The outlook has changed for the Pitt secondary from last year at this time to right now as the team is in the early stages of fall camp in preparation for the 2021 season. Truthfully, that could be said about the entire defensive side of the ball.

Cory Sanders coaches the safeties for the Pitt defense and he’s in his fourth year with the program. The 2021 season will be his first without Damar Hamlin anchoring his position group.

“Oh my God, I guess we’ll see if I’m a good coach or not,” Sanders reacted when he was reminded of that fact.

Sanders appreciates all Hamlin did for not only his group, but the entire defense. The Pittsburgh native started 40 games throughout his career and was not only the natural leader for the safeties, but also one of the top overall voices in the locker room.

“Sometimes as a coach it makes it easy because there’s such an extension of yourself on the field,” Sanders said of coaching with Hamlin on the field. “With him just knowing everything that is going on. But I’ll tell you what, the young guys I think they have really embraced what is going on right now.”

The young guys Sanders mentioned have much to prove and big shoes to fill, but they also have a lot of promise. Brandon Hill showed that in some game action as a freshman in 2020.

The Florida native logged two starts, one of which led to him being named ACC Defensive Back of the week when he posted eight tackles, forced a fumble, and returned an interception for a touchdown against Florida State. Hill has seemingly already taken on a bigger role not just on the field, but as a leader off of it.

“He’s a very high energy football player,” Sanders said of the sophomore safety. “I’ve never seen Brandon Hill loaf in a practice, like one time. When the whistle blows and the ball is in the air he only knows one speed and it’s fast.”

Hill appears to be a frontrunner to winning a starting job early on in camp, as does junior Erick Hallett. The Texas native started four games last season, and he showed off his versatility by playing both cornerback and safety throughout last season. He is one of many defensive backs that have versatility and it’s something Sanders and cornerbacks coach Archie Collins appreciate as they try to piece together a death chart for this season.

Incoming transfer MJ Devonshire worked in the spring as a safety, but was playing cornerback on the first day of camp. Conversely, sophomore Rashad Battle got on the field as a cornerback for the Panthers in 2020, but was lining up with Sanders and the safeties on Friday.

“I think it really opens up your flexibility as a coach and it allows you to do whatever you can do to get that best group of four out there, or that top eight,” Sanders said of guys playing multiple positions. “So whoever it is and whatever it looked like today, it may not look like this in two weeks because I think the guys are versatile and they don’t just put themselves in one category. Now it’s our job, mine and Archie’s job to make sure we get the best guys out there and whatever that best combination is and that’s something we’re working through right now.”

The talk heading into the last two seasons was the tandem of Hamlin and Paris Ford roaming the Panthers secondary at safety. Those two were both hometown players and highly rated recruits. Of course, those guys also had a lot of success during their time at Pitt, as did the entire defense during that stretch. They have both moved on and Pitt also saw key defensive starters like Patrick Jones, Rashad Weaver, and Jason Pinnock get drafted back in April as well.

Despite the roster turnover, the feeling within the program is that the defense can still play at a high level in 2021 and continue the run of recent success it has had in the past three years.

“I think the standard is the standard and the expectation is the expectation no matter what is in the room,” Sanders stated.

Collins believes this group is ready to uphold that strong play, mainly because of how they have been brought through the system as special teams players while also being worked into the lineup as well.

“I think the guys that are going to be stepping up this year have been raised correctly and have been playing a lot of special teams and have gotten a lot of game experience,” Collins said of the new starters set to take the field in 2021. “So the one thing about this crew we have here is that they have been very diligent in the film room and have been very diligent in really pushing each other to be the best and to compete with each other. I think competition breeds success.”

Sanders pointed to last year’s Georgia Tech game as an example with Hill and Hallett as the primary safeties as Hamlin and Ford were done for the season. The Panthers limited the Yellow Jackets that day in a 34-20 win. Hallett grabbed an interception early on in the contest showing what Pitt's potential starting 2021 safety pairing can do.

“That defense didn’t change against Georgia Tech,” Sanders said. “It didn’t change one bit. It didn’t change against Georgia Tech, it didn’t change against Florida State when we were playing younger guys, Brandon Hill goes in there and gets DB of the week against (Florida State). They know the standard, they know the expectations and now we’ll see which ones rise to the top to continue what we’ve been doing here as a defense with Coach Bates.”