Top Ad
I DIG Radio
www.idigradio.com
Listen live to the best music from around the world!
I DIG Style
www.idigstyle.com
Learn about the latest fashion styles and more...

Wake coach: Pitt QB's fake slide a slippery slope

Written by 
Published in Breaking News
Sunday, 05 December 2021 08:48

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Wake Forest football coach Dave Clawson says the NCAA needs to review its rules on whether quarterbacks should be allowed to "fake slide" after escaping the pocket.

Clawson's statement came after his team's 45-21 loss to Pittsburgh in the ACC championship game Saturday night in which Panthers quarterback Kenny Pickett used a fake slide to freeze defenders and run for a 58-yard touchdown on the game's first possession.

After Pickett broke containment on a third-down run, he briefly stutter-stepped and pretended to slide after picking up the first down. Two Wake Forest defenders froze, figuring Pickett was giving himself up. Instead, Pickett made a quick cut and raced another 40 yards for a touchdown before blowing kisses to the crowd in the end zone.

While Clawson acknowledged after the game there is no rule preventing Pickett from doing what he did, he said the NCAA should consider such a rule.

"If that is the rule, I will just have my guy fake knee all the way down the field, and really, what do you do?" Clawson said. "So it's something the NCAA is going to have to look at, and you know, you can't fake a slide."

Clawson said he had previously never seen a play in which a quarterback pretended to give himself up only to keep running.

"You just train your players, as soon as your quarterback starts sliding, you stop because if you touch him it's going to be a penalty," Clawson said. "He started his slide, and our kids stopped playing. I don't think he did it intentionally, but if he did, he's brilliant. I just think he reacted as an athlete. But what do you tell your players? The quarterback is protected, and there are two guys there who could have made a play but stopped playing because he started to slide."

Pickett admitted after the game that he did do it on purpose.

"Yeah, it was intentional," said Pickett, the ACC Player of the Year who accounted for three touchdowns Saturday night. "I just kind of started slowing down and pulling up and getting ready to slide and I just kind of saw their body language and they just pulled up as well. ... I have never done that before. I just kind of kept going after I initially started to slide."

Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi defended his quarterback.

"I think it was called instincts," Narduzzi said. "I think it was a heck of a football play by Kenny Pickett. I mean he started to slide, he drug his foot. The closest [defender] might have been 4 or 5 yards away. I think [Pickett] thought about it, and there was a little hesitation and he was going to go down and be safe, but then he was like, 'Hold on a second.' ... And then he just took off."

Narduzzi doesn't believe Pickett did anything wrong.

"To me, I coach our defensive guys to finish the play," Narduzzi said. "If [the quarterback] goes down, a lot of times we slide over the top of them. It's just being a football player. You have to finish the play. There's a thing called a whistle, and when the whistle blows, you stop. Until then, you have to gather up, and if the quarterback slides too late. ... We have seen guys slide too late and the quarterback gets scraped up and tattooed a little bit. It's part of the game."

Narduzzi added the play isn't something the coaching staff teaches.

"We never practice it," he said. "It wasn't like we said, 'Today we're going to fake slide.' It was a football play. And Kenny Pickett is the best, and that's why he's a champion."

Read 162 times

Soccer

Breaking down the Premier League title race, and why Arsenal could edge Man City

Breaking down the Premier League title race, and why Arsenal could edge Man City

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsHollywood might struggle to match what looks like being an edge-of-...

Sources: Giroud finalizing DP deal with LAFC

Sources: Giroud finalizing DP deal with LAFC

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsMLS side LAFC is finalizing a deal with AC Milan and France interna...

Purce out for Olympics, NWSL season with ACL

Purce out for Olympics, NWSL season with ACL

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsNJ/NY Gotham FC and United States women's national team winger Midg...

2026 FIFA


2028 LOS ANGELES OLYMPIC

UEFA

Basketball

MPJ defends brother amid betting investigation

MPJ defends brother amid betting investigation

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsDenver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. said Wednesday night that...

Rockets, with play-in in sight, win 10th straight

Rockets, with play-in in sight, win 10th straight

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsOKLAHOMA CITY -- Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta, front offic...

Baseball

Athletics' Andújar has surgery, could miss month

Athletics' Andújar has surgery, could miss month

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsOAKLAND, Calif. -- Athletics outfielder Miguel Andujar had surgery...

Boone to Soto: Don't defer to Yankees veterans

Boone to Soto: Don't defer to Yankees veterans

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsOn the eve of the New York Yankees' season opener at Minute Maid Pa...

Sports Leagues

  • FIFA

    Fédération Internationale de Football Association
  • NBA

    National Basketball Association
  • ATP

    Association of Tennis Professionals
  • MLB

    Major League Baseball
  • ITTF

    International Table Tennis Federation
  • NFL

    Nactional Football Leagues
  • FISB

    Federation Internationale de Speedball

About Us

I Dig® is a leading global brand that makes it more enjoyable to surf the internet, conduct transactions and access, share, and create information.  Today I Dig® attracts millions of users every month.r

 

Phone: (800) 737. 6040
Fax: (800) 825 5558
Website: www.idig.com
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Affiliated