And every single person is a Slim Shady lurkin', he could be working at Burger King, spittin' on your onion rings…
- Eminem, musician
Not so long ago, before my college football days, I followed the NFL very closely. My team was the Philadelphia Eagles—a love that started in the Brian Dawkins, Jeremiah Trotter, mid-2000s Andy Reid-era.
Shortly after adopting this team as my favourite, they drafted a shifty 5’11, 210 pound running back from nearby Pitt. He was a back-to-back 1000+ yard rusher for the Panthers, so I figured it was a good pick.
This was also before the NFL changed their jersey provider so the Eagles still had those beautiful midnight green Reebok jerseys, which, like with many NFL organizations, were so much better than the lame uniforms they have now.
The player’s name was LeSean “Shady” McCoy, and apart from looking so goddamn cool in the Midnight Green, he was an extremely effective player in Andy’s offence. He was a phenomenal receiver of the football, and almost always made not just the first but the second defender miss too.
It was a joy watching him play for the Eagles in the early 2010s in particular, where he actually led the NFL in attempts and yards (2013), and TDs (2011) in two separate seasons. Indeed, one of my favourite NFL-watching memories is returning one winter afternoon from a hair cut to watch the Philly vs. Detroit “Snow Bowl” game on Dec. 8, 2013. McCoy ran 29 times for 217 yards and two scores in that one.
Then that bastard, Chip Kelly, came along and ruined everything with his parsimonious approach to roster building. McCoy never made it back to the Eagles after the 2014 season and that’s a shame in my opinion.
Anyways, I mention all of this because Pitt once again has a shifty #25 in its backfield. True sophomore Ja'Kyrian Turner was a standout as a freshman in 2025, at first playing behind senior Desmond Reid, and then eventually plugging in as the alpha in his absence.
Most exciting to me is that despite the slim frame (5’9, 180), Turner handled 20+ carries multiple times and did it well. The first time, at Stanford, he took 22 carries for 127 yards. The second occurrence, at Georgia Tech, he handled 21 carries and rushed 201 yards.
Beyond the glimpses of disproportionate durability, this player also demonstrated an aptitude to be a weapon as a receiver. I don't need to lecture CFFers in the patois of PPR scoring formats—we all know how valuable receiving work is for running backs. We need only look to Turner’s predecessor for evidence of this.
With both the OC and HC from the last two years also returning, it’s a wonder why Turner has not accrued more hype this offseason.
COACHING & SYSTEM: A Man Who Loves & Understands Small RBs
While the head coach, Pat Narduzzi, sometimes referred to as “Nar-dog” on late night outs in the ‘Burgh, has been with the program since 2015, the star of the show is really OC Kade Bell, who joined Pitt in 2024.
His first year was a smashing success from a CFF standpoint, peppering his former WCU protege, Desmond Reid, with 73 targets on his way to CFF RB1 status for the year 2024.
It’s reasonable to suggest that 2025 would have been much of the same had Reid not succumbed to injury at multiple points during the season. Then again, durability is always going to be a question mark with smaller RBs.
Below is a summary of Kade Bell’s RB1 season stats dating back to his D-II days at Valdosta State.
Table 1. Kade Bell’s RB1 History
He’s only had one runner eclipse 1000+ rushing yards, but four of his seven have hit 1000+ total yards, which in some respects is even better depending on the CFF scoring format you’re playing in.
Table 2. Granular Breakdown of Pitt Staff’s RB History
Now, while saying that Bell is the star of the show I don’t want to obfuscate Mr. Narduzzi’s positive influence here. He himself has had four 1000+ yard rushers since joining Pitt— the first being Qadree Ollison (2015, 2018), James Connor (2016) and finally, Israel Abanikanda (2022).
Table 3. Pat Narduzzi’s RB1 History Since Joining Pitt.
His background is primarily defence, so I generally assume the OC of each of the respective teams captured in the above table is the man to blame for the results you see. But it’s still a good sign that Nar Dog’s got a few pigs in his repertoire.
Coming back to Bell now, his positive influence extends beyond RB receiving usage. In the two years that he’s been with the Panthers, they were top three and top 22 in the FBS on a seconds per play basis. In other words, his offence is very up-tempo, which generally bodes well for production.
And according to Dawgstats.com, Pitt returns the seventh most snaps from the OL a year ago. Though I will not say that the OL from 2025 was dominant, so returning snaps may not necessarily be a huge boon here (Pitt were bottom third in the FBS with 117 rushing yards per game).
Ja’Kyrian Turner (5’9, 180)
2025 STATS: 140-747-7 + 25-150-0 (12.7 PPG)
Turner had a fantastic true freshman season in my opinion. It’s not always easy to be thrown into the fire year one when you’re expecting to play a backup role, but Turner did so effectively when Reid was held out with injury.
Individual season-highs included PPR outputs of 17, 23, 20, 19 and 31 points. While I was very impressed by his receiving usage and shiftiness, one sore spot was inconsistent YPC efficiency. On the whole, he finished 2025 with an average YPC of 5.3, but in five of his games he had a YPC of three or below.
A lot of that can be attributed to poor OL play and first year inexperience, in my opinion.
And while Turner was clearly the next man up behind Reid last season, we are still projecting when saying that he will be RB1 for the Panthers in 2026. Thus, part of the proper valuation procedure for this player will be first in verifying that he is, in fact, going to be the RB1.
The pre-spring report from Pitt’s ON3 coverage suggests that this will be the case, though we will still have to monitor what the word out of camp is:
In the world of constant player movement and large money deals for productive players, Turner was a key retention piece for the Panthers. His ability to cut between the tackles and burst to the outside was noticeable.
The 5-9, 180-pound Turner brings an enticing lead back for the Panthers in 2026 as he enters his sophomore season.
As for who backs up Turner as RB2, that remains a mystery. Spring ball will help to bring some clarity to sort out the depth.
I do think it says a lot that two of the would-be primary competitors for RB1 duties this season transferred out in January (Juelz Goff to Boise, Derrick Davis is still undecided last I checked). I suppose there is a potential that Davis ends up returning in the spring. Though, he was already effectively passed over on the depth chart by Turner, so I don’t know if that would be a large problem either way.
Pitt will also be returning their freshman starter at QB from a year ago in Mason Heintschel, so there is a lot of continuity entering 2026 from the primary unit last season. In a world where rapid player and coach movement is the norm, I view the continuity in Pittsburgh as a plus.
As with his predecessor, durability is going to be a concern for this player throughout his career. Though I will say that Turner at least has the frame to bulk up (currently listed at 5 foot 9). I know Reid was listed at 5’8, but his official Pitt measurement last spring was 5’5 if I recall correctly. That could be the case here as well with Turner, but judging from the eye test of watching him on the field, I know he is bigger than Reid by a decent margin.
Overall, I like Turner as a Desmond Reid-esque style commodity in this Kade Bell offence for 2026. I don’t know that he has the raw ability that Reid had (few players do), but he already proved that he can be an effective piece in this system as the lead back in 2025. I will await confirmation that he is indeed going to be the RB1 this fall before championing him, but assuming that checks out, he’ll be one of the top RBs in my rankings and a probable 2nd/3rd round range runner for me. ◾
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