PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Last month Panthers All-American Kenny Pickett said he would return to Acrisure Stadium to be a captain for the Pitt Blue-Gold Spring Game. Pickett will do so as a Super Bowl champ, but according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, will do so as a member of the Cleveland Browns.
Pickett traded to Cleveland for quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and a fifth-round pick.
During the eight-minute interview with Bostick on February 22, Pickett never said anything but being thankful for his time with the Steelers, where he was their first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. He keeps in touch with a few of his old teammates including tight end Pat Freiermuth. Currently in Florida, right after he was done talking to Bostick, he was going to play golf with Steelers linebacker Alex Highsmith.
“You develop such strong bonds playing football,” Pickett said on the Panthers Insider Show. “Especially at this level with how much time that gets put into it, during the season, OTAs, training camp, being in Latrobe, being in dorm rooms.”
The now 26-year-old said he has been through adversity, ‘grateful’ he had an injury in 2020 that limited him to nine games and as much as anything helped Pickett’s decision to return to Pitt for a fifth season. He said that happening allowed him to better deal with the adversities his first three seasons in the NFL. Pickett told Bostick everybody goes through something and his time at Pitt helped him be ready for it.
He still talks to Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi a couple of times a month and said about his journey in college.
“In 2017, coming in together as freshmen and all the veterans on the team, all we talked about was winning the ACC Championship,” Pickett told Bostick on 93.7 The Fan. “Every day we broke down on ACC champions. We believed we could do it. It took some time, but sometimes in football it does take a little bit of time.”
“We had incredible players, incredible coaches. To see everybody come together that senior season and do exactly what we were capable of doing and what we said we were going to do. It was unbelievable.”
“My favorite time playing football was 2021 at Pitt.”
The quarterback added with Bostick, his Panthers teammates and coaches at Pitt will just like family for life.
Pickett was hoping to stay with the team he rooted for as a kid, but the Eagles traded him to a Steelers rival. What a crazy few years for the man who finished third in the Heisman voting representing the Panthers.