In a previous article we discussed the changes in the overall culture of the football program, along with the specific changes we’ll see on offense.

Today we’ll discuss the defensive changes that PITT will face. While we addressed the fact that the offense lost 50% or so of its starting lineup, the same isn’t true of our defensive starters returning.

We did lose three senior starters to graduation (we hope they graduated at least) in Jabaal Sheard, Greg Romeus and Dom DeCicco.  Sheard had nine sacks and DeCicco led the team in tackles with 94 and in INTs also.  Romeus was injured in 2010 but was a preseason All-American prior to that and a very good player.  So, three darn good players gone but this happens every year in college football, to every team.

Part of this loss will be compensated by one player who really stepped up and shined last year, Brandon Lindsay at DE.  He led the team in sacks with 10 and tackles for losses (TFLs) with 17.5.  He seemed to be all over the backfield and we anticipate he’ll excel again this season.

We won’t have to worry too much about DeCicco’s replacement either I believe.  While he was steady had a real nose for the ball we have some players at Safety already who have stood out with their play.  Jarred Holley has a full year of starting under his belt and is a very good player for us.  Jason Hendricks started five games and can step in.  Andrew Taglianetti is back in that safety position also and can do just about everything that needs to be done.  Kolby Gray and Brandon Ifill have been moved over to Safety to provide depth.  I don’t worry about the Safety position at all.

Ricky Gary is gone so our defensive backs will see some new faces with Antwuan Reed, K’Waun Williams, Buddy Jackson and Saheed Imoru battling for two starting spots.  Reed started last year but it is believed that each of these kids have a chance to grab the positions. Buddy Jackson is probably the most physically talented of the four but he seems to fall short each year, maybe this season will be different for him.  Graham has talked a lot about a walk-on we have – Jeremiah Davis and he’s done well in the spring camp so far, but he’s a reach for starting.  I think K’Wuan Williams may be a very good one for us this season.

Those are the apparent replacements for ‘The Departed’.  But wait, there’s more…  As Graham is instituting a new offensive system he states he’ll institute a new defensive system also.

PITT will mostly run a 3-4-4 defense, dropping a DL down to LB in the form of the “Panther” position, which is essentially a DE who has moved back from the LOS and can slide back up to the DE and into a stance when the situation dictates.  That will be Brandon Lindsey or Bryan Murphy.  Lindsey will get the start and he’ll be perfect for that role based on what we saw last year.

Defensive Coordinator Keith Patterson has been quoted in The Pitt News as saying:

“It’s a linebacker-friendly defense. We’re always going to force the issue,” he said. “It’s a fun style because it’s an attacking style of defense. We’re going to dictate the play to the offense.”

However, the article also makes a good, but disturbing, point:

“Yet Panther fans still might see some shadows of the Wannstedt and Bennett era, as Graham and his team view the former Pitt coaches as mentors.  “Coach Patterson and I started off as high school football coaches, sitting in a room and listening to Phil Bennett and Dave Wannstedt talk defense,” Graham said. “There are a lot of similarities to what we do as far as coverages and schematics.”

Oy vey.  Not more of the ‘This is how my mentor did it, and if it was good enough for him…’ crap we hope.  Let’s pray Patterson has his own ideas and puts them into action.

The idea of a “LB friendly” defense is where we may see the changes in personnel the most, without attrition that is.  We have all three starters and more traditional LBs returning from 2010; Max Gruder, Greg Williams and Tristan Roberts. Not a rock solid unit by any means and it wouldn’t be surprising to see any one, or more, of these LBs overtaken by other players who Graham and Patterson want out on the field.  Remember, this defense is to be predicated on an attacking style using speed, speed and more speed and we have some pretty quick kids waiting in the wings.

Two young players who were in the 2010 two-deep and saw some playing time in 2010 were Shane Gordon and Carl Fleming, who was a very good RB in HS in the DC area.  Both have nice size and speed to fit the LB mold Graham envisions.  They have been singled out, repeatedly, for praise by the staff this camp and are getting snaps to show what they can do.  Kevin Adams, a converted FB, has been mentioned also by Graham as doing well in his switch to LB.  Those three players may make some noise in the camps and it wouldn’t be shocking to see one slide up into a starter’s role.

However, Graham also recruited some speed at LB, most notably Nicholas Grisby, a Rivals.com (who I think grades more strictly than Scout.com does)  4-star out of Ohio who runs w 4.5 40 yard dash.  Along with Grisby we have LaQuentin Smith coming in.  Smith is a 3-star recruit out of Orlando, FL who had 78 tackles, seven TFLs and two INTs as a senior in HS.  Both of these kids can play football and while it is hard for a true freshman to grab a starting position with just summer training camp to show their stuff, stranger things have happened.  It will all depend on what Graham sees in them compared to our returning players.

Another player all of us are hoping we’ll see on the field at LB this season is Dan Mason who suffered a horrendous dislocation of the knee in his third game last year.  Mason is a good LB and perhaps the best we have, but two things remain to be seen with him.  First is if he can physically suit up and actually play this year and that isn’t a given, even though he doesn’t have to have a third surgery, which was wonderful news for him.  The second is if he can regain those great physical attributes he had before his injury.  That is the key.

Something to remember here is that Todd Graham is not wedded to any of the returning players as we have seen from our previous HC.  Graham has stated very clearly that his goal is to put the best possible players on the field regardless if they were starters previously.  That said; the chances are in most cases that the returning starters will be the best players, especially when you factor in their gameday experience.

Because of this and even though Mason is a real fan favorite, he’s going to have to show Graham and Coach Patterson that he’s the one to start in 2010 by his progress and production in camp, not on his reputation or past play.  He could do it, every PITT fan hopes he will, but you have to think the chips are stacked against him as a starter in the opening game at this point.