'Next man up': Pitt offensive line looks to benefit from depth once again in 2023

6-7 minutes 8/4/2023
It is safe to assume that when opponents game plan to face the 2023 Pittsburgh Panthers, they’ll have a close eye on No. 76. After entering training camp last season in a battle for a starting spot, redshirt senior Matt Goncalves arrived at the team’s South Side facility earlier this week as arguably the team’s highest-profile player.
Following a 2022 campaign that ended with third-team All-ACC recognition, Goncalves — who will start at right tackle this fall — was the lone Pitt player to earn 2023 All-ACC preseason honors, being deemed by the league’s media as one of the top two players at his position in the conference.
“It feels good,” Goncalves said. “I’ve worked hard to be where I’m at. Obviously it’s a great thing, but we have our eyes and minds on football right now.”
Plenty of Panthers took time to give Goncalves some praise Wednesday during the team’s media day, but only one man in the room was able to paint the full picture. That’s because Dave Borbely has had a front seat at Goncalves’ entire collegiate journey.
“He went from, as a young player, being the lowest common denominator in the room, to really having an extremely high football IQ,” Borbley said. “He’s played all positions. There was a time, in 2019, when I stuck him in at center. He hated it, but what it forced him to do was learn defenses, learn calls and not rely on somebody else. It’s probably the best thing that could’ve happened to him.”
Goncalves’ story is a recurring trend within the Pitt football program. Year in and year out, the Panthers have brought in young, raw linemen who are tasked to learn as much as possible while waiting for their opportunity. The end result has produced, in recent years, Pitt’s deepest position group on the offensive side of the football, and this season should be no different.
The Panthers return three starters up front that together boast 17 years of combined collegiate experience. Jake Kradel serves as the group’s elder statesman, having 38 career starts under his belt, while Goncalves and right guard Blake Zubovic have started 21 and 15, respectively. The unit isn’t as old as it was last camp, when it returned all five starters from the 2021 ACC championship team, but compared to its opponents, the Pitt offensive line knows experience is on its side.
“I definitely think we’re still an older group,” Zubovic said. “I mean, maybe not compared to years prior, but compared to the rest of the teams in the ACC, I think, yeah, we have a lot of experience. We have a lot of guys that are used to playing with each other.”
That experience is a token of depth and versatility. Last season, the Panthers offensive line featured seven different lineups in 13 games. So while some of last year’s reserves like Branson Taylor and Ryan Jacoby might not have the same high total of career starts under their belts, neither are strangers to the playing field.
“The whole mentality is next man up,” Borbely said. “You’re a sprained ankle away from being in the game. We expect our guys to have that mentality, and we expect there to be no drop off in performance.”
Last season, All-ACC guard Marcus Minor was the only Panther to start all 13 games at the same spot on the offensive line. Everyone else had some part of the different realignments. Kradel played both right guard and center — and earned All-ACC recognition at both spots. Goncalves bounced between both left and right tackle. And no player had tougher double-duty than Jacoby, who switched between tight end and guard, being forced to sometimes change jersey numbers mid-game.
Expect more versatility up front from the Panthers in 2023. While the right side of the line, at least for now, looks to be set in stone, the left side is a bit more open for Borbely to get creative. Taylor entered camp as the favorite to start at left tackle, while Jacoby and redshirt freshman Ryan Baer are the two biggest candidates to start at left guard.
Neither Jacoby nor Baer played the majority of their snaps at guard in 2022. Jacoby’s five starts last season all came as a blocking tight end, while Baer, who redshirted, saw all his time as a reserve at tackle. In an effort to “find out who the best five linemen were” during spring ball, Borbely ended Jacoby’s career as a tight end and tasked Baer to learn a new position. However, a minor injury delayed the start of the battle.
“As soon as we made those moves, the first day, Branson Taylor strained an oblique,” Borbely said. “So we had to move Baer back to tackle, so that experiment got cut short.”
Borbely added that although Taylor is back at full health now, Baer’s time at tackle hasn’t come to an end. The plan during camp is to see who wins the starting job at left guard and make following depth moves after.
“If Baer wins the job, then that makes me a little short at tackle,” Borbely said. “So, I might have to cross train a few other guys at this camp, as well.”
In addition to the six aforementioned names that have been in the offensive line discussion all offseason, a few new faces could also emerge through either reserve roles or injury replacements this fall. Redshirt senior Jason Collier Jr., redshirt sophomore Dorien Ford and true freshman BJ Williams are three other guards who, one way or another, could see time.
Meanwhile at tackle, behind Baer are redshirt sophomore Terrence Enos Jr. and redshirt freshmen Jackson Brown and Isaiah Montgomery, who, like many Pitt linemen before them, will be preparing each day for the moment they’re called upon.