Kaymar Mimes walked off the practice field on Tuesday covered in sweat. He stayed after practice with fellow tight end Will Gregg to do some extra running with tight ends coach Tim Salem looking on and encouraging the two players.

Mimes walked over to the podium set up in the end zone of Pitt’s indoor practice facility and looked exhausted. He should be, the redshirt was working double duty as he started to get some reps as a defensive end.

It might just be an experiment for now, because it seems like he has a lot to learn on the defensive side of the ball.

“We got Kaymar Mimes, as well, a little defense today,” said Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi. “He hit the quarterback and he wasn’t supposed to, but he didn’t know any better.”

Mimes couldn’t help but smile about that incident. “He just said, ‘hey listen if they got a red jersey stay away from him.' I wasn’t really trying to do anything crazy,” he said. “I just I don’t know when I get on defense, I’m a nice guy, but it turns real quick.”

Perhaps then defense should be his calling. After all, his older brother Shilique Calhoun was a star defensive linemen under Narduzzi at Michigan State and is currently with the Oakland Raiders.

“I haven’t talked to him yet,” Mimes said about playing some defense. “But I’m sure when I tell him he’ll be like, ‘Yea, yea let’s go crazy, go crazy.”

So will the move be permanent? It’s hard to say at this point. On Tuesday Narduzzi noted he was about 50-50 in terms of his reps split between his two spots.

“He hit the quarterback today, so he got a sack, and a couple of receptions.”

Narduzzi added, ”We’re a little low on DE’s right now, not that anybody’s hurt, just getting guys reps. So he’ll probably be back at tight end, he played tight end and D-End today, so he did both. Just trying to get our best out there and getting guys work.”

For Mimes’ part, he’s up for playing whatever as long as it gets him on the field faster. “Honestly, I’ll do whatever it takes to help the team, whatever they want me to play, I’ll play,” he said.

This shuffling has been ongoing since his days in high school. The New Jersey native played both in high school, but was recruited to be a defensive end by most schools.

Mimes was almost immediately placed in the tight end room when he arrived at Pitt following offseason departures by Chris Clark and Charles Reeves left the position a bit understocked.

“It’s been going pretty well,” Mimes said of playing defense. “It’s a little different but I did play a little defensive end in high school but coming here I was mainly tight end. It’s a little different, but I like it - it’s fun.”

When asked if he had a preference, Mimes responded, “No, whichever one gets me on the field man, whichever helps me help out the team that’s the one I like the most honestly.”

Mimes thinks by playing both now, it may help him in the long run wherever he lands full-time.

“Just knowing what you got to do helps you move faster and the more you know the faster you’ll be able to play, so the faster you’ll be able to handle business.”

Perhaps the biggest change between tight end and defensive end is the coaching. Tim Salem is known as one of the more energetic coaches on the team, while defensive line coach Charlie Partridge may be a bit more relaxed, at least compared to Salem.

“Hey we don’t call him Timmy turbo for a reason,” Mimes laughed. “I didn’t know that until I came here.”

He added, “He’s got a lot of energy and it kind of reflects off us as players.”