Pitt's defense wasn't elite in its 2021 run to the ACC Championship, but it did play an important role in several of the Panthers' biggest wins of the season. Most notably, it kept one of the country's highest scoring offenses from getting a single point in the final three quarters of Pitt's ACC Championship win over Wake Forest. The Panthers were one of the country's best run-stuffing defenses and had the second-most sacks in all of college football. Those two parts of the defense were consistent.
But the Panthers' pass defense had a bumpy season, even through some of Pitt's most important wins. Pitt's 23.6 points per game allowed was fourth-best in the ACC, but the 264.3 passing yards allowed per game ranked 12th in the conference, only topping two teams. The Panthers' defense allowed opponents to pass for over 350 yards in five games. Pitt's record was 2-3 in those games, with Kenny Pickett's having to throw four touchdown passes in both of those victories over Georgia Tech and Virginia to overcome those struggles.
It helped that the Panthers' defense improved as the season continued, and that progress was a big factor in how the secondary played well in the ACC Championship. But as spring practices continue into their second week for Pitt football, leaders who emerged from last season like safety Brandon Hill are determined to pick up where the defense left off instead of having to relearn old lessons.
"We're staying the course," Hill said. "We have to keep flying around. Keep the intensity and the heart of what Pitt football's defense is about and we'll be great. Keep everybody flying around and all heads to the ball. That's what we're trying to accomplish every day in practice so we can do it every game."
Erick Hallett and Hill went into 2021 as safeties with only a few starts from 2020 under their belts. But they came out as a strong safety pair who feed off each other and help keep the defense together. Pat Narduzzi acknowledged after Thursday's practice that the defense had the upper hand on the day. It was a change of pace from how the offense looked like the better unit in Tuesday's practice, when Narduzzi noted how much better the run game looked.
"Offense had the upper hand on Tuesday's practice, but today the defense came back and looked really good," Narduzzi said. "The great thing is we're competing and battling back and forth. But it comes down to consistency and who can be consistent on a day-to-day basis. One day it's one group looking ready to play and then it's the opposite on the next day, but overall, it's great work."
When talking to Narduzzi and defensive coordinator Randy Bates last season after a game where Pitt's defense struggled, the resounding critique the coaching staff and the players had from their mistakes was that they weren't playing fast enough. That would often lead to them explaining that on Pitt's biggest defensive mistakes, players thought too much about an assignment and wouldn't react instinctively to play the physical and aggressive style of defense Narduzzi wants.
Part of what Hill thinks can help him do his part in maintaining that type of energy is his trust in Hallett behind him to have his back when he misses on an aggressive effort.
"That's funny you said that," Hill said about his chemistry with Hallett. "Today it was really wild on one play. We just looked at each other and then we just look back at the line of scrimmage and we knew what each other had to do and that we had each other's backs. The chemistry out there is amazing. I'm the safety. I want to gamble sometimes and go take risks to get that pick, but it helps a lot knowing that when I'm doing that, I've got Erick behind me and he's got my back."
Beyond just being the safety, Hill knows he has to be a leader to uphold the bar of the aggressive style of defense that Pitt plays when it's at its best. That requires energy as a tone setter and a role model of how to consistently maintain that energy for an entire practice, and eventually entire games.
"I feel like the young guys are coming along well," Hill said. "Every day we have the chance to get better. I feel like they're taking every opportunity as the best they can. The maturity level is going to get there. We're going to be great defensively because we've got a lot of talented guys and we're seeing them show what they can do. I just try to keep everybody's level of intensity high. I'm just trying to make sure everybody's on the right page. As a safety you have to make the calls to make sure everybody's on the same page and moving well together. So once everybody's on the same page, we're hard to beat so once we figured that out and get that clicking."
That energy is supposed to also help some returning players adjust to new positions. One such player is Buddy Mack, a 6-foot-1 junior who had been a reserve safety, who is now transitioning into the star linebacker role where Cam Bright played the last two seasons.
"Buddy's looked good," Narduzzi said. "He's twitchy and he's learning. He's like John Petrishen moving down from safety to star linebacker and it took him almost a year. Buddy's a little further along and he loves it. You can see his energy and he's done a nice job. It's definitely about physicality, the ability to put some weight on and then you as a coach putting your best eleven guys on the field somehow. You realize he isn't going to beat out Brandon Hill."
Pitt's defense will rely on mainstays from last year like Hill, Hallett, SirVocea Dennis and Calijah Kancey, but also new players to step into roles like linebackers Mack and transfer Shayne Simon. But whether the unit will come together to avoid the major breakdowns that led to some of the huge passing numbers allowed in 2021 is an important component to Pitt's campaign to repeat as ACC champions.
• Pitt basketball forward Chris Payton transferred out of the program Thursday, as announced by Verbal Commits. Payton is the second Pitt basketball player to transfer out of the program this offseason after Noah Collier entered the Transfer Portal Tuesday. Payton only played in 13 games during the season for a total of 41 minutes, scoring ten points an recording ten rebounds. He was an explosive athlete who often showed he could dunk in practice, but never did enough of the other responsibilities in those practices to earn significant playing time.