PITTSBURGH (93.7 The FAN) - Christmas came early for Pat Narduzzi and the Pitt football program when quarterback Kenny Pickett announced he'd be returning for the 2021 season instead of turning pro.
Narduzzi joined The PM Team to talk about Pickett's announcement as well as his top 25 recruiting class and much more.
According to Narduzzi, all season long he thought Pickett would be turning pro and takes us through the timeline of when things started to change.
"I felt like all season that he was gone," Narduzzi told us. "Then probably near the end of the season, even after the Georgia Tech game, I thought he was done. Probably just about a week ago you thought there was about an 80% chance that he was going to leave."
Narduzzi went on to credit Kenny, his father and Mark Whipple for doing their homework about where Kenny might go in the draft and making an informed decision.
Narduzzi even went so far as to say that if Kenny thought he would get drafted in the first four rounds, he himself would have encouraged him to turn pro.
"If an NFL team drafts you in the first round to the fourth round, and you're getting a guaranteed bonus that's pretty significant, it's hard for a GM or head scout...to say when it comes down to getting the roster to 53 or whatever it is, it's really hard for them to say 'Listen, we gave this guy a million dollar bonus and we're going to cut him."
Narduzzi also talked with us about whether or not job security entered his mind during the middle of the season ("Not for a second"), if Pitt will play Penn State again in his lifetime ("I'd like to say yes. I saw that Penn State just canceled its series with Virginia Tech. We can take their place. Get that out on Twitter. We'll play 'em instead") and much more.