Back-ups Applying Pressure to Starters on Pitt Football's Offensive Line

Coach Dave Borbley said that younger Panthers are pushing the established starters along Pitt's offensive line.

PITTSBURGH -- Offensive line figured to be a strength of this year's Pitt Panthers long before training camp started. They return all five starters from the front line of a record-setting 2021 offense and that starting unit is stocked not only with experience, but talent too. 

But, according to head coach Pat Narduzzi and  Pitt coaches are not letting the starters get too comfortable with their spots. Narduzzi's continually insisted that there is competition at offensive line, a position that figured to be all but set as early as late winter. Offensive line coach Dave Borbley said the fact that his current second-teamers aren't starting now has more to do with timing than their abilities. 

"Really, when you think about it, my second group should be my starters this year," Borbley said. "I have a lot of confidence in that group and certainly by next year I'll have more because many of them will have played and been in the system for another year. ... If it weren't for COVID, those guys would be the starters this year." 

In early offseason conversations with those returning starters, ones in which they weighed pursuing careers in professional football or coming back to school, Borbley promised nothing. They all earned their starting jobs back - at least to this juncture - but it took renewed effort and focus from them and pressure from the back ups has helped motivate them to continue improving. 

"The guys in this second group, they're really pressing," Borbley said. "They're pushing the starters to up their games."

Pitt's lucky to be in this situation, quite frankly. Sometimes, returning so much talent can make young players antsy and it can make the transfer portal  Good news for the team is not always good news for the development of a player. But redshirt junior Matt Goncalves, another one of those reserves pushing for snaps, said he wasn't let down upon seeing the prospects of playing time diminish.

"I would have done the same thing if I could have," he said. "We're brothers and I love every single one of them and I had no problem with it."

Leading that group of second-team standouts is redshirt sophomore Branson Taylor, a hulking 6'5 wall of a tackle that has earned praise from coaches and teammates alike, especially after dropping 10 pounds to get lighter on his feet. 

"He's a humongous kid, but the best part about him is his feet," super senior center Owen Drexel said. "He's a great athlete."

6'7, 335-pound Ryan Baer has also caught Borbley's eye by combining brawn with brains. 

"[Bear] is a big strong guy for sure, but he's extremely smart too," Borbley said. "In the spring, he was kind of measuring things. He wasn't quite sure. He's not measuring blocks anymore, just going after people. The other day I told him 'I need you to play with more of an edge,' and he did that."

Elsewhere, Ohio State transfer Ryan Jacoby has taken the biggest leap, according to Borbley and redshirt freshman Terrance Moore is shaping up to be the heir apparent to Drexel at center. 

"The longer he plays, the better he'll get," Drexel said. "Hes going to be a tremendous football player."

Borbely even said there's even an open competition for one starting spot. 

"[Blake] Zubovic and [Jake] Kradel over there, I'm kind of rolling those two in as starters every other day," he said.

When last year's starters decided to return, Borbley told them nothing was guaranteed and that if they wanted to retain their starting jobs, they needed to be still better than they were in 2021. 

"When they came back I told them, 'You can't be the same players you were last year, because it won't be good enough,'" Borbley said. "That second group is helping with that."

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