As Pitt prepares for its season opener against Austin Peay, scheduled for a 4 p.m. Kickoff Saturday at Heinz Field, they now know they'll be without their starting defensive end Rashad Weaver.
Weaver missed all of last season due to an injury and was one of the more highly praised players through training camp by Pat Narduzzi and defensive captains like Patrick Jones II and Damar Hamlin.
Weaver tweeted the announcement that he won't be playing Saturday morning, along with his frustration with the testing process:
-Company 1 says I’m positive Sunday
— Rashad Weaver (@R_Weaver17) September 12, 2020
-Company 2 says I’m negative Wednesday
-Company 1 says Im positive Thursday
-Company 3 says I’m negative Friday
It’s not adding up. 🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️ lets call it spade for spade. Company 1 the common denominator. They playing with my money.
Narduzzi explained the extensive testing process with more detail this week, stating that there would be a test Sunday, a test Wednesday, and two tests on Friday. What he had said was that the point of having two tests on Friday was to either confirm or dismiss a positive test. If a test was positive, a negative test on Friday was supposed to show it as a false positive.
But Weaver's testing positive twice this week was obviously too much for him to start. He tweeted again later, confirming that he wouldn't play on Saturday:
Missed all season heck let’s add one more game to it no big deal lol. see y’all next week! ✌🏾 #H2P
— Rashad Weaver (@R_Weaver17) September 12, 2020
Officially behind Weaver's defensive end spot on Pitt's depth chart is redshirt sophomore Habakkuk Baldonado, but redshirt junior Deslin Alexandre is listed as the first replacement for Jones' defensive end spot. Alexandre may be the first replacement to take Weaver's snaps against Austin Peay, with Baldonado and redshirt sophomore John Morgan as the backups.
The Pitt Athletic Department has announced that seven players will not be in attendance for today's game against Austin Peay.
