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Kenny Pickett is excited he changed the game.
The 23-year-old quarterback for Pittsburgh, who was first-team All-ACC this season, executed a fake slide in the middle of a 58-yard touchdown scramble in the ACC title game against Wake Forest last Saturday.
According to a memo from NCAA national coordinator of officials Steve Shaw, a fake slide should end in a dead play.
“Changed the game!” Pickett tweeted in response to the news, adding a #H2P hashtag which means “Hail to Pitt”.
For obvious safety and fairness reasons, you can’t have a quarterback juking defenders by pretending to slide and not consummating it. If defenses are required to lay off once a player goes into the sliding motion, faking it is an unsustainable ruse.
Pitt ultimately won the game 45-21, and will face Michigan State in the Peach Bowl on Dec. 30.
ESPN analyst Todd McShay wrote earlier this week that Pickett is his top quarterback prospect in the 2022 NFL Draft, but noted it’s a weak year for signal callers — Pickett is his 15th-ranked prospect overall whereas last year Mac Jones was 15th on his big board but the fifth quarterback on the depth chart.
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