Pat Narduzzi pulled on gray sneakers and left his nice, white ones inside Thursday morning when Pitt practiced in a light, intermittent drizzle.
“Which is perfect,” Narduzzi said.
Games are played in the rain, of course, and Pitt claimed one of its most significant, all-time ACC victories in a downpour. Kenny Pickett threw a touchdown pass to tight end Lucas Krull, defeating North Carolina in overtime late in the 2021 championship season.
Football teams play in the rain and on wet fields. So why not practice in those conditions? One of the Beano Cook Fields is a turf field. pic.twitter.com/gi1BtXlTzF
— Jerry DiPaola (@JDiPaola_Trib) August 10, 2023
“You never know when you are going to go through that adversity,” Narduzzi said. “(Thursday) is a perfect day, no lightning. Nice to have a nice day like today.
“We got a little rain, which is perfect for the wet ball drills. Just to move it (inside), get the cameras in, it’s chaos.”
Narduzzi said the team planned to do most of its work on the turf field. “So we don’t tear up that (grass) field too bad.”
Actually, wet-ball drills are part of practice, even when it’s not raining. Balls are often dipped in a bucket of water, an especially important test for quarterbacks, holders, long snappers, kickers and punters.
“We work that every week,” Narduzzi said, “but it’s nice to have natural ones where you don’t have to get a bucket of water.”
On the field, Narduzzi was busy jabbing pass catchers with a long stick, equipped with a padded end, to simulate defenders trying to strip the football loose.
Catching up on old news
Pitt practiced in pads for the first time Tuesday, but Narduzzi wasn’t available for comment until Thursday.
“Tempo-wise, I was excited with it,” he said, estimating the team ran about 25 plays. “I was excited just the way they handled themselves. This team is a little bit more mature than others. They practice with the right tempo.
“The day before they were worse. We put the pads on, they got better. They did a nice job in pads. We saw some good things on both sides of the ball.”
He also likes how the team is handling mental matters, noting penalties are down.
“Knock on wood, as soon as I say that, we’ll have 100 of them. Last spring, we had a lot of false starts on the offensive line. We’re a lot more disciplined (now) with a lot more different cadences than normal people have.”
Huddle command
Narduzzi commented that the top three quarterbacks — Phil Jurkovec, Christian Veilleux and Nate Yarnell — are handling matters in the huddle without too many hiccups.
“I almost wish we had a mic in that huddle so everybody could hear … how that huddled is commanded,” he said. “I’m glad I’m not a quarterback. I’m not good at memorizing lines. I’d be a bad guy in the movies.”
