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Monday notes: Where's Whitehead?

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Pat Narduzzi did little to clarify any of the uncertainty surrounding sophomore safety Jordan Whitehead’s status at his weekly press conference on Monday.

Whitehead was in uniform and went through warmups prior to Saturday night’s 43-27 win over Marshall at Heinz Field, but he did not play in the game. In the last two days, rumors about the cause for his non-participation have varied from disciplinary action to health-related issues, and Narduzzi left the situation just as murky - if not more so - when asked if he had any updates on Whitehead’s status on Monday.

"Nothing more than what I told you Sunday,” Narduzzi said. “So we hope - you know, we’ll see.”

Narduzzi wouldn’t elaborate on what that “hope” is. Presumably, it is for Whitehead to be available to play when Pitt hosts Georgia Tech for Homecoming this Saturday. Whitehead was Pitt’s leading tackler in 2015 and sits at No. 2 in tackles this year despite only playing in four games.

He also has 1.5 tackles for loss, two pass breakups, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. And he also has 63 rushing yards on five attempts - an average of 12.6 yards per carry.

So it’s not hard to imagine the interest a player of Whitehead’s caliber attracts.

“You guys know I’m not going to talk about it,” Narduzzi said to the assembled collection of around dozen local reporters. “I’m not going to talk about injuries or anything else about anybody. Period.”

Later, Narduzzi was asked if the situation that kept Whitehead out of the Marshall game had been resolved.

“It’s never resolved, is it? You know, it’s never resolved, you know, we’re still working on it. Next.”

TOUGH RUN DEFENSE
Whitehead would be missed from Pitt’s defense in Saturday’s game against Georgia Tech, which comes to Heinz Field with the No. 4 rushing offense in the ACC behind Paul Johnson’s triple-option attack.

But whether Pitt has Whitehead or not, Narduzzi thinks his players are excited about facing a rushing attack like the Yellow Jackets have. They may not see it every week, but at least it’s traditional, which Narduzzi appreciates.

“Our guys would rather you run the ball. We like to defend the run. Obviously, the option gives you a whole different perspective on defending the run. Really, what we’d like to do is line in I-backs and just try to run the power and iso; that’s the fun part of football, that’s what it used to be. Now it’s all this spread and ‘trick-em, trick-em’ football. But this will be fun. I think our guys are looking forward to it, I believe.”

HELP UP FRONT
The triple-option puts pressure on a number of positions, and that’s especially true of the defensive line. Between cut blocks and a high priority on being very sound in assignments, Pitt’s players up front will have their work cut out for them.

The problem for the Panthers is that the group of players who line up on the line of scrimmage is a small one. On Saturday night against Marshall, Shakir Soto played every snap, Tyrique Jarrett played all but a few snaps in the base defense, Ejuan Price missed fewer than 10 snaps and Rori Blair played almost every snap aside from the time when he was injured.

Narduzzi didn’t specifically say that the volume of reps for the linemen contributed to Marshall’s success running the ball in the second half, but it couldn’t have helped, and the head coach hopes to see some depth develop.

I would like to see (Mike) Herndon do something this week as well; I think he can be a force in there. And I think this is a great game for Amir Watts because he can move. So we just have to get them going and get them coached up.”

SECOND-HALF STRUGGLES
Marshall’s success in the second half against Pitt was a bit unique, as the Panthers have generally been good in the third and fourth quarters under Narduzzi.

But the Thundering Herd had success. After rushing for seven yards on eight carries in the first half, Marshall put up 97 yards on 22 attempts in the second half. The Thundering Herd gained just 102 yards in the first half but finished with 344. And, most importantly, Marshall scored 27 points in the second half.

So what happened?

“Defensively, we lost our focus a little bit, I think,” Narduzzi said. “It seemed like we lost our focus and just didn’t do the little things that we did in the first half, which is a great thing: I think you have to learn from your mistakes and move on. It’s great to get a win with the adversity at the end. You can’t practice that; the only way to get adversity is the real thing. We can try to do it in practice, but the only you really get it is in the game. So I loved how our guys continued to fight to the end.”

TWO-HEADED MONSTER
One of the biggest positives for Pitt to come out of the win over Marshall was the emergence of Chawntez Moss. The freshman running back tallied a game-high 97 yards on 12 carries and is averaging 7.2 yards per carry on 21 attempts so far this season.

Pitt’s depth chart doesn’t reflect any moves among the running backs - Moss, Qadree Ollison and Darrin Hall are all separated by “Or’s” behind James Conner - but it seems clear that the newcomer has worked his way into the backup role.

For Narduzzi, it’s just good to have options.

It’s nice to have a two-headed monster back there, and we’re going to continue to take care of James and make sure he’s good,” Narduzzi said. “The long-term effect and everything that he goes through, we constantly talk to him and make sure that he’s good. And it’s good to have another guy to go in there. James will be the first one to say - he’s excited about Chawntez and what he did because it helps him be better. James doesn’t need 45 carries; all we’re doing is beating him down. I’ve been on teams where you had a guy carry the ball 45 times in a game and it’s like, ‘Whew.’ He doesn’t need that or for the rest of his life, for his future.

“So it’s great when you can count on somebody else. We can count on Chawntez and I think we can count on Qadree Ollison as well. Darrin Hall, we can count on him, too.”

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