Jerry DiPaola stories, Page 85
Sophomore Matt Goncalves shoots for spot on Pitt’s offensive lineVideo
There was a rumor making the rounds at Pitt practice Wednesday that sophomore offensive tackle Matt Goncalves averaged 10 blocks per game. Of course, that was in another life when he was a four-year letterman in basketball at Eastport-South Manor High School in Manorville, N.Y. At 6-foot-6, 320 pounds, why...
Pitt men’s soccer picked to win ACC championship in preseason coaches poll
After a historic run to the College Cup only three months ago, the Pitt men’s soccer team is grabbing more attention at the outset of the 2021 season, picked in a poll of ACC coaches as the preseason favorite to win the conference championship. Pitt (16-4, 9-1 ACC last season)...
Pitt notebook: Pat Narduzzi seeks improvement in run gameVideo
Before practice Tuesday morning, Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said he was hoping to see improvement from his running game. He didn’t like some of what developed in the scrimmage last Saturday. “Our offense threw the ball really well,” he said. “Still want our run game to get better.” He said...
After working out with Antonio Brown, Marquis Williams hopes to join M.J. Devonshire in lifting Pitt secondaryVideo
Perhaps the names Marquis Williams and M.J. Devonshire aren’t tattooed onto the consciousness of most college football fans. In case you’re wondering, they are Pitt cornerbacks who, by all accounts, have practiced well through the first 10 days of training camp. That’s only practice, however, and there are 15 of...
Ex-Duquesne center Michael Hughes joins pro team in Austria
Center Michael Hughes, the most accurate shooter in Duquesne basketball history, has signed a contract to play professionally for BC GGMT Vienna of the Austrian Basketball Superliga. He joins former teammate Baylee Steele, who plays for PGE Spojnia Stargard in the Polish EBL, as the second ex-Duquesne player in the...
Pitt adds Ohio State transfer Ryan Jacoby to its offensive line
After 10 days of training camp, Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi took another player from the NCAA transfer portal Sunday when he received a verbal commitment from former Ohio State offensive lineman Ryan Jacoby. Jacoby (6-foot-4, 305 pounds) will initially add depth to Pitt’s offensive line while veteran tackles Carter Warren,...
Longtime Robert Morris coach Joe Walton dies at 85
Joe Walton, a first-team All-American tight end at Pitt in 1956 and later a 35-year fixture in the NFL as a scout, player and coach before returning to college football to build the Robert Morris program from scratch, died Sunday. He was 85. Born in Beaver Falls, Walton evolved from...
Take five: Offensive line coming together during Pitt’s first week of training camp
College football training camps are like those among NFL teams in these aspects: Players sweat, muscles twist, bones might break and players occasionally look for the nearest spot to grab a nap. But they are different from the NFL because there are no games against enemy competition to break the...
Stats aside, Pitt linebacker SirVocea Dennis approaches 2021 with unfinished businessVideo
SirVocea Dennis sounded offended when he was asked who among the Pitt defensive players has the best throwing arm. “I say myself,” he said. “I can sling it, definitely. I love slinging it, too. I got a rocket.” Dennis, a junior outside linebacker, was a high school quarterback at Christian...
Talk about who is Pitt’s ‘toughest player’ must include the defensive tackles
Before the armada of eight buses moved 123 Pitt football players from the South Side to Heinz Field on Thursday, Pat Narduzzi led a team meeting. While the coach was laying out the day’s instructions, someone asked, “Who’s the toughest player on the team?” “Someone said David Green,” Narduzzi said,...
Trip to Heinz Field offers Pitt chance at redemption after ‘OK’ practice day beforeVideo
Pat Narduzzi admitted that Wednesday’s practice didn’t reach the standards he sets for his football team. He called it “an OK practice, wasn’t one of my favorites.” “Just a little sloppy. We have to get our guys going. That’s the coaches’ job and the players’ job to lock in and...
Pitt hopes depth at defensive end counteracts losing Rashad Weaver, Patrick JonesVideo
In the quest to replace All-American defensive ends Rashad Weaver and Patrick Jones II, Pitt has unleashed an interesting mix of players. • Start with Deslin Alexandre, already past his 23rd birthday after coming all the way from Pompano Beach, Fla., to earn a degree in communications, enter graduate school...
