PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Prove it. It’s more than just the team mantra for this season, it’s reality for Pitt football. Coming off a 3-9 season, Sports Illustrated ranks Pitt 14th in the ACC, ESPN at 11. The doubters are back and they have ammunition, the Panthers say they will prove it this year.
You can imagine what last year was like for a team that had in the previous two seasons won an ACC Championship, were in the Top 25 including beating UCLA in a bowl game. Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said they learned a lot from last season and they’ve come in with a different attitude.
“Last season was unacceptable, everybody feels that way,” said likely starting quarterback Nate Yarnell. “Every day when I come in here, every day when I go home, every day when I go to sleep, I think about it. We don’t want that season again, feeling that defeat. There is no worse feeling.”
“Last year there was a lot of poison,” said linebacker Kyle Louis. “A lot of people were thinking negative and energy like that is contagious. Once one person starts thinking negative, others will think negative.”
Louis said those thoughts and actions began before the season even started last year with people being late and not focused. Now they are trying to lift each other up and push teammates to watch extra film, make plays, just be in a better mindset.
“It left a bad feeling because we know we are a better team than that,” said senior safety Phillip O’Brien. “Better players, better athletes, better coaches than that 3-9 record. We got to prove to everybody who we are. We just can’t say we are that good without proving it every Saturday.”
It’s also something Narduzzi said, he believes the 2023 team thought they would just line up and it would be easy. It proved to be anything but with not only disappointing losses to rival West Virginia, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Duke, but they were games they lost where they just played poorly, to be kind.
“Everybody in his building is disappointed in last year,” said Pitt assistant head coach Cory Sanders. “As coaches we are on them, but at the same time they are on each other because they know what was done last year was unacceptable. The work, the physicality, the toughness, whatever it was, it has to climb some notches.”
As much as the coaches can teach and preach a message, it doesn’t mean anything if the team doesn’t buy in. It seems like it has changed and the whole ‘prove it’ slogan was not something a coach or administrator came up with, the players did.
“We’ve been more player led,” said senior tight end Gavin Bartholomew. “This summer was great, we were out on the field, two/three times a week by ourselves without any coaches. We hold everyone to the same standard and we expect you to uphold it.”
Receiver Kenny Johnson said the summer was crucial for this team and potentially this program. A sophomore, Johnson said they really bonded over the last few months and there are different vibes with the entire team now.
“We can definitely tell we have some moxie about us, for sure,” said senior receiver Konata Mumpfield. “We got something to prove. Last year wasn’t the team we were, for real. We are coming out with the mindset to be dawgs, be feisty, play hard, play fast, play physical.”
“I think this group really got closer in the offseason having everybody write us out,” said senior Ben Sauls. “Having nobody around just believe in us except for the people in this building. That’s really brought the team together because we have something to prove and we are going to do it this year.”
Braylan Lovelace went to Leechburg High School saying his father and grandfather had season tickets to Pitt. He knows about the tradition recent and past. He said it’s about buying in, if you get an entire team to buy in, they are going to get there.
“We feel we have a lot to prove,” said offensive lineman Ryan Baer. “We lift with that chip on our shoulder. We run with that chip on our shoulder. We practice with it. I’ve seen a lot of people who really want it this year. I’m excited.”
Sanders said it was the most physical spring ball he’s seen in the seven years he’s been at Pitt. He believes the players understand the edge and toughness needed. Linebacker Brandon George was going to transfer out after last year, but decided he wanted to be part of the solution.
“We have an edge that I think we lost a little bit and now we have it back,” George explained. “As a defense, we have the mentality now that we are going to come out and try and kick someone’s teeth in every snap we get the chance to. The culture that we had in the past is back.”
It has to be. It’s a new era in college football and it’s easy to get left behind. Once again Pitt needs to prove it.
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