Pitt Football

HEIGHT: 6'4 3/8"

WEIGHT: 259 lbs

        

POSITIVES

—Hand placement is a positive for him, and his ability to win with his hands in general is his biggest selling point.

—His balance can make up for his lack of bend after winning with his hands.

—Dip and rip moves are not always present because of how he plays hand games, but he has flashed the ability to do so when he is not playing with a high pad level.

—Already comes from a college system built for him to focus around being a half-man schematically, which is what he will be doing in the NFL.

—Has a high football IQ and does a great job of reading the backfield before committing to a path of action.

—Plays assignment football instead of over-penetrating when left unblocked on the back side.

—One blocker is not enough to stop him in the pursuit of the ball.

—An effort player who might make the most impact as a slow churner to the slide side of pass protections.

       

NEGATIVES

—Overall athleticism is not above average for a contributing edge-rusher at the NFL level.

—Foot speed could be an issue for him in turning pressure into sacks.

—Developing explosion off the ball will be crucial to his upside as a professional.

—For his length, he is a finesse player who uses his hands to swipe free more than he delivers blows and resets the line of scrimmage.

       

2020 STATISTICS

34 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, 2 pass deflections, 1 fumble recovery, 3 forced fumbles

      

NOTES

—Had a season-ending ACL injury in 2019 training camp.

—Started all but seven games of his college career, not including his injury-ravaged 2019 season and his redshirt year.

—Declared for the NFL draft before Pittsburgh played its final game of the year on the road against Georgia Tech.

           

OVERALL

Weaver is a quality pass-rusher who at worst will immediately contribute in a three-man rotation on the edge. How teams will view his upside will depend on how much they believe he can add onto his hand-technique-based skill set by developing more explosion with his first step. That will be the difference between Weaver maxing out as a Derek Barnett type of player, a fine pass-rusher, and a Chandler Jones, a perennial Pro Bowler with advanced hand fighting as his primary method to victory.

       

GRADE: 7.8/10 (Round 2)

OVERALL RANK: 40/300

POSITION RANK: EDGE3

PRO COMPARISON: Derek Barnett

          

Written by B/R NFL Scout Justis Mosqueda

The University of Pittsburgh football team announced Friday it is opting out of a potential bowl game this year, citing the "especially taxing experience, physically and mentally" of playing the 2020 season.

Head coach Pat Narduzzi issued a statement on the decision: 

"In my three decades as a coach, I've never been around a group of players who have faced greater challenges beyond the field than our team this year. And yet, from the time they arrived back on campus in early June, these young men never wavered—not in the face of rigorous health protocols, multiple rounds of COVID testing each week or while handling the mental and physical challenges of playing 11 games in a pandemic."

The Panthers (6-5) are the second ACC team to opt out of bowl season following a similar announcement from Boston College on Thursday. 

"Our student-athletes have sacrificed so much since June to even make this season possible for BC and our fans and now it is time for them to focus on finishing up the semester strong and going home to spend time with their families and loved ones," Eagles athletic director Pat Kraft said. 

Pitt has no games remaining on its 2020 schedule.

The Panthers had gone to two straight bowl games, earning a 34-30 victory in the 2019 Quick Lane Bowl over Eastern Michigan. 

Narduzzi built on that success in 2020 with wins against No. 24 Louisville, Florida State and Virginia Tech—though losses to No. 13 Miami, No. 3 Clemson and No. 3 Notre Dame showed how much further the program has to go.

Now those problems are for next year. 

"Despite this unprecedented environment, our team finished strong concluding with last night's win at Georgia Tech," Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke said. "We are thankful and proud of how they handled the past six months and want them to have a well-deserved restful holiday season with their families and loved ones."   

                                 

The NCAA announced a series of penalties against the University of Pittsburgh for violations by former head men's basketball coach Kevin Stallings and current head football coach Pat Narduzzi.

According to a press release issued Thursday, Stallings and Narduzzi committed coaching violations that resulted in their programs exceeding the number of permissible coaches. 

Stallings allowed three non-coaching staff members to assist in practices and instituted an "alert system" to ensure the violations would not be caught. He also instructed the deletion of a practice video capturing the violations.

Narduzzi was present when three former members of the team's quality control staff performed coaching duties. He also implemented a system whereby music would be played during practices to alert when "outside parties" would be at practices to check for compliance.

