Pitt football hit an important milestone on Saturday at Acrisure Stadium, taking the field at their home venue for the first jersey scrimmage of the spring season. Last week, coach Pat Narduzzi said the Panthers would find out a lot about their team — where it is and where it needs to go — in this scrimmage, and early returns say the offense has some work to do.
The story of these jersey scrimmages is often told by turnovers. If the offense protects the ball, it almost always wins. If the defense takes the ball away, it almost always wins. On Monday morning, the defense was wearing blue jerseys, meaning it had come up with a handful of turnovers and won the first spring scrimmage, but Narduzzi thinks the offense gave the scrimmage away more than the defense took it.
“I wish I could say it was more takeaways, but they were giveaways rather than takeaways,” Narduzzi said. “Just some plays that we can’t do.”
Defensive tackle Francis Brewu, linebacker Kyle Louis and safeties Javon McIntyre and Cruce Brookins were among those sporting new “TAKEAWAY” stickers across their helmets at the start of Monday’s practice.
Weather certainly played a factor. During a blustery morning on Pittsburgh’s North Shore, the Panthers offense ran the ball effectively — Narduzzi estimated the first team averaged between 4.3 and 4.5 yards per carry — but the passing game left something to be desired. Interceptions were the main culprit in a scrimmage loss for the offense, and while the offense, which will have to break in a few new faces along the offensive line and at wide receiver, was clean in its operation, execution was lacking.
“I think any time you go in the stadium — you know, it’s the first live scrimmage — I think everybody’s got a plan until they get hit, and it’s live the whole time,” Narduzzi said. “But I think the operation, for the most part, was pretty good, and then you’ve got to go make plays.”
Narduzzi has been happy with the offense as a whole in spring practices. He and his players agree they are much further ahead in Year 2, understanding what offensive coordinator Kade Bell wants to run and how the system should work. But the physicality of the first fully live practice of the spring hit, and the offense took some time to warm up.
“Defense was cranked up,” Narduzzi said. “Any time the whole practice is live, the defense gets cranked up and the offense looks like we haven’t done much of that.”
Good thing there’s another scrimmage — and a chance to bounce back — scheduled for this coming Saturday.
“We didn’t go for that many plays. We’ll have more plays this upcoming Saturday,” he added. “[The offense will] be much more prepared for that on Saturday.”
What’s understood doesn’t need to be said
Kenny Johnson is one of those offensive players that feels the offense has made strides regardless of the outcome of the scrimmage. He has good reason to because, as last season’s leading receiver, Konata Mumpfield, heads to the NFL, Johnson is taking on a bigger role in the Pitt receiving corps.
And to prepare for that bigger role, he’s dedicated his offseason to forging a stronger relationship with starting quarterback Eli Holstein. The newfound chemistry was on display this weekend, when Holstein connected with Johnson for an off-schedule touchdown pass.
Pitt was moving fast and on the verge of hitting the end zone, and when a play was called for Johnson to run a slant, he noticed Brookins cheating up from his safety spot. So Johnson flashed a quick hand signal to Holstein, who knew that meant his receiver would be running deep. From there, it was a simple pitch and catch for a score.
“Eli looked over there and had seen that Cruce had cheated down a little bit, so he wasn’t going to be able to play the fade ball,” Johnson said. “So he threw a little signal out for me, and we ran the fade ball. Easy.”
With a year of playing together in the books, Holstein and Johnson have Bell’s trust to freelance when they see a matchup they like. And as the two work with each other more and more, they need to communicate less and less to make plays. Johnson says sometimes all it takes is a single look for him and Holstein to be in sync on coverages, timing and proper location of the throw.
“It’s nice, especially because coach Bell is starting to trust us more. I feel like that could take some pressure off our other dynamic guys,” Johnson said. “Last year, me and Eli didn’t have that. ... We’re getting to the point where we can just feel what’s going on and do it.”
Schedule change
Pitt will hold the vast majority of its spring practices on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays in the lead-up to the spring game on April 12, but there is one exception. The Panthers moved their first practice of this week up a day to Monday so a group of players and coaches could attend a memorial service honoring their late teammate, Mason Alexander, in his hometown of Indianapolis.
Narduzzi left for Indianapolis on Monday afternoon following practice. A delegation of 60 players, plus coaches and support staff, will follow tomorrow for a shorter visit to attend the memorial service.
Alexander died in a car accident the evening of March 1. He was 18 years old and was in the middle of his first semester at Pitt.
“Mason was proud and excited to be a Panther, and we felt the same way about having him in our Pitt family,” Narduzzi said in a statement released after Alexander’s passing. “He will always be a Panther to us. The Alexander family and Mason’s many loved ones and friends will be in our prayers.”
First Published: March 24, 2025, 8:53 p.m.
Updated: March 25, 2025, 2:13 a.m.
