Pat Narduzzi Recaps First Pitt Scrimmage of the Spring

Pat Narduzzi wanted to send a bit of a message when he decided to hold practice outside Tuesday morning at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.

When Pitt held its first scrimmage of the spring over the weekend, “kicking off” at Acrisure Stadium Saturday morning, the weather wasn’t exactly ideal. It was cold and a little rainy, and that’s why Narduzzi decided to hold practice outside. He wasn’t happy with an initial, “Oh, we have to go outside?” mentality.

“The focus of the day was enthusiasm,” Narduzzi said after practice Tuesday. “You better have energy when you play this game. You can have the greatest team in the world, but if you don’t come to play and don’t have enthusiasm and energy, you’re going to lose. I just thought that the defense had more energy than the offense. So, it’s 2-0 defense. But we got a lot of work in and a lot of teach tape. We spent all day yesterday watching the tape with the players, just to get things corrected and we had a good, spirited day of practice today.”

But even with the initial apprehension Saturday, Narduzzi was still pleased with how the offense and defense — and special teams — competed at the Ack.

“Great scrimmage on Saturday,” Narduzzi said. “Defense won the scrimmage. Before the scrimmage, like most scrimmages, I said it comes down to turnovers. If the offense doesn’t turn the ball over, you probably win the scrimmage. If you turn it over, it’s game-changing plays, you’ll probably lose it. And even with that being said, with the turnovers that our offense did have, at the end, it wasn’t like a blowout. It should have been a blowout, to be honest with you. The offense moved the ball a few times and a lot of good plays were made out there on the field on both sides of the ball.”

The defense won the scrimmage, overwhelming the offense in the cold, rainy conditions, and there were a handful of defensive players who stood out in the process.

“I think I warned you about what (Cruce) Brookins was doing last week, and he had a heckuva day,” Narduzzi said. “(Braylan) Lovelace — and Brandon George. Brandon George had one of the best scrimmages he may have had here. I kind of said to him before, I was like — because I don’t watch just the linebackers, I’m watching everybody, watch all-22. I said to him, it must’ve been Monday morning, like, ‘Hey, I think you played really good because I don’t remember going, what the heck is Brandon doing here?’

“And I’ve had some what the heck is Brandon doing moments. But Brandon is playing really well. Lovelace is playing at Mike, he can play any spot. He can play all three of them. He gives you little flashes of SirVocea Dennis at the Mike linebacker spot. And then Cruce, I think can play the field and the boundary, so those are two guys on defense.”

Narduzzi pointed to Nate Matlack continuing to progress up front, and he said that Dayon Hayes played well, too. Brookins has earned a lot of praise, but his safety partner Jesse Anderson was very impactful Saturday.

He picked off a pass and returned it for a touchdown and forced two fumbles. The young safety duo of Brookins and Anderson, two second-year freshmen, is coming along faster than expected. It wouldn’t be a surprise if either forced their way into an already deep rotation this season. Brookins appears to have locked down a spot in the Delta package.

The cornerbacks outside of Ryland Gandy haven’t received as much publicity, but Rashad Battle, Tamarion Crumpley and Tamon Lynum are emerging. Battle and Lynum have intriguing size, and Crumpley — and Noah Biglow — are often mentioned as contributors.

It, obviously, wasn’t as good a day for the offense, considering the defense picked up the scrimmage win, but with every session, the offense is still able to install more and more of the new offensive scheme. While early enrollee Julian Dugger didn’t get a ton of reps, he impressed with what he was given. He wasn’t alone.

“Offensively, Konata Mumpfield played really well,” Narduzzi said. “I think Kenny Johnson had a nice day as well. I’ll tell you what, Poppi Williams had a couple of great catches over the shoulder. He was impressive.”

There wasn’t a running back that stood out to Narduzzi when he reflected upon the scrimmage Saturday, but he felt like Branson Taylor and Ryan Baer played well on the first team offensive line — forming a leadership trio with Terrence Moore.

There is one scrimmage in the books, and there will be one more before the Blue-Gold Spring Game is scheduled to take place on Saturday, April 13. The offense will look to take back the blue jerseys.