MORE HEADLINES - The Kenny Pickett Show, Ep. 15: Ready for the biggest one yet | PODCAST: It's all on the line | Narduzzi: 'We're fired up and ready to go' | Video: Narduzzi's final press briefing of the week | In the film room: Likes and dislikes from Pitt's first win | Opponent watch: How Pitt's 2021 foes did in Week 11 | Partridge on Keyshon Camp, defending Virginia and more | Film review: A strong showing on defense vs. UNC | Film review: Pitt's hot start and second-half slowdown
Cal Adomitis has been Pitt's starting long snapper for 60 consecutive games dating back to the 2017 season opener. He’s been through it all with this program and has seen highs and lows. Through all the games and moments, he couldn’t help but think back of his career for the Panthers and Saturday’s game with Virginia being his 61st start in a row, and final one where he will get to run onto Heinz Field as a player.
“It’s surreal; I’ve been thinking about it a little this week and trying not to think about it too much because it is crazy,” Adomitis said of his upcoming last home game. "It’s just cool. The overarching thing is just how blessed I’ve been to have this many years running out of the tunnel out of Heinz Field.”
The highs have been elevated this season for this Pitt football team. Leading up to his final home game, Adomitis retold a story that fellow senior Johnny Petrishen gave ahead of the season for his senior talk.
To make a long story short: Bamboo trees take a while to grow. You can water it up to four years and not see any signs of growth, and overnight it shoots up, and he believes that analogy is true for the 2021 Pitt football team.
The Panthers have been watering the tree, and it has finally sprouted in the form of this 2021 season.
Pitt is 8-2 on the year and holds a 5-1 mark in ACC play, a win over Virginia on Saturday can clinch the ACC Coastal division for the 18th ranked Panthers.
“We knew we had the potential, the skill to win the ACC Championship and we’re definitely on that path right now and we just got to keep at it.”
Adomitis is not a player well known to the outside public, and of course a long snapper doesn’t draw the attention of a Kenny Pickett or a Jordan Addison. Despite the lesser outside notoriety, he’s as much of a leader and a voice in the locker room as any other player. Adomitis is a captain and his leadership ability is something Pitt special teams coordinator Andre Powell has said he’s only seen a handful of times for a special teams player.
“He's done fantastic,” Powell said of Adomitis in a leadership role. “Guys respect other guys that work hard, make their craft as near perfect as they can. That's always where they're supposed to be early, do what they're supposed to do, work hard. Those guys are respected, man. And you don't have to seek leadership roles when you do those types of things that leadership roles come to you. That's what Cal's done.”
Adomitis is not only a team leader and a experience player, he’s good at what he does. For the second consecutive year, he has been named as a semifinals for the Patrick Mannelly Award, annually presented to the top long snapper in college football.
Adomitis is hoping to end his Pitt legacy with an ACC Championship and the next step to achieving that is by winning on Saturday. He was quick to acknowledge the hype surrounding the game, but did not want to make it bigger than it is.
“It’s the biggest game that any of us have played at Heinz Field in our career,” Adomitis said of Saturday’s game against Virginia. “We have a chance to clinch the Coastal at home in front of our city and in front of our stadium. It’s huge, but with that there’s also the aspect of just not letting the game and the energy get too big…Obviously we’ll have a lot of energy on Saturday, but as long as we stick to preparing the way we’ve been preparing we should be OK.”
