More than his bow tie sets Pitt's Rashad Weaver apart

The fourth day of Pitt training camp Monday morning had coach Pat Narduzzi musing about one of his possible successors and referencing Winston Churchill on Twitter.

And you thought football practice was boring.

First, the would-be successor. Actually, the remark was merely Narduzzi’s way of praising sophomore defensive end Rashad Weaver’s mental acumen.

As far as Weaver’s future as a football coach? He’s only 20 years old and doesn’t have the requisite college degree, so he’ll be content, for now, to build on his career sack total (presently at three).

“I do like to coach the younger kids at Panther camp, ” he said. “If that’s where my life leads me …”

But he’s not even assured of a starting job as he competes with senior James Folston Jr. and sophomore Patrick Jones II.

“His knowledge is good,” Narduzzi said of Weaver, the only Pitt player to wear a bow tie for the media guide photo shoot. “He could be sitting as the head coach of Pitt someday. He’s got great football knowledge.

“We talk about all the different tools kids can have. One guy can be fast. One guy can be strong. One guy can be a good football player. One guy’s going to be really, really strong mentally.

“He’s one of those guys, mentally, who knows what to do, and it allows him to play at a higher level.”

Defensive line coach Charlie Partridge has specific commands for his players, but he welcomes the presence of someone such as Weaver, who can run, jump, wrestle an offensive tackle and think at the same time.

“He’s able to process a lot out there in a short period of time,” Partridge said. “Players like that are able to take calculated risks, instead of just trying to make a play, regardless of what it may do to the defense.

“He can tell you why he did it. He’s not just a robot where he’s doing exactly what we told him. You can have different conversations and tell him when, how and why to take a risk, and that’s what’s going to allow him to produce and, honestly, maybe look faster than what you may get on a 40 time for him.”

Partridge has been a college football coach for a long time — since he was an assistant coach at his alma mater, Drake, in 1996 — and he said he puts Weaver in a special category because of his mix of strength and intellect.

“I’ve only seen it a couple times in my career where guys are able to process that high on the practice field with cognizant skills,” he said.

Weaver, a marketing and finance major, said he’s experienced rising levels of learning since coming to Pitt in 2016 from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

“As a freshman, you are focused on the (offensive lineman’s) shoulder,” he said. “If it goes down, you’re getting a veer block.”

Now that he’s a sophomore, Weaver can expand his thinking. “Stacking the knowledge on top of that until you can see past the shoulder into the backfield where the running back lines up, where the quarterback is stepping.”

So, in a perfect world, Weaver can be right there to meet the guy with the ball because he’s studied the opponent’s tendencies.

Of course, it’s a process to get to that intellectual level. Weaver said he know the plays “almost like the back of my hand.”

But how do you think he advanced to that level?

“I still rewrite them in my notebook, look at them, get a visual and that gets it in your brain,” he said. “Coaches study it, grade it, put in comments, and I’ll watch the film (on his iPad) before we go upstairs and watch it together as a defensive unit.

“That way, I’m watching it twice within a couple hours after practice.”

That’s part of the daily grind of building habits one snap at a time, which is how Churchill would have described it if he was coaching football, instead of leading Great Britain during World War II.

Before practice, Narduzzi tweeted out a quote from Churchill that warns players not to look past training camp, especially when there are three weeks to go.

“It is a mistake to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.”

Which brings us back to Weaver and the future he is content to put on hold.

“I’m still trying to learn every day,” he said.

Jerry DiPaola is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jerry at jdipaola@tribweb.com or via Twitter @JDiPaola_Trib.