The NCAA announced Narduzzi will serve a show-cause penalty that keeps him out of two practices in August. He was also barred from one week of off-campus recruiting during the December-February contact period.

Stallings, who was fired after the 2017-18 season, has been given a three-year show-cause penalty. If he's hired by a program during that period, he will have to sit out 30 percent of that university's season. 

Pitt was also given three years' probation and fined $5,000, along with 0.5 percent of their football and men's basketball budgets.

Additional penalties include reductions in "countable athletically related activities" for both programs, along with minor restrictions for coaching staff during select practices. None of these restrictions are considered major, nor will they have much impact on the upcoming seasons for the respective programs.

The basketball violations do not include any misconduct by current coach Jeff Capel. 

Stallings has been out of basketball since his dismissal at Pitt. 

Pittsburgh's Pat Narduzzi will not be leaving Pitt for Michigan State.

The head coach made that notion abundantly clear on Wednesday evening, tweeting out a doctored clip from The Wolf of Wall Street to thoroughly drive home his point:

pic.twitter.com/maFEF3oJuc

— Pat Narduzzi (@CoachDuzzPittFB) February 5, 2020

A former defensive coordinator under Mark Dantonio, Narduzzi is 36-29 at Pitt since taking over the program in 2015 and fresh off an 8-5 season with a Quick Lane Bowl victory over Eastern Michigan. The coach had been linked to the MSU job in the wake of Dantonio's retirement on Tuesday.

    

Speaking to Will Graves of the Associated Press, Narduzzi said his phone was "blowing up" on Wednesday night, but he has no plans to leave Pitt. 

"It's my ultimate goal to be here at Pitt," Narduzzi said. "I came here to get a job done. We're just working on continuing to move forward."

Notably, Narduzzi credited Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke as one of the reasons why he wanted to stay put. 

"I know what I'm dealing with here at Pitt," Narduzzi said. "I know every day when I call up Heather Lyke and say, 'How about this?' She's going to say, 'We'll get it done.' I just know that. I don't know that about any place else in the country like I know it here."

Back in East Lansing, Michigan State's interim AD, Bill Beekman, said he wanted a quick process to replace Dantonio. While Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell has been floated as a front-runner for the job, Fickell maintains he has yet to talk to anyone from MSU. 

"I have talked to nobody and that's the truth," Fickell told ESPNU Radio Wednesday. "Obviously, I'm very good friends with Mark Dantoinio, I have been for a while, I have stayed in contact—we always dou2014with him. But I have not communicated or talked to anybody besides Mark Dantonio in the last three, four weeks from Michigan State. I haven't been thinking about it, I haven't been focused on it." 

Both Narduzzi and Fickell spent Tuesday night assuring recruits they wouldn't be leaving their posts. Lyke, for her part, has noted that Narduzzi's decision may lead to a new contract in the near future. 

"We may evaluate that with him," Lyke said. "What he wants to do is take care of his players and his coaches. And that's the most important thing for him."

 

The Pittsburgh Panthers didn't finish the regular season as they hoped, but they at least earned a bowl victory in dramatic fashion as they look ahead toward the 2020 campaign.

After dropping the final two games of the regular season, Pittsburgh bounced back with a thrilling 34-30 win over Eastern Michigan at the 2019 Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit's Ford Field on Thursday. Kenny Pickett led the way with three touchdown passes, including one in the final minute to Taysir Mack, helping ensure the ACC squad finished the year with an 8-5 record.

WHAT A CATCH.

Pitt gets its first lead of the night with less than a minute left 😮 pic.twitter.com/cvFNHLwdXM

— ESPN (@espn) December 27, 2019

As for the MAC's Eastern Michigan, this loss means it finished with a losing record at 6-7 despite winning two of its final three regular-season games to clinch a spot in the bowl.

            

Notable Player Stats

• PITT QB Kenny Pickett: 27-of-39 passing for 361 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions
• PITT RB Vincent Davis: 15 carries for 69 yards and one touchdown; two catches for 27 yards
• PITT WR Maurice Ffrench: 12 catches for 165 yards and one touchdown
• EMU QB Mike Glass III: 28-of-50 passing for 311 yards, two touchdowns and one interception; 83 rushing yards and one touchdown
• EMU WR Hassan Beydoun: nine catches for 113 yards and zero touchdowns

          

Kenny Pickett Plays Hero for the Panthers

It appeared as if Pickett was in for a long game. He lost a fumble on Pittsburgh's first offensive possession, and counterpart Mike Glass III made him pay with a touchdown run on the ensuing drive, but he found his footing when his team needed him the most.

