Pat Narduzzi: Georgia Tech using ‘dangerous’ blocks

ATLANTA, GA - OCTOBER 17:  Head coach Pat Narduzzi of the Pittsburgh Panthers shakes hands with head coach Paul Johnson of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets after their 31-28 win at Bobby Dodd Stadium on October 17, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia.  (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Credit: Kevin C. Cox

Credit: Kevin C. Cox

ATLANTA, GA - OCTOBER 17: Head coach Pat Narduzzi of the Pittsburgh Panthers shakes hands with head coach Paul Johnson of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets after their 31-28 win at Bobby Dodd Stadium on October 17, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi isn’t the first coach to raise an issue with Georgia Tech’s blocking scheme, but he is the latest. On his radio show Wednesday, Narduzzi said that Tech’s offensive line gets away with chop blocking.

“They do a lot of high-lowing,” Narduzzi said. “It’s dangerous football, I can tell you that. You watch inside, if you watch our nose tackle, there’s times when a center is kind of hitting him up high and there’s a guy coming in from the other side, which is really illegal, but they never call it. I don’t quite understand how that happens.”

Narduzzi was describing a chop block, an illegal maneuver in which two players simultaneously block one opposing player, one at thigh level or lower and the other above it. It is not to be confused with a cut block, in which a player blocks a defender below the waist. It is a legal block with certain limitations on where and when it can be thrown.

Narduzzi also said that wide receiver Ricky Jeune pushes off when catching passes.

“He’s a big, 6-foot-3, 210-pound wideout that, he’ll run down the field, he’ll push off you, Billy, and he’ll go up and catch it,” Narduzzi told show host Bill Hillgrove. “Imagine that.”

Jeune has four catches for 105 yards this season, two for touchdowns. He caught three passes for 55 yards against Pitt last year, one for a touchdown.