Pitt Take 5: Spring game is only part of an important offseason for Pat Narduzzi

Rain or shine, Pitt will put its football program on display Saturday at Acrisure Stadium in the Blue-Gold spring game. (For the record, the forecast calls for an April miracle: The rain might stop.)

The ACC Network will telecast live from 2 to 4 p.m. in what amounts to an infomercial for the Pitt football program. It’s billed as a game and score will be kept, but it’s actually the last of 15 practices that represent the players’ first intense introduction to Pitt’s new offense under 31-year-old coordinator Kade Bell.

It doesn’t end Saturday, however. Players-only summer workouts, followed by official training camp in August and the 2024 season, will be more important to the offense’s development than anything seen Saturday. Quarterbacks and running back Rodney Hammond, who is dealing with a minor injury, will wear red, don’t-touch-me jerseys.

Here are five thoughts to ponder at your spring game tailgate party:

1. Narduzzi’s most important spring?

A suggestion was thrown at Narduzzi that this offseason might be the most important of his 10 as Pitt’s coach. He overhauled his on-field offensive staff, even losing wide receivers coach Tiquan Underwood to the New England Patriots when he hoped to keep him. Plus, Narduzzi, soon to be 58, hired much younger assistants than the ones he fired, turned away from old-style, huddle-up football and allowed Bell to install an up-tempo offense.

Predictably, Narduzzi chose not to publicly acknowledge the special importance of this spring and the upcoming 12 games in the fall. To him, all seasons are created equal. But perhaps not so much when they’re preceded by a 3-9 showing.

“Change, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “They’re all important. This scrimmage (Saturday) is the most important of the spring because it’s the next one.”

What really matters at this point, he said, is for players to walk away healthy.

“I want to be able to play hard, play fast,” he said, “and come out of it with our guys.”

lol win lose or draw I found a way in that steak line ???? https://t.co/BEX4nPiT9E

— Marquis Williams (@wiliamsisland14) April 11, 2024

It’s understandable that Narduzzi doesn’t want to put undue pressure on his staff or players. But if it’s just another game, why will the winning team be rewarded with a steak dinner while the losers eat tofu hot dogs?

2. Strong safety group

Safeties coach Cory Sanders said the best spring game, in his eyes, would end with a 4-3 final score.

“A field goal and two safeties. That’s a beautiful thing right there,” he said.

He wasn’t kidding.

Sanders’ unit includes veterans Javon McIntyre, Donovan McMillon and P.J. O’Brien and redshirt freshmen Cruce Brookins (Steel Valley) and Jesse Anderson, who probably set the team record for spring bouquets thrown their way by coaches and players. Sanders said Brookins, Anderson and O’Brien led Pitt’s safeties in takeaway helmet stickers this spring.

Sanders said Brookins, who scored 40 points in a Steel Valley basketball one night when Sanders and Narduzzi were in the stands, has the ability to make plays and transfer lessons from the classroom to the field. Plus, he’s as intense as anyone on the team.

“If he has a bad practice, don’t talk to him. Guys know to leave him alone,” Sanders said. “He doesn’t want to talk to anybody until the next day until it’s time to practice again and he can wash it.

“You would think he’s an older guy because, at the end of the day, he’s about football and school. If you go down to the training room right now, he’s watching film or he’s watching YouTube safeties.”

Brookins’ self-imposed lights out, according to teammates: 9:30 p.m.

Injuries will keep Brookins and at least 18 other players out of action Saturday.

“We’re not as healthy as I’d like to be,” Narduzzi said. “We’ll be a lot healthier in the fall, for sure.”

3. Two to watch

With Hammond and, possibly, Derrick Davis limited by injuries, Desmond Reid might get a long look at running back. At 5-foot-8, 175 pounds, he makes up for his lack of size with toughness, Narduzzi said.

“I wasn’t excited about him in the first scrimmage,” the coach said. “He’s a tough son of a gun, let me just tell you. He’s one of the toughest players on our football team. I have a lot of respect for him. He makes us better.”

Reid, a junior who transferred from Western Carolina, always wanted to play Power 5 football, but he wasn’t heavily recruited while playing at Miramar (Fla.) High School.

“I just wanted to do well for a couple years in the FCS, and, hopefully, I can have a bigger school come at me,” he said. “I just wanted to be able to show my talents so everybody would know what I can do. I’m very confident in myself.”

Reid, a second-team FCS All-American, rushed for 1,723 yards and 17 touchdowns and caught 42 passes for 495 yards and a touchdown in 18 games over two seasons.

Another newcomer who is worth a look Saturday is freshman defensive end Sincere Edwards, another Florida product (Orlando).

Narduzzi said Edwards has a lot to learn, but he added, “For a freshman, he’s a different level guy right now. He’s going to run through you and not care. He’s reckless. I can’t wait to see him in a game.”

Edwards said his goal is to be a freshman All-American.

“In my opinion, I’m making a pretty good transition (from Wekiva High School). It’s a lot of little stuff that’s different, but at the end of the day, football is going to be football. I’m competing against me. As long as I get 1% better, God will bless it.”

Edwards has an important lesson to learn: Don’t hit the quarterback.

“Coming from high school, our coaches didn’t really care if we hit the quarterback or not,” he said. “Coming here, I touch the quarterback a little bit, I’m getting yelled out by coach Duzz.”

4. When the spring game ends …

Ever wonder why coaches are paid as handsomely as they are?

Narduzzi, whose pay was listed by USA Today last year at just under $6 million, said there is no lull for him when the spring game ends. Pitt is already over the 85-man scholarship limit, indicating there will be roster attrition to deal with at some point. He said he plans to spend two weeks meeting with every player on the roster for at least 30 minutes, talking football, family, whatever.

“Sometimes, 50 (minutes),” he said. “I try to keep it to 30, but I’m never going to shut a kid down. Sometimes, they’re sitting out in the lobby for an hour waiting on me. Those are the greatest meetings ever. I love it.

“When the day’s over, I’m shot. It’s those relationships I talk about all the time. You have to have them. It’s part of what we do.”

5. Some really special meetings

There is a metal waste container in the team meeting with a large dent on the side. Rumor has it that special teams/tight ends coach Jacob Bronowski, who will lead the Blue team, was getting his players fired up and, somehow, ran into it with his head.

Narduzzi, who was in his office at the other end of the hall, said it sounded like an explosion.

Bronowski was unavailable to confirm the story, but Narduzzi has described special teams meeting as “fiery.”

“Something I’ve seen and I love,” he said.