PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Pitt all-time leading passer Kenny Pickett tells 93.7 The Fan he plans to go through the entire NFL Combine early next month.
Especially in recent years a growing number of players have skipped the Combine to go through a pre-draft workout at their college facility or only do parts of it. Pickett tells Dorin Dickerson on 93.7 The Fan he will go through all of it.
It's been an adjustment as Pickett prepares going through workouts back home in northern New Jersey. He says he's never really done training like this, all of it has been for football. Now he's training to improve his 40-yard dash time and other drills they will put you through in Indianapolis.
Pickett met with all 32 teams for a 15-minute window during the Senior Bowl, saying he was asked about his hand size by 'maybe a quarter of the teams or less'. He said he was peppered on a variety of other topics including the offensive system at Pitt. He believes running the West Coast offense will serve him well and he will put in the work to learn more about other styles of NFL offenses.
Often in those interview settings players get asked to self-evaluate. He will likely go through that again next month in Indy.
"Accuracy and timing I think are my number one strengths," Pickett said. "I think you can throw extending plays in there. I'm not extending plays to run, I'm not a 4.3 guy that's going to take stuff to the house. I have to throw a fake slide in there to get there."
"I extend plays to free guys up downfield. I think that translates to the next level, you see guys doing that all the time."
While not 'a 4.3 guy', Pickett does hold the Pitt record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback to go with nearly every passing mark. He also had the best and likely last fake slide ever.
"I think I get asked about it anywhere I go now," Pickett said. "I think that play is going to follow for a long time. It was a reaction thing, glad it worked out for us in a championship game."
The ACC Championship part of a magical final year at Pitt. As the Panthers All-American told the other, Dickerson, on 93.7 The Fan everything worked out perfectly after deciding to return to college for a final season.
"100%," Pickett said. "Everything that I laid out to accomplish and what I wanted us to accomplish as a team. We really went out there and did it. It's really unbelievable to say you are going to do something with a great group of guys and then accomplish all of those goals. That coaches that you've been working with for a long period of time. We've been preaching that we are going to be ACC champs for so long, to finally be on that stage and accept that trophy with my teammates was really, really special."
"It's an unbelievable memory."
Next chapter
For four years (one as a redshirt freshman), Nick Patti backed up Pickett, getting two starts in his career. The first he threw for 271 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Delaware. The other in the Peach Bowl and missed most of that game diving on a touchdown run and separating his shoulder in the first quarter.
USC transfer Kedon Slovis will at least battle with Patti, if not have the upper-hand due to his experience with the Trojans. Pickett said don't count his understudy out.
"He's a gamer," Pickett said. "When he gets in there, he plays hard. The team rallies around him. I think he's doing a really good job of learning from me and adding his style to the game and doing it his way."
"I'm real excited to come back a week before Pro Day and get around the guys again, watch them in practice & see how they look with a new system."
It isn't just football keeping Pickett busy, announcing last month he was engaged and has been working on all of the wedding details with his fiancé.
There will be a pair of new unions in his future, he will have to wait a couple more months to find out the one selected for him.
