DeShields and the Pitt defense gear up for a 'familiar' challenge
The Cincinnati offense lit up the scoreboard in a week one beatdown over Eastern Kentucky. The Bearcats torched the Colonels 66-13 and posted 667 yards of total offense along the way. Those gaudy stats came at the expense of an FCS opponent, but nonetheless the Bearcats showed they at least have a few playmakers and the Pitt defense will be tasked with slowing them down on Saturday for a 6:30 kick at Acrisure Stadium.
“They’ve got a quarterback that can sling it and run it, some talented guys on the perimeter, so their passing game will be something we have to prepare for, for sure,” Pitt linebackers coach Ryan Manalac told reporters on Tuesday of this week.
He is right, it will all start with the quarterback for this Cincinnati team.
Emory Jones accounted for seven touchdowns last week and has plenty of experience at the FBS level. He threw for 2,700 yards and rushed for over 700 in 2021 as the Florida starting quarterback. Jones made a stop at Arizona State last year before finding a home with the Bearcats in his final season.
The Cincinnati quarterback has mobility and can escape from the pocket, something the Pitt defense is aware of heading into this showdown.
“It’s a big weapon for them,” Pitt linebacker Solomon DeShields said of Jones’ running ability. “We’ve just got to keep contain on the quarterback, stay in our blitz paths, and play aggressive and just create havoc in the backfield and get to the quarterback.”
Pitt has never faced off against Jones personally and the last team meeting against Cincinnati was way back in 2012, but there is a sense of familiarity surrounding this game. The Bearcats lost head coach Luke Fickell to Wisconsin last year, but replaced him with former Louisville coach Scott Satterfield.
Pitt has faced Satterfield-led Louisville squads in the 2020 and 2022 seasons and the team has acknowledged seeing similarities in how Cincinnati played in week one and how Louisville played under Satterfield.
Satterfield’s Louisville tenure will always be tied to Malik Cunningham, his starting quarterback during his time with the Cardinals. Cunningham finished his career ranked top-five in Louisville history in passing yards, rushing yards, passing touchdowns, and rushing touchdowns and was one of the more dynamic quarterbacks in the ACC in recent years. Jones’ running capability at least reminds Pitt of what they faced when they took on Cunningham twice in the past three years.
“You can certainly see how Emory fits with what Coach Satterfield has done in the past with athletic quarterbacks,” Manalac said. “So he has that ability to run, they’ve shown draw, they’ve shown the option, he can scramble, so those elements are there. But he also has a live arm, so I think that ingredient makes him a dynamic quarterback.”
Pitt did lose that game to Satterfield and the Cardinals a season ago, though the Panthers did a nice job of containing Cunningham overall, limiting him to 122 passing yards and 46 on the ground. Having that experience, and even some success against this scheme in the past gives the Pitt defense a starting point on how to defend Jones and the Bearcats on Saturday.
“It’s just knowing your job and knowing what the other guys are doing,” DeShields explained. “You don’t ever want to do somebody else’s job and not do yours.”
DeShields is actually quite eager to do his own job. For the first time in his four seasons with the program, the New Jersey native won a starting role out of training camp and made his first career start last week against Wofford.
He recorded two tackles, one for loss, in the team’s dominant 45-7 win. DeShields and the Pitt starters limited Wofford to under 60 yards of total offense, before the Terriers grabbed a late touchdown against the reserves.
DeShields has playing experience, appearing in 26 games over the last two seasons, but it has mostly come in Pitt’s third down package. He is excited to finally be out there for all three downs now.
“It felt good to finally be out there on base, not just on delta,” said DeShields. “I could finally learn and show different moves and get a different perspective on the game.”