Mychaele Salahuddin was the crown jewel of Pitt’s 2018 recruiting class. According to Rivals.com, he was a four-star prospect that held over 30 scholarship offers. Even with that kind of hype, the Washington D.C. native found himself in the position that many true freshman find themselves in - on the bench.

Pitt of course had two senior running backs that rushed for over 1,000 yards in Darrin Hall and Qadree Ollison. With that kind of production, there wasn’t a lot of opportunities or a need for a guy like Salahuddin. He did appear in three games in 2018, thus keeping his redshirt on for this season. His best game he finished with 34 yards on three carries against North Carolina.

Last year’s experience, or lack thereof humbled the former four-star recruit. “Being a highly recruited guy out of high school, just being humble and confident is definitely something that I can come in and bring into this season,” Salahuddin told reporters last week. “Having to sit out and wait my turn, that was definitely big for my attitude and the way I carry myself, so definitely just being humble is something I’ve been trying to improve.”

Salahuddin admitted it was tough adjusting to being a role player last season, but in 2019 he certainly can expand on that role. There has yet to be a starter named for running back this season, and he finds himself locked in a race with junior AJ Davis and sophomore Todd Sibley for being the lead back..

Throwing a wrench into that race is a late-season knee injury. Salahuddin hurt himself leading up to Pitt’s bowl game and it required him to get surgery. He wasn’t a full participant in spring football, but he says he is ready to play now.

Pat Narduzzi, on the other hand, is being a little more cautious. “We’re still not going live,” Narduzzi said of Salahuddin’s usage. “I still don’t want him getting whacked in that knee, because when it’s live - it’s live.”

Pitt transitioned to wearing full pads on Wednesday, and that continued into Thursday, The Pitt coaches still try to save the players’ legs a bit in full pads and call certain parts of practice “thud” periods, meaning they are in full pads but the players are supposed to let up on the tackling a bit.

Even though a lot of drills were “thud” on Thursday, Salahuddin said he’s been hit a little bit and that’s fine by him.

“You know how the defensive guys can get with thud, so I’m definitely on the ground,” he said. “I’ve definitely taken a couple of hits, but not full contact not so much, but thud I can definitely get thrown on the ground and stuff like that and I definitely took a couple of hits.”

Even during the live periods, the redshirt freshman back is taking advantage of every opportunity given to him and is trying to stay in the competition for playing time that way.

“I’m just trying to get mental reps, so when I do get my opportunity I can definitely make the best of it,” Salahuddin explained. “So mental reps is definitely something that I’ve been taking into consideration.”

For now Salahuddin may have to rely on some mental reps and going against the defense that’s not live. He’s OK with that, but he said he will be ready when his chance comes.

“I”m not sure; I just go with the flow, but when the opportunity presents itself I’ll definitely be ready, but I’m sure they’re just trying to be real precautious because it’s going to be a long, long season,” Salahuddin explained.