Dane Jackson and Jason Pinnock heard the same question and gave the same answer.
Do you believe you guys can be the best corners in the ACC?
Pinnock: "Oh yeah, for sure."
Jackson: "Oh yeah, for sure. High expectations."
High expectations, indeed, as Pinnock and Jackson enter their junior and redshirt senior seasons, respectively. And those expectations are based on history. Jackson started every game in 2017 and the final 13 games last season after missing the opener. Pinnock made six starts in 2018 but played starter's snaps in two other games, with more than half of his 499 defensive snaps coming in the final five contests.
Workload aside, Jackson and Pinnock were effective in their play. More than 110 passes were thrown at them last season - 113, to be exact - and less than half of those were caught, according to data from Pro Football Focus.
Jackson ended up as an honorable mention on the All-ACC postseason team, but his numbers - and Pinnock's - stack up favorably against the rest of the all-conference selections.
Coverage snaps - Snaps in coverage
Tgts/rec. - Targets and receptions
Cov. snaps/rec - Coverage snaps per reception
YAC/rec. - Yards after the catch per reception allowed
A few things probably stick out from those numbers. For starters, Trayvon Mullen was clearly the class of the ACC's cornerbacks last season and should have been an All-ACC first-team selection ahead of Bryce Hall; instead, Mullen made the second team before winning a national championship and declaring for the NFL in the offseason.
Hamp Cheevers from Boston College was probably a deserving first-teamer, but Mullen's teammate at Clemson, A.J. Terrell - who has at least one more year left with the Tigers - probably should have done better than the third team; his coverage snaps-per-reception was higher than anyone other than Mullen or Cheevers, and he held opponents to an astonishing 2.1 YAC (yards after the catch) per reception.
Beyond that, the numbers for Pitt's cornerbacks compare rather favorably. Cheevers, Mullen and Michael Jackson Sr. are leaving for the NFL, but the other four all-conference selections return, and Jackson and Pinnock believe they can be among the ACC's best this year.
A big part of that confidence is in experience. 2019 will be Jackson's fifth year playing in Pat Narduzzi's defensive scheme, which places demands on cornerbacks, and it will be Pinnock's third.
"I think it takes a little time for some more than others, but now, I feel like we’re all on the same page," Jackson said recently. "All of us say, this is the best we’ve ever felt since we’ve been here. So we’re comfortable with the system, every guy out here has had at least a little experience, except for the ones who redshirted, but it’s a much better aspect than last year."
And that's the other thing: Jackson and Pinnock look like the top dogs in Pitt's secondary - at least at cornerback - but they're not alone.
"I think we have three starters right now, so we’re going to make those guys compete and the best guy’s going to win," defensive coordinator Randy Bates said during the first week of spring camp. "And if they all compete, we’ll have three great players and we’ll be able to do some different things with the third guy if he’s the next best guy."
The third player in that lineup is Damarri Mathis, a junior like Pinnock who has played a fair amount over the last two seasons. Last year, Mathis saw 312 total defensive snaps and 151 in coverage; he was targeted 22 times and gave up 13 passes, but Narduzzi agreed with Bates about Mathis' spot on the depth chart.
"Really, when I look at it, I see us as having three starting corners," Narduzzi said. "I think Dane’s a starter; we’re going to find out with Damarri and Pinnock, they’re battling it out. To me, those are all three guys are starters right now."
