Pitt's linebackers embrace Narduzzi's challenge, despite losing Davis to portal

Pitt's linebackers have been a big asset to the defense for their depth with several players they've been able to rotate in and out of the defense to keep fresh legs for Pat Narduzzi's aggressive concepts.

That depth took a hit when one of the team's starting mike linebackers, Wendell Davis, entered the NCAA Transfer Portal Wednesday. 

Davis had been splitting time with SirVocea Dennis at the Panthers' mike linebacker position and the two had been listed as co-starters, even with Dennis' ability to play multiple linebacker positions. Davis suffered an injury that sidelined him for most of the 2020 season and opened the door for Dennis to become a staple in the Panthers' defense.

But during Pitt's Saturday loss to Miami, Davis was benched in favor of Dennis to play the middle of the defense after the Panthers allowed three consecutive touchdowns to start the game and wouldn't return to the field. Even though both were still listed as co-starters this week, Davis was most likely going to play behind Dennis moving forward and that might not have sat well with him.

"Love Wendell Davis," linebacker coach Ryan Manalac said Wednesday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. "Wish him the best, he's an awesome young man. I'm sure he'll have success wherever he ends up. But that gives younger guys opportunities to fill that void and they've been preparing all year to do that. Brandon (George) has played special teams all year and got plugged in the rotation some times. He had some good plays against New Hampshire. He's prepared himself professionally all year."

Despite losing Davis, Pitt's linebacker group is still one of the deepest positions on the team. Dennis will be backed up by George who's been a solid athlete developing in the background. But Dennis will have experienced linebackers playing at the money and star positions around him with Phil Campbell and Chase Pine as super senior money linebackers and Cam Bright and John Petrishen play the star linebacker position.

Manalac says though that between those four players, the linebacker positions are interchangeable because of their familiarity with the different roles and responsibilities on defense.

"We have a very athletic group," Manalac said of his linebackers. "We have guys capable of playing multiple positions and we have guys eager to prepare at multiple spots. There's limited reps in practice but these guys look at more film and take ownership to step up to do that."

That athletic group does have adjustments to make along with the rest of the defense after giving up 426 passing yards and 38 points to Miami Saturday.

"The perimeter screens are an extension of the run game," Manalac said about what the defense has struggled to stop. "That's everybody from players to coaches. It's important to stop the passing game but we're working on each of the different things that have beaten us."

Pitt's defensive struggles have now led to both of the Panthers' losses in the 2021 season to Western Michigan and Miami in games where Pitt's offense scored 41 and 34 points. For better or worse, Narduzzi has indicated that there won't be any major schematic changes to Pitt's defense and that means it will be on the players and position coaches to make smaller adjustments and improvements to fix things.

To Narduzzi's credit, he does have his players working to be the change he wants to see in the defense.

"There's a lot more urgency now," Campbell said. "We were urgent after the Western Michigan loss, but we know this is it. This is our last chance. Every game from now on is a playoff game. It's good pressure to make us go out and win this whole thing."

"There was a lot we could've done better," Campbell said of Pitt's loss to Miami. "The defense gave up seven points in the second half. That shows we started too slow. I thought we prepared well, but the little things with everyone doing their job and not trying to do too much got in the way."

One of the answers to Pitt's defensive problems that the players and coaches are preaching revolves around defensive players stepping out of their roles to make plays outside of their assignments and collapsing the concepts Pitt's defense relies upon to succeed. Yes, that's the same theme we heard after the Western Michigan loss, but it does seem to be what the Panthers see as the biggest cause to their mistakes.

"It's about execution," Campbell said when asked what Pitt has to do to fix its defensive struggles. "Sometimes guys in big moments have a hard time focusing on their job. Everyone starts to feel urgency when the other team makes a big play and then people start doing too much. We saw that on tape and those are the mental mistakes we work on at practice. There were a couple run fits we missed, but it's mental, not physical."

"Everybody wants to take ownership," Manalac said when asked about players doing too much. "When something breaks down and five people do their assignments just a little different you can lose the structure of a defense. We want everybody to do their jobs so we click on all gears."

