PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It will be a big factor into who will become the Pitt starting quarterback. The Panthers will scrimmage Saturday and they are doing so in Acrisure Stadium.
"Tomorrow will be a big day, it's number two (scrimmage) and it's really our last big scrimmage," said Pitt Head Coach Pat Narduzzi on Friday. "It will be important how they do and how they do it."
Narduzzi explained every play, every decision in practice is a big deal, but scrimmages are measured differently. Especially this one Saturday. He made an analogy to how it is for college students.
"It's one of your final exams, (but) your homework assignments they do count," Narduzzi said. "You can't just get an A on the test and avoid all the homework during the semester. Every day counts, every pass and every run-check matters."
Narduzzi said he will name a starting quarterback when he is ready, saying a few days ago he likely would not wait until game day to make that call.
Game planning
Under two weeks from the season opener against West Virginia, Narduzzi said they really haven't focused on anything specific with the Mountaineers. They will wait until next week to try and keep it fresh for the players.
"We will start to slowly get them into it," Narduzzi said. "I don't want to get into it so long they get bored with it. Coaches never get bored with game plans, kids can start saying 'I got it, I got it, I got it'. Then they start to slip on it. It's kind of like bowl practice. We'll get into it soon enough and we'll be ready."
New back impressing
Coming off the Blue/Gold Spring Game, talk was of a three-way battle to be the starting tailback with Israel Abandikanda likely the front-runner followed by Rodney Hammond and Vincent Davis. Daniel Carter emerged as a fourth option as an old school big back. Now, the transfer who came late from Notre Dame, C'Bo Flemister, is making a push.
"C'Bo, he started off slow, I got to be honest with you," Narduzzi said. "He's come on the last few days. He's finally got his legs back. You think about a guy that's graduated from Notre Dame. His focus was on getting his degree and graduating. It's hard to work out on your own. For him it was a slow process."
Flemister spent four seasons with the Irish rushing for 471 yards and 10 touchdowns. The best season for the 5'11", 200-pounder was 2020 running for 299 yards and five touchdowns and a 5.2 average in nine games.
"He is impressive," Narduzzi said. "He's physical, he's tough, he's smart. It just took him longer than you like to get his legs where they needed to be."
