The 2022 Pitt football team is a veteran group with plenty of returning starters and loud voices within the locker room. Ahead of the team’s practice last Friday, however, it was true freshman Ryan Baer that was standing in the middle of his teammates addressing everyone and getting them ready for the day.
Baer, a towering 6’7” and 335-pound lineman has been getting positive reviews throughout camp. He was one of two true freshmen, along with Samuel Okunlola, voted onto the team’s eagle council, which is comprised of team leaders from every class on the team.
Baer’s physical presence certainly sticks out for a young player and that is how he prefers it. The Ohio native is not big on talking, but still answered the call before last Friday’s practice.
“I’m not a big talker,” Baer told reporters following practice on Friday. “It was a little nervous for me and I was very nervous, but I spent all day in meetings just thinking about what I was going to say, not going to lie. I got voted in by everyone on the team as an eagle, which I’m grateful for that but talking is not my favorite.”
Baer may still be working on that approach as a leader for a freshman, but his upperclassmen teammates see that trait in the highly-touted freshman.
“I think even though he might not have it yet, he’s going to be a leader one day,” senior lineman Marcus Minor said of Baer. “Just because we have so many leaders now, I can see he’s ready to take on up front. His power when he plays, he’s aggressive, so he’s going to be a monster when he gets his chance. So whenever you see, just wait for him.”
The play on the field has been doing most of the talking early on in Baer’s career. The former four-star recruit enrolled in January and has been mentioned by coaches and players alike as a young player that is sticking out for his play both in spring ball and that hype has now extended into training camp.
Baer is working behind veteran Carter Warren at left tackle, and has been mentioned in the conversation for potentially getting on the two-deep depth chart this season in a loaded offensive line room, which returns seven players with starting experience.
“He’s a big, strong guy for sure,” offensive line coach Dave Borbely said of his freshman lineman. “But he’s extremely smart. In the spring he was kind of measuring things, he wasn’t quite sure and he’s not measuring blocks anymore, he’s going after people.”
Baer isn’t discouraged by the amount of veteran offensive linemen ahead of him right now, but is rather appreciative of everything he is learning from those players.
“During camp I just want to get better every day,” he explained. "There’s a lot of stuff I have to work on and there’s a lot of old guys in front of me which I can learn from. Learning from them I feel like that has helped my growth tremendously. Learning from Borbs who is a vet in the game and he knows so much and that has helped me out, but I’m just trying to work on one thing every day to get better at.”
The strength of Pitt’s offensive line this season is certainly built around the veteran presence the group has, but there is a lot of potential from the second group on according to Borbely, and Baer has a real chance to make an even bigger mark on the program next season.
“I mean when you think about it my second group should be my starters this year,” Borbely said. “I have a lot of confidence in that group and certainly by next year I’ll have even more because many of them will have played and been in the system for another year and that group is doing a fantastic job. If it wasn’t for COVID, those guys would be the starters this year.”