Pitt notebook: Pat Narduzzi unhappy with NCAA limits on fully padded practicesVideo
Preparing to block and tackle is a bit trickier this summer, with a new NCAA rule that allows teams to practice in full pads only nine times in the preseason. “Which I’m not really excited and happy about,” Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said. “Kids are looking at us like we’re...
Pitt running back Izzy Abanikanda finally ‘buying in’Video
Andre Powell has been coaching running backs about a decade longer than any of his Pitt players have been alive. He can teach the proper method to follow blocks, encourage them to break tackles and stress the importance of protecting the quarterback. But some players come equipped with certain skills...
Ex-Pine-Richland football coach Eric Kasperowicz joins Pitt staff as volunteer assistant
Eric Kasperowicz said he talked to “a bunch” of coaches at the high school and small college levels about resuming his coaching career. Finally, he received an offer that, he said, “I couldn’t pass up.” Kasperowicz, who coached Pine-Richland to four WPIAL championships and two PIAA titles in eight seasons...
Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett meets with campers at Boys and Girls ClubVideo
Kenny Pickett wanted to know everyone’s name. When Pitt’s quarterback visited the Boys and Girls Club of Western Pennsylvania in Lawrenceville on Monday, he handed out T-shirts, emblazoned with his KP8 logo, but he didn’t hide behind the shirts. He asked every camper their name and even played catch with...
Pitt senior Cal Adomitis’ job is a snap, but not as easy as it looksVideo
On good days, Cal Adomitis’ job takes him less than three-quarters of a second to complete. Bet you can’t blink that fast. Of course, the Pitt senior completes it multiple times in most games — usually on target, which is good because his position demands perfection. Adomitis, 23, is approaching...
Pitt defensive coordinator Randy Bates knows how to push players’ buttonsVideo
The difference in stature between the two men was stunning, although it shouldn’t have been. Pitt defensive end Habukkuk Baldonado stands 6-foot-5, weighs 260 pounds and uses his strength to bring other tough guys to the ground. Randy Bates, Baldonado’s boss and Pitt’s defensive coordinator, is four decades older —...
‘Smallest kid growing up,’ Kenny Pickett grows into trigger for Pitt’s offenseVideo
Kasey Pickett played soccer at Kutztown. Daughter Alex did the same at East Stroudsburg. Naturally, Kasey’s son, Kenny, drifted toward the sport, too. “Tried soccer,” he said. “Didn’t work out too well. I was a little too physical for soccer. We hung that up pretty early.” Pickett was running over...
Pitt notebook: No more boxing for cornerback Damarri Mathis
Pitt senior cornerback Damarri Mathis vows never to box again — even as a conditioning exercise — after suffering a season-ending shoulder injury last year while working out at home. “No one ever heard that story?” coach Pat Narduzzi said during his post-practice news conference. “So, you know how kids...
Pitt’s Jordan Addison tells proud mom, ‘I ain’t got it yet’
When Jordan Addison went home to Frederick, Md., in the offseason, he carried with him reminders of a memorable freshman season at Pitt. With 60 catches for 666 yards, four touchdowns and the longest play of Pitt’s season (75 yards), few failed to notice. He was a Freshman All-American, honorable...
Pat Narduzzi opens Pitt camp under hot morning sun
If Pat Narduzzi is wearing a straw hat, it can mean only this: It’s sunny, it’s hot and it’s time for Pitt to open training camp at the Beano Cook fields next to the South Side railroad tracks. The Pitt coach opened his seventh training camp at 10 Friday morning,...
Pitt lands 4-star offensive tackle Ryan Baer
While Pat Narduzzi was welcoming his team into Pitt’s football facility Thursday for the first official day of training camp, he stepped away to accept an important phone call. HAIL TO PITT BABY?? @rledits24 pic.twitter.com/HsPVGs3ElF— Ryan Baer (@RyanBaer2003) August 5, 2021 It came from four-star offensive tackle Ryan Baer of...
Pitt’s defensive players can learn from those who came before them
A thorough assessment of Pitt’s defense needs to start at the locker of defensive end Deslin Alexandre and includes the safe assumption that he was paying attention over the previous four seasons. Alexandre graduated early from Deerfield Beach (Fla.) High School to join the Panthers in the winter of 2017....
How Jimbo Covert ended up at Pitt on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
When Jimbo Covert was a senior at Freedom High School in 1977, he attracted interest from some of the finest college football programs in the land, Pitt and Penn State among them. The truth: The future Pro Football Hall of Famer never seriously considered going anywhere but Pitt. Penn State?...
