The 2018 season isn’t one of high or low expectations for the Pitt football team.
With returning talent but an overbearing non-conference schedule — to say nothing of whatever stink remains from a 5-7 finish in 2017 — the Panthers’ prognostications vary greatly. That lack of a consensus doesn’t exist within the team itself and many who surround it.
Speaking Friday at Heinz Field at Pitt’s annual kickoff luncheon, coach Pat Narduzzi put forward a bold vision for his program that embodies the confidence he has in his team heading into the season. Narduzzi concluded the afternoon by telling the assembled audience that he’ll be seeing them Dec. 1 in Charlotte, N.C., for the ACC championship because “that’s where we’re going.” Though he said later that wasn’t a guarantee, he made one earlier which was no less daring.
“I guarantee you this — if these 19 seniors stick together, if they focus on what they’re supposed to be doing every day … putting us in the national championship game and putting us in an ACC championship is a goal we can get done here at Pitt,” Narduzzi said. “This is the group to get that done.”
The preseason is the time when imaginations run wild for teams, players and coaches, before the realities of injuries and inherent shortcomings drown those dreams. That same fate might very well await Pitt, particularly with five games slated against teams ranked in the Associated Press preseason top 25.
For now, though, there’s hope. It was the same hope expressed Friday by athletic director Heather Lyke, who said she believes people are sleeping on Pitt heading into the season and that those same folks “have no idea what we’re capable of.” Then, there was Narduzzi, who believes an ACC Coastal Division title and a conference championship appearance are both attainable.
“That’s the goal,” he said. “We talk all the time in meetings. These guys have talked more about it than ever. [Senior linebacker] Quintin [Wirginis] went up there and said something about it. I don’t make any guarantees. You know that. But that’s what we’re shooting for. If we aren’t shooting for it, what are we doing? What are we wasting our time for?”
There’s just as much optimism about the long-term prospects, at least from one prominent figure with Pitt roots.
Louis Riddick, a former Pitt standout who now is an NFL analyst for ESPN, served as the luncheon’s keynote speaker Friday and expressed a sense of joy and excitement about the recent developments at his alma mater. He thanked Narduzzi for his work, telling him he thinks the fourth-year coach will lead Pitt “back to greatness” and verbalizing a sense of relief about a program that, for some time, was defined by turnover and frustration, even as it pertained to the school’s choice to change logos and colors.
“You’ve got a coach that’s going to be here. You’ve got a coach that’s going to put you in good positions to succeed,” Riddick said Friday. “There’s a lot of people that want to support this program and see it do well, who want to see it become a national power again like it used to be and like Pitt deserves. Pitt is nobody’s doormat. Pitt is nobody’s stepping-stone. This is a destination.”
With the matchup just 15 days away, Riddick’s attention over the course of his remarks naturally turned to Pitt’s Sept. 8 game against Penn State, a rivalry that, even 28 years after last playing in it, still resonates. Riddick grew up a Pitt fan, enamored by Tony Dorsett at a young age, and signed with the Panthers, despite what he said were his father’s wishes for him to go to Penn State and a strong recruiting push from Joe Paterno.
He’ll be at Heinz Field for the game, the third of a four-game series. Before leaving Pitt’s seniors and the rest of the crowd Friday, he had a message for them.
“Penn State is personal,” Riddick said. “Don’t take no [expletive] from Penn State.”
And your captains are...
As part of the festivities Friday, Narduzzi announced the team’s three captains for the upcoming season — Wirginis, offensive lineman Alex Boosker and defensive back Dennis Briggs.
The three players, all seniors and all WPIAL products, were selected by teammates in a vote taken Thursday night. It’s the second consecutive year Briggs will serve as a captain, making him the first Pitt player to do so since current Los Angeles Rams star Aaron Donald.
Though Narduzzi didn’t have a hand in picking the players, he heaped praise on the trio. He said Briggs is the most mature player he has ever coached and labeled Wirginis as the best linebacker he has ever coached, the latter of which is quite the compliment from a former defensive coordinator who presided over decorated units with future NFL players while at Michigan State.
“I think from top to bottom, from the leadership part of it to the depth, it is the best senior class,” Narduzzi said.
Craig Meyer: cmeyer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @CraigMeyerPG.
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First Published: August 24, 2018, 9:32 p.m.
