Partridge, players excited to see what Pitt's DL does in 2017

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Losing every starter and returning very little career production can inspire fear or hope.

With its defensive line, where that scenario is playing out this season, Pitt is hoping for the latter.

“It’s going to be interesting to see what happens because a lot of guys haven’t played a lot of football yet,” redshirt junior defensive tackle Shane Roy said Tuesday. “I’m expecting us to be real disruptive, though; I’m excited to see what we can do. I think we’re going to get to the quarterback and I think we’re going to stop the run. I’m excited. It should be a fun season.”

Roy is a redshirt junior whose 11 career games played aren’t much, but they are near the top of the list among the players up front. Redshirt junior end James Folston has played in 17 games and redshirt senior end Allen Edwards has played in 11, while sophomore tackle Amir Watts played in seven games last season.

Beyond that, there’s not much experience, and those four players have combined for five career starts (and two career sacks). But new defensive line coach Charlie Partridge isn’t nearly as concerned with experience as he is with ceiling - and he thinks this year’s group has a high one.

“I really do, and I think you’re going to see a group that develops, that continues to develop through the year,” Partridge said Tuesday. “We’re going to be far from a finished product when we take the field in September. Hopefully, we’re a completely different defensive line moving forward every month. But I’m excited about where they’ve come; they’ve come a long way since I arrived and I’m proud of them for that.”

The current expectation is for Pitt’s starting defensive line to be Edwards and redshirt junior Dewayne Hendrix at end, with Watts and redshirt freshman Keyshon Camp at tackle (redshirt sophomore Kam Carter will also be in the mix there). This defensive line may be inexperienced, but there appears to be significant talent. Hendrix, Watts and Carter were four-star prospects and Camp and Weaver were recruited on a national level. The key is turning that potential into production and doing it relatively quickly.

Edwards thinks that Partridge, the newest addition to Pitt’s coaching staff, will help with that.

“It’s been great; he taught us a lot,” Edwards said. “Our intelligence is what really helps a lot with the details of the defense. Coach Partridge is a really intelligent coach, so it really helped our play with what to expect and what not to expect.”

Edwards added that the coaching from Partridge has greatly improved his own fundamentals.

“Dramatically. Dramatically. My bend around the corner has improved. I feel like I’m not the same guy from last year at all. When I watch last year’s film, I can’t believe I did this, I can’t believe I was in that stance, I can’t believe - yeah, I really don’t like watching it, but I watch it just to see the difference.”

Partridge agreed about what he has seen from Edwards.

“Allen Edwards is a completely different player right now. Rashad Weaver is starting to explode. Folston is doing some good things. Dewayne Hendrix is doing what we hoped and expected him to do. Inside, we have some other guys developing around. You know, you have Amir Watts and Camp and Kam Carter has come in and kept himself in a good place. I’m excited about Rashad Wheeler coming out of his redshirt year and doing some nice things. And Shane Roy looks completely different than he did.

“So you’re looking at four or five guys inside and outside that can contribute, and that’s going to help the development of all those guys going forward. It’s going to keep the pressure on everybody, too, because we’re going to play the best players on any given week, and since we’re not near that ceiling, they all understand that - that the starting lineup is going to be the guys performing the best.”