In the Pitt football offices, the word of the day this winter is fast, and that won’t change in the spring, summer or fall.
Pitt will move faster this season, snapping the football perhaps as soon as seven seconds after the previous play.
“After spring ball, our guys will say it’s simpler to go play faster,” coach Pat Narduzzi said.
Or, as transfer wide receiver Raphael Williams Jr. said: “Play fast, score faster.”
The transformation won’t be easy, considering the dramatic shift in offensive philosophy that Narduzzi has chosen.
Even more agonizing for Narduzzi as he approaches his 10th season — a longer tenure than all but two previous Pitt coaches — was making the necessary changes to his staff to facilitate the new offense.
“It was difficult,” Narduzzi said of terminating four assistants, including Andre Powell and Tim Salem who had been with him since 2015. “It starts with the coaches when you don’t have a successful season. It starts with us.
“Good people, great coaches,” he said, referencing the four who are gone. “It’s hard on everybody in this building. No one likes to go through those changes. But it’s a necessary part of the business.
“We have to look in the mirror and make adjustments based on what we need to do to come in here on a Monday, and we have fun in here. I don’t like coming in on Sundays and being grumpy and upset with what we did. So, you make changes. We have to fix things that were wrong from a year ago and make 2024 a great one. It’s never easy.”
Narduzzi is excited about new offensive coordinator Kade Bell, who makes his presence known to his new boss at all hours.
“He’s a guy who will text message you all day long,” Narduzzi said. “All his fingers must be numb. He’s sending (information and video) on recruits at all hours of the night. ‘Check this guy out, check that guy out.’ I have text messages that long.
“I love a guy who communicates. He does a great job communicating with the kids, with his staff, He’s very organized, which is kind of like I am and like I want the offense to be.”
Bell comes from Western Carolina, a successful FCS program, but Narduzzi had no problem dipping into a lower level of college football to find his man.
“It’s football,” Narduzzi said. “When I think about coaches who are very creative, I think of a lot of high school coaches out there. I was in FCS. You can do it at any level. He’s very creative. You’re going to see some creative offense out there which creates explosives, which keeps people off balance.
“Sometimes people like that don’t get those opportunities. I don’t have that ego. I’m not going to have to come in here and say I hired a guy from Alabama or LSU to make it look good. It’s not about looking good. It’s about being good. We got the right guy in Kade Bell. He’s the whole package.”
Bell also brought a package with him, including three potential playmakers he coached at Western Carolina: wide receivers Williams and Censere Lee and running back Desmond Reid.
Williams (5-foot-10, 165 pounds) played for Bell at Division II Tusculum and Western Carolina. He sat out last season at San Diego State because it was his second transfer. Pitt makes three, and he is eager to reunite with Bell.
“I’m very hungry, ready to put the world on notice and show them what I can do,” he said. “He finds ways to get his best players the ball. He knows I want to play in the NFL. I want to win the Biletnikoff. He holds me to a higher standard.
“Being that he’s young (31), he’s almost like a big brother to me.”
Williams isn’t as big as some of his new wide receiver teammates, but he said, “(Bell) doesn’t care about the size. It’s really just the dog in you. We’re smaller, but it’s hard to check us.”
How desperately does Williams want to fit in with his new team?
“Sometimes, we go in the indoor (practice facility), 10 at night on a Saturday, and we get extra catches,” he said.
Lee (5-11, 170) said he entered the transfer portal before Pitt hired Bell. He said trust brought him to Pitt.
“I had a few (other) schools (interested),” he said, “but the relationship I had with him (was important), already trusting someone. Everything he said was going to happen happened.
“Growing up I always wanted to play Power 5, big stage, show everyone what I can do. Me being considered undersized all my life, I have a chip on my shoulder.”
Reid (5-8, 170) likes the fast-paced offense, with an aerial game that opens avenues for running backs.
“We did really well running the ball (at Western Carolina). A lot of teams were playing us with three safeties,” he said. “Make the defense think a lot. Going fast messes with their head.”
Jerry DiPaola is a TribLive reporter covering Pitt athletics since 2011. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in 1993, first as a copy editor and page designer in the sports department and later as the Pittsburgh Steelers reporter from 1994-2004. He can be reached at jdipaola@triblive.com.
"difficult" - Google News
February 12, 2024 at 04:30AM
https://ift.tt/YeC5zS0
Shift in offensive philosophy at Pitt forces 'difficult' staff changes - TribLIVE
"difficult" - Google News
https://ift.tt/ue2PBpT
https://ift.tt/elGbLCS
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Shift in offensive philosophy at Pitt forces 'difficult' staff changes - TribLIVE"
Post a Comment