Pitt camp preview: The five key players

There are a lot of ways to qualify “important” when it comes to singling out players on a football team. Does that mean the players who are most valuable due to their ability? Most valuable due to the shaky depth situation behind them? Or simply the players who occupy the most important positions, thus making them important by extension?

The Pitt coaches would tell you that there are a lot of key players on the 2016 team, from the starting quarterback to the backup gunner on the punt team. But if it’s boiled down to a small group, there are five players who stand out from the rest for a variety of reasons.

As such, here are Panther-Lair.com’s five most important players heading into training camp. This list isn’t meant to be exclusive; there are certainly important players who exist outside of these five. But here are the players who stand out on a number of levels.

NATHAN PETERMAN
Just because Peterman is the obvious answer doesn’t mean he’s the wrong answer. There are few players on the team who can legitimately say they could be the difference between six and eight wins; Peterman is one of them, and he might have the strongest case for that responsibility.

The best word for Peterman’s 2015 season was “efficient,” at least until the last two games when he threw four interceptions. But prior to that, the transfer from Tennessee did a good job taking care of the ball, with just four picks in 11 games - three picks in his nine starts prior to the regular-season finale.

Efficiency is a good place for Peterman to start in 2016, but it’s not enough. Pitt’s offense will be built around a stout run game, and under ideal circumstances, that will open up opportunities for the passing attack. Peterman needs to be able to take advantage of those opportunities, even with an inexperienced receiving corps. If he can make that work - and maybe top 200 passing yards in more than five of his starts, which is where he topped out last year - then Pitt’s offense should be a challenge for most defenses the Panthers’ will face.

And then there’s the depth issue. Pitt’s situation at backup quarterback has been well-documented, but it boils down to a redshirt senior walk-on who played receiver last year, a redshirt freshman and a true freshman. There may be talent in that group, but it is entirely unknown - and coaches hate the unknown.

Peterman needs to be two things in 2016: effective and healthy. Pitt’s success may depend on it.

JORDAN WHITEHEAD
Like Peterman, Whitehead is obvious. And as with Peterman, that doesn’t make Whitehead a wrong answer for the question of important players. Expectations were high for Whitehead entering his freshman year at Pitt, and the four-star prospect out of Central Valley exceeded them. He was in the starting lineup by the second game and led Pitt in tackles after recording at least five tackles in 11 games and topping double-digit tackles six times.

And Whitehead’s tackles weren’t empty stops. As the strong safety in Pat Narduzzi’s scheme, he played a key role in Pitt’s run defense, and his advanced development was evidence by the fact that the coaching staff trusted him with that job. And while Whitehead initially projected as a cornerback out of high school, he could have - and did have - a much bigger impact on the defense from the boundary safety position.

For this season, Whitehead will be expected to be even better. Despite offseason knee surgery, he enters 2016 as one of the ACC’s top three safeties, and with a better understanding of his position and the defense, he should be able to make more impact plays and be even more of a presence in the back end of the defense as well as closer to the line of scrimmage in run support.

Quite frankly, Pitt doesn’t have another player like Whitehead on defense, at least not among the returning players. His standout talent combined with the significance of his position makes him one of the most indispensable players on the team. The coaching staff will have to get creative in finding ways to generate a pass rush, and a lot of that will rely on being stout against the run; Whitehead will have a big role in locking down that part of the defensive attack.

DEWAYNE HENDRIX
Hendrix hasn’t played a down for Pitt, but his involvement this season could be critical. A former four-star recruit who played as a freshman at Tennessee in 2014 before sitting out last year following his transfer to Pitt, Hendrix impressed everyone on the scout team last fall and carried that over to spring camp.

The importance of Hendrix stems from the expectations most people around the program have of him. He is viewed as a starting defensive end who can get pressure on the quarterback and positively impact Pitt’s pass rush, and that’s of paramount importance because the Panthers need someone to step up in that regard.

In 2015, Pitt nearly doubled the previous year’s sack totals, jumping from 19 in 2014 to 37. Much of that increase was due to Ejuan Price, who put up 11.5 sacks (as well as linebackers Matt Galambos and Mike Caprara, who combined for 10). Price’s sacks largely came in bunches - nine of the 11.5 came in three games and he had seven games with zero sacks - but he was still a presence for opposing offenses to consider.

To truly take the next step as a defense, though, the Pitt coaches believe they need more. Price may or may not meet the sack total he put up last season; either way, the Panthers need someone else to contribute. Outside of Price, the entire defensive line last season combined to record seven sacks last season; that’s an unconscionably low total, and improving on that number will be a responsibility that gets tasked to multiple players. And that’s where Hendrix comes in.

Perhaps more than any other defensive lineman, Hendrix is expected to complement - if not surpass - Price’s contributions. He’s the main focus, and he could very well be the difference between a defense that sports an excellent pass rush and one that is largely carried by one player (assuming Price can match what he did last season).

Hendrix makes this list for the expectations - and the necessity of those expectations being met.

AN OFFENISVE LINEMAN
Pick an offensive lineman. Any one of the starting five.

Or, rather, pick two. Because Pitt can probably suffer one loss among the starting five offensive linemen and survive. Lose two and things will get dicey.

If healthy, Pitt’s likely starting offensive line - Adam Bisnowaty, Dorian Johnson, Alex Officer and a combination of Brian O’Neill and Jaryd Jones-Smith - should be very, very good. And that strength up front should translate into an effective running game and enough pass protection to give Nate Peterman time to find all of those new receivers he’ll be targeting.

Take one of those five away, and Pitt can turn to Alex Bookser, a redshirt sophomore with experience and the flexibility to play any of the five line positions. Take two of those original five away, and a supposed strength of the team starts looking considerably weaker.

Given how much of this team’s success - at least on offense - will derive from a strong offensive line and an effective running game, weakening the unit up front could spell real trouble. And it’s not easy to identify one particular lineman who might be more valuable than the others. They’re each crucial.

DAMAR HAMLIN
It may seem like a stretch to say that a freshman is among the most important players on the team, but there’s some extra context.

Assuming he earns the opportunity, it’s important for Hamlin to see the field this season and, if things play out as such, for him to win the open starting job at cornerback. After all, that opportunity is a big part of what brought him to Pitt in the first place.

But as the Panthers’ roster is rather quickly getting turned over to youth, the window for selling early playing time as a recruiting tool is going to close. That’s a sales pitch that has served Pitt well, and it’s a pitch that is most effective when recruits can see it in action.

Like when Hamlin saw Whitehead star as a freshman and when Whitehead saw Tyler Boyd star as a freshman. Those experiences played a significant role in Pitt landing those two local four-star standouts. Soon, though, Pitt’s going to have a lot of young players in significant roles, and those sales pitches aren’t going to resonate quite so much because the depth chart will start looking a little crowded.

But for now, the pitch can still be made, and this year’s Whitehead or Boyd - in terms of a freshman seeing significant playing time - is most likely Hamlin. The obvious connection is to Lamont Wade, another local star defensive back who wants to play early. Wade has seen Boyd - a fellow Clairton native - and Whitehead have early success at Pitt, but Hamlin would further reinforce that opportunity if he gets on the field and excels this season.

Of course, on top of the recruiting implications, there’s also the distinct possibility that Hamlin just might be one of the best two or three cornerbacks on the team, in which case he could benefit the team on the field as well as off it.