Offense is what everyone notices. It’s always the focus of stories. Especially in the spring practices where contact is more limited, so it is easier for the skill positions to stand out.

It doesn’t feel this way for this spring. Even with all eyes on Chad Voytik. Even with the annual angst concerning the O-line. No, the questions, concerns issues of depth all seem to be on the defense.

It’s replacing the irreplaceable Aaron Donald. It’s the half the DBs being new starters. It’s the questions at the defensive end spots. And without any obvious stud players coming in this fall, it is about seeing who is developing this spring.

We start in the backfield where new secondary coach Troy Douglas has two returning starters, but has to replace Jason Hendricks and K’Wuan Williams.

In the midst of the cornerback competition are three sophomores: Jahmahl Pardner and Clairton graduates Trenton Coles and Titus Howard. At safety, Clairton product Terrish Webb is competing with Ryan Lewis, Jevonte Pitts and Reggie Mitchell. Pitts is Lafayette’s cousin and a fellow Woodland Hills grad; Mitchell transferred from Wisconsin after graduating from Shady Side Academy.

Coles, Howard and Webb played key roles last season as backups; the others have even less experience.

“They’re a little confused on the checks and all the adjustments, and all the motions and shifts the offense is giving us,” Douglas said. “We’ll get there. We have to keep working them and getting them better.”

I feel good about the secondary. I really like the hire of Troy Douglas and there seems to be plenty of potential with the guys vying for the starting jobs.

At Safety there isn’t a huge physical difference between the players. All are 5-11 or 6-0. Mitchell played as a freshman at Wisconsin and had to sit out last year as a transfer. Webb and Lewis both got some playing time last year. Pitts has physical maturity as it has took some time for his academics to be in order to be at Pitt which makes him intriguing for his strength, as he is the heaviest of the group. Best guess is that it comes down to Mitchell or Webb as the starter at Strong Safety and Ryan Lewis will be second on the depth chart behind Ray Vinopal at Free Safety.

The cornerback spot opposite Lafayette Pitts seems wide open. I don’t expect that one to be settled over the spring practices. Coles and Howard are both over 6-0, and probably give them a slight edge over Pardner. Really, Pardner should be playing safety, but there is more depth there than at corner, so he seems to be somewhere in between.

At linebacker, the issue isn’t replacing lots of starters. It has more to do with the depth. Shane Gordon was the only player lost to graduation. Presumably Matt Galambos moves up to grab the Middle Linebacker spot. But there is the curiosity of how Reggie Green fits into the linebackers after moving over to the defensive side of the ball. He has seen work at the weakside spot, but with the lack of overall depth with linebackers he may move around a bit even as he gets a crash course.

Linebacker Anthony Gonzalez sat out today’s practice with another injury that Chryst termed as “day to day.” Bam Bradley filled in for him at the Will linebacker spot, with redshirt freshman Reggie Green stepping into that spot on the second team. It’s weird seeing Green out there at linebacker still wearing No. 87, but he certainly looks like he has the size to play linebacker.

Then there is the place of true terror for Pitt. The entire defensive line. Pick your place to panic. Is it at defensive end where Shakir Soto looks good, but if oft injured Ejuan Price isn’t healthy the other side is a lot weaker. To say nothing — once more — about the depth.

Price is really a player Pitt can’t afford to lose again for an extended period of time. In today’s practice, for instance, the first-team defensive ends were sophomore Shakir Soto (who had a nice play stuffing an inside shovel pass during team drills) and redshirt senior David Durham, which is fine, but the second-teamers were redshirt freshman Luke Maclean and freshman Rori Blair. Blair has actually impressed me with his size this spring, but having a second-team unit with absolutely zero playing experience is bad news. Thus, I expect the Pitt staff will handle Price with bubble-wrap this spring.

Which is part of why most people presume James Connor got some practice time at DE. Necessity more than any desire to risk Connor on the defensive side of the ball is what may force Pitt to play Connor on both sides.

On the interior of the line. Good to have K.K. Mosley-Smith back.

…Mosley-Smith received constant encouragement from his star position-mate Aaron Donald.

“[Aaron was always] telling me how bright my future is, keep doing what I’ve been doing,” Mosley-Smith said.

“It was very hard, but I just knew I had to, being on scout team, help the team out as much as I could. I gave them the best look possible and I felt like I did a good job with that, but I never took a step back.”

Mosley-Smith was expected to be a big part of the defense from the time he signed with Pitt. But has not really had the impact expected. Now he is a redshirt junior and his time is running out. There is no way to replace Aaron Donald with another guy. And to the same extent it could be said as much about Tyrone Ezell at nose tackle. He was obviously overshadowed by Donald, but was solid and consistent.

Former defensive tackle Aaron Donald was at practice today, and Chryst joked that his presence was a nice reminder of what his current group of defensive linemen has to replace next season. I think this is definitely a case where Darryl Render and KK Mosley-Smith are the likely starters, but a lot of guys (including LaQuentin Smith, Tyrique Jarrett, Justin Moody and even Jeremiah Taleni) could see the field this year. Moody, in particular, had a nice play today blowing up Rachid Ibrahim in the backfield on a run play. Chryst agreed that it could be a DL-by-committee approach to some extent, replacing Donald’s “one-man wrecking crew.”

“I thought KK came in spring ball and winter and made a concentrated effort to lose some weight,” Chryst said. “I think he’s moving, he’s playing with an edge to him.

“Tyrique, he’s got to continue to drop some weight. It’s his second spring, and I think he’s approaching it the right way. Darryl’s had enough snaps now to kind of be able to draw on those experiences. Justin flashes and does some really good things, but absolutely [it’ll be a group effort].”

The pressure is on the defensive coaching staff to show that they can develop the players. High recruiting rankings don’t matter so much if the players develop and are well coached. But they sure do become obvious when that part breaks down.