Pitt looks to go 'skill-on-skill' with new defensive look

MORE HEADLINES - Personnel notes: Defensive packages, OL rotation and more | How did Pitt's commits perform over the weekend? | PODCAST: Decisions, decisions, decisions at QB | 10 thoughts from Pitt's loss to NC State: The QBs, the fourth-and-10 option, the field goal and more

In Pat Narduzzi’s first 31 games as Pitt’s head coach, the Panthers basically used two defensive packages.

There was the base defense, a 4-3 scheme with field and boundary alignments, the safeties playing close to the line of scrimmage and one linebacker functioning as something of a hybrid. And there was the “Delta” package, a personnel grouping that used three linemen - usually three defensive ends - three linebackers and five defensive backs, with a safety serving as the extra defensive back, often playing close to the line of scrimmage with the linebackers.

But two weeks ago at Syracuse, the coaches broke out something new: a nickel package with four down linemen, two linebackers and five defensive backs. And this time, the extra defensive back was a cornerback who played as more of a “natural” nickel-back.

The coaches developed that package in the week leading up to the game at the Carrier Dome as they were preparing for Dino Babers’ high-flying aerial assault, hoping they could counter the Orange’s spread offense by getting more speed and athleticism on the field.

“It’s an opportunity where you’re trying to match personnel a little bit here and there,” cornerbacks coach Renaldo Hill said this week. “You’ve got people out there putting 10-personnel (one running back, no tight ends and four receivers) on the field, and you want to go skill-on-skill sometimes. If we can do the same thing, matchup coverage and defend the run, it allows us to change up. We’re not going to leave our base, but it adds another dimension to what we can do defensively to help us out.”

To add that dimension, the coaches turned to Therran Coleman, a redshirt freshman corner from Brashear who was limited in training camp due to injury. Now that he’s fully healthy, the coaches found a role for him in a package that should come in handy against some of the offenses Pitt faces in the ACC and the non-conference.

“The Monday before the Tuesday practice, Coach Hill texted me ‘Get ready,’” Coleman said. “There were a couple guys in competition for the nickel spot and I took over the job.”

Narduzzi made that point - that Coleman won the nickel job - a few days after the Syracuse game, and Coleman certainly got plenty of snaps in that game to show what he could do. He unofficially played 73 snaps on defense in the Carrier Dome as Pitt used the nickel package on all but eight of Syracuse’s 91 offensive plays.

Redshirt junior Phillipie Motley played the other 10 snaps at nickel. All told, Syracuse quarterback Eric Dungey wasn’t too shaken by the new look from Pitt’s defense, as he completed 32-of-46 (69.6%) of his passes for 354 yards and three touchdowns against the nickel.

So the numbers don’t exactly paint a picture of defensive dominance, but the concept makes sense: if teams are going to play with four and five receivers, then Pitt needs skill on the field to counter it, and safety Jordan Whitehead thinks the different look at least created some confusion early in the game for Pitt’s opponents.

“I think certain teams, we play the defense we’ve been playing for the time the coaches have been here, so they know the scheme and that’s a good switch-out,” Whitehead said Tuesday. “I think when we came out for Syracuse, they were kind of caught off-guard and had to kind of switch it up, and I think that’s why in the first half we stopped Syracuse to - what’d they have? 14 or seven? And N.C. State, we held them, too, in the first half. So I think that defense is helping. We just have to finish in the second half.”

Syracuse had 10 points in the first half against Pitt, and Dungey’s stats were a little less impressive than his numbers at the end of the game. In the first two quarters, he completed 18-of-31 (58%) for 215 yards and one touchdown against the nickel defense.

And the package had some success against N.C. State, too, as Whitehead said. Pitt used the nickel on 13 snaps last Saturday; Wolfpack quarterback Ryan Finley was 3-of-8 for 51 yards on those plays.

Hill says that developing the nickel package was a natural step forward as the young defensive backs have started to mature. Opponents have been spreading out their offenses against Pitt for the last three years (and longer); now the Panthers feel like they have the talent in the secondary to counter it.

“It just shows the growth in our depth and just our growth in our guys that we’ve had here, so we’re able to go out and do more packages,” Hill said. “That’s the goal - trying to find a role for everybody - and there is a role for everybody; we just have to continue to focus and lock in on those things that allow us to play at a high level.”

Click below for video of Renaldo Hill discussing the secondary, the nickel package, Therran Coleman and more.