MORE HEADLINES - Mailbag: 8/19/2017 - Discussing Pitt football, recruiting and more | Slideshow: Photos from last week's practices | Camp Report: Leadership, learning and more as Pitt finishes Week Three | Free interview: Pitt OC Shawn Watson on the QBs, the TEs, the offense and more | PODCAST: Is there growing optimism about Pitt's offense?

Defensive line coach Charlie Partridge has been impressed with his position group in camp, and he broke down what he sees in the players - for now and the future.

HOW’S YOUR GROUP BEEN THROUGH THREE WEEKS?
PARTRIDGE: Good. I’m really excited about the development. Obviously inside we’ve got a lot more youth in there, so their development is critical. Keyshon Cmap has had a really, really good spring. Jaylen Twyman, as a true freshman, has shown signs of maybe being able to help us this year. We’ll see how he grows. Kam Carter - really, it’s a matter of consistency with him; there are days when he practices like a starter and there are days that he’s not quite there yet. So if we can get him consistent, then we’ll be really excited.

What’s been a nice surprise - I saw it coming in the spring and he’s carried it over - is Shane Roy. He’s really, really having a great camp and if we were playing a game right now, he’d be one of our starters. So I’m excited to see that continue to grow.

HIM AND KEYSHON, PROBABLY?
PARTRIDGE: Yeah, it depends on the day. You’re looking at Keyshon, obviously. You’ve got Amir Watts in the mix. The fun thing is, we’re building some depth. I feel like we can win ball games with some combination of Watts, maybe Kam Carter, definitely Roy, Keyshon for sure; so we have a good number of four, maybe five guys that we’re going to use them all. I’m not going to leave a guy out there for 70 plays. It’s going to be a team effort in there, for sure.

CAN ALL OF THOSE GUYS PLAY BOTH SPOTS?
PARTRIDGE: As far as tackle and nose? Absolutely. It’s no problem.

WITH KAM, WHEN YOU GET A GUY WHO WAS AT JUCO, WERE THERE TECHNIQUE THINGS THAT HAD TO BE WORKED OUT? WHAT WAS THE LEARNING CURVE?
PARTRIDGE: The biggest thing was being consistent and applying that technique play after play after play. When you’re fighting for a starting job at this level and the higher levels, you know that the talent equalizes, so if you’re not consistent, you could get embarrassed on any given play.

IS IT TOUGHER ON YOU BECAUSE THE GUYS ARE SO YOUNG?
PARTRIDGE: No. I love it. You take what you get and you control the controllables. The good thing is, they’ve really approached things in a very mature fashion, and they know we have to get better every single day. I’ve seen improvement from the majority of the guys all across the board, so that gives us a chance to be ready when we take the field against Youngstown State.

DO YOU SEE INTERIOR LINEMEN WHO CAN GET INTO THE BACKFIELD AND RUSH THE PASSER?
PARTRIDGE: I do, and obviously you know we’ve got certain things on third down when we know it’s going to be pass and we can mix things up and put different guys on the field. But all of those guys, at times in different ways, show that they can get to the quarterback.

WE’VE TALKED ABOUT THE TACKLES, BUT WHAT DO YOU SEE FROM THE DEFENSIVE ENDS?
PARTRIDGE: I’m excited about both groups but you can feel some maturity with that group. Dewayne Hendrix hasn’t played a lot because of injury; you can feel his maturity and he’s a gifted young man. If we can keep him healthy and keep him progressing, he’s got a chance to be a real force for us. So we’re excited about him. Allen Edwards has had a great summer camp. He’s really added to his game, both pass rush and in the run game. Patrick Jones has come on. Rashad Weaver has really come along. Folston - all of those guys are really showing that they can make a contribution. Jimmy Medure, we move from linebacker to d-end, who’s shown he can be a force on third down at times, so we have to find a role for him because he’s proven that he can be an impact guy.

