Pat Narduzzi Wanted to Bring Back Pitt Spring Game Draft

Nate Matlack has never participated in a spring game. Kansas State would open up its final spring practice to the fans and run a glorified scrimmage. He was certainly excited to have the chance for a game-like atmosphere at Acrisure Stadium this weekend in his first season at Pitt — after four at K-State.

So, Matlack went to Gavin Bartholomew, who has been around for a while. He asked about the spring game, and as there’s been some buzz about an upcoming draft this week, he asked Bartholomew about that, too.

Pitt didn’t hold a spring game draft last season. It was the 1s vs. the 2s. Pat Narduzzi can admit now that he didn’t really want to do it that way.

“I don’t want to say I got talked into it, sometimes you get talked into it,” Narduzzi said Tuesday after practice. “Hey, we have to do it this way, it’s better. All that baloney. And that’s the first year I’ve done it like that. Maybe it’s a soft way of doing it, I guess. Maybe that’s part of the toughness. The drafting is harder.

“It makes it harder on the offense and defense. Maybe it’s not as clean a scrimmage as you’d like it to be because some things are mixed up, but we’ll have our own little flavor this year to make it better.”

The Pitt coaches were drafted Tuesday night, and the Pitt Eagles leadership group will serve as the captains Wednesday afternoon. It’s almost draft time.

It’s the first draft since 2022, and while there may be a tweak or two in the process, it will largely be the same as the last one. The senior leaders will move through position groups one at a time, selecting every individual (healthy) player, before moving to the next. It mixes up the roster a bit, and maybe most importantly in Narduzzi’s eyes, the action isn’t strictly 1s against 1s.

“I just didn’t like it last year,” Narduzzi said. “I guess it’s just another day of practice. I guess that’s one of the reasons. I was going to do a draft anyway, but it was nice in the last two weeks, the kids started thinking about it, ‘Coach, we’re doing a draft, right?’ I’m like, ‘Yes, we’re doing a draft.’ They want it, but I’m not doing what they want, I’m doing what we think is best for the team and I think that’s best for the team.”

Narduzzi knows what the coaching staff wants to see Saturday. The scrimmage last weekend (which was attended by a select few Alliance 412 donors) is more indicative of a true 1s vs. 1s showing.  The spring game will be a mix of 1s, 2s and 3s.

“It’s just to have some fun, competition, split it up,” Narduzzi said. “There’s some adversity. If I’m in at right guard, I have to work next to the left tackle or the quarterback’s got to work with a different than he’s had during the spring. You never know. But it’s a way to have fun. It’s not just another day of practice.

“I think if I give them another day of practice, they’d be like, ‘Ugh, it’s the 1s vs. 1s again? Is it thud or live, coach?’ I think that gets old after a while. It’s 15 days of spring ball, it gets old. It will be the draft, so it will be more 1s, 2s and 2s vs. 1s, 2s and 3s.”

There are a lot of players looking for an opportunity this spring. That includes the 1s, 2s and 3s. The draft gives just about every player the chance to make a play — or two.

“It gives a backup right guard who maybe plays with a left tackle or it gives a defensive end working with a D-tackle or a safety that’s working with a different corner that he doesn’t normally work with and he’s got to start leading that guy. It gives guys opportunities to practice with somebody else, play in a game with somebody else and maybe learn something from him.”

The draft is scheduled to take place Wednesday at noon at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, and the Blue-Gold Spring Game is scheduled for Saturday, April 13 at 2 p.m.