Kenny Pickett: QB · Pittsburgh · #8.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Kenny Pickett
Picks you apart underneath and protects the ball. Five seasons in the Pittsburgh quarterback room to date. All-America (AFCA) in 2021 made it two straight seasons on the honors list. A game that shows it: 519 passing yards and 3 passing TD against Miami — Week 9, 2021.
Play style
High-percentage passer who protects the ball. Loses the matchup on improvisation.
Checkdown vs gunslinger · 3rd-and-long
Where the completions actually land
57.7% completion on 3rd-and-8+, but only 21.1% conversion-per-dropback — 60.0% of completions land short of the sticks.
Where completions land is fact — whether incompletions were aimed deep is intent, not recorded here, so this card counts completions only. checkdown by design
Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration
Who gets the tough yard
10 of 11 on 3rd/4th-and-2-or-less (90.9%). 7 of the team's 27 inside-the-5 carries (25.9%).
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Oct 24Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Pittsburgh | 334 | 497 | 67.2% | 4,319 | 8.7 | 42 | 7 | 165.3 | 69 |
| 2020 | Pittsburgh | 204 | 333 | 61.3% | 2,408 | 7.2 | 13 | 9 | 129.5 | 41 |
| 2019 | Pittsburgh | 289 | 469 | 61.6% | 3,098 | 6.6 | 13 | 9 | 122.4 | 39 |
| 2018 | Pittsburgh | 180 | 309 | 58.3% | 1,969 | 6.4 | 12 | 6 | 120.7 | 34 |
| 2017 | Pittsburgh | 39 | 66 | 59.1% | 509 | 7.7 | 1 | 1 | 125.8 | 61 |
| Career | 1,046 | 1,674 | 62.5% | 12,303 | 7.3 | 81 | 32 | 136.4 | 48 |
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Pittsburgh | 97 | 241 | 2.5 | 5 | 58 |
| 2020 | Pittsburgh | 81 | 162 | 2.0 | 8 | 18 |
| 2019 | Pittsburgh | 95 | 110 | 1.2 | 2 | 30 |
| 2018 | Pittsburgh | 117 | 221 | 1.9 | 3 | 30 |
| 2017 | Pittsburgh | 26 | 93 | 3.6 | 2 | 22 |
| Career | 416 | 827 | 2.0 | 20 | 58 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2021 season · 13 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | CMP/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | YPA | QBR | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 51-7vs Massachusetts | 27/37 | 272 | 2 | 0 | 7.4 | 71.6 | Clean 2-TD game |
| Wk 2 | W 41-34@ Tennessee | 24/36 | 285 | 2 | 0 | 7.9 | 88.5 | Clean 2-TD game |
| Wk 3 | L 41-44vs Western Michigan | 23/31 | 382 | 6 | 1 | 12.3 | 92.3 | 6 TD passes |
| Wk 4 | W 77-7vs New Hampshire | 24/28 | 403 | 5 | 0 | 14.4 | 97.6 | 5 TD passes |
| Wk 5 | W 52-21@ Georgia Tech | 23/36 | 389 | 4 | 0 | 10.8 | 86.9 | 4 TD passes |
| Wk 7 | W 28-7@ Virginia Tech | 22/37 | 203 | 2 | 0 | 5.5 | 67.4 | |
| Wk 8 | W 27-17vs Clemson | 25/39 | 302 | 2 | 0 | 7.7 | 91.5 | Clean 2-TD game |
| Wk 9 | L 34-38vs Miami | 39/55 | 519 | 3 | 2 | 9.4 | 75.7 | Season-high 519 yds |
| Wk 10 | W 54-29@ Duke | 28/43 | 416 | 3 | 0 | 9.7 | 85.1 | 3 TD passes |
| Wk 11 | W 30-23vs North Carolina | 25/43 | 346 | 3 | 1 | 8.0 | 63.5 | 3 TD passes |
| Wk 12 | W 48-38vs Virginia | 26/41 | 340 | 4 | 2 | 8.3 | 60.7 | 4 TD passes |
| Wk 13 | W 31-14@ Syracuse | 28/38 | 209 | 4 | 1 | 5.5 | 79.0 | 4 TD passes |
| Wk 14 | W 45-21vs No. 18 Wake Forest | 20/33 | 253 | 2 | 0 | 7.7 | 78.1 | Clean 2-TD game |
| Total | 334/497 | 4319 | 42 | 7 | 8.7 | — |
Week 4 · 2021
W 77-7
403 yds · 5 TD · 0 INT · QBR 97.6
Dominant 70-point win at home against New Hampshire.
With J. Addison — 6 rec · 179 yds · 3 TD · I. Abanikanda — 75 rush yds (13 car) · 1 TD · 4 rec · 55 yds
The plays that mattered most
Pass Profile · Completions by yards gained (PBP)
Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from
Totals here are the box score's. Play-by-play lists 455 passing plays (301 completions) against the box score's 497 attempts (334 completions), and the depth buckets use play-by-play.
Adjusted ANY/A
8.9912 of 204 QBsSack rate
5.5%86 of 204 QBsRarely sacked (86 of 204 QBs) and still 12 of 204 in Adjusted ANY/A.
Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.
Short
0–9 ydsMiddle
10–19 ydsDeep
20+ ydsOverall 67.2% completion on 497 attempts · 64 deep completions averaging 31.0 yds.
5 seasons under Pat Narduzzi — 37-27 over that span.
Splits · Per-game
2021 season · 13 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 366 | 3.6 | 9.6 | 0.9 |
| Road5g | 300 | 3.0 | 7.9 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 322 | 3.5 | 9.7 | 0.2 |
| Weeks 8+7g | 341 | 3.0 | 8.0 | 0.9 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Pat Narduzzi
Pass share
51.6%
542 pass / 509 run
Plays / game
80.8
13 games
Scheme: Balanced, fast tempo.
Player standing · 2021
A finalist for the position's national player-of-the-year award.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #7 at the position.
Selector Grid · 2021
How it ended
Five seasons at Pittsburgh, 12,303 passing yards, the Unitas Golden Arm Award (2021) — drafted at #20 overall by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Four or fewer games in the first season, then ten or more.
The role got bigger.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-AMERICA
Named All-American (2021)
named by 2 selectors
National awards
Unitas Golden Arm
2021 season
ALL-ACC · 1ST TEAM
All-ACC 1st team (2021)
Weekly recognition
2 weekly honors (2021)
3 career weekly honors across 2 seasons
Coaching lineage · 2017–2021
1 coachPlayed every college season under Pat Narduzzi.
Next stop · NFL
Pittsburgh SteelersEntering 5th NFL season
Pittsburgh SteelersEntering 5th NFL season
