Krull looks to bring production at TE
Extra season with QB Pickett could unlock potential
Pitt’s tight ends combined for 10 catches for 100 yards over 11 games in the 2020 season. In the ACC alone, four tight ends had 100-plus yards in a single game. In the Southeastern Conference, Florida’s Kyle Pitts had three 100-yard performances.
Pitts certainly is an outlier; there’s a reason why the freakish athlete is a projected top-10 pick in April’s NFL draft. But when his success and the success of others is juxtaposed with the Panthers lacking production, it paints a frustrating picture for Pitt fans. Pat Narduzzi’s teams just haven’t utilized the tight end enough — or at all — in recent years.
Lucas Krull doesn’t care about any of that.
Krull, the Panthers’ “super senior” tight end, was competing with Pitts at Florida in 2018 and 2019 when Tim Salem’s tight ends had 48 combined catches and one touchdown. And Krull, a graduate transfer last offseason, was sidelined for all but one game in 2020 with a knee injury. He either wasn’t around when the tight end position disappointed or was physically unable to rectify the issue himself.
“I hear that question about the past a lot, and I don’t understand it. That was the past. We have to worry about what’s here right now and the future right now is with me and the younger guys,” Krull said Thursday after Pitt’s third spring practice. “We’ve been working tremendously hard. And things are changing. You’re going to see that the tight end is going to play a big role in this offense.”
Pitt supporters have certainly heard those words before, that things are changing. When former Massachusetts head coach Mark Whipple was hired as Pitt’s offensive coordinator in January 2019, it was a few years removed from Minutemen tight end Adam Breneman posting an All-American season. And whenever Pitt has added a grad transfer in recent years — Rutgers’ Nakia Griffin-Stewart, Arkansas’ Will Gragg, UCLA’s Chris Clark, the list goes on — hope builds that he’ll be the one to turn around things.
It would be understandable if that hope has been lost. Salem has been on Narduzzi’s staff since he arrived in 2015. And while working with four different offensive coordinators is less than ideal, Pitt’s tight end group has averaged 2.2 receptions and 27.1 yards per game over the past six seasons. That’s a low bar.
To Krull’s point, though, Pitt didn’t have him last season — something Salem, Narduzzi and quarterback Kenny Pickett were banking on. Krull picked up a knock in August camp, missed the Austin Peay opener, played against Syracuse, caught one pass for 9 yards and injured his knee in practice a few days later.
Krull was itching to get back on the field. In November, he started to turn a corner, eyeing Pitt’s bowl game as a possible return. He never got that chance with the Panthers opting not to play in the postseason, ending their COVID-altered, abnormal season at 6-5 overall. Krull was supportive of the decision.
But with such a long layoff — as long as he stays healthy, it’ll be 21 months between back-toback games by the time the fall rolls around — Krull is appreciating every bit of football he gets. He wasn’t expecting to be in Pitt’s 2021 spring camp; he thought when he joined the Panthers, he would be around for one season and then off to the NFL. But he’s healthy now with “no issues, no restrictions, no limits” as the Panthers started hitting this week, and that’s all Krull is focused on.
“Things change. You just have to adapt to adverse situations and thrive with whatever you get your way,” Krull said. “I’m not going to sit here and act like everything was sunshine and rainbows because there were a lot of dark days, I’ll be honest. It’s tough when you have everything on the line for that year. But I was blessed with the opportunity to come back with the COVID year, so I thank God for that and Coach Duzzi and everyone giving us the opportunity.”
Krull isn’t the only one utilizing the NCAA’s blanket eligibility waiver. Pickett, who spoke highly of the bond he built with Krull last spring, will be guiding the Panthers’offense, and he’s eager to work with the 6foot-6 pass-catcher with Thorlike locks.
“That connection is obviously still there. It didn’t work out last year with him having injuries. But it’s great to see him back and fully healthy,” Pickett added. “We didn’t really have a lot of time to play with each other, and when we did, we had a blast.”
Pickett also expressed confidence in the tight ends outside of Krull. When asked for a potential breakout candidate this spring — akin to what freshman All- American receiver Jordan Addison did this time last year — Pickett picked early enrollee tight end Gavin Bartholomew. The former three-star prospect who flipped his commitment from Buffalo has made an impression on Krull, too, with the senior complimenting his work ethic.
Perhaps Krull, along with Bartholomew, fellow freshman Jake Renda and veterans Daniel Moraga, Kyi Wright and Jake Zilinskas, can turn Pitt’s longtime tight end nightmare into a positive.
Time will tell, but belief is high.
“Coach Whipple has been doing a wonderful job making those calls and getting us involved and getting our confidence up,” Krull said. “The old stuff is the old stuff. Things are going to change, and I’m excited about the future.”