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The prospects of early playing time for one of Pitt’s top freshmen are in question, Pat Narduzzi said Thursday.

Damar Hamlin, who arrived on campus this summer expected to compete for - and potentially win - the open starting job at cornerback, is dealing with an injury that could delay his on-field participation.

“He’s dealing with, just right now, I say minor, I say a minor little thing right now that we just can’t get right. We’ve actually brought in a specialist to look at him. We saw enough early that we know he can help us, but we have to get him back on the field.

“So is it helping us in the opener? Probably not. Is it helping us during the season? You know, we’re going to work on that.”

Hamlin had surgery on his groin Feb. 9 after playing through various issues in Central Catholic’s state championship-winning season last fall, but it is unknown if his current injury is related to that surgery. As Narduzzi indicated, he was an active participant early in camp and impressed the coaches before being limited for the second half of camp.

A four-star recruit who was rated the No. 7 safety prospect in the nation, the No. 126 overall prospect nationally and the No. 4 recruit in the state of Pennsylvania, Hamlin picked Pitt over offers from a national list of scholarship offers. His final list of top schools also included Penn State, Ohio State and Notre Dame before he committed to the Panthers two days before Signing Day.

He was the highest-rated member of Pitt’s 2016 recruiting class.

Hamlin was expected to be part of the battle for the open starting job at cornerback, where he would compete primarily with redshirt senior Ryan Lewis. In the last week or so, redshirt freshman Dane Jackson has also come on and impressed the coaches at that spot.