*Jordan Addison, Southern California Football News: Draft Scout Player News

07/26/22 - WR *Jordan Addison, Jr/2023, Southern California

Jordan Addison's departure from Pitt to USC is almost old news at this point. It became obvious the Biletnikoff Award winner would leave for the Trojans in late April before officially doing so a few weeks later in May. But since then, Narduzzi hasn't been made available to local media to discuss the high-profile departure, which had NIL implications and alleged tampering attached to it. On Thursday, Narduzzi addressed Addison's transfer with a layered response. "I stayed quiet for a long time because it was a recruiting process. We were recruiting him," Narduzzi said. "But I'm focused on our guys who want to be here at Pitt. That's the key. "Jordan's a great kid, great player. We had fun with him for two years. I think we helped him get to where he is today. I think we helped him win a Biletnikoff and be the player that he is. Kenny Pickett was pretty good. He had one of the best quarterbacks in the country throwing him the ball every day. Some people forget how they got where they are. It was a special year. I've got a ton of respect for Jordan. Young men have to make decisions based on what they know or what they thought. And we kind of move on."

Later, Narduzzi told the Post-Gazette he "absolutely" believes USC tampered with Addison. Reports of the all-American leaving for USC surfaced before he formally entered the transfer portal, at which point teams would be able to contact him. "Transferring is one thing, but the NCAA has to do something about tampering," Narduzzi told the Post-Gazette, "because tampering is certainly happening in a big way. By players or coaches, it can't happen. It's happening a lot, and it's not good." Asked what can realistically be done to curb tampering, Narduzzi said: "I don't know. Not my job. But it's got to get straightened out." - Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Jr/2023