Pitt's offensive line was one of the bigger questions about the team coming out of training camp. When looking at how excited the coaches were to have back Kenny Pickett, Vincent Davis, Jordan Addison, Lucas Krull and to have newer young players like Israel Abanikanda, Jaylon Barden, and Gavin Bartholomew make headway.
But the offensive line operating without Jimmy Morrissey, who was drafted by the Raiders, had to come together. Fortunately, offensive line coach Dave Borbely, entering his fourth year coaching the group, has several experienced players for his starting five linemen.
Carter Warren at left tackle has 21 starts, Marcus Minor as the graduate transfer from Maryland with 17 starts, Owen Drexel at center with one start but six game appearances in 2020, Jake Kradel at right guard has 15 starts, as does right tackle Gabe Houy. That experience pays off for Borbely in preparation.
"Across the front, everyone's at least 22 years old," Borbely said Tuesday after practice of his offensive line's maturity. "They're all veteran, older guys and weren't shook up (after the stops) and made the adjustments to play."
The stops Borbely referenced were back-to-back run stuffs by UMass that led to a turnover on downs in the red zone for Pitt in the second quarter of Saturday's win at Heinz Field. The Panthers ran back-to-back run plays to Rodney Hammond Jr. and were stuffed both times. But according to Borbely, the offensive line quickly identified the issue and eliminated it from future plays.
"On the 3rd and 1, and 4th and 1s that got shut down, they gave us the same looks we expected, except they moved their linebacker outside," Borbely said. "They took their linebacker we expected Jake to block outside, but moved moved him under the guard and that hung up our center. That slant messed up Owen and Jake thought he had Owen coming with him, so then the linebacker shot outside."
The issue went to the heart of a key factor Pat Narduzzi was excited about his offensive line coming out of camp: their ability to double-team, combinate and work off each other in their run blocking. That change in alignment took what Kradel thought would be a double-team with Drexel and allowed a player through to blow up those run plays.
But according to Borbely, he didn't have to say much after UMass made the stop.
"The kids were all over it," Borbely said when asked about the adjustment needed after the stop. "They knew exactly what happened and we made the adjustment. We pulled the center with the (right) guard and told our left guard (Minor) to crush the nose guard because he was on his own. The center (slanted to take another defensive tackle) and the guard would then climb to the linebacker. The next two times we called that, Vincent (Davis) and Daniel Carter scored a touchdown. Having a veteran group really helps because they know exactly what's happening to them, they can tell me, and we can get going on adjustments."
Part of the adjustment had Drexel moving more in space to block different defenders, a skill Borbely loves to see and even likens to the way Morrissey played center for Pitt. It's another reason why Narduzzi nicknamed Drexel "Jimmy Junior" last year.
"He's a lot like Jimmy was in that way," Borbely said of Drexel's ability to pull and hit as a center. "That's not easy to do, either. It's not easy to snap the ball and pull for a sweep. But he's an athletic guy and he runs really well, so when we can take advantage of that we like to do that."
For a group that, while having plenty of experience, hasn't played together before as a starting five, it's impressive to adjust mid-game to wipe out a weakness and exert a strength. Minor also acknowledged when he spoke after practice Tuesday.
"It was a great one," Minor said of the offensive line's game against UMass. "Especially for the first time with all the boys together. We had to be cohesive and you can tell this is a senior group with just the way we prepared for it. It shows in our repetition. We all come from different backgrounds but we're able to go into scenarios with loud stadiums, crowd noise and such, so we're all ready for what's coming."
"We knew UMass would probably have a different defense," Minor continued when talking about adjustments. "We started slow but we were able to click, talk to coach Borbely, identify what we wanted to do moving forward and put our foot in the ground and get on the attack."
That kind of preparation helps players play faster and more physical instead of thinking more on the field, something Borbely said he liked to see against UMass.
"I was excited about how physical we played," Borbely said of Pitt's offensive line against UMass. "The biggest thing I was excited about was playing penalty free. We had no holds and no false starts. We work really hard on that. I do a cadence drill with them every day and that's helped us a lot. Penalty-free means we're moving the ball in the right direction."
But both Borbely and his players know that Pitt's next opponent, Tennessee, is a completely different obstacle to overcome than UMass. For the line, they'll be identifying the strengths and weaknesses of an SEC opponent rather than an independent program, but they're also focusing on the aspects of the game they can control to win.
"It's about focusing on what we need to do and what tendencies we need to create," Minor said when asked what Pitt's offensive line is focusing on this week. "We do feel good, but with everything that feels good, we need to pick things out that in the long run will benefit you. It's a great win, but it's behind us and we have to put our head down and keep getting after it."
If you ask Borbely which of Tennessee's defensive starters stand out to him, he'll run through the entire depth chart of defensive players Pitt's studied and how his offensive line must be aware of what they can do to blow up plays.
"There's eleven of them that really stand out," Borbely said of Tennessee's defense. "(Tyler Baron) is an outstanding pass rusher. (Matthew Butler) can wreck the game very quickly by himself, he's an excellent player. (Elijah Simmons) is 350 lbs. and a great looking guy, big strong and athletic. (Ja'Quain Blakely), who plays the end to the field is the bigger of the two defensive ends and is an excellent pass rusher."
Similarly to Pitt's defense, Tennessee's defense also features several rotating groups with talented players coming on and off the field so that the Volunteers can keep fresh legs in their aggressive defense.
"They play with a lot of intensity and they play fast," Borbely said of Tennessee's defense. "They roll a lot of guys in there, it seems like almost every other series. Their linebackers are "see ball, tackle ball" type of run and hit players and they're excellent linebackers."
In addition to all the players on the field Pitt will be working to adjust to, the entire team, and especially the offensive line, is preparing to play in a loud, packed environment at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., and its capacity of 102,455 people.
During Pitt's open practice period to the media Tuesday, you could hear the Osborne Brothers' song, "Rocky Top," an unofficial fight song for Tennessee, blasting on speakers out over the practice field as the Panthers worked on drills and had to communicate through the noise. Pitt will be working on dealing with crowd noise all week long so that it's second-nature for the Panthers to work while not being able to hear each other. That's especially important for the offensive line.
"We're working crowd noise, for sure," Borbely said of Pitt preparing for a loud crowd in its first road game. "That's going to be a big factor because it will be loud. Last time I played there was with Notre Dame 20 years ago and we had speakers hooked up with crowd noise reverberating and you had to scream just to hear a guy next to you. That's why we're definitely working on that this week."
