Pat Narduzzi’s 10-year tenure at the University of Pittsburgh has been a positive one.
Every fan base, aside from maybe Alabama and Georgia, would like to see their team win a little more but that’s life.
Entering the 2024 season, during Narduzzi’s first nine seasons, Pitt has had five seasons in which they’ve won eight or more games. In my book, that’s pretty good and shouldn’t be something to complain about.
But record aside, the one thing that I believe Narduzzi and the Pitt program should be most proud about and no doubt use as a recruiting tool is player development and getting them to the next level.
While some teams boast about playing in New Year’s Six bowl games, and other talk about the conference they play in or size of their crowd, Pitt can say they do something that all recruits care about — getting them to the NFL.
Sure, there are some programs that can say they’ve gotten more players to the NFL, but Pitt can proudly brag about the job they’ve done during the Narduzzi era.
I was reminded of this over the weekend when former Pitt and current Minnesota Vikings defensive end Patrick Jones II was listed as having the second most sacks thus far in the 2024 season.
It was reinforced when the Arizona Cardinals congratulated running back James Conner went over 5,000 career rushing yards.
Critics and opposing programs can say what about Pitt, but the bottom line is that they have a recent proven track record of producing NFL players and not just players that make the roster, ones that are productive in the pros.
Here’s a look at former Pat Narduzzi players that are in the NFL.
James Conner, RB, Arizona Cardinals
Tyler Boyd, WR, Tennessee Titans
Brian O’Neill, RT, Minnesota Vikings
Avonte Maddox, S, Philadelphia Eagles
Dane Jackson, CB, Carolina Panthers
Jordan Whitehead, S, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Patrick Jones, DE, Minnesota Vikings
Damar Hamlin, S, Buffalo Bills
Rashad Weaver, DE, Houston Texans
Kenny Pickett, QB, Philadelphia Eagles
Damarri Mathis, CB, Denver Broncos
Jason Pinnock, CB, NY Giants
Calijah Kancey, DT, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Matthew Goncalves, OT, Indianapolis Colts
DJ Turner, WR, Las Vegas Raiders
Sirvocea Dennis, LB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Jordan Addison, WR, Minnesota Vikings
Israel Abanikanda, RB, NY Jets
Lucas Krull, TE, Denver Broncos
Jimmy Morrissey, C, NY Giants
MJ Devonshire, CB, Las Vegas Raiders
Brandon Hill, S, Houston Texans
Win games, keep a job. Getting guys to NFL and CU Boulder does not get applauded. Win games, tight no non-sense culture. #h2p. Triple RPO offense works in college, it is based upon exploits.