Pitt has lost two players for the remainder of the 2020 season, head coach Pat Narduzzi announced on Monday.
Redshirt junior tight end Grant Carrigan and redshirt freshman defensive lineman Nate Temple will both miss the remainder of the season after suffering shoulder injuries in Pitt’s Week 5 loss to Boston College.
Carrigan had played in Pitt’s first five games of the season as a backup tight end after spending all of the offseason learning right tackle. He was pressed into service after injuries to projected starter Lucas Krull and backup Kyi Wright.
Junior Daniel Moraga has started Pitt’s last three games at tight end as Wright has worked back from injury. Tackle Carson Van Lynn and guard Blake Zubovic worked as tight ends, as well against Miami.
Temple was a regular member of Pitt’s special teams units and had started the season as the sixth defensive end on Pitt’s depth chart, behind starters Patrick Jones II and Rashad Weaver and backups Deslin Alexandre, Habakkuk Baldonado and John Morgan.
Baldonado has been out since the season opener with a lower body injury, and Alexandre was pressed into service at defensive tackle on Saturday against Miami, so without Temple, true freshman Dayon Hayes saw playing time in a meaningful situation for the first time in his career.
Temple will finish the season with two tackles, one pass breakup and one quarterback hurry.
Carrigan and Temple will join cornerback Damarri Mathis (non-football injury) as the only players Narduzzi has ruled out for the remainder of the season.
Baldonado, middle linebacker Wendell Davis (right knee), Krull (left knee), defensive tackle Keyshon Camp (undisclosed) have also missed multiple weeks with injuries. Narduzzi said Camp is day-to-day.
He did not update the status of starting quarterback Kenny Pickett (left ankle) or backup running back Israel Abanikanda (undisclosed), who did not travel with the team to Miami.
