Pitt loses Morrissey to ankle injury
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Pitt will have a new starting center for the rest of the 2018 season after redshirt sophomore Jimmy Morrissey had surgery Monday to repair an ankle injury, sources told Panther-Lair.com.
On Tuesday morning, Pitt officially announced the injury and surgery.
“Jimmy has been tremendous for us this year, both as a player and a leader,” Pat Narduzzi said in a press release. “We all share his disappointment, but I know this will only be a temporary setback for him. Jimmy will be back next year better than ever. In the meantime, I know he will continue to do all he can to help our offensive line perform at the same high level. That’s the type of person and teammate he is.”
Morrissey has started the last 23 games for Pitt, dating back to the 2017 season opener. He suffered the injury on the Panthers’ final offensive play of Saturday’s 34-13 win over Wake Forest in Winston-Salem. Facing third-and-goal from the 6 while holding a 27-13 lead with less than four minutes left in the game, Pitt ran a play that saw Kenny Pickett throw a lateral to left tackle Stefano Millin.
Millin rumbled all the way into the end zone, but as he crossed the goal line, there was a collision that resulted in Morrissey’s ankle getting rolled up.
“I saw one of their defenders going low and I’m not about to make a cut,” Millin said after the game Saturday, “so I just lowered my shoulder and it just so happened to get Jimmy on the way down, too.”
Morrissey is a significant loss for Pitt’s offensive line, which has been gelling in recent weeks as the Panthers’ rushing attack has taken off. He played 709 snaps this season, more than any other player on the team, and had Pickett’s trust plus the trust of the coaching staff to make proper checks and calls at the line of scrimmage.
To replace Morrissey, the coaches have several options. Redshirt freshman Owen Drexel is the listed backup at center on Pitt’s official depth chart, but he has played exactly two snaps in his college career thus far; they were both on the final drive of Pitt’s blowout win over Virginia Tech two weeks ago, and one of those snaps was a kneel-down.
The more likely option is Connor Dintino. The redshirt senior has started all 11 games at left guard this season, but worked at center in the past and saw roughly 40 snaps there last season. If the coaches decide to move Dintino to center, they would likely turn to redshirt sophomore Bryce Hargrove, who has been the sixth linemen this season and has taken snaps in place of both Dintino at left guard and redshirt senior Mike Herndon at right guard.
Pitt offensive line coach Dave Borbely will have a short window to retool the interior of his position group. The Panthers (7-4 overall, 6-1 ACC) will close the regular season at Miami on Saturday before facing No. 2 Clemson in the ACC Championship Game next Saturday in Charlotte. The Tigers are currently No. 1 in the nation in scoring defense, No. 2 in total defense and No. 3 in rush defense.
Dabo Swinney’s group also leads the nation with 40 sacks. Clemson’s defensive line alone has 28 this season.