PITTSBURGH —
It would have been easy for Antwuan Reed to hang his head – or worse yet, give up altogether – on Saturday afternoon.
After all, the Greater Johnstown graduate, who is a junior cornerback for Pitt, was called for pass interference four times in the Panthers’ game at South Florida.
Three of the penalties came on third down, including one as the Bulls tried to drive for a game-tying touchdown in the closing minutes of the game.
But Reed was resolute, and he sealed Pitt’s 17-10 victory by intercepting B.J. Daniels on the final play of the game.
Reed’s mental toughness didn’t go unnoticed by Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt.
“The thing about Antwuan Reed is that (the pass-interference calls) could have caused him to just get in the car and drive home back to Johnstown,” Wannstedt said at his weekly press conference on Monday. “The thing that I will give him credit for, because it was such a high-intensity game, particularly at the end, was for him to keep fighting through it. His teammates, Ricky Gary and Dom DeCicco, everybody was supporting him. For him to keep competing ... and then he ends up getting the interception at the end to win it.”
Three of the penalties on Reed came when the pass was underthrown and the receiver tried to come back to it.
Wannstedt said that Reed’s problem was that he didn’t make an effort to intercept the ball.
“Usually, the biggest mistake is that the guy isn’t normally looking back at the ball, and he was doing that,” Wannstedt said. “They want to see four hands in the air – that’s the expression that the officials use. When one hand gets caught down (low), which it was, they’re going to call it.”
Because of the short week – Pitt hosts West Virginia at noon Friday – Reed was not available for an interview on Wednesday, but Wannstedt is confident that the problem has been solved.
“We’ve watched the tape, and you learn,” Wannstedt said, noting that officials were going to be used in practice Tuesday in an effort to clear up the issue. “I’m glad that we went through that and had the chance to make a point of emphasis. We’ll get it squared away. I’m very confident that it won’t be a problem this week or the rest of the year.”
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Wannstedt has confidence in Reed
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