Assignment-based football is important to play the aggressive style of defense Narduzzi subscribes the unit to playing each week. But while it needs disciplined players across the board who don't abandon their jobs because they're too worried about their teammates not fulfilling other roles in a given play, Pitt's defense also needs a player who can be a communicating centerpiece who puts it all together.

Fortunately, that's where Dennis comes in and why the Panthers pushed him to start in the middle of the defense. It goes beyond just his physical skills at the position and digs into his maturity and leadership on and off the field.

"His leadership and gregarious personality," Manalac said of what stands out for Dennis. "Guys look to him for leadership and his intelligence is huge. He makes in-game adjustments and tweaks the little things after seeing things on the sideline and he's become even more intelligent to do the little things that help us win."

Dennis earned respect among his teammates while also being able to play all three of the linebacker positions. By all accounts, even when he led Pitt in tackles for loss last season and came into this season without a guaranteed starting role at the linebacker position of his choice, all Dennis has done is work to be a dutiful playmaker at any position he's been assigned.

"It's not easy at all," Manalac said of Dennis playing several positions. "SirVocea is a special player. He's a sharp, intelligent football player. He can plug and play anywhere and sometimes we take that for granted when we see him play at one spot. Because he's so smart sometimes we put too much on him. But it's really impressive how he can bounce around and do more things for us. Phil (Campbell), Cam (Bright) and John (Petrishen) could all play both sides for us. It's important to them to be sharp and prepare that they know multiple spots to help the team."

Pitt already had veteran leadership at the position in players like Campbell who returned for his super senior season due to the COVID-19 NCAA eligibility waiver. Dennis' rise among the group brings a boost, as has the maturation of super senior Petrishen.

"John's a rock," Manalac said of Petrishen. "His maturity and how he carries his water every day is contagious. He's always in there watching film while eating his breakfast, getting extra film study and the guys see that and want to do it too. He's on a mission mentality. That's led to him making plays and being on the football field more. He doesn't let adversity or success bother him. He stays the course and that's a trait of a mature competitor."

For Pitt to be able to tell if all these experienced linebackers can make the adjustments to not get beat in the passing game like it did against Miami, it first has to go up against a team that prefers to run the ball. Duke is Pitt's opponent Saturday, and ranks fifth in the ACC with 198.3 rushing yards per game. Duke's 254.4 passing yards per game ranks seventh in the ACC, but is mostly played off the Blue Devils' stronger run game.

That run game is headed by running back Mataeo Durant, who's taken 186 carries for 973 yards and nine touchdowns across eight games. His 121.6 rushing yards per game is the second-highest average in the ACC behind Syracuse's Sean Tucker, who Pitt will face in the Panthers' final regular season game.

"He stands out tremendously," Manalac said of Duke's Durant. "He's the heart and soul of what they do. He's getting the football for a lot of carries. He's the guy unless he's fatigued. He runs hard, downhill and uses his off-hand one to avoid blockers and is good in protection. He's a complete running back and a great challenge for us."

Pitt can't lose sight of what it must do to improve its pass defense so that it's ready when it faces two strong-armed quarterbacks in North Carolina's Sam Howell and Virginia's Brennan Armstrong in the weeks after Duke, but it also can't overlook Duke's ability to run the ball.

Fortunately for the Panthers, their linebackers take it as a call to duty to stop the run. Their 103.6 rushing yards allowed per game is the best in the ACC, and 15th in the country. They see the chance to stop Durant as a big opportunity to prove their numbers are real and they can bang with the best of the best run stuffing defenses.

"We pride ourselves in stopping the run," Campbell said. "That's a give that we're going to line up and stop the run this week. Knowing we have a good running back to go against is a good challenge and gives us more things to watch. Preparation stays the same though."

Losing Davis is an unfortunate development as he's an impressive athlete, but it's also come with the rise of Dennis, who might be a key player for Pitt to finish the 2021 schedule strong and win the ACC Coastal division. 

If can help the defense take its first step back to redeeming Saturday's loss to Miami by shutting down Duke, and then turn the Panthers' focus to closing out the division, it would go a long way to proving Narduzzi right for believing his players didn't need a major scheme change to succeed on defense.

It could also end up giving the Panthers a major presence in the middle of their defense next year.