The vibe around Kenny Pickett is noticeably different when you walk around the Pitt practice facility from last season to now. The buzz started after he knocked off No. 2 Miami in his lone start as a true freshman.
The hype continued as players and coaches talked about his presence during last year’s fall camp and how he never threw an interception. In reality, the expectations for Pickett were pretty much sky high and in some cases unrealistic.
Things did not go according to plan for Pitt or Pickett. The 2018 season proved to be a humbling experience for the New Jersey native. The Pitt passing offense was ranked towards the bottom in the country.
Heading into 2019, Pickett is looking to pick up the pieces and regain that promise and hype he once had. In order to do that, Pitt hired longtime coaching veteran Mark Whipple as its new offensive coordinator and Pickett is already meshing well with his new coach.
“It’s been great; he coaches me hard which is how I got coached growing up so it’s a familiar feeling,” Pickett said of how he has adjusted to working with Whipple. “My dad coached me growing up and he coached me hard, Coach Whip coaches me hard and expects a lot out of me and I have high expectations too, so we kind of fit well together.”
What exactly does being coached hard mean?
“If you don’t play well, if you don’t do exactly what you’re told to do - you’re going to hear it and it’s totally OK, it’s how I want it,” Pickett described. “I expect a lot out of myself, I expect a lot out of Coach Whip and he expects a lot out of me.”
The Pitt offense is looking to be more balanced as it heads into 2019. The Panthers were dominant on the ground in 2019 racking up 227.9 yards per game, which was good enough for 18th nationally a year ago.
It still will always come back to that passing game, however, which left a lot to be desired. In 2018, Pickett threw for 1,969 yards and 12 touchdowns with six interceptions and Pitt's passing offense ranked 120th nationally.
Conversely, the 2018 UMass offense under the guidance and tutelage of Whipple finished top 15 nationally. Quarterback Andrew Ford had a successful run under Whipple throwing for nearly 7,000 career yards and 57 touchdowns in his three-year career for the Minutemen.
Being that this is a small world, Pickett and Ford have a connection dating back many years. Believe it or not, while they were at a football camp years ago, Ford was a top recruit in high school and Pickett was still working on his craft in middle school, but even then the two connected.
“So he was in high school doing Elite-11 and stuff like that and I always looked up to him when I was younger and it kind of came full circle when I have the same offensive coach as him,” Pickett explained. “And when Coach Whip got hired, he brought his film over and I’d watch Andrew play and we talked on the phone a little bit so we have a pretty good relationship. So if I ever need anything and he told me I could always reach out, so he’s a really good guy.”
Pat Narduzzi has seen that work with Whipple pay off for his quarterback and it’s showing up in different ways.
“There was one play yesterday where he was looking to the left and didn’t see what he liked and went all the way back and threw a dart to Taysir Mack on a comeback that was like big-time,” Narduzzi said. ”He threw that ball before the receiver came out of the break, so those are all things that take time.”
While the hype around Pickett has changed in many ways, the confidence has never wavered for the junior quarterback. He is still a team leader and hopes he can take what he learned last season and put it into a positive change this year.
"I’ve become a lot stronger mentally - handling adversity and knowing how to bounce back and rally the team and getting behind teammate," Pickett said. "So I think my leadership has taken the next step."
