Pitt head coach sees growing pains with Uiagalelei despite "beautiful" wide receivers

Narduzzi says the Tigers are experiencing growing pains with young QB.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Oct 19 15:32:03 GMT-04:00 2021

Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi sees growing pains with Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, but he also sees a set of what he calls "beautiful" wide receivers.

Clemson plays at Pitt at 3:30 pm Saturday (ESPN). Pitt enters the game with an overall record of 5-1 and 2-0 in the ACC's Coastal Division, while Clemson sits with a 4-2 record and 3-1 in the Atlantic Division. Clemson currently trails both Wake Forest (4-0) and NC State (2-0).

Clemson is coming off a 17-14 win over Syracuse and is being led by their fast, talented defense. Offensively, they are struggling as they’ve only scored 20+ points twice this season (South Carolina State and NC State).

Narduzzi said Clemson is seeing growing pains with Uiagalelei as the California sophomore tries to replace Trevor Lawrence.

“They missed (Trevor Lawrence). It takes time to develop a guy, okay. You look at DJ, where he is now compared to where Kenny (Pickett) was as a freshman or a sophomore,” Narduzzi said. “There's always going to be growing pains and we are going to miss Kenny in a year, okay, so it will be the same. Who is going to be the guy? It takes time to get in there. Every week you see improvement, No. 1. You see him do more things you see him evolve in some of the things they are doing. They are just getting him comfortable, and they are still finding ways to win."

However, Narduzzi says Uiagalelei has talent and a beautiful crop of wideouts.

"He's got a gun. He's got a cannon arm. He's got a quick release. He can run. We’re going to have to get him down when he does run the football," he said. "He can definitely test us down the field. They have some good schemes and they do some things to isolate you as a corner or safety. They are going to run the RPOs as good as we've probably seen since Western Michigan.

"So it will test our RPO defense and what we've learned from the past and how we can get better in the future. So he can definitely test you, throwing it deep, and I think our corners are playing okay...Not happy with some of the PIs (pass interference calls) that we are getting, but just got to calm down and relax and play good. But you know, that's better than giving up touchdown passes and I think we gave up one deep pass...These guys are big dudes. These guys are 6-3 across the board at wideouts. I mean, you know, I remember walking down the sideline last year at pregame and was like, oh, my God. I mean, they are some of the most beautiful wideouts that I've seen, and that's a fact.

"A couple weren't even practicing. A couple didn't even play against us last year. We know (Justyn) Ross didn't play last year. So they are scary. Yeah, they can test us and we are going to have to play really good at corner and that's how they will beat us, with big plays."