The Pitt Panthers entered Saturday’s season opener against Wofford as a 36.5-point favorite and still covered in a 45-7 win.
In such a lopsided victory, one that was never in doubt, it afforded Pat Narduzzi an opportunity to get plenty of young, inexperienced players on the roster playing time.
“When you talk about getting better from game one to game two, those young guys will get a lot better,” Narduzzi said after the win. “Some of the older guys get a little bit better, but those young guys will get a lot better from watching some of that tape.”
It’s particularly exciting when accounting for the fact that for some players, it was their first collegiate action, and for others, it was their Pitt debuts. It’s the case for quite a few players on Saturday.
It’s also important to keep in mind that when it comes to the true freshmen who received snaps, they have four games. If a fifth game is played, their freshman season is burned.
So, unless a player is capable of having a big role and making an immediate impact, I wouldn’t look for Narduzzi to use up the eligibility of a lot of these players.
But that also doesn’t mean that the young players and new additions cannot play their way into legitimate playing time this season.
“There’s competition now,” Narduzzi said. “Some of the young guys come out there and do something better than maybe one of the older guys, like, ‘Hey, watch out.’ We’re going to keep getting them reps.
“The depth is huge. It gives you competition at every position. I think we talked all through August, we were happy with the depth. Primarily we stayed pretty healthy as well. So, we have to keep that going.”
Collegiate Debuts
- WR Lamar Seymore:
- WR Zion Fowler-El: 1 catch for -3 yards
- WR Israel Polk
- WR Kenny Johnson: 2 catches for 17 yards
- RB Montravius Lloyd: 5 carries for 20 yards; 1 catch for 7 yards
- OL BJ Williams
- DT Isaiah Neal
- LB Braylan Lovelace: 1 tackle
- K Sam Carpenter: 1-for-1 PAT
Pitt Debuts
- QB Christian Veilleux: 5 of 9 for 60 yards and 1 passing TD, 9 rushing yards
- QB Phil Jurkovec: 17 of 23 for 214 yards, 1 passing TD, 41 rushing yards and 1 rushing TD
- WR Daejon Reynolds: 2 catches for 16 yards
- WR Che Nwabuko: 1 rush for 24 yards
- RB Derrick Davis Jr.: 2 rushes for 8 yards
- TE Malcolm Epps: 1 catch for -1 yard
- OL Jackson Brown
- DE: Jimmy Scott
- CB: Tamarion Crumpley
- S Donovan McMillon
- LS James Fineran
