Leading up to the 2019 regular season, Pitt was dealt a big blow. Junior defensive end Rashad Weaver tore his ACL at the start of fall camp and ended his 2019 season before it even got started. The junior was set to be the anchor of a very good Pitt defensive line and at the time his injury was thought to be a devastating.
Fast forward one year. Pitt junior defensive tackle Jaylen Twyman has opted out of the 2020 season due to personal reasons surrounding the uncertainties of the upcoming college football season.
It has now been two straight seasons Pitt has lost arguably its best defensive linemen at the beginning of training camp. In 2019, however, the Panthers overcame the loss of Weaver. Pitt leaned on its depth and produced one of the best pass rushes in the country.
Can a repeat performance happen? That’s the big question.
The first step to offsetting the loss of Twyman is getting Keyshon Camp back to full speed and healthy. The senior defensive tackle showed big potential in the Panthers’ 2019 season opener against Virginia.
“You guys seen what he did against Virginia on 18 plays,” Rashad Weaver told reporters on Monday. “If he plays a whole season, who knows what kind of numbers he has? We had guys that got plenty of reps last year like Tyler Bentley and Devin Danielson, so we’ll be good there.”
Pitt has returning experience with guys like Bentley, Danielson, and David Green. Another name garnering some attention on the interior is redshirt freshman Calijah Kancey.
Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi spoke highly of Kancey on Monday. “We play a lot of D-linemen; all of those guys will play for us this year,” he said. "All of those guys played for us last year except Kancey. But I think he may have played a little bit on maybe special teams. I know he redshirted, but he may have got in a few snaps. Wait until you see this guy. This guy is electric. This guy is fast. He can rush the passer.”
Electric normally isn’t a word to describe a redshirt freshman defensive tackle, but the praise is high for the Florida native.
This season comes down to someone taking the opportunity. Once Weaver went down in 2019, players like Deslin Alexandre, John Morgan, and Habakkuk Baldonado all received a significant increase in snaps. Patrick Jones even elevated his game to an All-ACC level as well.
The loss of Twyman creates a similar opportunity, and Weaver recognizes that.
“We’ve got a lot of knowledge up front, but Coach Partridge does a good job of keeping us grounded,” the senior defensive end explained. “What we did last year is nothing. We got a chance to be a better D-Line even without the absence of Jaylen, obviously that would make us even better, but we should be just as good or better with me and Keyshon coming back and Pat (Jones) coming back and those guys that were role players last year stepping up and we’re solid. We want to get better everyday, we’re not getting lost in the sauce. That’s the key for us heading into this camp and the season and I think we’ll be great.”
Narduzzi echoed those thoughts. There’s an opportunity for someone to fill in the shoes for No. 97.
“So there’s a lot of guys going, ‘A spot opened up for me.’ And whether it’s Keyshon Camp getting hurt or Weaver hurt last year, it’s just another one of those, ‘Hey, I got an opportunity.’ And look what Deslin did with his opportunity last year. Look what Patrick Jones did with his opportunity. We moved Patrick from the boundary to the field, and now Patrick and Weaver are fighting for that. They both want to be the “flash” end. They all want to be to the field. So there’s depth there and I think any time there’s injuries - which are going to happen in this game of football - or there’s an opportunity that someone’s going to take to move on, it’s just more opportunity for every guy.”