Trailing 10-3, Pickett connected with Maurice Ffrench for a 96-yard touchdown strike and the longest pass in program history. It set the tone for what was to come, as Eastern Michigan couldn't tackle Ffrench in space, couldn't match up with him in press coverage and was forced to give him underneath routes following the long score.

Pitt tied it up with the 96-yard TD — the longest pass play in school history 💪 pic.twitter.com/yg6W614Xtb

— ESPN (@espn) December 27, 2019

ESPN's broadcast noted Ffrench, a senior, broke the legendary Larry Fitzgerald's program record for most receptions in a single season in the process of dominating the overmatched secondary.

Pickett, Ffrench and the rest of the aerial attack was put to the test throughout the remainder of the game, as the Panthers never established much consistency on the ground and struggled to contain Glass on the other end.

Mack's winning catch will make all the highlight shows, but it was Pickett who directed a 91-yard drive down three points in the final three minutes to give his team the win. It wouldn't have even been possible if he didn't stand strong in the pocket and unleash a clutch third-down touchdown pass to Jared Wayne earlier in the fourth quarter.

Kenny ❄️ Pickett

MVP of the Quick Lane Bowl
27-for-39, 361 yards, 3 TD #H2P pic.twitter.com/UUMRvh9Ube

— Pitt Football (@Pitt_FB) December 27, 2019

Pickett was inconsistent for much of the season with 10 touchdown passes to nine interceptions, but he was at his best in the postseason for the victorious Panthers.

           

Mike Glass III Impresses Before Ugly Ejection

The biggest matchup coming into the game was the one between Glass, who tallied 2,858 passing yards, 345 rushing yards and 29 total touchdowns as a dual-threat playmaker this season, and Pittsburgh's defense that was 11th in the country in yards allowed per game (302.5) and first in sacks per game (4.08).

That Pittsburgh defense had held Penn State to 17 points and remained within striking distance of almost every opponent. Jaylen Twyman and Patrick Jones II spearheaded the pass rush all year, but the group struggled to contain Glass in the first half.

Eastern Michigan put up 20 points before intermission and had little trouble moving the ball even without much of a run game besides Glass. He threaded the needle downfield, eluded pressure with his footwork and took the running lanes when available to put his team in position to win.

While he threw an untimely interception to Damar Hamlin in the third quarter, Glass also connected with Arthur Jackson III for a touchdown to take the lead in the fourth before Pickett countered.

Eastern Michigan QB Mike Glass III was ejected after throwing punches during the final seconds of their bowl loss to Pitt. pic.twitter.com/DTPguFRtnj

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 27, 2019

2nd time in a couple of weeks I’ve seen an official take a punch from a player-ref wasn’t intended target either time. Illinois hoops player, Kofi Cockburn was just celebrating. Total accident. EMU’s Mike Glass-terrible display. Just odd seeing refs get caught in cross fire 2x

— Rece Davis (@ReceDavis) December 27, 2019

Despite the showing, Glass' bowl performance may be remembered for how it ended. He threw two punches while trying to muster a final-minute drive, and the second one accidentally hit the official and knocked the referee to the ground.

Glass was ejected, and Preston Hutchinson threw an interception to clinch the loss for the Eagles.

After leading the University of Pittsburgh to a national championship and winning the Heisman Trophy in 1976, Tony Dorsett was drafted second overall in 1977 by the Dallas Cowboys. The legendary running back started his career off strong by winning Offensive Rookie of the Year and a Super Bowl.

Dorsett holds the record for the longest run from scrimmage in NFL history. During his career, he earned four Pro Bowl nominations and was selected to the Pro and College Football Halls of Fame, as well as the Cowboys' Ring of Honor.

The Ford Hometown Hall of Famer returned to the University of Pittsburgh to celebrate his achievements and speak at his alma mater in the video above. 

    

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The University of Pittsburgh and head football coach Pat Narduzzi reached an agreement on a seven-year contract extension to keep him with the Panthers through the 2024 season.

Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke announced the new deal Wednesday morning: 

"We're thrilled Pat Narduzzi is our head football coach. We are deeply committed to helping him, his staff and his student-athletes achieve at the highest levels in the ACC and nationally. Coach Narduzzi is a tireless worker, dynamic leader and passionate about building outstanding relationships with our student-athletes and everyone connected to our Pitt family. He and his staff are fully dedicated to building a national-caliber program the right way, on and off the field."

Narduzzi received the long-term extension despite leading the Panthers to a lackluster 5-7 record during the 2017 campaign. The team posted identical 8-5 marks during his first two seasons in charge with losses in the Military Bowl (2015) and Pinstripe Bowl (2016).

"It is a tremendous honor to be the head football coach at Pitt," he said in the announcement. "My family and I are extremely appreciative of the opportunity to be part of this great university and city."

Although financial terms of the contract weren't immediately released, the 51-year-old Connecticut native ranked 61st among college football coaches with total pay of just over $1.8 million in 2017, per USA Today.

Meanwhile, the former Michigan State defensive coordinator projected an optimistic tone about the future after season-ending upset of Miami, according to Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

"If we do the little things right off the field, the little things right on the field, we have a chance to win an ACC championship, which is the goal here in Pittsburgh," Narduzzi said on CBS Sports Radio.

Late success on the recruiting trail will likely be needed to bolster those chances. 247Sports notes Pitt currently ranks last in the 14-team ACC for its 2018 recruiting class.

Avonte Maddox, who forced the final Miami fumble, is really wearing this chain pic.twitter.com/go7UefBIDg

— Brian Batko (@BrianBatko) November 24, 2017

Pittsburgh defensive back Avonte Maddox sealed the win over No. 2 Miami with a forced fumble, and he had a little fun at the Hurricanes' expense after the game. 

Maddox sat proudly wearing a large Panthers chain around his neck as reporters interviewed him. Miami, who averaged an FBS-best 2.7 takeaways per game entering Friday, had made several headlines with its turnover chain tradition. But it was the Panthers who won the turnover battle 2-1 in their 24-14 victory. 

For the Hurricanes, it's fun to pass around the jewelry after a takeaway during victories, but it's also humbling when the opponent imitates the practice in a loss. 

Pitt freshmen Paris Ford and Tyler Sear were charged with disorderly conduct Wednesday after an Oct. 17 fight over a game of Madden. 

The police report obtained by Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said the two were “engaged in fighting behavior" when officers arrived on the scene. Ford later tweeted out a photo attributing the incident to a Madden video game and made it clear there were no lingering hard feelings:

https://twitter.com/DiddyBop1_/status/923600781470773248

Pitt spokesman E.J. Borghetti said the fight was “immediately addressed and the appropriate disciplinary actions from a program standpoint have been internally handled.”

Disorderly conduct is a summary charge.

Ford, a 4-star defensive back, has not played this season. He is likely to redshirt in 2017, barring injury to the secondary.

Sear, a tight end, has played in four games and recorded one catch for 10 yards. 

University of Pittsburgh kicker Ian Troost knelt during the national anthem before the Panthers' home game against NC State on Saturday at Heinz Field.

Jerry DiPaola of the Tribune-Review noted offensive tackle Jaryd Jones-Smith stood behind Troost and placed his hand on the kicker's shoulder. Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said the team has held discussions about the hot-button topic.

"What we've talked about is, if you're going to do that, you're trying to make a statement, we're going to stick together," Narduzzi said. "Someone had his hand on his shoulder saying, 'We're with you.'"

He also said: "I'm never going to tell a guy you can't do something. I know I'm going to stand and put my hand over my heart."

Meanwhile, Panthers defensive back Avonte Maddox said he supported Troost "100 percent" but wasn't sure whether the protests during the anthem make a serious impact.

"Is really taking that knee going to prove anything?" he said. "That's a statement for 30 seconds. You want to take action. If you really want to get out and do something, we want to go out in the real world and do things to make actual change, not 30 seconds of fame making a statement out there. Is that really going to help us?"

Troost wasn't made available for comment immediately following Pittsburgh's 35-17 loss to the Wolfpack.

Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started refusing to stand for the anthem during last year's NFL preseason.

"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," he told NFL Media in August 2016. "To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."

The debate surrounding the issue has become reignited in recent weeks since United States President Donald Trump suggested NFL owners should fire players who protest during the anthem.

An Albright College spokesperson confirmed backup quarterback Gyree Durante was dismissed from the Division III football program this week after deciding to kneel for the anthem.