Pickett is eager to lead charge

No, there weren’t any Panthers standing in the middle of the field Friday and yelling, “Nobody believes in us!” but there’s also no escaping the 2017 results. It was a step back in the overall trajectory of the program, but with Pickett leading the offense and an experienced defense with nine starters returning, it’s reasonable to expect more out of Pitt. Much more, apparently. “I don’t think we look around, like looking at odds and stuff like that,” redshirt senior linebacker Elijah Zeise said. “We don’t need to look at that stuff to know

— Pitt QB Kenny Pickett

that people aren’t expecting us to win the Coastal. I think that’s kind of just something that we all know, so it definitely motivates us, whether [or not] we look at stuff that’s out in the news.”

Of Pitt’s current firstteam defense, at least according to the preseason depth chart, six are fifthyear seniors. Two more are juniors and the other three are sophomores.

Regardless of age, the talent will sort itself out, whether throughout the course of training camp as position battles play out or once the games begin. But for a defense that forced just 16 turnovers and produced fewer than two sacks per game a year ago, there’s a whole lot of hope that the way it finished last season is a strong harbinger.

“We are going to play aggressively, and we are going to run to the football,” new defensive coordinator Randy Bates said. “We talk all the time about being one of the best aggressive, attack-mode teams in the country.”

Talking about it is one thing. Being about it is something else entirely, but Pitt won’t get that chance until Sept. 1 against Albany at Heinz Field.

Until then, the momentum will have to be generated by words more than anything else. On that front, Day 1 of training camp was a rousing success.

“We all know the expectation,” Pickett said. “We want double-digit wins. We want to be in a January bowl game. We want all of it, and we’re coming for it.”

“We all know the expectation. We want double-digit wins. We want to be in a January bowl game. ...”

Lake Fong/Post-Gazette Tight end Will Gragg, a graduate transfer from Arkansas with two years of eligibility remaining, runs a drill on the first day of preseason camp Friday on the South Side.