Goncalves to miss the remainder of 2023 season
Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi confirmed during his Monday press conference that senior left tackle and captain Matt Goncalves will miss the remainder of the 2023 season with an injury. Goncalves left the West Virginia game and did not return and did not play in Pitt’s game against North Carolina over the weekend.
The season-ending injury to Goncalves is the second one Pitt has sustained on the offensive line this year. Projected starting left guard Ryan Jacoby was lost for the season prior to the opener against Wofford during training camp.
The injury bug has started to bite Pitt a lot this season on the offensive line. Pitt has used four different starting combinations in all four games this season. Senior center Jake Kradel missed last week’s game, though it sounds like he will not miss the entire season and could return the lineup this weekend.
The injury to Goncalves means Pitt’s starting tackles moving forward will be Branson Taylor and highly-touted redshirt freshman Ryan Baer. Taylor opened the season at right tackle, but moved to the left side last week against North Carolina. Baer made his first career start against the Tar Heels.
Goncalves was expected to be Pitt’s best offensive player this season. The fifth-year senior entered this year with 21 career starts. He was a Freshman All-American in 2020 and was a third team All-ACC pick in 2022 after starting all 13 games. He was the only Pitt player to be named a preseason all-conference selection entering this season.
Goncalves came to Pitt with little fanfare in the class of 2019. Pitt was the only power-five school to offer the little-known prospect from Long Island. He quickly became a valuable backup in his second year and then in 2021 he was a key part that helped Pitt win an ACC title, as he started five games that year, including the ACC Championship game against Wake Forest.
The injury to Goncalves marks the second straight season Pitt has lost its best linemen and starting left tackle during the year. In 2022, Carter Warren went down after only playing in four games. Warren still went on to be drafted in the fourth round by the New York Jets in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Goncalves is on his fifth year, but since he played during the 2020 season he would have the option to return to Pitt for 2024 using the free year granted by the NCAA because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It remains to be seen what his intentions are because Goncalves entered the year with NFL aspirations and could work towards a professional future rather than returning for a sixth year.