Expectations continue to rise for Pickett

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To say Pitt’s success in 2018 will stem largely from the performance of Kenny Pickett is equal parts hyperbole and absolute truth.

Plenty of players will be key for the Panthers this season. There are the linemen and running backs who have to protect Pickett. And the receivers and tight ends who have to catch passes from him. Plus the defenders, whose primary job will be to give the ball back to Pickett as quickly as possible.

So other players will have a hand in the team's success, but ultimately, it all comes back to Pickett.

“It really starts there,” offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said last week. “When you have the quarterback stability, then now you develop the pieces around it, which are the receivers, which has been big for us this spring, and the tight ends and then our young tailbacks and our young offensive line.

"But what’s really helped us, honestly, is Kenny. Kenny has helped us. He allows us to do a lot more than what we could do if it weren’t - we just have a lot we can do because of him.”

That’s an awful lot of weight to put on Pickett, a sophomore who has been on campus for roughly 15 months and has made exactly one start in his career. But there’s no minimizing the expectations for Pickett this season.

His arrival as an early-enrollee last January wasn’t touted as program-changing, but by the time the spring game arrived, word had spread that Pitt might have something special in its freshman quarterback. He played well in the spring game, impressing with his arm and his legs, but with a graduate transfer and an upperclassman on the roster, the coaches hoped he might redshirt.

Those plans changed when Max Browne, the aforementioned grad transfer, was lost for the season to a shoulder injury in Week Six at Syracuse. Pickett’s redshirt came off on the final play of that game and he played again in the second half of the following week’s contest at home against N.C. State. From there, Pickett stayed on the bench until the second quarter of the penultimate game, replacing Ben DiNucci at Virginia Tech and nearly knocking off the Hokies.

Given a full game against Miami in the season finale, Pickett made his splash. The Hurricanes were undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the country, but they had no answer for Pitt’s freshman quarterback, who threw for one touchdown and ran for two more scores.

A legend was born that afternoon at Heinz Field, but for Watson, the spring encore has been just as impressive.

“I’m really pleased with Kenny,” Watson said. “Kenny has picked up where he left off and he keeps advancing himself; I think he’s going to be tremendous, really tremendous. I’m really happy with what he’s done so far. He’s been very consistent, playing at a high level.”

Watson is generally a positive coach; that much came across in his first season as Pitt’s offensive coordinator last year. He praises players but does it with sincerity, so the praise never seems empty. And when it comes to Pickett, he has not held back.

“Every championship program, every team that wins - I don’t care what level of football it is, I don’t care what league it’s in - has quarterback stability and has is a championship quarterback,” Watson said. “I believe we have that with Kenny. I really do. I think he’s going to be really special.”

That’s a lofty statement - calling a player with 66 pass attempts and less than 200 career snaps a “championship quarterback” - but that’s where things are with Pickett this year. Not only will he have to face the defenses of Penn State and UCF and Notre Dame, but he’ll be measured against the expectations that have grown since that game against Miami.

Is it too much to expect him to not only pick up where he left off last season but also to improve considerably on that performance and be the impetus for major team success this season?

Perhaps. But Watson’s expectations are high - so high, in fact, that he is comfortable comparing Pickett to a first-round draft pick.

“I made a statement the other day and I don’t want to put a burden on his back, but he’s the same type of student and the same type of player in his natural instinctual part of it as Teddy Bridgewater,” Watson said. “He’s the same guy. And Teddy was a fast study. We had to raise him, though; we had to get him through a season. So we’ll see where we go from this but I’m really encouraged because of the player he is. He’s a unique guy.”