Michael Pittman Jr. dreaded the call.

As the future USC receiver sat in class, paying attention to whatever the teacher was lecturing about that given day, the phone rang. The teacher went to check on the shrill interruption, and looked up at Pittman.

“Michael,” the unwelcome announcement began, “you have to go to speech.”

Once a week from first through sixth grade, the heads turned as Pittman packed up his bag, walked through the rows of desks and out the door. It was time to go to speech therapy to learn techniques to deal with his lifelong stutter.

“It was embarrassing,” Pittman recalled. “It would be like, ‘Dang, here I go.’ If somebody just gets up out of the room, that draws attention. As a young kid, that can be terrifying.”

OVERCOME

If you were to see Pittman now, a senior at USC, you’d never know what he struggled with as a kid. People around the program who interact with him on a daily basis don’t realize he has a stutter, in which he elongates certain words.

But that doesn’t mean it’s gone away. Just that he’s gotten better at coping with it.

“There’s still sometimes where I want to say something but I know if I open my mouth I’m going to start stuttering and stuff,” Pittman explains. “So there’s some times where I don’t say what I really want to say because I know it will take me a long time to say it.”

Pittman has learned how to pick his moments, which is much different from when he was a kid.

He used to avoid answering questions in class, to prevent any embarrassment or harassment at the hands of his classmates. Sometimes, he had to resort to using hand signals to get his point across when words failed him.

“I’d be at home trying to ask my dad for something and we’d be sitting there for 30 seconds waiting for me to say something,” Pittman said, “and then eventually I’d get so frustrated I’d just point to it.”

The reason for his frustration wasn’t difficult to discern. His stutter, partly caused by allergies that cause fluid in the ear and nasal passage to flow and disrupt his hearing, became a subject of teasing from both his family and classmates and friends. Even being the biggest kid in school didn’t shield him from it.

Pittman did a better job of ignoring these comments than most kids his age would, but they still bothered him. His mother, Kristin Randall, did her best to protect him from them when she could.

“If we were out at a theme park or something and I heard somebody say something, I of course spoke up for him,” Randall said. “He moved on. He knows he has his speech problem. He’s OK with it. He deals with it.”

It’s something Pittman has worked on for years. Generally, the stutter comes up not when he’s nervous but rather when he feels he has something important to say. That can compound the frustration.

In his speech therapy classes with a handful of other students, Pittman learned to pause and speak more slowly to draw out his thoughts and minimize the chances of a stutter. He would record himself talking and then listen to it, discovering more reliable words he could use to begin sentences.

Then, a funny thing happened. Pittman started to follow in the footsteps of his father, former NFL running back Michael Pittman. The younger Pittman emerged as a star receiver, picking up offers from schools all across the country.

And with the offers came interview requests.

“I’ve been forced into a lot of public speaking because of football. I kinda got forced into that where I necessarily didn’t want to,” Pittman said, “but that opportunity forced me to work on my speech.”

TAKE THE STAGE

You’d think that for someone with a stutter, Pac-12 media day would be your worst nightmare. But Pittman handled the event as if there were no cause for concern.

He bounced from radio interviews to discussions with local and national reporters in his red-and-black polo. He kept his speech slow and deliberate, coming off as thoughtful rather than cautious.

Not that Pittman isn’t a thoughtful interview; he’s evolved into one of the public faces and leaders of the Trojans because of his honesty and insight. But his pace is just a way of keeping the stutter at bay.

The ease with which he handled Pac-12 media day disguised the work Pittman put in prior to the event with his mom.

“We just talked about taking it slow, listening, talking slow. And breathing is one of the big things involved with speaking, so he needs to really focus on his breath,” Randall said. “It’s amazing to me that he’s even able to interview and look so comfortable doing it.”

CLOSING CHAPTER

Pittman didn’t need to come back to USC. He could have followed his father’s footsteps to the NFL following his junior season, in which he had 41 receptions for 758 yards with 6 TDs and led the Pac-12 with 18.5 yards per reception (19th nationally).

But he had personal goals, like being named an All-American, that he wanted one last crack at before going to the pros.

“I’m just taking every day and leaving no doubt that I’m doing everything I can,” Pittman said. “I don’t want to look back and go, ‘Oh, if I had worked a little harder, if I had done this or that.’ I’m doing anything and everything it takes.”

He accomplished another of his goals on Thursday, as he was one of four seniors named captain by his teammates, earning a spot for his name on the plaques honoring USC captains. He can’t always be the most vocal leader, but his example and play bridge that gap.

“He’s shown captain characteristics, I think, his whole time here,” head coach Clay Helton said. “His want … to not only be an offensive player, but to help on special teams. He brings those characteristics to the table and he’s brought it in the offseason.” Related Articles How a letter from USC’s players galvanized Pac-12 football return to play

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Now, Pittman has maybe just 12 games left in his USC career. Then it’s on to the pros and, he hopes, to a life where he can make an impact on kids with stutters, like him.

He wants to help spread awareness about the condition and educate schools about how to handle kids with a speech impediment. For instance, don’t take the kid out of the middle of class for therapy, and instead make it a before- or after-school activity.

And Pittman wants to work with the kids themselves and help them overcome what he has for so many years.

“You shouldn’t see it as, ‘There’s something wrong with me,’” Pittman said. “It’s pretty much just who you are. It’s thinking faster than your mouth can move.”