Following Thursday’s practice, Pitt offensive line coach Dave Borbely addressed the media. See what he had to say.
What’s your trust level in Carter Warren?
DB: He’s going against some pretty good players here everyday, so right now he has a few things to clean up, but right now he’s doing a great job, but how he’ll perform with 40,000 people in there at night against a different colored jersey - we’ll see, but there’s only one way to get experience and that’s to play. I have a lot of confidence in him and I’ve got a lot of confidence in Carson Van Lynn and really, frankly Carson’s pushing him for that job.
What has Carter shown you in the spring and now that you have him on the first team?
DB: I would have to go back a little further than that to really answer it and that is he was really a mistake player. I couldn’t get him going in the right direction consistently and we do some developmental scrimmages with those young kids after practice and we did that all fall and you could see him starting to come on and that stuff really helped him a lot and when we hit spring ball he was like a whole different player. I’ve said it to those guys since I’ve got there and I said it in my room, he has the most natural ability, not only as a left tackle, but as a linemen he has more ability, raw ability than anyone in the building. And it was a matter of him deciding to me being up his ass enough and him deciding to do it and that’s starting to take hold.
Raw ability, like anyone on the team, not just offensive linemen?
DB: Well I mean he’s 320 pounds, he’s explosive and he’s got great feet and he’s got great initial quickness. So I mean he can change directions, he can run - yea he’s pretty damn good.
You mentioned Carson van Lynn, what does he do well?
DB: Well Carson is really kind of a multi-position player - he can play right and left and I think Carter can too, but Carson is the same type of athlete and maybe just a touch slower, but not much. But Carson Van Lynn has great length and great feet and he understands what we’re doing and he’s pushing the position for sure.
Is there anyone else in that second or third group that’s pushing that first group?
DB: I think Jake Kradel is a guy you have to mention there, I think Brandon Ford is a guy you’ve got to mention. I think Nolan Ulizio is doing a really good job at right tackle. Jerry Drake has improved immensely and I don’t really know if he’ pushing him. But Jerry Drake and I’ve got a lot of confidence in Jerry from an assignment standpoint and a mental standpoint, we’ve just got to clean some things up with him physically. Chase Brown has improved a ton. So all of those kids are fighting for spots really, but I would say the biggest battle to me would be Caron and then Kradel either as a center or as a guard and I’ve had to train him at both because I need three centers.
Speaking of multi-positions, it looks like Gabe (Houy) was at right tackle last year and he looks to be at guard this year…
DB: Yea, I moved Gabe. Last year for us in practice he played right tackle, left tackle, and right guard. I put him at right guard in practice really looking toward this year. Now before we got Ulizio I thought he would be the right tackle, but Nolan’s done a nice job and I like how Gabe is playing in there. He’s smart, he’s extremely tough and he does everything right, so I like what he brings me in there.
With this being your second year here, how much more well-entrenched are your players with what you want to teach them?
DB: We’ve tried to develop a certain culture in that room and of trust, discipline, pride, and mental toughness and grit, toughness, consistent preparation and the kids have really bought in. The seniors that we had up there last year really bought in, and these kids have too. When we hit spring ball this year, day one I felt like it was December. They were completely locked-in, so they get it, they understand - they completely understand it.
How are the two true freshmen adjusting?
DB: Both of those kids are doing a good job. Liam Dick has really played left tackle his entire life. I moved him to the right. He struggled there a little bit at first, but he’s starting to figure it out and when you do everything left-handed for so long and going right-handed is a foreign deal, but he’s figuring that out. I wanted to look at (Matthew) Goncalces on the left and I really like him. Both of those kids just need to learn how to play more with better effort, but from a mental standpoint and technical standpoint, both of them are doing a really good job in terms of trying to pick things up and make it right.
