Pitt is heading into ACC play without two reserves on defense and two special teams players, as Pat Narduzzi announced during his weekly press conference on Monday that defensive back Rashad Battle and defensive end Nate Temple will miss the remainder of the 2022 season.
Narduzzi said Nate Temple and Rashad Battle are out for the season.
— Corey Crisan (@cdcrisan) September 26, 2022
Each player was injured during the Sept. 17 game at Western Michigan, and neither played on Saturday against Rhode Island. Neither player's injuries were specified by Narduzzi.
"Speaking of injuries," he said, "I tell you I was going to give you a head's up if somebody's out indefinitely or out for the season. We've got two -- Nate Temple, defensive end, is out for the year, and so is Rashad Battle.
"We hate to lose either one of those guys. Rashad was really -- probably -- the number-four corner, three-corner, in a backup role. Big, tall, athletic guy, which would have been a great matchup for some of their big, tall guys this weekend (against Georgia Tech).
"And then of course Nate Temple's been playing a lot of football, as well. Not only on defense, but special teams, he's been the guy running down our kickoff and kickoff return fours and also on our punt return team, as well.
"Those are two guys that we won't see back this season, just for your knowledge."
Battle has recorded six total tackles in three games, and Temple has recorded one in three games.
Each were left off of the Week 5 depth chart released on Monday. M.J. Devonshire is listed as a starting cornerback over A.J. Woods and Ryland Gandy. Marquis Williams is tabbed as the other starting cornerback with Noah Biglow backing him up.
Temple is another on the long list of injured Pitt defensive linemen. Devin Danielson and Dayon Hayes did not dress against Rhode Island, and Haba Baldonaldo and Deslin Alexandre have been banged up throughout the early parts of the season.
There is no doubt the 24th-ranked Panthers (3-1) are banged up going into ACC play, and the injuries extend far beyond the defensive backfield and the defensive line.
Throughout the season, we've seen quarterbacks Kedon Slovis and Nick Patti, running back Rodney Hammond Jr., wide receiver Jared Wayne, tight end Gavin Bartholomew, center Owen Drexel, right tackle Gabe Houy, Baldonaldo, Alexandre, Hayes, Danielson, Tyler Bentley, and Williams go down with or miss time because of injuries. Adding in Temple and Battle, and that equals to 15 players -- all significant rotation players, and 10 of which are starters.
The Panthers have done well in overcoming these injuries, but that can only last so long into ACC play.
Here are a couple of positives to draw from this: Slovis played all four quarters on Saturday against Rhode Island, and Houy at last was inserted back into the lineup to take some snaps at right tackle.
Narduzzi said on Monday that Houy is trending in the right direction.
"I bet -- I think -- he got 15 plays, and I don't think he had 15 plays in practice last week," Narduzzi said. "We wanted to give him a three-play set or five maximum and get him out just to make sure we get his feet wet and get him out, make sure he feels comfortable. But he'll continue to get more and more reps here."
In spite of the offensive line having to pivot to Jake Kradel at center, Blake Zubovic at right guard, and a mix of Branson Taylor and Matt Goncalves at right tackle, Pitt has had three solid weeks of running the ball, mainly because of the explosiveness showed by Israel Abanikanda.
Pitt's star running back had a four-touchdown performance and his third straight game of rushing for 100 or more yards. He was named the ACC's running back of the week for the second time this season on Monday. He finished Saturday's game with 9.3 yards per carry.
"It's a tribute to our offensive line when they do it," Narduzzi said. "You put the game tape on and watch it, it's like, we're doing some good things. We still miss some things. There's some things we can still get better at that we're doing some good things offensively in the run game."
The line kept a clean pocket for Slovis on Saturday, as he was not sacked by the Rams' pass rush.
"They've done awesome," Slovis said. "Seeing a guy like Kradel step up and play really well, seeing the guys on the right side mix-and-match. There's some young guys like Branson, and even for a guy like Gabe to get back and get some reps in today, he was fired up. He's done really well, too.
"It's awesome, makes you feel really good. You know you have a lot of depth at the position. I've been the other way, too. If you don't have a lot of depth, you're kind of crossing your fingers that no one goes down. Obviously you don't want anyone to go down, but you know you have a lot of depth and you feel pretty comfortable."
Narduzzi highlighted Taylor's play as a plus from this past weekend. He relieved Carter Warren for some snaps at left tackle.
"He had 40 snaps, I believe, at left tackle," Narduzzi said. "He's what we thought he was going to be. And he got out there in the action and played really well. And he'll continue to -- we've got to get him in the rotation, keep guys fresh. We were happy to see what he did."