Jimmy Morrissey starting at center for Pitt, and no longer a walk-on

For former La Salle College High School star Jimmy Morrissey, the moment came on Aug. 23 at the end of Pittsburgh football practice.

At first, Morrissey, a walk-on redshirt freshman center, wondered what was happening. Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson complained that some center-quarterback exchanges had been messy and needed work, so head coach Pat Narduzzi ordered Morrissey and quarterback Max Browne on the field.

But when Morrissey walked out to start the drill, he was handed a football from Browne informing him that he was being awarded a scholarship. The entire team celebrated by mobbing the 6-foot-3, 300-pound Huntingdon Valley resident.

"We kind of set it up in practice the day we knew we were going to give it," Narduzzi said earlier this week. "We kind of pretended like it was a fumbled snap. Max pulled out of there like he broke his pinkie on the snap.

"After practice, we called him up and I said, 'Good practice, but we can't have these bad snaps. Jimmy, you and Max need to practice a little bit. Why don't you come up here and get a few?' And we had a ball that was painted up for him special that said, 'Jimmy Morrissey, you're now on scholarship.' So it was an exciting time for our kids and Jimmy, obviously. I know his family was touched by it."

Because Narduzzi made his players off-limits to the media for this week's game at Penn State, Morrissey was unavailable for comment. But the player told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that his father, Jim, was "all choked up" and that his mother, Shivaun, "was yelling and dancing around the house."

It's been quite a road for Morrissey, a two-time all-Catholic League and all-City player during his time with the Explorers. He had been offered partial scholarships at Colgate and Bucknell but wanted to compete at a major-college level.

"He's a wonderful young man, a great kid," said John Steinmetz, his high school coach. "He always said to me that he wanted to try to play at the highest level, scholarship or no scholarship. That's why he chose to walk on at Pitt, to take that opportunity to compete at the highest level. As it turned out, obviously he had the skill set and the work ethic to do it, which was great."

Morrissey started his first game in last week's season opener against Youngstown State, a 28-21 overtime win for the Panthers. Narduzzi likes what he brings to the Panthers.

"Jimmy's an unbelievable kid, first of all," Narduzzi said. "He's a guy that's very well-liked by our team. He's on our leadership council. He's a super young man and he's a leader. Besides all those character things, he's a great football player. Since his first day on campus, I think he's really proven that he's got leadership skills.

"He's very smart when it comes to looking at protections and where people are aligned and getting our front lined up properly with all of our O-line calls. So he's a super young man."