ON THIRD DOWN, WOULD IT BE JIMMY STEPPING IN FOR FOLSTON IN THE DELTA PACKAGE?
PARTRIDGE: We’re still working our way through and they’re still fighting for that starting job. Fotunatley, we have a couple weeks until the starting lineup gets determined. Right now, it changes every single day and that’s a good thing, because one guy’s beating out the other and then the next guy comes back and competition breeds excellence.

WHO’S TAKING UP THE LEADERSHIP BATON?
PARTRIDGE: Allen Edwards - a lot by example, just in how hard he works. Some of those younger guys are just trying to figure out how to do it. Dewayne Hendrix, everyone respects the way he approaches the game. Those are some of the guys that jump out.

DEWAYNE AND ALLEN, COMING OFF THE BUS, LOOK LIKE A MILLION BUCKS; ARE THE FUNDAMENTALS, TECHNIQUE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE DEFENSE CATCHING UP TO THAT?
PARTRIDGE: It is. And - relative to how they look, I’ll let you guys judge that - but the thing I’m seeing is improvement every single day and it’s fun to see. The little things, they’re now really starting to appreciate: stepping consistent, bringing my hands a certain way, how do I respond in pass rush - they’re doing things they weren’t doing six months ago and it’s fun to see all of them develop.

WHEN YOU WERE HERE BEFORE, YOU HAD A DEFENSIVE SYSTEM WITHOUT MUCH BLITZING; IT WAS ALL EXPECTED TO HAPPEN UP FRONT. IS THAT WHAT A D-LINE COACH WANTS - TO SAY TO THE COORDINATOR, ‘DON’T WORRY ABOUT BLITZING’?
PARTRIDGE: Honestly, I’ve had a lot of fun learning this system, because how hard we will strain to get a blitz that we believe can be successful is fun. It’s been a blast for me. We also like where we keep four D-linemen on the field and let them go to work. As our D-line proves that we can do that, then we’re going to tweak how we attack. So it’s kind of up to our guys to determine how much we need to blitz, because obviously a four-man pass rush, that opens up what you can do on the back end in coverage.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO ROTATE A LOT ON THE D-LINE?
PARTRIDGE: Absolutely. You need to have a minimum of four D-tackles, a minimum of four D-ends playing every game. If you don’t do that, you’re going to be in trouble in October and certainly at the end of each given game or even a given drive.

IF YOU HAD A GAME TOMORROW, WOULD YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE COMFORTABLE WITH FOUR AT EACH SPOT?
PARTRIDGE: Yeah, I do. Maybe even more. I feel like we have at least five, maybe six D-ends. Four, maybe five D-tackles that can play some amount of winning football. How much - that’s what we’re figuring out.

WHAT ABOUT THE RUN; HOW ARE THOSE GUYS DOING THERE, BECAUSE THERE ARE A LOT OF ASSIGNMENTS, RIGHT?
PARTRIDGE: There are. They’re learning the hard lessons that young guys learn inside. You know, you step out of place by a few inches and a play can pop on you. We need to make sure that we’re giving clear pictures to the ‘backers behind us. Those are the growing pains that we’re going through. We’re not there yet but we’re making strides every day.

IS PART OF THE EXCITEMENT OF HAVING YOUNG PLAYERS THAT YOU CAN THINK ABOUT NOW AND THE FUTURE AS WELL?
PARTRIDGE: Yeah. And seeing how they approach each day - they’re really maturing in that approach. And you think about what they can become in three years, this could be potentially, if we stay on track and don’t have any distractions, this could be one of the better D-lines that Pitt’s had.

YOU MENTIONED TWYMAN; WHAT HAS STOOD OUT ABOUT HIM?
PARTRIDGE: He approaches things in such a mature fashion. He asks questions like a grown man would ask. Next-level questions. Always extra film. We give them one or two fundamentals a day to focus on, and he’s able to do that. A lot of freshmen - ‘Yeah, I’ll focus on that tomorrow,’ and they get out here and just try to play hard and get out of whack because of it. He’s very mature in his approach and he’s improving fast because of it. And that’s what gives him a chance as you look forward, where he may be in the mix in two weeks, maybe it’s three or four weeks; we’ll see how it goes.