The most public and statistically accomplished faces of Pitt’s offense are defined by their age and experience, from the 21-year-old star running back who survived cancer to its married 22-year-old quarterback.
As the Panthers held on for a 43-27 victory Saturday night against Marshall, though, some of their most prolific contributors were their most inexperienced and, perhaps most important, their youngest.
After a breakthrough performance the previous week in a loss to North Carolina, freshman Chawntez Moss continued that momentum with a team-high 97 rushing yards. Though their production was limited to a handful of eye-opening spurts, freshmen Maurice Ffrench and Tre Tipton scored their first career touchdowns. Overall, freshmen and sophomores accounted for 200 of the team’s 252 rushing yards
For Pitt’s coaches, it provided an alluring glimpse at what their offense can become in future years.
“It’s really encouraging,” Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said. “You want guys to step up and make plays. Quadree has been a horse. With Ffrench, we decided to take his redshirt off two weeks ago because we felt like we needed him. We were trying to save him, but we felt like we were wearing Quadree [Henderson] out a little bit with kick returns and punt returns and all the work he’s getting. Tre had some nice sweeps and a couple of nice catches. It’s good to see [Aaron] Mathews get some catches. We’ve got some young guys playing on offense and making some plays. The best thing was we made plays when we needed to.”
Moss’ showing was impressive not simply because of its production, but its efficiency, as he gained his 97 yards on just 12 carries, averaging 8.1 yards. Do-everything wide receiver Henderson, a known and increasingly prolific commodity at this point in the season, added to what is developing into a stellar sophomore campaign, with 89 total yards.
Tipton, an Apollo-Ridge graduate, had 26 rushing yards on three carries and a 15-yard touchdown pass. Ffrench had an 11-yard touchdown run that gave Pitt a 20-0 lead in the first quarter. And though he had just a single 2-yard catch, freshman wideout Mathews got his first career start.
While it came against a porous defense that entered the day giving up 41.3 points and 478.7 yards per game, it was hard for the Panthers to leave Heinz Field Saturday without an overriding sense of optimism about their strong young core on offense.
“Our freshman class, the sophomores … we’re going to be good,” Moss said. “That’s all I can say.”
Whitehead held out
Safety Jordan Whitehead, as bright a star as Pitt has on its roster, did not play Saturday, spending the whole game on the sideline in a full uniform, minus his helmet. Narduzzi, who seldom comments or elaborates on injuries, would not clarify if the sophomore was sidelined because of an injury.
“But we expect him to hopefully be ready to go this week,” he said. “We’ll play that by ear.”
Narduzzi, nonetheless, was impressed with senior Reggie Mitchell, who started in Whitehead’s pace.
“It had no effect at all,” he said of Whitehead’s absence. “We have great confidence in Reggie. He has played both sides, both field and boundary. He did a heck of a job.”
Craig Meyer: cmeyer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @CraigMeyerPG.
First Published: October 2, 2016, 4:30 a.m.