Quarterback Ricky Town Finds His Home With the Panthers

Most Pitt fans know the story of Ricky Town.

He was a 5-star quarterback coming out of St. Bonaventure High School in Newbury Park, California and had his pick of colleges to attend. But after brief stops at USC and Arkansas, Town spent last year playing for former Pitt offensive coordinator Steve Mooshagian at Ventura College (California).

In January, Town decided to enroll at Pitt and has two years of eligibility remaining.

At the time he enrolled, there may have been a belief that he would be competing with sophomore Kenny Pickett for the starting job. However, that’s no longer the case as Pickett is fully entrenched as the Panthers number one quarterback.

If you think all of this has Town discouraged, you’d be wrong.

Pitt quarterback Ricky Town

As we found out yesterday, he is excited about being a Panther and is looking forward to his role whatever it may be for the upcoming season.

“I’m excited, the season is right around the corner and it’s awesome that football is almost here,” said Town. “I feel good with the offense and I’m progressing everyday. I’m working to get everyone better and get myself better. I think things are coming, so I’m excited.”

Although he’s still young, Town has already been around three different programs and many coaches and coordinators. After a few stops, he believes he’s finally found home.

“I can tell Pitt is just different from the coaching staff. Coach Narduzzi and Coach Watson you can tell that they’re teachers and it’s more of a family unit here. I could just tell that I would learn about the game of football and I wasn’t just going to be another body. I was going to learn football here so that’s awesome. I think he’s (Shawn Watson) been the best quarterbacks coach that I’ve ever had, he’s been awesome.”

Ricky Town (12) drops back to pass during the annual NCAA football spring Blue Gold game, Saturday, April 14, 2018 — DAVID HAGUE

What has he learned from the coaches so far?

“Too much to say,” said Town. “Really a lot. We have a quarterback school and you would think that it’s just about the offense but we spent a month just talking about defense just about the defensive fronts. I’ve just learned a lot about football, a lot of defensive football, situational football and offensive football, so it’s been awesome.”

Town has also developed camaraderie with Pickett and despite their situation, the two have grown close.

“Kenny’s the man, Kenny’s awesome. I’m learning a ton from him. We always chop it up back and forth. He’ll ask me about what I saw out there and I ask him the same so it’s been awesome and real helpful,” said Town. “I’ve been learning a lot from Kenny. Everyone wants to play and get out there. I’m excited to watch what Kenny does and I’m ready to go in for whatever happens.”

Town will most likely start the season as Pickett’s backup despite freshman Nick Patti having a good start to camp. At the moment, both Town and Patti are wearing jersey #12 in camp. When the season starts, does the backup get to keep #12?

“Yeah, everyone is asking that. I don’t know, we’ll see. I guess the good thing is that we won’t be on the field at the same time.”