israel Abanikanda’s workload suddenly became heavier than expected. Abanikanda responded with 154 yards on 25 carries, one of those coming on a 76-yard touchdown run. Pittsburgh, the nation’s 17th ranked team before losing to the Volunteers, needed every yard of those to have a chance with their quarterback situation being less than ideal and the Volunteers playing the run knowing that chances were high that each play was just that.

Last week, Abanikanda was listed as the team’s starter but was outperformed by sophomore Rodney Hammond Jr. during the West Virginia game. Hammond averaged 4.6 yards a carry and scored two touchdowns in Pitt’s win over the West Virginia Mountaineers.

Hammond’s game last week elevated him to co-starter with Abanikanda for this week’s game but Hammond ultimately missed it with a leg injury.

A good offensive line helps the run game without a doubt. Ask the Panthers’ Acrisure Stadium counterpart about that. Pitt returned all five starters on last season’s offensive line that masterfully protected first-round NFL Draft pick Kenny Pickett. Their wonderful play from last season has quite translated over to the first few games of this season. Abanikanda and Hammond haven’t let that deter them.

Hammond and Abanikanda were huge down the stretch for the Panthers last season en route to the school’s ACC Championship. They return this season as the top guys on the depth chart so they are familiar faces. But good running back play continues to be a theme for the University of Pittsburgh regardless of who is in the backfield.

The tradition started way back when with Tony Dorsett, who did take in the game in person Saturday. Curtis Martin comes to mind. Who can forget recent NFL players like LeSean McCoy, Dion Lewis, and James Conner? Ray Graham never played in the NFL but was electric in his short time at Pitt. Qadree Ollison has played some snaps in the NFL, albeit not a whole lot of them. Craig “Ironhead” Heyward? Any list of good Pitt running backs is invalid without him.

Abanikanda and Hammond are two more additions to the list of explosive running backs that have played for the University. Will they graduate from Pittsburgh and find their way onto NFL rosters at some point? It’s quite possible with the shelf life of running backs. They both have years of eligibility left after this season so they have more time to make a name for themselves.

In Hammond’s freshman season in 2021, he had 504 yards and five touchdowns on just 102 carries. He also punched it in twice on eight receptions as well. Abanikanda, the team’s primary starter in 2021 averaged 5.3 yards a carry and scored a combined eight touchdowns without losing a single fumble throughout the year.

In what turned into a pass-heavy offense with Kenny Pickett and offensive coordinator Mark Whipple, those are some solid numbers.

Through two games, the Panthers have racked up 217 rushing yards, not an astronomical number but a respectable one in the fact that they’ve been hard earned yards behind some shaky offensive line play and against two power-five non-conference opponents.

They’ll take on Western Michigan in their first road contest of the year and currently are unsure of their quarterback situation. If Hammond is to return, the Panthers will have a lethal one-two punch to throw at a weaker opponent than the ones they’ve played to open the year.

It’ll be a chance for the tailbacks to continue the notion that the University of Pittsburgh really is ‘RBU’.

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